Creflo Dollar - 7 Ways To Get Better Hearing
I'm not too sure that we ought to be rushing through this series, but this is, I think, the third time, but this is important, how to hear from God. And we should know that it is God's will for us to hear from him. And so tonight, I thought I would spend time talking about "7 Ways To Get Better Hearing". In other words, you know, even though I convinced you that it's God's will for you to hear his voice, there's some things you can do to enhance that. And, you know, the Bible's very clear, "My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me".
God spoke to Noah, not in vague impressions, but he spoke to him in specific details. One Word from God can change your whole life. One Word from God can change your whole situation. And it's important that as Christians, that we know, that's not just about wearing a Christian T-shirt, but that's having a personal, ongoing, everyday relationship with God. And part of that relationship is not just you talking to him but also giving him an opportunity to talk to you. You see, prayer is not a monologue, it's a dialogue. It's not just where you're doing all the talking or God's doing all the talking. He wants to commune with you and have fellowship with you. So, if you don't mind, let's just hop right into it.
Number one, the first way to better your hearing where God is concerned, number one, here it goes, "Maintain a spirit of expectancy and faith". You see, the kingdom of God functions by faith. And so, everything in the kingdom functions by faith. So, by faith, I receive ears that hear from God. By faith, I receive the transmission that's coming from heaven. And so, since everything in the kingdom operates by faith, therefore, in order to have hearing ears, say this out loud. Say, "I have hearing ears". I like that, say it again, "I have hearing ears". In order to have hearing ears, you must believe that God, living inside of you, is speaking today and that you can hear his voice. That's your faith. I believe that God is speaking and that I can hear his voice. Say that with me, "I believe that God is speaking. And I can hear his voice". Okay, so that's the faith part of it, but then you need to maintain a spirit of expectancy. Expectation, that's a powerful thing to always be in expectation.
Go to Acts chapter 3, verses 1 through 5. There's a little story here I want to share with you. To be in expectation. Expectation. I believe that expectation is the breeding ground for miracles. Expectation is the, you know, sometimes people, you know, they can be Christians, but they're not in expectation. And you ought to be in expectation. Look at this little situation here about a man at the gate called Beautiful. Verse 1, "Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour". Verse 2, "And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, the temple which is called Beautiful," that gate, "to ask of alms of them that entered into the temple". So pretty good. He got a place where it's heavy foot traffic, and there he would begin to ask for alms. Alms are the financial gifts extended towards the poor, that's what an alm is.
And so, he was there, literally begging to receive gifts. That was his occupation. And he said, "Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked an alm," from them. "And Peter, fastened his eyes upon him with John". And notice what he said. He said, "Look on us". In other words, get your attention off of receiving the alms. "Look on us". Okay? "And he gave heed unto them," watch this, "expecting to receive something of them". "Expecting to receive something from them". Now, if you read the rest of the story, this man got out of this, he was no longer lame. Bible says, "He was jumping, and leaping and praising God". But I don't believe that would have ever taken place if he had not showed up with some expectation. Expectation, say this out loud, "Expectation". "Is the breeding ground for miracles". Are you in expectation as a Christian? When you get up in the morning, when you go throughout your day, are you expecting for God to do something, or are you expecting for things to come to pass? Are you expecting to hear from God?
I expect to hear from God every day. And I don't expect to hear from God, you know, once a month. I expect to hear from him every day, praise God. And this is what you've got to do as Christians. You know, you want to get better hearing, then start off with an expectation. I expect for God to hear from me. I speak to him, and he speaks to me. Expectation is one of the things you want to put out there. Now, look at this, John chapter 10, verse 27. We've got to expect to hear from God. You know, you'll talk to some people, and they just think this is just absolutely ridiculous for a man to think he can hear from God. Oh, absolutely, I hear from God. I hear from God. I talk to him, and he talks to me. Sometimes, God tells me things, and I'm like, "Oh, wow. I wish he hadn't told me that," you know.
