Bill Johnson teaches on our design to hear God’s voice in Session 2 of The Pursuit of Wisdom devotional series. It’s in our nature to hear the voice of God. God is speaking to us in so many different ways, but we often limit our ability to hear Him by speaking over ourselves that it’s difficult or impossible to hear Him. What Solomon asked God for in 1 Kings 3 was an “understanding heart”, which actually means a “hearing heart”. The prayer for wisdom is a prayer to hear the voice of God. Join Bill Johnson for The Pursuit of Wisdom devotional series; a journey through the book of Proverbs. This weekly study will take you through Proverbs, focussing on a new chapter each session. Learn keys for walking in biblical wisdom so that you would reign in life, leading and serving those around you well. Growing in divine wisdom is key to walking in the fullness of God’s purposes for our lives. Subscribe for the full series. The Pursuit of Wisdom Series (new videos added weekly):    • The Pursuit of Wisdom Devotional | Bi…   Subscribe for weekly videos: https://bit.ly/bjmYoutube

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Scripture References: 1 Kings 3 Song of Solomon 5: 2 Proverbs 6: 6 John 10: 27 Ezekiel 47: 12 Bill Johnson is a fifth-generation pastor with a rich heritage in the Holy Spirit. He is senior leader of Bethel Church in Redding, California, and is passionate about seeing Revival and God’s Kingdom established and revealed in the lives of individuals, families, communities, and nations. Bill’s teaching on the Kingdom of Heaven, hosting the Presence, and the renewed mind has helped thousands around the world to step into their true identity in Christ, God given purpose, and walk in a supernatural lifestyle displaying both purity and power. #BillJohnson #BethelChurch #Devotional #GodsVoice #Wisdom

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you were designed to hear from God it is

