Hindrances:

1.        Disobedience.  John 14:21-23. Holy Spirit to those who obey. Acts 5:32 "And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him."

2.      Not taking up your cross; giving up your mind, will and emotions for His.

3.          Praying with an idol in your heart.  Ezek 14:4, Balaam Numbers 25.

4.        Strongholds of the mind from your past.

5.        Denomination that states that God does not speak today.

6.      A Christian religion that says there must be a priest to talk to God for you.

7.        Dependence on personal prophecy

8.        Extreme empowerment of your logic and reasoning.

9.`     Fear of hearing God.  Deuteronomy 5 and Hebrews 12

10.        Laziness to maintain the relationship.

11.    Low self-esteem.

12.    Guilt.

13.    Desire to have His voice appeal to your natural senses rather than spiritual.

14.        Prejudice against the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.

15.        Needing inner healing from past spiritual wounds, like abuse, etc.

16.        Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.  Stating that someone's experience of hearing from God was not real, when in fact it was.

You may not recognize His voice.   Here are some ways He speaks.

 1.     Samuel is an example of not recognizing God's voice. 1 Samuel 3:10

2.      Still small voice, Elijah. 1Kings 19:12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

3.      My sheep know My voice.  John 10:27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

4.        Spontaneous thoughts.

5.      A Scripture burns your heart.

6.      The same Scripture or theme comes to you many times.

7.  Sometimes He guides by peace being the umpire, Colossians 3:15

8.      He speaks while you journal.

9.      He speaks while you are in worship service.

10.    Romans 12:1-2 promises that if you offer your members a living sacrifice daily, that   what you walk out that day will be His will.  You move with Him like a hand in a glove without a voice.

11.        Sometimes He gives you an impression one day, then another some later day.  You must put them together like mosaic tiles to see the picture.

12.        Guidance sometimes involves lining up three to four objects like marine navigation.  The Word, impression by the Spirit, circumstances lining up like Jeremiah and land deal, and confirmation by a fellow believer.

13.        Personal prophecy from a reliable believer, not as a replacement to hearing God personally, but in addition to.  Be careful not to depend on this alone.

Posturing yourself to hear.

1. Take up your cross.  Follow the Flowing River, which will cleanse you from guilt and un-forgiveness.

2. Obey what you have been avoiding.  Tithe, forgive, be gentle, kind, be a giver not a taker, don't control others. 

3. Repent for your strongholds, idols.

4. Use the relationship skills of:  Reading 5 Psalms and 1 Proverb daily. Pouring out your heart to God. Journaling. Speaking the Word.

     5.        Meditate in the Word as described in previous lessons.

6. Ask God to show you some good devotion books and/or some good Christian books by dependable authors.

7. Read Prisoners in The Promise Land, Grow or Die chapter 3. 

·    Grow or Die available at http://www.isob-bible.org/openlessons.htm 

8. Read Deliverance Chapter in Grow or Die book, Chapter 10.

9.  Build up your faith: Read about the finished work of Jesus.  Grow or Die Chapter 5.

Let us take a look at the people of Nehemiah's day for a lesson.

The people who were helping Nehemiah to rebuild the Walls of Jerusalem had been children of those who were in captivity in Babylon for hundreds of years.  We read that the reason they had been in captivity was due to their continued disobedience and their idolatry.  But God did not give up on them, nor has He given up on you.

Picking up the story in Nehemiah chapter 8, we see that the Wall had been completed in spite of all the enemy's opposition.  Ezra the priest was now reading the Word, then referred to as the Law, to the people for the first time in many, many years.  Ezra had even appointed teachers (verse 8:7) and those along with Nehemiah were endeavoring to help the people to understand the Word of God, and to make the Word real so that these people could hear God's voice once again.

What was it that caused the people to not hear God's voice, and what was it that broke through so that they could hear God's voice?

Nehemiah 8:8-12

8 So they read distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading.

 9 And Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, "This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn nor weep." For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the Law.

 10 Then he said to them, "Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our LORD. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."

