Hearing Gods Voice part 3: Blocks to Hearing God

(For part 1 click here)
(For part 2 click here)

This is the transcript for the video I made here: HGV Part 3: Blocks

And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. ~ Jeremiah 29:13

Hearing God’s voice gets better over time with practice. It’s going to take effort and sacrifice and this is where some people will give up. Sadly some who have given up mistakenly think God doesn’t love them, and even worse some become atheists. Don’t give up and I promise you, and He promises you, you will get through and it will be worth it.

In our imperfection we have blocks that we are not aware of that prevents us from hearing Him. You will have to have humility, faith and determination to face these blocks and change and grow. We all have them. It’s an ongoing process of growth in Him from glory to glory. He never said it would be easy but it would be worth it.
“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” ~ 2 Cor 3:18

Some things that may block you from hearing God:

Cessationism:
Some believe that Holy Spirit gifts ended with the apostles. They don’t believe that God still speaks to us today. They believe God said all He has to say in the Bible and that He doesn’t need to speak to us any further. There is no biblical support for this belief and in fact the Bible teaches the opposite:

“so that you do not lack any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8 He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” 1 Cor 1:7,8

Jesus says in John 14:18 “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” The comforter is the Holy Spirit. If he took away the Holy Spirit from us that would be leaving us comfortless and he would never do that to us. The holy spirit is here to look after us until Jesus returns.

Cessationists use this scripture to try prove their belief:
“8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.” 1 Cor 13:8-10
So….it says the gifts will pass away when the perfect comes. So what is the perfect? The perfect is when Jesus returns and makes all things new again and at that point we won’t need the gifts anymore to do his ministry. We are not at that time yet. We still need to do his ministry and we need the help of the gifts and the Holy Spirit to do it. Cessationism doesn’t make sense.

The cessationism belief comes from Pride and the religious spirit. When people had trouble hearing from God themselves they weren’t humble enough to to look in the mirror at what they might be doing wrong and instead, in their pride, they said “well if we can’t hear from God, nobody can” and then they twisted scripture to support their belief. They are there the ones that Jesus talked about when he said they shut up the kingdom of heaven and they don’t go in and they don’t let anyone else go in.

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.” Matthew 23:13

Also why would God allow people that follow demons to do signs and wonders and not His own people?
“The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,” 2 Thes 2:9
Why do we believe in and fear demonic power more than Gods? It’s because that’s what satan wants! He doesn’t want us to know the power we have in Jesus. He doesn’t want us to have a relationship with God.

Asking the wrong question:
Such as asking a question with a false premise. I’ll give you an example. If you say “why don’t you love me?” how can He answer that? He does love you. If you’re not hearing an answer, ask Him “What is the right question?”. He also sometimes won’t tell you something that you already know and don’t want to face. We block out things we don’t want to hear. We have to ask humbly, and be willing to accept whatever His answer may be, even though it may be painful.

Unforgiveness.
You must forgive others as God forgave you. When you do you are acknowledging that you are not better than God. If He who has every right to not forgive, forgives out of love, we must forgive too. Now in saying that, it doesn’t mean that what the person did was ok and it doesn’t mean you let the person keep hurting you. Not at all. You have the right to protect yourself. But do not be vengeful. Hand them over to God. Vengeance is His and He will repay them according to their works. He is the God of justice. To make sure you have truly forgiven them, say a prayer for them too.
(Read the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:23-35)

Having a bad image of God in your mind/ feeling unworthy.
You might have been taught that God is distant or a tyrant. You might have had a bad father and don’t know what a loving father is like. Whatever the reason, if you have a bad image of God you may have trouble hearing Him. The solution is to read His word and get to know Him.
The devil would like you to think that God doesn’t love you. That is a lie. Believe that He loves you and is with you because that is the truth. If you are a parent you know how much you love your children. Well You are His child and He loves you even more than how much you love your children. He loves you unconditionally. He loved you first.
Psalm 103:13-14 “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.”
“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Rom 8:38,39
I like to imagine myself as a young child running up to Him and He joyfully lifts me up in His arms. That is my image of God. I have been blessed to experience Him like that too. I do bow down to Him in reverence and awe too but when I need Him as a father He wraps me up in His love and I know He views all of you listening the same way.

“The Lord your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.” Zeph 3:17

He knocks on the door of your heart, it’s up to you to let Him in. Ask Him to come into your heart and show you His love.

