Servias Ministries Blog

Reading the Bible is not the same as Hearing GOD’S Voice!

Jesus spoke in John chapter 10:

27 My sheep hear My Voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

There are three qualifiers of true believers mentioned by Jesus:

They hear His Voice

Jesus knows, recognizes, and acknowledges them

They follow/obey Him

Jesus did not say that reading Scripture would qualify you as sheep.  The Pharisees knew the Scripture but could not hear Jesus.

Jesus spoke in Matthew chapter 11:

11 “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.

12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.

13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.

14 And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come.

15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

And Jesus spoke again in Matthew chapter 13:

3 Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow.

4 And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them.

5 Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth.

6 But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away.

7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them.

8 But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Jesus was speaking but people were not truly listening and responding to His Message.

10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”

11 He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

12 For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.

Hearing begets greater revelation by further hearing.

13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

14 And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive;

15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’

16 But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear;

17 for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

In the third dispensation of The Gospel, it is all about hearing and seeing.  The Jews had problems hearing because of their dull hearts.

Paul too experienced this very issue as he recorded by The Holy Spirit in Acts 28:

23 So they set a time to meet with Paul. On that day an even greater crowd gathered where he was staying. From morning until evening Paul taught them, opening up the Truths of God’s Kingdom. With convincing arguments from both the Law and the Prophets, he tried to persuade them about Jesus.

24 Some were converted, but others refused to believe. They argued back and forth,

25 still unable to agree among themselves. They were about to leave when Paul made one last statement to them: “The Holy Spirit stated it well when He spoke to your ancestors through the prophet Isaiah:

26 ‘I send you to this people to say to them, “You will keep learning, but not understanding. You will keep staring at Truth but not perceiving it.

27 For your hearts are hard and insensitive to Me—you must be hard of hearing! For you’ve closed your eyes so that you won’t be troubled by the Truth, and you’ve covered your ears so that you won’t have to listen and be pierced by what I say. For then you would have to respond and repent, so that I could heal your hearts.” ’

28-29 “So listen well. This wonderful salvation given by God is now being presented to the non-Jewish nations, and they will believe and receive it!”

You become dull of hearing when you refuse to believe the Truth when It is set before your very eyes.  Refusing to believe the Truth makes you blind to all Truth.

We are to hear Truth from FATHER and HE will always confirm what HE has spoken to you by HIS written Word.  If you rely solely on The written Word, you will miss the point of personally hearing GOD’S Voice.

Obey My Voice and I will be Your GOD!

It is recorded by THE SPIRIT in Jeremiah chapter 7:

23 But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be Your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’

Can it get any simpler than that?

24 Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.

If you feel like you are not progressing, consider the above verses.  You may not be adequately hearing FATHER’S Voice.  The essence of Israel’s problems was that they hearkened not to the Voice of THE LORD.

I have gone off course many times in my life and it necessitated me to stop, repent, and listen to what FATHER wanted to tell me.  I needed a course correction, and HE provided it.

Your progress is totally dependent on who and what you listen to and respond to in your daily life.  If you have the TV or radio blaring, it will be difficult to hear The Holy Spirit in that still, small Voice.  I used to enjoy loud music but now I don’t.  I am providing a better environment to hear HIS Voice and obey It.

The one essential requirement to be blessed is to hear and obey HIS Voice.  Every writing that I post is a result of being led by The Holy Spirit.  I could not write to you and be of any assistance other than hearing His Voice and responding with appropriate Scripture.  I am simply not that good at writing without His intervention and direction.  After I pray first thing each morning, He provides details of what to write and what to exclude.  I benefit first by these writings myself!

Jesus emphasized hearing and obeying when He spoke in John chapter 10:

1 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

2 But he who enters by the door is the Shepherd of the sheep.

3 To Him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear His Voice; and He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out.

4 And when He brings out His own sheep, He goes before them; and the sheep follow Him, for they know His Voice.

5 Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”

6 Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.

7 Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the Door of the sheep.

8 All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.

9 I am the Door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have Life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

Do you want to follow life and its abundance?  You must hear and obey His Voice.  Jesus will never lead His sheep astray and they will pay attention to His Voice and no other.

Sermons emphasize John 10:10 but need to qualify the expectation of success by hearing and obeying HIS Voice.  Otherwise, they subject themselves to the stranger who steals, kills, and destroys.  The sheep will not pay attention to false teachers or anyone who promotes another “gospel”.

27 My sheep hear My Voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

There are three qualifiers of true believers mentioned by Jesus:

They hear His Voice

Jesus knows, recognizes, and acknowledges them

They follow/obey Him

Our daily priority should be to hear GOD’S Voice, including HIS warnings and corrections!

