The Voice of God

Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?  Then I said, "Here am I.  Send me!"  Isaiah 6:8



When I stop to think about what God's voice really sounds like the first thought that pops into my head is "the voice of many waters" as it is described in Revelation.  I imagine if I were to audibly hear the voice of God I would faint but just because my human ears can't hear Him is irrelevant in my Christian walk.  If I am truly His child then my spirit can hear Him, the Holy Spirit, speaking to me.  Many times I have to say it is indeed a still small voice and I so quickly dismiss it and later regret it.  
So how do we know it's the voice of God speaking to us in a certain situation?  First we must ask ourselves how familiar are we with His Word? If we aren't reading it daily trying to know more and more of it then we are in danger of confusing the voice of God with something else.  Then we must ask ourselves how much time have we spent in prayer with the Lord recently?  Prayer is perhaps the greatest struggle of my Christian walk, at least at this point, because I let myself get distracted so easily.  However, I am striving and have seen fruit this past week.  I want to teach my little girl who to rely on and I want her to see my praying to my heavenly Father and trusting in Him.  
God will never speak to us something that contradicts His word and anyone, even if it's a preacher, who tells you different is wrong.  God's word is Holy and infallible and it never contradicts itself, although there are many who would argue that point.  We as Christians should search the scriptures for ourselves and pray first of all before seeking outside council.  When we get alone with God and truly seek, then we shall find.  It's a promise!
"The call of God is the expression of God's nature, not of our nature", said Oswald Chambers.  We can only hear the voice of God clearly if the same nature is in us. For many years I totally misunderstood the verse which ends, "and God will give you the desires of your heart."  Today I've come to understand that it was never about me getting what I wanted in life, it was about God conforming me to His ways so that my desires would match up with His desires.  To an unbeliever that sounds like no fun at all but I can't adequately describe what peace that brings to my life.  I can truly understand, although not condone, why people drink to excess.  This life is tough and going through it thinking we have to do it all on our own is a stress the Lord does not want His children to bear.   It's never fun to confront our own flesh and the sin that lives within us but the Bible does teach us that it's better for us to do it in the privacy of our own prayer closets than for someone else to confront us with it. May we examine ourselves to see what is hindering us from clearly hearing the voice of God in our own lives.