Hearing the Voice Of The Lord
1 Samuel 3:19-21
19 And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.
20 And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the LORD.
21 And the LORD appeared again in Shiloh: for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the LORD.
Samuel, from the time he was a young lad knew how to hear the voice of the Lord.
In the day that we live in, God is raising up people who know how to hear and apply the message He gives.
Samuel had a Godly mother who was going to keep her vow, what she told the Lord she would do she did.
There was committment to keep her child in the house of God.
Samuel, from the time of his childhood, had been taught to listen and apply.
1 Samuel 3:1-11
1 And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in those days; there was no open vision.
2 And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see;
3 And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep;
4 That the LORD called Samuel: and he answered, Here am I.
5 And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I called not; lie down again. And he went and lay down.
6 And the LORD called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And he answered, I called not, my son; lie down again.
7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, neither was the word of the LORD yet revealed unto him.
8 And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the LORD had called the child.
9 Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, LORD; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.
11 And the LORD said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle.
Samuel, from the time of his youth served in the temple.
The Word of the Lord, during this time, was precious (rare) and there was no open vision.
If you look in the last chapter, you will see there were Prophetic utterances that were given, God was getting ready to establish the office of the Prophet.
There were Prophets, but God was setting up a government on how to train those whom He had called into this office.
The Priesthood, during this time, was corrupt and the nation was without spiritual leadership.
It says in 1 Samuel verse three, “And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep;”
This means that the golden lampstand, which had to be resupplied with oil morning and night, had been neglected.
We could take this as not to let our oil run out of our lamps as Christians.
When we do, we will not be able to see clearly.
The Lord called Samuel in verse 4, “That the LORD called Samuel: and he answered, Here am I.”
The Lord called Samuel three times and Eli told him if He called the fourth time, he told him what to say:
1 Samuel 3:9-10
9 Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, LORD; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.
We need teachers to rise up and tell the generation coming up how to apply what the Lord speaks.
Ho 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
Knowledge is what we need to be taught!
We need Knowledge about God’s Word!
Pr 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
In the Hebrew it says (in His way)
Just as Samuel needed to learn how to apply what he had heard, we need teachers to rise up and teach the young people how to hear and apply His message to them.
We live in a generation of the Prophetic, sometimes it looks like the pathetic, but we live in a day where God is calling our names and He has a job for us to do.
Acts 2:14-18
14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
If God is giving dreams and visions, don’t you think He will give an understanding?
We need teachers to rise up who have heard Him speak in these ways and start to declare them to other people that they might understand what is happening.
The generation that we live in: This is that which was Prophesied and preached about.
Now let us go to our opening scripture
1 Samuel 3:19-21
19 And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.
20 And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the LORD.
21 And the LORD appeared again in Shiloh: for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the LORD.
Samuel was a Prophet of the Lord and that which he heard he was going to speak, and they happened.
I have heard others make bold predictions they said God said and at first I was intrigued, but I noticed a pattern, nothing ever happened the way they said it was going to happen.
Now when they speak I just think to myself- “yeah right”.
Even though there had been Prophets in Israel, Samuel was the first to stand in this established office.
Throughout the balance of Israel’s history, the Lord led them through the ministry of the Prophet.
While some of the announcements of the Prophets were predictions, their ministry was mostly a ministry of rightousness.
They were called to whip the nation into shape.
God is still calling Prophets today:
Ephesians 4:11-13
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
I still believe in the five-fold ministry: apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
This is for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Until we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
That will not happen until the return of Jesus!
I have entitled this today: “Hearing the Voice of the Lord”
Dream 6-21-09
I dreamed that my ears were clean, real clean and I could hear really well.
Interpretation
Our ears need to be clean so we can hear what God is speaking in the generation that we live in.
At different times in my walk with the Lord, I have heard my name called in the nighttime hours.
As I talk to others, they have had the same thing happen, but they did not realize what was going on.
Church, this is that which was Prophesied and preached about, we are not drunk as some might think.
Samuel from the time of his childhood learned to grow in the Lord!
Are we growing in the Lord today?
Are we applying the message to our walks?
God, at different times has tried to get peoples’ attention and they need to learn to listen to what He is saying.
Job 33:14-18
14 For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not.
15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed;
16 Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction,
17 That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man.
18 He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword.
Are your ears cleaned out so you can hear if the Lord speaks to you?
Are you hearing clearly?
Closing
If you have ever heard your name called out, please stand.
If you would like to hear the Lord today, stand, and come around the Altars.
Open up your Word and you will see that He has been and is still speaking.
Oh, be careful little ears what you hear,
Oh, be careful little ears what you hear,
For the Father up above is looking down in love,
Oh, be careful little ears what you hear,
If you are interested in seeing some God given dreams given to me and others in our church go to:
http://www.ourchurch.com/member/w/windoffaithdrea/
Go to the new text page for the God given dreams.