It is as important to hear FATHER’S corrections as it is to hear any other commands that result in blessings.  If we are being led astray by the subtleties of adversaries and unknowingly embraces lies, we need to repent and carry out corrective actions.

Paul wrote by The Holy Spirit in 1^st Corinthians chapter 4:

14 I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish (correct) you as my beloved children.

15 For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.

16 I urge you, then, be imitators of me.

17 That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.

18 Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you.

19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power.

20 For the Kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.

A father is called to correct his children when necessary.

Paul also wrote by The Holy Spirit in 2^nd Timothy chapter 3:

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

If we were perfect, we would not need correction.  A Loving FATHER corrects His Sons and Daughters so they will be equipped for every good work.  Embrace correction!

It is recorded by THE SPIRIT in Jeremiah chapter 7:

1 This is the message that YAHWEH gave to Jeremiah.

2 “Go stand at the gate of YAHWEH’s house and proclaim this word: ‘Hear this word from YAHWEH, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship Him.

3 Here’s what the God of Israel, YAHWEH, Commander of Angel Armies, says: Change your ways and start living right, and I will let you dwell in this land.

4 Don’t fool yourselves by trusting the deceptive words, saying: “The temple of YAHWEH is here, the temple of YAHWEH is here, the temple of YAHWEH is here, so we are safe.”

5 For if you truly change your ways and start living right, if you deal justly with one another,

6 if you don’t mistreat the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow, if you don’t shed innocent blood in this land, if you stop your self-destructive ways of chasing after other gods,

7]then I will let you dwell in this place, here in the land that I gave to your forefathers for all time.

The Israelites were trusting deceptive words and FATHER had to send many prophets to correct them.

8 “ ‘Look, you keep putting your trust in worthless lies.

9 You think you can steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known,

10 and then come and stand in My Presence? You think you can come into this house called by My Name and say, “We are safe!”—only to keep doing all these disgusting things?

11 Do you really consider this house that bears My Name to be a robbers’ den? I know everything that you have been doing! I, YAHWEH, have spoken.

Why do people pursue the opinions and subtle lies spewed out by the world’s representatives?  They have proven themselves gullible to the persistent falsehoods spread by the vessels of dishonor.  It is clearly a “psyop” strategy of the adversary.

23 Rather, I commanded them: “Listen to My Voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people. Live your lives according to what I command you that all may go well with you.”

24 But they did not listen or obey. They followed their own stubborn plans of their evil hearts. They disrespected Me and went backward, not forward.

25 From the day that I led your ancestors out of Egypt until now, I have persistently sent you My servants the prophets,

26 but My people did not listen to Me or obey; rather, they stubbornly did more evil than their fathers.’

Whose words are you going to place your trust in?  The words that appeal to your soul and/or flesh, or are you going to place your trust in FATHER, even when His Words of correction may be painful or inconvenient?

Our daily priority should be to hear GOD’S Voice!

As a devoted believer walking in Holiness, there was an unvarying requirement that is consistent throughout Scripture: the requirement to hear GOD’S Voice.

Moses wrote by THE SPIRIT in Exodus chapter 15:

26 and said, “If you diligently heed the Voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His Sight, give ear to His Commandments and keep all His Statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD Who heals you (Jehovah Rapha).”

The Hebrew says: if you will listen, listening.  We are to use both ears without distractions.  If Israel obeyed, they would never be sick.  FATHER would take on full responsibility to keep everyone in Israel healthy, no exceptions.  Think about it!  What would happen if we who are devoted believers, fully embraced this revelation and expectation?  No more medical bills!

Everywhere where GOD speaks to us about healing, the emphasis is on what we listen to.  Those of us who will hearken diligently to HIS Voice, will be free of sickness and disease.

And in Exodus 19:

3 And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel:

4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.

5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.

6 And you shall be to Me a Kingdom of priests and a Holy nation.’ These are the Words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”

In order to walk in mature Holiness, we must hear HIS Voice and carry out HIS commands.  How can we expect to walk in Holiness without hearing HIS Voice?

First, GOD brought Israel to HIMSELF, the primary purpose of redemption.  Secondly, HE wanted them to obey HIS Voice so that they would be living at a higher level of provision and blessing unknown to other people.  Third, they were to keep HIS Covenant which finalizes their relationship with HIM.  Forth, they would be a Kingdom of priests and a Holy nation.  This is true for us as well.  FATHER’S Word and Divine Intent do not change with time.

