When its hard to hear - 

• Have you asked Him?
  • how many times - "have you talked to God about this?"  "Well no”
  • 7"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8"For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9"Or whatman is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? 10"Or if he asks for a fish,he will not give him a snake, will he? 11"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!
• Doubt - it is unavoidable but it should not go unchallenged 
  • What are God’s promises?
    • John 10:27
    • Jeremiah 33:3
    • Matt 7:7 - Ask you will receive - Seek you will find - 
  • What is God’s Character? - How does He feel about you?  
    • Matt 7:10 - if you ask for something good He will give it to you
    • James 1:5 - if any of you lack wisdom ASK
      • God will give you advice 
      • God will not find fault!
    • John 17:23 - 23I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.
  • Return to a promise you CAN believe and use it as a safe place to move forward
  • Was that me or just my imagination? - 
    • this question is not helpful - “Is it true?” 
    • God will use your imagination as a screen upon which to project his voice
       
• Static - those other voices we talked about last week can act as static to make it hard to hear the Lord
  • find a place - 
    • a quiet place or at least a place where it is easier to concentrate
    • turn off your phone / tv / radio
    • maybe play wordless music
    • for me I need moving air and natural light if possible
  • be ruthless with the static - if one of those other voices intrudes deal with it quickly
    • note pad - write it down to get it out of your head
    • if the enemy is saying things then SHUT HIM UP - 
    • if you have not eaten or you aren’t feeling well go eat something take a nap!
    • if you are emotionally compromised it is not a good time to try and hear God - just go to Him and let Him heal and calm your heart THEN try and get direction!
       
• You may be hearing God and just not realizing it - Balaam’s donkey - the angel etc.
  • God often speaks in pictures and memories
    • when a picture or a memory pops into your head ask Jesus - is that you?  Especially if it won’t go away
    • Then ask him to interpret it for you - or take it to someone else for interpretation
      • some of the most powerful words I’ve ever received I could not interpret without help.
  • Coincidence
    • there truly is no such thing as luck or happenstance
    • Psalm 37:23 the steps of a righteous man are ordered of the Lord
  • Wise Counsel
    • Prov 11:14
• Has he already answered this question?
  • Sometimes the Lord will not answer again a second time if he has already answered and we did not obey
• Do you really want to hear?
  • sometimes there are things the Lord wants to talk to us about and we do not want to hear the answer.
  • we are afraid
  • we are ashamed
  • we are sensitive
  • we are rebellious
  • we don’t want to do what we know the Lord wants us to do
• Tuning in - Jesus is there anything you have wanted to say to me that I have refused to hear?