Striving for Holiness: Hearing God — In the Word, the Silence, and Prayer

Psalm 119:1–16

This Sunday, Pastor Joe continued the Striving for Holiness series with the beginning of a message on hearing God—in the Word, the silence, and prayer.

The service itself began differently than usual. Before preaching, Pastor Joe sensed the need to stop and simply allow the church to pray for one another. Those who needed prayer stood where they were, and others gathered around them.

It was a practical continuation of the previous week’s message about living as a corporate body of believers.

As Pastor Joe prayed:

“We come together corporately to pray for one another as Your Word has commanded.”

That time of prayer also introduced the central question behind this message:

Does God still speak to His people?

Pastor Joe’s answer was yes.

There are differing views among Christians about how God speaks today, and he acknowledged those differences with respect. But for this first part of the message, he focused on the place where every believer should be able to stand together:

God speaks through His Word.

“I wait for the Lord; I wait and put my hope in his word.”
— Psalm 130:5

Pastor Joe emphasized that whatever else we may believe about hearing from God, Scripture must remain foundational.

“May we never sway from this Word. May it be foremost.”

The Bible Is Not Merely a Source of Religious Information

It is God’s revealed Word, through which He makes Himself, His character, His purposes, and His will known.

Pastor Joe summarized several things the Word of God reveals to us:

• It reveals the cosmos as God’s creation and design.
• It reveals man as the intended image bearer of God.
• It reveals the nature of man.
• It reveals the character of God.
• It reveals the completion of God’s work of redemption.
• It reveals a way to live life, giving light in darkness.

The Word Reveals God

One of those truths becomes especially important as we consider what it means to hear from God: the Word reveals the character of God.

That becomes essential whenever someone claims to have heard from God.

Pastor Joe explained that God will never reveal something that contradicts the character He has already revealed in Scripture.

If someone says, “I believe the Lord told me…” but what follows contradicts God’s Word, we already have a standard by which to test it.

God does not contradict Himself.

The Word also reveals the completed work of redemption in Jesus Christ.

At the cross, Jesus declared:

“It is finished.”

Nothing remains to be added to Christ’s work for our salvation. Those who put their faith in Him rest in what He has already accomplished.

The Word Gives Light in Darkness

Scripture does more than tell us what happened in the past. It guides us through life now.

Psalm 119 says:

“Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.”
— Psalm 119:105

Pastor Joe spoke about how easily the troubles of life can consume us. Crisis after crisis can begin to wrap itself around our minds and hearts.

That is why we need the Word.

It gives us something firmer than our circumstances.

He pointed to the prayer later in Psalm 119:

“Give me life according to your word.”

When we are afflicted, confused, discouraged, or afraid, we can pray the promises and truths God has already given us.

His Word brings light into darkness.

More Than Information

Pastor Joe then distinguished between simply reading the Bible for information and receiving it as the revelation of God.

People may read Scripture for many reasons. Some read it historically. Some read it critically. Some may even read it looking for reasons not to believe.

But the believer approaches Scripture differently.

Through the Bible, we come to know what God has revealed about Himself.

We know His character from His Word.
We know His holiness from His Word.
We know His love from His Word.
We know how He has dealt with humanity from His Word.

And through the work of the Holy Spirit, passages we may have read many times can suddenly press deeply into our hearts.

Pastor Joe described a moment from his own life when a passage of Scripture seemed to come alive to him during a sermon.

He later told his pastor:

“God spoke to me through His Word. He revealed Himself through His Word to me.”

That does not mean Scripture suddenly became something new. Rather, the Spirit took the Word already given and impressed its truth upon his heart.

Read the Word—and Believe It

Pastor Joe turned to Jesus’ encounter with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.

Jesus rebuked them:

“How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!”
— Luke 24:25

Their problem was not that God had failed to reveal truth.

They already had the Scriptures.

The problem was that they had been slow to understand and believe what God had already said.

Pastor Joe identified two dangers for us as well:

We can possess the Word and fail to read it.

Or we can read the Word and fail to believe it.

Jesus responded to the disciples by opening the Scriptures and showing them how Moses and the prophets pointed to Him.

The revelation they needed began with the revealed Word of God.

Hide the Word in Your Heart

Knowing Scripture also requires more than simply owning a Bible.

Psalm 119 says:

“I have treasured your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you.”
— Psalm 119:11

Pastor Joe challenged the church to recover the practice of Scripture memorization.

We often celebrate children who memorize Bible verses—and rightly so. But adults need God’s Word hidden in their hearts as well.

It is not enough to know that the truth is somewhere between the covers of our Bible.

We need to know it.

We need to remember it.

We need to be able to call it to mind when temptation comes, when suffering comes, when confusion comes, and when we are trying to discern what is right.

“We must know in our very heart because this Word we have memorized.”

Let God Define What Is Right

Pastor Joe also warned against allowing our own preferences, traditions, or culture to determine what is sinful and what is not.

Sometimes Christians become deeply concerned about things Scripture does not condemn while overlooking things Scripture clearly does.

That is why knowing the Word matters.

We do not define sin.

God does.

Pastor Joe illustrated this with the example of someone becoming angry with a leader over a rule the leader did not make.

Sometimes we react similarly to Scripture.

We may dislike a command or resist what God has said, but the pastor or teacher did not invent it.

“This isn’t my command. This is God’s command.”

The question, then, is not whether we like everything the Bible says.

The question is whether we believe it is truly God’s Word and whether we will obey it.

Love the Word, Read the Word, Obey the Word

Psalm 119 asks:

“How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping your word.”
— Psalm 119:9

The principle applies to every believer—young and old, men and women alike.

God has given us His Word not merely to increase our knowledge, but to shape the way we live.

Pastor Joe closed by praying that Scripture would become more than something we carry to church.

May it become something we open, study, underline, remember, pray, treasure, and obey.

His closing prayer expressed the heart of the message:

“May we become a people who love Your Word, read Your Word, and obey Your Word. May You through this Word speak to us, O God.”

So the challenge from this week’s message is simple:

Open the Word. Believe the Word. Treasure the Word. Obey the Word.

And as we do, may we learn more and more to recognize the voice of the God who has graciously spoken to us through Scripture.