 11 So the Levites quieted all the people, saying, "Be still, for the day is holy; do not be grieved."

 12 And all the people went their way to eat and drink, to send portions and rejoice greatly, because they understood the words that were declared to them.

At first the people felt condemned by the hearing of the Word.  Notice in verse 10 Nehemiah said, "Do not sorrow."  These people are like many of us today; we may be God's children yet we still allow our circumstances to rule our lives.  We are depressed and sorrowful when circumstances do not look good, and we get happy when circumstances line up with our happy expectations.  We are tossed about by the "wind."  Things indeed were tough for these Hebrews at this time, circumstances were not "happy."  Also, they felt the condemnation of their own disobedience when the Word was read.  That is the result when one has been disobedient, in rebellion, or into some kind of idolatry; the Word does not feel good at first.  We feel that God is mad at us, and we would just as soon not take another "beating."

Why do you think that Nehemiah said, "Then he said to them, "Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our LORD. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength"?

If you look at Leviticus chapter 23 you will find that Nehemiah was referring to "This Holy Day" which was the seventh month and tenth day, and was the Day of Atonement.   This was the day that the animals were slain, the blood was let, people confessed their sins, the scapegoat was led out into the Wilderness and everyone was cleansed from his/her sins. 

Nehemiah was saying, "Look, the blood has cleansed you, go have a party, eat some good fat steak, drink a coke, and rejoice.  Then go give some of your food and this good news to others.  This will give you the supernatural joy of the Lord.  You will no longer be bound by circumstances.  You don't have to grieve over your past sins, mistakes, failures and rebellion.  Not only that, but the sin's consequences will also be born by the Lamb.  Also, the sins of your forefathers, the generational curses will be born by the Lamb and cleansed by the blood!"

When you get a hold of the real atonement of Jesus, you will no longer be blown around by the winds of circumstances.  If you continue to look at bad circumstances you give them the right and the life to remain in place.  But if you look at God's blood, the Blood of Jesus, His removal of sin, you can look at His promises to change the circumstances.  Remember, in Romans chapter 4 it says that God calls those things that are not as though they were!  And even if your lousy circumstances never change, your joy in His presence will make everything all right!  Of course along with this "seeing" you must cooperate by giving God every right to every aspect of your life, every idol, every sin.  You must quickly obey what you hear Him saying.

We have something much greater than those people did.  We have the resurrection.  We have the Holy Spirit abiding inside of us.  We are the Temple of God now.  The law is written on our hearts.  We can hear God speak from the inside of us.  Part of the New Covenant is not only having our sins permanently removed, but we can "know" Him now.  We can have real time intimacy with Him (Hebrews 8:10-13). 

Not only are our sins removed forever, but also the Blood of Jesus made us a new race of people!  We are a race over which evil, sin and Satan has no more dominion! 

Jesus said something about joy in Luke 10:20-24.

20 "Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven."

23 Then He turned to His disciples and said privately, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see;

24 "for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it."

The Old Testament Day of Atonement compared to the New Covenant Day of Atonement.

Hebrews 10:3-4,11-12,15&emdash;22

 3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.

 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

11 And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

 12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God,

15 But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before,

 16 "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,"

 17 then He adds, "Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."

 18 Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.

 19 ¶ Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,

20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh,

 21 and having a High Priest over the house of God,

 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

From Watchman Nee - A Table in the Wilderness

""None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them." Hebrews 8:11, NKJV.

In seeking to know God's will under the old covenant, men were, generally speaking, restricted to the law and the prophets.  But Christianity is based not on information but on revelation.  Do you have a book knowledge of Christ?  Do you know him only by hearsay, so to speak, from some true servant of His?  Or are you in direct touch with your Lord? 

It is one of the most precious factors in our Christian life to have friends who live close to God and who can share with us what he has shown them.  Again and again we need their arresting challenge or the calm of the mature counsel.  But the New Covenant affirms that "all shall know me," and the word translated "know" means "know me in themselves."  We do not commit ourselves totally and exclusively to the light that comes through holy men of God, however sound it may be.  We are under duty bound to listen to the voice of the Lord Himself, and to follow Him.