Sometimes, I'm right in the middle of a... I was doing an interview one time, and it was a live interview. And the interviewer was talking, and while she was talking, God was talking to me about her. And I was like, "Oh, Lord have mercy". And she started to shake, and I ain't said nothing to her. The power of God was in that place 'cause, you know, it's just a weird thing for that to happen. You sit there, and in a matter of moments, God starts talking to you about... you can hear from God. Say that, "I can hear from God". Now, you don't have to pretend, people who pretend to hear from God end up in a ditch. I mean, you can quickly find out if somebody heard him or not, all right? And so, look what he says here. He says, "My sheep hear my voice". That's powerful, right? "My sheep hear my voice". I mean, I can stop right there.
That's a powerful statement. "My sheep hear my voice," watch this, "and I know them, and they follow me". Now, look at this same verse in the Amplified. So the first thing that I expect: I expect to hear his voice; I'm his sheep. And I don't think a lot of emphasis is put on Christian people hearing from God. I'm telling you God wants to lead you to some things in your life. Look at this in the Amplified, he said, "The sheep that are My own, hear and are listening to My voice; and I know them," and watch this, "and they follow me". I don't know about you, but you ought to be tired of ending up in a ditch. It's time to hear from God. Amen?
Number two, here's the second way to get better hearing. "Pray in the Spirit. Pray in the Spirit and pray without ceasing". Now, if you read 1 Corinthians 14, you'll find out that praying in the Spirit is literally what? Praying in tongues. So when the Bible talks about praying in the Spirit, he doesn't mean praying a silent prayer. Praying in the Spirit is literally praying in tongues, all right? So now, notice what this step does, "Pray in the Spirit," and then he says, "Don't stop. Don't cease to pray in the Spirit, don't stop". Now, I am going to do a teaching on tongues because I just think that needs to be a part of our, you know, our package, our understanding package. "Pray in the Spirit, and don't stop praying in the Spirit". In other words, when he says, "Pray without ceasing," he says, "Maintain communion with God without ceasing".
Now, there's something that's very powerful that happens when you spend time praying in tongues on the day-to-day basis. Now, why would I even suggest for this to be a part of getting better hearing? Well, if you go to Jude, chapter... well, it's only one chapter, Jude 1, and verse 20, and I want to look at this in the Kings James and the Amplified, Jude 1:20. I will not wake up and spend the day or let a day go by without me praying in tongues, I won't do it. And someone says, "Well, do you know what you're saying"? "Well, not all the time". But there is something that I'm getting ready to show you here, it motivates me. I don't know everything that's going on, but the Holy Ghost knows everything that's going on. And sometimes, I don't even know what to pray for because I have no knowledge that I need to pray for that, but the Holy Ghost does.
So in my heart, I can't afford not to pray in tongues, 'cause there's too much happening right now that God knows about that I don't know about. I am weak in that area of knowing about it. But praise God, when I pray in tongues, the Holy Ghost intercedes for me, but there's some things that happen as well. Look at what he says here, "He'll build you up. He'll build your hearing up". I'll pray in tongues. I mean, most of the time when I'm hearing from God, it's when during that time while I'm praying in tongues. Pray in the Spirit, and don't stop doing that. Have a daily time of praying in the Spirit. Maybe, start off with five minutes, ten minutes, and then after that, it's just, you know, you just ain't gon' want to stop sometimes. You got to go to work, "Lord, help me just", He'll say, "Pray while you're in the car". This ain't nothing God requiring for you to do or making you do. I'm telling you that all kinds of things happen when you don't allow yourself to drift away from praying in the Spirit.
Look what he says in Jude, "But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith". He calls your most holy faith; watch this, "Praying in the Holy Ghost". He's saying that tongues is your most holy faith. I wish I had time to talk about this. But when I pray in tongues, I don't know exactly what I'm praying about, but I know it's good. But I don't have to know what I'm praying about to release my faith for it. It's called praying the mysteries. And I can pray in tongues and release my faith for it, and sometimes, that opens your ears up to hear some things. He said, "Praying the Holy Ghost," watch this, no, "Building up yourselves".
