Does Jesus Talk to You?

CONSECRATE Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.  Jesus, I belong to you. I lift up my heart to you. I set my mind on you. I fix my eyes on you. I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice. Jesus, we belong to you.  Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.  HEAR John 10:7–11 ESV So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. CONSIDER I love this text so much. There is so much to say about it. I want us to push a little further into the chapter and cover this question of the day—Does Jesus talk to you? At verse 27 of this tenth chapter Jesus says: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me" (KJV). What does it mean to listen to the voice of Jesus? On the one hand, I know a lot of people who consider it ridiculous that Jesus would actually talk to people today. On the other hand, I know a lot of people who insist Jesus talks to them constantly and about everything from what to wear to where to go on vacation. What do you think? Does Jesus speak to people today? Does he speak to you? Here’s my understanding: Jesus speaks through his Word and Jesus speaks through the Holy Spirit. So how do we know if what we are hearing is actually from Jesus and not just what we want to believe Jesus is saying to us? Here are a few guidelines to consider. First, is what you are hearing consistent with what Jesus has already said as recorded in the Gospels? If what you are hearing is inconsistent with the revelation of Scripture, then you are probably not hearing from Jesus. One of the great gifts of the Gospels is we are given a trustworthy record from which to understand the kinds of things Jesus says. Does what you are hearing sound like what Jesus might say? Second, does what you are hearing create anxiety within you? If so, you might want to question it. The words of Jesus carry peace. They do not create confusion and anxiety. In fact, a sign that Jesus is speaking to us may well be an abiding sense of peace that doesn’t even make sense to us. Third, does what you are hearing from Jesus find resonance with the discernment of other believers whom you trust? In my own experience, this conviction is ever deepening: Jesus is always speaking. Why do I believe this? Because every time I manage to get really still and attentive and find myself humbly submitted to him, I hear his voice. Here’s what I don’t understand about myself: Why am I not constantly finding this place and posture of listening? I don’t have a good answer. The great Methodist missionary to India E. Stanley Jones often referenced his practice of going to his “listening post.” Here’s what I like about that: it demonstrates expectation. I find the more I actually expect to hear from Jesus, the more I hear from him. PRAY Abba Father, we thank you for your Son, Jesus, whose word is truth. Thank you that he continues to speak through his recorded words, and thank you that he speaks to us through the gift of the Holy Spirit. Increase our expectation of hearing his voice. We pray in Jesus’s name, amen.