your nature Jesus said my sheep hear my

voice the very fact that I am a child of

God means he created in me a capacity to

hear him everything about me is wired to

hear from God it’s just we’re accustomed

to hearing an audible voice from another

human being and we call that hearing

from God not realizing that God speaks

to us in so many different

ways

hey welcome back glad uh glad that

you’re joining us I want you to turn uh

in your bibles if you have a Bible with

you to First Kings chapter 3 as the

verse I alluded to last uh last week uh

and I want you to see what actually

happened in Solomon’s life and this is

such a fascinating story to me we know

that Solomon was given an option a

choice middle of the night God shows up

and he has this uh opportunity to choose

anything that he wants and it’s it’s an

extraordinary moment in his life but how

it came about and what he actually asked

for was quite surprising uh to me so

let’s just jump right into it it’s uh

we’re going to go right to um actually

verse three of chapter 3 is what I want

to read first because it sets us up it

says Solomon loved the Lord walking in

the statutes of his father David except

that he sacrificed and burned incense on

the high places man you don’t want to

have God put an accept and accept he did

this uh uh about our lives and Solomon

um was copying other nations instead of

following the biblical patterns of

worship he adopted the Styles the

practices of surrounding Nations who

actually worshiped false gods and even

though he worshiped the most high God on

these high places at least initially um

it was uh the worship of self-will not

surrender and so it’s just a good thing

for us to take note of now jump to verse

7 we’ll get into the actual encounter

that Solomon had verse 7 now oh Lord my

God you have made your servant King

instead of My Father David and I’m a

little child I do not H know how to go

out or to come in your servant is in the

midst of your people whom you have

chosen a great people too numerous to be

numbered or counted there therefore give

your servant an understanding heart to

judge your people that I may be uh that

I may discern between good and evil for

who is able to judge this great people

of yours this speech pleased the Lord

the Solomon uh had asked this thing and

God said because you’ve asked for this

and you’ve not asked for long life for

yourself for riches etc etc he’s going

to give him exactly what he asked for

and here’s the interesting thing verse

15 says then Solomon awoke so this tells

me then that all of this happened while

he’s sleeping he’s sleeping and he has

this

encounter that’s amazing to me that God

would actually trust Solomon to make a

decision that would affect the rest of

his life and the entire nation of Israel

he trust him with a decision in his

sleep Solomon would later coin this

phrase right it in Song of Solomon

this phrase though I sleep yet my heart

is awake here’s the first thing that I

want you to pick out of this story it is

possible to be so entirely devoted to

one reason for being that it actually

becomes a part of how you think how you

sleep decisions you make subconsciously

not just the intentional discipline

decisions but the spontaneous the

eruptions of the Soul they are actually

consistent with this main reason for

being and Solomon was so can I say

married to this hunger for wisdom that

his dad trained him for that when he was

given this opportunity God could

actually trust him to make a decision in

his sleep and the lord gave him exactly

what he asked for that Supernatural

wisdom but back up in the story I want

you to see one other thing here that I

think is uh I think is pretty critical

it’s in verse 9 he says therefore give

your servant an understanding heart I

was looking that up in fact in the uh

column in my uh Study Bible here it says

that that understanding heart it

literally is a

hearing heart think about this The

Prayer for

Wisdom is actually God give me a hearing

ear give me a heart that hears your

voice that’s extraordinary because what

that’s implying then is there’s not just

wisdom that becomes resonant in me but

wisdom becomes the manifestation of my

continual hearing from the father that’s

critical for us to understand that we

need continuous fellowship with the Lord

to stay current in our wisdom it reminds

me a whole lot of uh of the subject of

faith that faith comes by hearing it

doesn’t say faith comes from having

heard it’s not pointing back to a past

experience Faith by nature is a

manifestation of present Fellowship of

present engagement with God and that’s

what Solomon was praying for he was

saying God give me a hearing ear give me

an ear uh for your voice so that I can

stay in tune to what you’re saying what

you’re thinking what you have purposed

and planned uh for this great nation I

love his uh I love Solomon’s love for

Israel I love how impressed is with with

really if I can put it this way with his

dad’s success his dad’s work he admired

his father’s father was a man of war

Solomon was a man of Peace so it wasn’t

that he had the responsibility to copy

or mimic his dad he just needed to build

upon what his dad had accomplished and

that’s how we honor forefathers it’s not

trying to mimic I I don’t need to try to

mimic my dad I just need to honor what

he accomplished and then build on it you

know take it where he didn’t have time

to go and that in a sense is what

Solomon is doing here in this great

great story so he prays and the Lord

gives him the opportunity to have

whatever he wants and he prays for a

hearing

ear uh most Christians that I

know don’t think they hear very

well there’s not very many Believers

that I know that think they hear from

the Lord that well and we tend to almost

shoot ourselves in the foot by the way

we esteem our own ability and capacity

to hear Let me just I’m going to wrap

this session up with this thought you

were designed to hear from God it is

your nature Jesus said my sheep hear my

voice the very fact that I am a child of

God means he created in me a capacity to

hear him everything about me is wired to

hear from God it’s just we’re accustomed

to hearing an audible voice from another

human being and we call that hearing

from God not realizing that God speaks

to us in so many different ways a subtle

impressions of the heart we’re probably

more accustomed to that one but he often

speaks through unusual circumstances or

strange coincidences and things of that

nature just to capture our attention

Proverbs Solomon says hey if you’re lazy

go to The Ant and learn watch the ant so

the point is he is speaking through

nature itself there are things that are

happening all around us in nature the

way that plants grow I’ve got a plant

right outside right now that is growing

12 months of the year it’s a flower

irises they grow 12 months of the year

here uh we’ve never had that before we

don’t know what happened but last year

it started growing it’s it’s something

that testifies to me that the grace and

the blessing of God can bring life any

time that he wants to bring life that’s

why in Ezekiel you’ve got trees that

bear fruit 12 months of the year what’s

the point is that you and I live because

he speaks and we are designed to hear

and so my prayer is that your capacity

your awareness of your ability to hear

would increase that not only together

would we continue to hear the nudging

the directions The Inspirations of the

Holy Spirit but that we would become

more and more confident in our ability

to hear from God because what he wants

to birth in the Earth is going to be

through a group of people that truly

truly yield to the Lord and to his voice

that’s our great thrill next week we’re

going to take a look at it’s it’s going

to sound like a little bit of a

deviation but it’s in The Sermon on the

Mount where Jesus talks about us being

the salt of the earth I want to talk to

you about that and get you ready for our

exploration of the Book of Proverbs so

join us again next week