There we sat in Ciego de Ávila, Cuba over a bowl of Cuban congri (black beans and rice) discussing life, liberty, and the pursuit of each other. Like often times I had a moment, so I randomly asked one of the ladies, “How do you best receive what God is communicating to you?”
Startled and with eyes wide open she responded, “I go into my room, turn on worship music and read my Bible.”
Feeling like something was coming, I asked, “Okay, do you know why you hear God’s voice best that way?”
“Because I’ve always heard Him like that–maybe because I’m focused on Him?” she responded in a questionable manner.
“Well, you’re expectant to hear Him speak and you’re in a controlled environment, one that you’ve created to quiet the rest of the world around you. You see, those two things are key in ‘hearing’ God’s voice.”
“Let me ask, do you think you can hear the voice of God in the uncontrolled environment of life just as well as you do in your room? For example, when life is on edge and the world is going crazy around you, when there’s a million voices in your ear and you don’t know left from right, do you think you can hear Him speak as clearly as you do in your room?”
With the most thoughtful look on her face, she pondered for a bit then replied, “Well, yeah, I think so. But the problem is, I already have enough trouble spending time with God every day in my room.”
“I understand what you mean, but let me ask you again. Do you think you can hear the voice of God in the uncontrolled environment of life just as well as you hear His voice in your room?”
“Yeah, but I have a hard enough time hearing His voice in my room. That’s where I’m stuck.”
“Well, what we have to understand first is that the controlled environment of our room is where we build our foundation with the Lord. That’s where we learn Him and He learns us. The controlled environment is the necessary ‘secret place’ (Matthew 6:6, John 1:48) – it’s the desolate places that Jesus visited to pray (Luke 5:16, Luke 6:12-16, Matthew 14:23-25). All of our lives will flow from that secret place, from the abundance of it or the lack thereof. You see, going into the controlled environment of our room is primary to anything else in knowing God–it’s where we begin to have uninterrupted relationship with Him, where our foundation is built, and all life flows from that place.”
She sat there and pondered deeply and I eventually rattled off with something that caught even myself off guard. As soon as the words leapt from my mouth I tried to grab them and put them back in. I had no idea where I was going!
“Do you know the secret to hearing God’s voice in every situation?”
All she had was, “I have no idea.”
Almost gasping for air, I leaned in and everything within me said, “Lord, you have to take this one because I’m at a loss–I have no idea what I’m saying.”
It’s almost as if the faucet of heaven opened up in that exact moment–– “The secret to hearing God’s voice in every situation is learning to simply enJOY His presence. You see, joy is a relationship word–when we are with Him, we know Him, and joy is the fruit of that union. In the controlled or uncontrolled environments of life, we must learn to enjoy Him to receive from Him. Jesus came for great reason (Luke 19:10), and He left so that we could be filled with Holy Spirit (John 16:7-11). Holy Spirit was blown into us (John 20:21-23) with great purpose. God didn’t send Holy Spirit for just the few controlled environments of life like church, ‘quiet time’, or Bible study; we were filled with Holy Spirit to be guided, comforted, to receive, and to give freely out of that abundance in every moment (John 16:12-15)–in every controlled and uncontrolled moment, which happens to be about 99% of our lives.
God loves you deeply and trusts you enough to give you what He holds most dear–His Spirit. Knowing that you’re continually being filled with Holy Spirit and entrusted with Him, you can know that you’re never alone (because Holy Spirit is in you) and you’re loved, loved to the core of your existence. Out of that place, we learn to enJOY God’s presence with and within us. Learning to enJOY His presence quiets our spirit just enough to receive what He has to say–no matter if we’re in the controlled environment of our room or in the crazy and uncontrolled environment that we call life.”
Read no further–take three minutes to simply quiet your spirit and enjoy His presence.
That is the secret to receiving from Him in any moment.
The more you learn to enjoy the presence of God, the more you are connected with Him. The more you are connected with Him, the more you are filled with Him, thus the more you enjoy Him and in-turn become like Him.
Now go, enJOY Him.
If you’re looking for some direction when it comes to learning how to enjoy the presence of God, I made a beginners guide for you: How to Hear God’s Voice.
