My Sheep Hear My Voice
John 10:27-29 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” NKJV
John 10:3-4 “To Him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear His voice and He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out. And when He brings out His own sheep, He goes before them, and the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice.” NKJV
These are powerful verses! Taking this simple passage and meditating on it day and night will give you great confidence! Think about it. They promise all who are God’s sheep (those who are born again) that they not only can but do hear His voice. Many born-again people doubt the truth of this statement based on their experiences. They don’t think they can hear God’s voice. However, the Word of God is true, not their experiences (Rom. 3:4).
Jesus said His sheep do know His voice. He didn’t say they can know His voice or they should know His voice. He said they do know His voice. I believe the Lord is always speaking, and according to this verse, we do know His voice. So, the problem must be that His voice is being drowned out by all the other voices we hear.
Jesus also that His sheep will not follow the voice of strangers. Notice also that this didn’t say that His lambs hear His voice but His sheep hear His voice. This is saying it’s a sign of maturity when God’s children are able to hear His voice. The sheep hear God’s voice and follow Him, and the lambs follow their parents.
No one can pluck us out of God’s hand or separate us from God (Romans 8:35-39). But this doesn’t say we can’t separate ourselves from the Lord. The Lord doesn’t force us to get saved nor does He force us to stay saved.
The harmony between what this verse says and what our experiences say is that it is our new, born-again spirits that hear God’s voice. Although God has spoken and still does speak in an audible voice at times, very few of us experience this. God speaks to our inner person (spirit), and our inner person hears Him. The problem comes when we aren’t sensitive to or controlled by our spirits but are walking in the vanity of our minds (Eph. 4:17-18). The Bible calls this walking in the flesh instead of the Spirit (Gal. 5:16-18).
Prayer, Bible study, fasting, fellowship, etc., are ways of refocusing our minds’ attention away from the voice of this world and back to the voice of our Shepherd who is constantly communicating with our spirits (Jn 4:24). Start building yourself up in your most holy faith and keep yourself in His love (Jude 1:20). And don’t forget about the fruit of the spirit that’s already in your new born again spirit (Gal. 5:22-23).
That’s the way it is with God’s voice. It’s a still, small voice (1 Kings 19:12). We need to be still and quiet to hear God’s voice (Psalms 46:10). We have the inner witness of the Spirit of God that lets us know God is speaking to us, but we have to be focused and quiet to perceive that witness.
We would encourage you to get alone into a quiet spot or take a walk outdoors. Start communing with the One who truly loves you! With the One who loves you unconditionally as no other could! And listen to His voice. Believe that you can hear it and write down what He tells you. You just might be completely amazed at what He tells you. He might give you a scripture you’ve never heard before. He might give you a new song to sing. He might just fill you with joy like rivers of living water from inside you.