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Google “how to hear God’s voice and experience His love” and you will get almost twenty million search results.
That’s a lot of zeroes.
So, how in the world do we decide whose advice or what steps to follow when we want to know that we know that we know that the living, loving Word is communicating His heart of love for us to us? (John 1:1,14).
If we’re not careful, we could easily get bogged down and confused.
And doesn’t the Bible say that “God is not the author of confusion but of peace”? (1 Cor. 14:33 NKJV).
I believe God is all about simple.
It’s our human, analytical brains that have a tendency to complicate issues.
Can I get an Amen?
I should know about analytical brains because one has been my constant companion for over half a century.
While it served me well in college Calculus, the noise (reasonings, assumptions, speculations, judgments) inside my head has, at times, interfered with my clear reception of His ongoing communication with me.
Yes, I believe the Word of God—the Spirit of Christ—is continually live streaming His native language of love to those who belong to Him (John 10:27; 1 John 4:8).
Side note: He is also continually broadcasting His love to those who do not yet belong to Him, but in a different way.
This broadcast is coming from the outside of a nonbeliever.
For a Christian, Christ’s love wells up from within his or her new heart—because that’s where His love lives continually (John 7:38).
The question is how do we tune in to His live love stream?
That is the topic of today’s post.
I’m so glad the apostle Paul (inspired by God) simplifies for us what the basic focus of every Christian’s life should be: “I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3 NASB).
Simple and pure devotion to Christ. That’s all God really wants from us.
Breathe easy.
Go ahead and take a deep breath, or two, or three …
Relax.
Christ is completely devoted to revealing His simple and pure love for you to you.
And if you will take the time to let Him do that, you will find yourself automatically living in the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.
I savor Hebrew and Greek word studies.
They add a rich layer of meaning to Scriptures that, if we’re not careful, we can miss.
Let’s hone in on the meanings of the words simplicity, purity, and devotion.
simplicity – “singleness of mind, infused by God through the Spirit”
purity – “exciting reverence, sacred, immaculate”
devotion – “sitting by constantly, attending to enthusiastically”
Combining all of the above meanings, I believe God is saying:
In a world saturated with weapons of mass distraction, all I really want is for you to fix our attention on Me with excited anticipation of what I will communicate to you next.
(That’s what I’m doing right now while typing this post.)
And you can rest assured that whatever I’m saying to you, it will sound like perfect love.
Does this sound inviting to you?
I hope so.
Because that’s exactly what this is: a divine invitation to experience the romance of God’s astounding, no-strings-attached love for your unique and beautiful new heart.
(I’m talking to you guys in the bride of Christ, too.)
I love this captivating quote from one of my favorite devotionals:
You are invited to a secret garden which transcends time.
Life outside this place will once again clamor for attention.
However, for now, none of those things matter in the presence of the Divine Lover.
Time seems to stand still before His timeless beauty.
This garden is a place to which you are enticed by the Holy Spirit.
It is a secret rendezvous in a sacred place shared by two lovers whose greatest joy is to be alone together, reveling in each other’s love.
It is your own holy hideaway where you and Jesus have the opportunity to celebrate your union together where nothing and nobody can disrupt your intimacy.*
If you sense a longing rising up within you to experience God’s love, you can be sure that it is originating within His desire for you to enjoy His personal love for you.
A word of caution: you have an enemy in this world who will oppose this.
He knows that when you receive and enjoy the lavish love of God, your life will be remarkably changed and others will be drawn to Christ through your expression of His love and life.
Remember what Paul said in our focal verse: “I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.”
Don’t let him distract you.
We empower whatever we focus on.
Instead, fix your attention on Jesus and be empowered by His indwelling Spirit (Col. 3:1-4; Heb. 12:2).
In a noisy world, constantly clamoring for our attention, if we really want to hear God’s voice and experience His love, we need to be intentional.
This may mean getting up before the sun comes up or the kids wake up.
Driving to a quiet park during your lunch hour.
Escaping to your bedroom, office, or library after dinner instead of to Facebook or Netflix (Mark 6:31).
(You will also need to put your cell phone on silent and probably out of reach.)
All things are possible with God (Matt. 19:26). (Smile.)
Now, I’m not saying that you can’t hear from God if you don’t remove yourself from the noise.
That would limit Him.
And He is limitless.
The Spirit of Christ indwells your new heart (if you are a believer in Him) and He can cause His voice to be uploaded from your heart to your mind (your conscious awareness) at any given moment in time.
The point is that we want to learn to how to become a 2 Corinthians 11:3 believer—one whose life is characterized by simple and pure devotion to Christ.
Stay tuned to my next post where I will share with you practical ways to hear God’s voice and experience His love.
In the meantime, I invite you to schedule a quiet time where you will be able to read and participate in my next post.
You will also need a pen and paper (or journal) where you can record what you sense God revealing to you through that set apart time, focused on Him alone.
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If you enjoyed this post, I invite you to check out all of my books and my video series based on my first devotional.
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