Resenting God.
If you have any hatred anger or resentment towards God of any kind, you need to reject that and ask forgiveness for thinking that way. Can you imagine having a good relationship with someone that unjustly resents you?! We can’t and neither can God.
Everything He does for us and allows to happen to us is out of love. Even if we don’t understand why, it is true and faith is needed. Sometimes faith (trust) is all that is needed for the answer to become clear as to the why.
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Rom 8:28
And in saying that I don’t take it lightly at all if you have been through terrible trials or abuse or suffering. I have too. Maybe not the same thing as yours or as bad as yours, but I have been many times in places so dark to the point I wanted to die and attempted suicide. God doesn’t take it lightly either. But you can’t blame Him for it. He is the one who sent His only son to die a tortuous death to save us from all this! His love is real and proven for all time and we must trust Him! When Job questioned God about his suffering, God reminded Job that He created all things and His wisdom is beyond our human understanding. We just have to trust Him. The answers will come sooner or later. (Read Job chapters 38 – 40)

Sin.
Unrepented sins and continuing to willfully sin will hinder our prayers.
“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2). David said: “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” (Psalm 66:18).
If you have any unconfessed sin you need to confess to God in prayer everything you have done with true repentance and receive His forgiveness and believe you are forgiven. True repentance involves stopping the sin. I know we are not perfect but we must make every effort to stop the sin. Get help from others if you need to, whatever it takes.
“If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.” ~ Matt 5:29,30
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” ~ 1 John 1:9
“The LORD is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.” Prov 15:29
“The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” James 5:16

Pride / Selfish Motives.
God isn’t our magic genie! He is not there just to grant our wishes. He is our loving Father and wants a relationship with us. He will only grant us things that are within His loving will for us. Ask Him often what His will is. What He would like us to do, instead of always just telling Him what we want. Humbly ask Him where we are going wrong and to correct us and teach us.
“When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” James 4:3

“God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” 1 pet 5:5

God wants us to be 100% sold out for Him. He knows our heart and can see if we are selfish.
37 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:37–40

Doubt:
“without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” Hebrews 11:6
“But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” ~ James 1:6-8
“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” – 1 John 5:14,15

Fear:
Fear of what God is asking you to do or might ask you to do. We need to trust in God that whatever He asks us to do, He will also give us the means to do it. Trust in Him and obey. Don’t be like the rich young ruler who refused to give up his money and follow Jesus. Don’t run away like Jonah. If you have run away, don’t be afraid to come back to Him and seek forgiveness. He is graceful. God is faithful and won’t give up on you. He is there waiting for you to obey and come back to Him.

Fear not, for I am with you;
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you,
Yes, I will help you,
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
~ Isaiah 41:10

Abuse.
If you are abusive to your wife, your husband, your children, or anyone else, God will not hear you. God hates abuse and calls us to love our neighbor – which includes those in our family! Give special honor to those who are weaker than you. We have a duty to help those in need if we are able to, and never to abuse them!
“Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers” 1 Peter 3:7.
Jesus says: ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ – Matt 25:40

Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor Will also cry himself and not be heard. – Proverbs 21:13

Your own rules:
Don’t make rules for God, like: “I will believe when you appear in front of me” or “speak to me audibly”. God has many ways of communicating and He can talk to us however He pleases.
Many people have found that God has spoken to them before and they didn’t realise it was Him because they had rules about how they thought it should happen. For example, if you’ve ever heard a warning in your mind or had a gut feeling about a dangerous situation, that was probably Him. I did.
Long before I became christian, I was at the traffic lights and they turned green for me to go. Something in me told me to stop and paralyzed me. A car then sped in front of me. They were running the red light. It would have killed me. I didn’t know then, but it was God. He was with me my whole life. He revealed truth to me which eventually saved me out of the cult I was raised in. I didn’t know it was Him at the time. But it was. He is calling you too. You just need to listen.

“Going through the Wilderness”

(Please note Ive updated this section on the wilderness because I had it wrong, Ive corrected it now. Im sorry for the mistake!)

If you usually hear from God but go through times when you don’t hear from Him, this is often referred to as going through the wilderness. People use this as an explanation for not hearing Gods voice, but this is not exactly true. The wilderness is a time where God allows your faith to be tested through trials and temptations. All of God’s prophets in bible went through it including Jesus who went to the wilderness for 40 days where He was tempted.

God is not silent when we go through the wilderness! He will never leave you or forsake you!

Don’t fear these times because He is ALWAYS with you no matter what, even when you can’t sense Him. He still loves you. He’s not punishing you. Stay faithful to Him and He will stay faithful to you. You will come out of it much stronger than you imagined you could be. Keep trying to hear His voice and dont give up.

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. 8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.” 2 Cor 4:7-10

“Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord!” Ps 27:14

Conclusion: 
That’s all the blocks to hearing God that I can think of. If you’re still having trouble, pray and ask God to show you where you’re going wrong.

I hope I haven’t left anything out. I probably have! Please comment below if you have any other blocks and share how you overcame them. And comment if you have any questions. Thanks for listening!

Blocks to Hearing God Summary:

– Cessationism
– Asking the wrong question
– Unforgiveness
– Having a bad image of God in your mind/ feeling unworthy
– Resenting God
– Sin
– Pride / Selfish Motives
– Doubt
– Fear
– Abuse
– Your own rules
– Wilderness