Let me deal with that part. "Building up yourselves," literally, it means building up your whole self, your spirit, your soul, and your physical body. So when I'm praying tongues, I am building up, look at this in the Amplified. He says, "Building up like an edifice," that's pretty good. He says, "But you, beloved, build yourselves up founded on your most holy faith, make progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher, praying in Holy Ghost". Glory be to God. Rise like a edifice, amen. He didn't say rise like a shack. A shack don't rise. They fall down. He said, "Rise like an edifice". Praise God. Well, what happens when I'm praying in tongues. I guarantee you; you spend time praying in tongues, you're opening your hearing from the Lord. And it's one of those things that you're going to understand better once you start doing it. Don't stop praying in tongues.
Number three, here's the third thing you do to get better hearing, number three, "Tune," T-U-N-E. "Tune," like you tune a guitar, "balance and confirm what you hear with the teaching of Scripture". So what this step is talking about that you can tune and balance your hearing when you confirm what you hear with the teaching of the Scripture. So the Word of God is going to tune your hearing. Glory to God. Going to tune your hearing. In other words, the more time that you spend with that Word, that Word's gonna help you to tune in to that spoken Word. See, there's the rhema Word, spoken; and there's the logos Word, written. Same Word in two different forms. Spend time with that logos, written Word, and it'll tune your hearing to that rhema Word. So when he speaks to you, you will know it's him, and you'll recognize him 'cause you've been spending time in that written Word.
So by saturating our minds in the Word of God, we tune our spiritual ears. We tune our spiritual ears when we start reading the Word of God and obeying it, and meditating upon God's Word. You tune your ears. It prepares us to recognize and to hear God's voice by tuning our ears to the true and unchanging, watch this, tone of the Word of God. By spending time in that Word, you pick up the true tone. Uh, I felt something there. Excuse me, I ain't got but a few minutes, but I got to get going. My God. Glory be to God. I know it. There's a tone. That comes when you spend time in that Word. And when you get that tone, from the written Word, then when he speaks, you know that's him. That's God, that's God, that's God. You ain't got to go around talking about, "Is that me, was that God? Was that me or was that the devil"? When you get that tone from written Word, you'll know when it's God speaking to you, amen? Praise God. As we begin to develop perfect pitch in the Spirit, voices or messages containing any mixture of error or deception simply will not ring true when you develop perfect pitch.
Number four. Number four. Here's how you get better hearing. Number four, "Wait for the peace of God". When you say, "I've heard from God," you think you've heard something from God, wait for the peace of God. Look at Colossians chapter 3:15 in the King James and the Amplified. Colossians 3:15, King James. The anointing up here is so heavy, something up here buzzing, the lights can't even handle it, glory to God. See, I know right now that ain't the Holy Ghost. That ain't a tone. I don't hear that tone. All right, now watch this, "And let the peace of God," what? "Rule in your," where? "In your hearts". What's in the middle of the Word heart? What's the first four letters? Hear. First two letters? Last three letters? Art. So he put the ear in the center of your heart so you can hear him, and that's the art of a Christian. Are you listening to me now? "And let the peace of God rule in your heart, to the which also you are called in one body, and be thankful".
Now, look at this in Amplified. "And let the peace, the soul harmony which comes from Christ rule, let it act as an umpire," peace acting like an umpire, "deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds". Peace operating like a umpire. So what he says is, when you believe you heard from God, let the umpire of peace call it safe or call it out. Follow your peace. Follow your peace. Sometimes, even though the Word you have heard in your spirit may line up perfectly with the Word of God, it may not be God's will for you, or it may not be time to act upon that Word. So, you see what I'm saying, you can take something you heard, and you say, "Well, here's a Word on it," but then, the peace ain't there.
