Today we continue our series entitled “Living the Grace Life,” where we will learn to embrace and walk in God’s unmerited, unearned, and often undeserved favor throughout 2025.
Key scriptures for this year:
2 Corinthians? ?9?:?8? ?TPT??
“Yes, God is more than ready to overwhelm you with every form of grace, so that you will have more than enough of everything—every moment and in every way. He will make you overflow with abundance in every good thing you do.”
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??Galatians? ?5?:?4? ?TPT??
“If you want to be made right with God by fulfilling the obligations of the law, you have cut off more than your flesh—you have cut yourselves off from Christ and have fallen away from the revelation of grace!”
Romans? ?6?:?14? ?ERV??
“Sin will not be your master, because you are not under law. You now live under God’s grace.”
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1 Corinthians? ?15?:?10? ?NIV??
“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.”
Additional scriptures for today:
Hebrews 1:1-2 NIV
“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.”
Genesis 12:1-3 NIV
“The LORD had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.'”
1 Samuel 3:10 NIV
“The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ Then Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.'”
Jeremiah 33:3 NIV
“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”
Setting the Stage:
Over the past few days, we’ve been exploring the grace for divine direction. We’ve established that God desires to direct our paths, not because we’ve earned His guidance through good behavior, but because of His unearned and amazing grace.
Today, I want to focus on a crucial aspect of this topic: the grace to hear from God. Before we can follow God’s direction, we must first be able to hear and recognize His voice. Here is a question I get all the time: “Brother Rick, how do I hear God’s voice?” or “How do I know God is speaking to me?” I will discuss this today and tomorrow.
One thing many Christians don’t realize is that most of the great men and women in the Bible who accomplished mighty things for God did so without having access to the written Scriptures as we know them today. In other words, they did not have a Bible. So, when they “stood on a Word from God,” it was NOT the written Word. It was a Word they received from God.
Abraham didn’t have a Bible to consult when he left Ur of the Chaldeans. Moses didn’t find God’s instructions for building the Tabernacle in a book. David didn’t read about his kingship in Scripture before Samuel anointed him. Gideon did not read in the Bible that he was called to be a Mighty Man of Valor! These spiritual giants heard directly from God and acted on what they heard.
This reality should both challenge and encourage us. If they could hear God clearly without the benefit of the complete written Word, how much more should we be able to hear Him with both the written Word AND the indwelling Holy Spirit?
So, what does this mean to you today? A few things.
1. Hearing God Has Always Been About Grace, Not Performance.
Throughout Scripture, we see that God’s choice to speak to individuals was never based on their worthiness but on His sovereign grace and purpose. You can find many cases where God spoke to someone who was NOT living a life that was pleasing in His sight.
How this applies to you:
— Abraham was an idol worshipper in Ur when God first spoke to him. It wasn’t Abraham’s righteousness that qualified him to hear God’s voice; it was God’s grace. When God told Abraham to leave his country and his father’s house (Genesis 12:1), Abraham had done nothing to earn this divine communication or calling. He simply received it by grace and responded by faith.
— Jacob was a deceiver who stole his brother’s birthright, yet God appeared to him in a dream at Bethel. The revelation of Jacob’s ladder (a staircase to heaven) came when he was not living a life that was pleasing in God’s sight. But still, Jacob exclaimed, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it” (Genesis 28:16). In the revelation, God spoke to Jacob and told him that He was the God of his grandfather (Abraham) and father (Isaac). And God said, “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Jacob’s character was flawed at the time, but God spoke to him anyway. God spoke by grace and Jacob received it by faith.
— God called to Moses from a burning bush while Moses was living as a fugitive in Midian. Moses had fled Egypt after killing an Egyptian. He was a murderer. And after 40 years of living in exile, Moses wasn’t exactly on a spiritual high when God spoke to him. It was grace, not Moses’ performance, that prompted God’s communication and the calling.
— Gideon was hiding in a winepress, threshing wheat out of fear, when the angel of the Lord appeared to him. God addressed him as a “Mighty Man of Valor” (Judges 6:12) not because of what Gideon had done, but because of what God’s grace would accomplish through him.
— Samuel was just a boy when God called him. He hadn’t earned the right to hear God’s voice through years of service or spiritual maturity. God simply chose, by His grace, to speak to this young boy who would become a mighty prophet.
— Isaiah saw the Lord “high and lifted up” in the year King Uzziah died (Isaiah 6:1). This divine encounter did not happen because Isaiah had reached a certain level of spiritual performance. No. After seeing what he saw, Isaiah said, “Woe unto me! I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” God reveled Himself to Isaiah because of his calling and purpose, not his goodness.
— Here is the point of all of this: the grace to hear God is not something you earn through religious performance or spiritual discipline. Those things can position you to receive, but the ability to hear God’s voice is a gift of grace, not a reward for good behavior.
2. God’s Grace Enables Us to Recognize His Voice.
The ability to discern God’s voice from among all the other voices that clamor for our attention is a supernatural gift of grace, not a natural ability.
