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): 
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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