So you'll go around talking about, "Yeah, but I got the Word, yeah, but I got the Word," but the peace is not there. Therefore, learn to let the presence or the absence of the peace of God in your heart be the determining factor. Whatever you think you heard, if there's no peace there, that the umpire is saying, "Hold up here. Hold up here". There's no peace there. Somebody come up to you talking, "The Lord told me that we supposed to get married". There's no peace there. Send him on his way. There's no peace there, no, be gone, go on, go on. "Yeah, but the prophet said that". I don't care what the prophet said, there's no peace there. No peace there, all right? See, that's the advice Paul gave us and gave the Colossians, the believers. Satan and your flesh can speak to you and can even quote Scripture, you know that, don't you?
Satan and your flesh can even quote Scripture, all right? But they cannot counterfeit the peace of God. Satan cannot counterfeit the peace of God. Your flesh cannot counterfeit the peace of God. You know, the devil was quoting Scripture to Jesus in the wilderness, wasn't he? But he cannot counterfeit the peace of God. Peace is God's umpire that tells us whether a voice, a person or a situation is safe or out. The absence of peace exposes lies, it exposes deception. But the presence of peace confirms the voice or the will of God for your life. So, therefore, do not act upon the Word you have heard unless your heart is filled with God's peace, that's huge. You know, sometimes, how many of you know you can get around some real deep Christians sometimes? You've got to let the peace of God be your umpire.
Number five, number five, "If you doubt, don't". Don't what? Don't nothing. "If you doubt, don't". If you don't know, don't go, all right? Number five, "If you doubt, don't". If you don't know, don't go. If you don't know it's God, don't step out. Don't make a move of any kind in your life on any inner directive until all of your doubts are gone. Don't ever step out on something you doubt or you question as far as that peace is concerned.
Number six, real quick. "Seek Godly counsel". "Seek Godly counsel". Look at Proverbs 24:6 and then Colossians 13:1. You say you've heard a voice from God; you say you're hearing from God. Seek Godly counsel. I mean, it's a serious thing. I know a lot of people play around with talking about, "The Lord told me". The Lord ain't said nothing to half them people that been telling you the Lord told them that. "Well, the Lord told me to leave the church". "Well, did the Lord tell you to join the church"? "Yeah". "But so is God double-minded"? What you hear now? It's just weird how people do that. They just play around with talking about they heard something from God like it's a game. It's a serious thing. When you say, "The Lord said that," that shouldn't be a religious cliché. He actually should have said that.
See what happens is, you're talking to yourself in deception by saying what you want to happen, talking about the Lord told you to do that. "Well, how come you didn't come to church this morning"? "'Cause the Lord told me not to". That could be true, but you better make sure it's God. You better make sure it's God, all right? Proverbs 24:6, "For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in the multitude of counsellors," there's what? There's what? "Safety". So if you heard something, and you really believe it's God, then get with a multitude of counsellors. Get a witness of two or three witnesses and let it be established from that. "You know, God told me to give my house away". You need to know God said that because at the end, everybody gon' know whether he said it or not. You homeless, God ain't going to tell you give something away, and then you suffer from doing what he told you to do. So a multitude of counsellors will provide safety in those situations.
Look at 2 Corinthians 13:1. 2 Corinthians 13, and verse 1. So this is the things you do. You say you heard something from God. Verse 1 says, "This is the third time I'm coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established". Well, we can establish that. That's the second witness we've heard. We can establish that right there. And so, you know, don't be afraid to talk to more, maybe more mature Christians. And you got the Scriptures on it, you believe you heard from God, well, if you believe you heard from God, you know, you shouldn't be afraid to say, "Well, I want to lay this before some elders or some". And say, "You know, this is what I think I heard". "Out of the mouth of two or three witnesses, let every word be established".
And then, number seven, and this is something that really got a hold of me this morning. "Boldly obey," and I define boldness as confidence. You know, no matter who was in my office, when my kids were little, they came in the office, went in the refrigerator and sat on my lap right in the middle of an important meeting. It didn't matter. That's boldness, liberty. The liberty and the confidence to proceed. So bold, obedient Christians, they say, "I heard God". Bold, obedient Christians say, "I'm obeying God". Bold, obedient Christians are saying, "And nothing shall move me".