How this applies to you:
— Samuel initially mistook God’s voice for Eli’s voice. It took Eli’s guidance for Samuel to recognize that God was speaking to him. Samuel’s capacity to recognize God’s voice wasn’t innate; it was developed through grace. That’s why Eli instructed him to say, “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:9).
— Elijah recognized God’s voice not in the wind, earthquake, or fire, but in a gentle whisper (1 Kings 19:12). This discernment wasn’t natural; it was supernatural. It was a grace gift that enabled him to recognize God’s presence in the unexpected.
— The disciples on the road to Emmaus walked and talked with the risen Jesus but didn’t recognize Him until their eyes were supernaturally opened (Luke 24:31). The Bible says, “Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.” Their ability to finally recognize Jesus wasn’t about their spiritual maturity. They had been with Jesus for 3.5 years and they still did not know it was Him, until God opened their eyes.
— The grace to recognize God’s voice often comes through unexpected channels. Balaam received divine communication through a donkey (Numbers 22). Joseph received direction through dreams. The wise men were guided by a star. By grace, God speaks in ways we can recognize if our hearts are open to receive.
— God’s grace enables you to develop spiritual sensitivity to discern His voice from the voice of the enemy, the voice of your own desires, and the voices of others. You must filter between thoughts from God, from satan, and from you. This discernment is not automatic; it’s cultivated as you walk with Him and learn to recognize how He speaks to you.
— The grace to hear God often includes a supernatural confidence about what you’ve heard. As the Holy Spirit speaks to your heart, He often provides an inner assurance (a knowing that transcends intellectual understanding) that what you’re hearing is truly from God.
— Many believers today actually hear from God but doubt what they’ve heard because they lack the confidence that God would speak to them. This is another manifestation of performance-based thinking. But I believe you will be delivered from the performance-based mindset, the more I teach you about THE GRACE LIFE.
3. God’s Grace Empowers Obedience to What We Hear.
Hearing God’s voice is only the beginning. We must also respond, in faith, without a doubt, without wavering, to what we hear. This, too, requires grace.
How this applies to you:
— My spiritual father, Pastor Tony Brazelton, taught me, “No Word from God comes without the power to perform it.” In other words, every Word God speaks comes with the grace to bring it to pass. The grace to obey and complete the task is embedded in the very Word you receive from God.
— Noah didn’t just hear God’s instructions to build an ark; he acted on what he heard. The Bible says, “Noah did everything just as God commanded him” (Genesis 6:22). This obedience wasn’t solely a product of Noah’s willpower; it was empowered by God’s grace that came packaged with the instruction.
— Abraham didn’t just hear God’s call to leave Ur; he obeyed. Hebrews 11:8 tells us, “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” This faith-filled obedience was a response to God’s grace embedded within the very call itself. This made Abraham the Father of Faith.
— Mary didn’t just hear the angel’s announcement that she would bear the Messiah; she surrendered to God’s plan, saying, “I am the Lord’s servant. Be it unto me, according to Your Word!” (Luke 1:38). Her surrender wasn’t merely human submission; it was grace-enabled faith that empowered her to get pregnant without having sex.
— The disciples didn’t just hear Jesus’ call to follow Him; they left their nets and followed. This radical obedience wasn’t generated by human determination alone; it was a response to the irresistible grace extended through Christ’s call. The same power that spoke the call gave them the ability to respond.
— Peter didn’t just hear Jesus’ instruction to cast his nets on the other side of the boat; he obeyed despite his professional fisherman’s skepticism. His statement, “Because you say so, I will let down the nets” (Luke 5:5), demonstrates the grace to obey even when it doesn’t make sense. As a result, he hauled in a net-breaking, boat-sinking, load of fish and it caused him to follow Jesus.
— When God spoke the universe into existence, His Word contained the creative power to perform what was spoken. The same principle applies when He speaks to you. His Word isn’t just information; it’s impartation. It carries within it the very grace (creative power and ability) necessary to bring it to pass.
— Living in THE GRACE LIFE means you not only receive the grace to hear God clearly but also recognize that His Word contains everything you need to respond appropriately. This means two things. First, it means you are determined to NOT be a hearer only. You are a committed to being a DOER of the Word you hear. And second, when you do step out in faith, you are not left to obey God in your own strength. The empowerment comes built-in with the instruction.
That’s enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for giving me the grace to hear Your voice clearly without having to earn it through performance.
I declare that my spiritual ears are open to receive Your divine communication, recognizing that You speak to me because of Your goodness, not my worthiness.
Your grace enables me to discern Your voice from all other voices that compete for my attention each day.
I walk in supernatural confidence, knowing that the same grace that helped the heroes of the faith recognize Your voice is working in me.
When You speak, I receive both Your Word and the power to perform it. Every divine instruction comes with the power to bring it to pass.
I am not just a hearer of Your Word but a doer, empowered by the impartation that comes with each instruction You give me.
I am living THE GRACE LIFE in 2025, hearing Your voice distinctly and following Your direction faithfully! Therefore, GREATER IS COMING FOR ME!
I declare this by faith, in Jesus’ name. Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and prosper!
