if you clicked on this video because you want to deepen your connection with God but you don't feel like you're hearing him I want to offer you some help and encouragement today I'll share a quick story from a couple of days ago I was driving back after seeing a friend and as often happens when you're on your own in the car I was reflecting on the conversation I was thinking about what my friend said I was thinking about what I said and you often think of things that you could have said better that would have
like better Illustrated a point or whatever you're trying to get across and there was a part in the conversation where we were talking about work and my friend said oh I feel bad for meeting up with you at the moment because you're so committed to your work and I've found when God gives you blessings you have to ride the momentum so it's only temporary and then you know at the moment my business is doing well and the YouTube videos are doing well so I feel obligated to take the blessings that God is offering me and
run with it so I'm going to continue make the videos as much as I can but this takes time away from maybe your social life and things like that so I was reflecting on that part of the conversation because I felt bad I don't want to make someone feel like they're less important than my work so that was the um the bit of the conversation I was reflecting on and I had a phrase come to mind of something I could have said to the person which is a man's purpose is his work but then I
realized in that moment that isn't my voice that was saying that and I don't even believe it to be true so I'm thinking I could have said this to this person and it isn't even me and the reason I know it isn't me is because I know whose voice it is it's Stephan Aro he's a great author may rest in peace he died at uh quite young I've read loads of his books and the only reason I recognize that thought as being his voice is because I listen to his books as audio books because he's
got a great voice so when that came to mind I could have said that to this person in the conversation a man's purpose is his work that isn't me and I don't even believe it to be true it just kind of fit in the conversation so if you can't hear God's voice this is the reason why in your head you will have three different voices there will be your ego outside influence in the form of somebody else's ego and then God's voice so I hope I can illustrate this point that was that thought I had
was Stephan aro's voice that was an outside influence somebody else's ego in the world then I could have had my ego which was probably what I replied with then there's God's voice which is the truth and that's the one you're trying to hear but at the moment all you're hearing is your own ego and somebody else's ego so this happens all the time and it's very hard to distinguish so and it's hard to distinguish because it's very subtle and they all are in your voice because it's it's your tone that's in your in your own
head so when I had that thought pop up a man's purposes his work it sounded like my voice but because I've heard enough of Stephan ano's books in the audio book it kind of I could hear it in his voice so I was like oh that's not me and I don't believe it to be true so you need to ask yourself how many times are you having thoughts come in which is a voice it's your own voice inside your head but they're not true you don't believe them they're not even your ego and they're not
God speaking this happens all the time when you turn the radio on somebody's song lyrics are penetrating into your mind and that song might be a love song a heartbreak song a rap song where he's talking about drugs and you know degeneracy you know this is true because you'll find yourself 2 Days Later singing that song you might not even like the song but it's repetitive and it ends up in your mind so if you want to hear God's voice clearly you need to discern between these three voices your ego somebody else's ego and God's
voice so to give you another quick little analogy for this imagine you was in a room and there's 10 of you and each version of you is saying something slightly different different if you couldn't see them well even if you could see them cuz they all look like you you're not going to know which is which they've all got your tone of voice and they all look like you but if you sit and observe them for long enough they might all have different um traits that you could pick up on so say say you've got
a friend that you know well they're in your body with your voice and then there's you in your body with your voice you would be able to tell the difference because you know what you're like and you know what your friend's like but they both look the same like agent Smith in The Matrix that's what it's like trying to hear God's voice it sounds like you it's in your head but it's God's voice but it's quite easy to mistake it so a Bible verse that comes to mind is Psalm 37:7 be still before the Lord
and wait patiently I actually went on a little mission to buy the new international version of the Bible just purely for this on line because I think it's beautiful and that's what's required you have to be still and observe whose voice is this is it my ego is it the outside world in the form of somebody else's ego or is it God so the way you do this is basically meditation now prayer is a good way of communicating with God but I've I've struggled with prayer for a long time it never seemed to work for
me and recently I've found a lot of value in prayer but the reason prayer probably isn't going to be the best route to hearing God's voice is because prayer is speaking in itself your own voice so you end up just hearing yourself so you'll say a prayer and then you'll keep talking did I say that right I wonder if the Voice keeps going meditation is different you just be still before the Lord and wait patiently you sit in silence so there's no voice and it's easier if you're in a room where there's five people all
talking over each other you can't tell what any of them are saying but if it was silent and one person speaks you would know instantly who's talking so that's what you do you be still and you wait if you want to pray I I do two types of prayer one type of prayer is where I know what I want to say and I'm not really expecting anything back from God and I'll write out I normally do this in the form of a noena which is n days in a row and it's normally expressing gratitude and
that's the prayer then there's a second type of prayer where I'm actually expecting an answer and I do that before these videos so it would it's a very brief prayer and then you sit in silence for up to about half an hour so you would say heavenly father I'm extremely grateful for the reach that my YouTube videos are having at the moment I pray that you guide me in what to say that will benefit people thank you amen then I'll sit in silence expecting nothing and meditate and I'm being present I'm listening to the birds
I'm listening to my dog behind me running around and I don't expect anything and then usually a voice will come in it might be a line of a book I read so that's somebody else's ego it might be something I said to a friend or or a joke I made that was really funny and I'm quite proud of it oh that's my ego then there's this other voice I had it with a title of a video the other day the her can only take you so far it's time to join God's flock I was like
oh that's a video and then I make the video so sit quietly before the Lord and wait patiently that is how you hear the voice now just to give you example I only make these videos in the morning before I've eaten anything and before I've exposed myself to any other outside influencers as soon as you open your phone and go on YouTube my business requires that I look at comments on Tik Tok and YouTube as soon as I read somebody else's comment as nice as they are I that's somebody else's ego that might change I
now can't hear God's voice so if you was you've probably had this before you you get in somebody's car and they've got the radio on really loud and you're having a conversation and you're sort of competing with the radio you're trying to talk over it I always just think either turn the radio off and we'll talk or we'll just listen to the music there's no point and the same in conversations you might have that one friend who every time you start talking they talk over you that they're not really that bothered about your story so
you just stop talking you doesn't bother you you just just listen to their story and then you go to speak but they talk over you and then you stop because there's no point speaking when somebody's not listening well God is like this if you've got the radio on God's not going to talk to you you know he's not going to compete with the radio if you want to listen to the radio that's fine if you want to talk to God then you need to make time for that God doesn't shout he whispers so if you
got the radio on you're not going to hear him if you're scrolling on uh YouTube or you're watching a YouTube video you're not going to hear him he's not going to compete with you watching a documentary about dolphins do you know what I mean when David aten BR is telling you about dolphins he'll wait but the problem is we never make time when do you meditate when do you sit in silence before the Lord and wait to hear his voice very rarely even when you're praying you're talking do you ever stop for half an hour
you know it might take God half an hour it does like but to realize you're listening oh I'll speak to him now I'll speak to her now this is what I've found so sit quietly just not thinking and not consuming something some form of media whether it's the radio on quietly in the background is fasting you're fasting from outside ego you know the food is a different subject but you got your ego which is a voice in your head other people's ego in the form of books movies you know when you hear a line of
a movie in your head that isn't your ego that is it isn't even the actor's ego it's the the script writer there's a script writer somewhere in the world who's speaking inside your head and then there's the voice of God so we fast from the first to we fast from our own thoughts I'm not going to think I'm going to just be present and we fast from other people's thoughts other people's egos I'm not going to watch a movie I'm not going to listen to the radio and then what's left what's left is silence and
presence and Stillness you wait in Stillness and be patient and then the Lord will come and then that is how you hear God clearly so I hope that helps be still before the Lord and wait patiently speak to you soon
