Praying His Will

Praying His Will

My sheep recognize my voice. John 10:27, TLB

IN THE LIFE OF FAITH, we are assaulted with doubts every step of the way. We want to pray according to God’s will but question whether we understand it. We anchor our prayers in his promises but wonder whether we are interpreting them correctly. We seek confirmation from other sources—a convergence of internal and external voices that affirm what we think we’ve heard from God—but then wonder if these converging voices were a coincidence and ask for further confirmation. If we are ever going to arrive at a place of faith, we will have to trust that we have the ability to hear God’s voice. Or to put it another way, we have to trust that his ability to speak to us is greater than our own ability to be deceived.

It isn’t easy to get comfortable with that thought, but it’s true. The world is full of voices, and all the while we have been hearing God’s voice in the midst of them. The issue isn’t whether we can hear him; it’s whether we can recognize which voice is his. But over time, with practice and trial and error, we can learn to hear what he is saying to us. We don’t have to offer up prayers that are like shots in the dark. We can ask him if a certain prayer is aligned with his will, hear his affirmation or redirection, and then pray accordingly.

Jesus understands our frustration and gave us an illustration of sheep recognizing the unique voice of their shepherd. It doesn’t happen immediately; they have to grow accustomed to his or her distinctive sound. But when they do, all other voices become general noise. They are tuned to the shepherd’s alone.

That’s our goal when we pray. We want to isolate his voice, engage in conversation about the right and wrong things to pray, and then pray with confident faith. He assures us that we can, and when we hear his voice in our hearts—an application of a promise to a specific situation, a timely sermon or article, a Spirit-filled conversation that addresses our question—we can invest our faith there. And we can know we are praying according to his will.

It is essential that we acquire the habit of hearkening to his voice.