And Moses recorded by THE SPIRIT in Deuteronomy chapter 28:

1 “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the Voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth.

2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the Voice of the LORD your God:

15 “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the Voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

This chapter sets out two different things that could come upon Israel: blessings of obedience, or the curses of disobedience, depending on their response.  In each case, it is determined by whether or not they hear GOD’S Voice.  It begins and ends with diligently listening to GOD’S Voice.

If we diligently listen to GOD’S Voice, all the blessings in verses 3 through 14 will apply to us.

Our daily priority should be to hear GOD’S Voice!

Dispensations are time periods in which the Lord has at least one authorized servant on the earth who bears the Holy priesthood and the keys, and who has a Divine commission to dispense the Gospel to the inhabitants of the earth.

There have been three dispensations in history:

The Patriarchs (Fathers of families: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Enoch, Noah, etc.)

Israel as a collective nation (The dispensation of The Law, The Temple, the priesthood))

The Dispensation of The Gospel for all the inhabitants of the earth

In all three, there was one unvarying requirement which never changed from dispensation to dispensation: the requirement to hear GOD’S Voice.

Moses wrote by THE SPIRIT in Exodus chapter 15:

22 So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water.

23 Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah.

24 And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” [25] So he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them,

26 and said, “If you diligently heed the Voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His Sight, give ear to His Commandments and keep all His Statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD Who heals you (Jehovah Rapha).”

First, you must hear and second, you must do.  When you respond by acting on The Word you hear, you will be rewarded with whatever is needed at the time.  In this case, it was healing.

What does the word diligence mean?  As used in Hebrews 11:6, it means to zealously seek for something with all of one’s heart, strength, and might. It conveys the idea of being hard-working, attentive, busy, constant, and persistent in one’s devotion to what he or she is doing.

Paul wrote by The Holy Spirit in Hebrews chapter 11:

4 By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.

5 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

7 By faith Noah, being Divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with Godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

In all these examples, men walked in faith and diligently hearkened to the Voice of GOD.  In response, they were rewarded and protected by HIM.  When FATHER speaks to you, it may require a simple action or a persistent, multi-year effort as was required by Noah and others.

FATHER calls us to be Holy and faithful!

Paul wrote by The Holy Spirit in Ephesians chapter 1:

1 Paul, an apostle (special messenger, personally chosen representative) of Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed), by the will of God [that is, by His purpose and choice], To the saints (God’s Holy people) who are at Ephesus and are faithful and loyal and steadfast in Christ Jesus  (AMP)

How many times have I read this verse without truly contemplating the brevity of this salutation and introduction to the book of Ephesians?  I repent!  Sadly, how many ministers of The Gospel have focused on this important verse?  I don’t recall any such emphasis if it was preached!

The average believer would be challenged to associate with the qualifications expressed in the very first verse of this book, yet they pick and choose verses to embrace depending on their current situation.  FATHER only speaks faith-filled Words and does not use superfluous, meaningless words ever!  HE says what HE means.

Peter understood this same Truth as he wrote by The Holy Spirit in 1^st Peter chapter 1:

13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,

15 but as HE Who called you is Holy, you also be Holy in all your conduct,

16 since it is written, “You shall be Holy, for I am Holy.”

As we place our hope and full trust in Jesus Christ, we will be Holy.  Our conduct will reflect such Holiness.

17 And if you call on Him as Father Who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,

Those who truly comprehend Who The Lord God Almighty is, they will uncompromisingly walk in the Fear of THE LORD!

18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,

19 but with the precious Blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

If you take Holy Communion daily, you will be in constant remembrance of the importance of His Blood and His Body.

20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you

FATHER predestined His Son, Our Savior, to be the one true Sacrifice for us.  There is no other way to FATHER but by Our Savior.

21 Who through Him are believers in God, Who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

FATHER made provision for our Holy faith to manifest in our lives.

22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the Truth for a sincere brotherly Love, Love one another earnestly from a pure heart,

Only the Word of God, the Absolute Truth, can purify our souls.  No other means can accomplish this.  This is why we should immerse ourselves in The Word and prayer… more than once a week.

23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding Word of God;

24 for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls,

25 but the Word of the Lord remains forever.” And this Word is the good news that was preached to you.

We should quiet our minds and reflect on the brevity of this Truth.  A vast majority of people are preoccupied with the temporary things of the world at the expense of focusing on The Word of GOD which will remain forevermore.

You and I are called to be faithful and Holy.  If we fulfill this requirement, everything else will work out by FATHER’S great grace and mercy.