THY KINGDOM COME (8)

“No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15 NKJV).

The Rt. Hon. Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, the late Owelle of Onitsha and the first president of Nigeria was one of the outstanding figures of history that I liked and celebrated. I bought any newspaper that had the picture of Zik or that published anything he said. I purchased any book of his I ever saw and read them. I defended him at all times and was ready to part ways with any person who spoke ill of him. His name was a melody in my ear, but I never really knew him. I only saw him once in his lifetime in a public event in 1992.  We never corresponded in any way. I never met him in person nor had any form of relationship with him. I was a zikist without knowing Zik! I was merely his fan and nothing more.

Several of us believers are fans of God and not His sons and friends. He longs for our filial friendship but we are satisfied being His fans.  We like Him and celebrate His miracles, yet we do not know Him. We have read His books and have some understanding about some of His likes and dislikes, yet we do not know Him. We can fight on His behalf and would part ways with people who do not regard Him, yet we are ignorant of Him because we have not met Him in person and may not easily recognise His voice. We are merely His fans and not His friends. Our Lord says of His disciples,  “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you” (John15:15 NKJV). Good servants are fans of their masters.  The apostles were evidently committed fans of Jesus; that’s why they served Him with much enthusiasm.  A friend is different from a fan because of the level of communication that is available to them. Our Lord said of His friends, “...all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.”  Our Lord keeps no secret from His friends. Friends of God hear and recognise His voice.

Apart from describing us as His friends, our Lord described believers as His sheep and Himself as a good Shepherd. The sheep has an incredible ability of recognising the voice of its shepherd and not that of the stranger.  In the time of Jesus, a community has a common place where they keep their sheep for the night. In the morning each shepherd goes there and makes a sound, which only the sheep belonging to him will recognise and respond to.  Our Lord used that analogy for believers, “The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him... and they follow him because they know his voice. They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.” (John 10:3-5 NLT).  Every sheep of Christ must be able to recognise His voice, otherwise it will be difficult to follow Him. How then can we recognise the voice of God?

The voice of God inspires hope and not hopelessness.  The Scriptures are given to inspire hope in believers (Romans 15:4).  God’s voice will always inspire hope in the hearers. Therefore, Paul prayed,  “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13 NKJV). God’s voice communicates strength,  encouragement and comfort (2 Corinthians 14:3, Acts 27:23-25). God’s voice  does not condemn, frighten,  or threaten  people (Romans 8:1, John 8:10-11). God speaks to relief burdens, reassure the doubtful , and steady the double-minded (John 20:26-29, Matthew 12:19-20).  To learn to recognise the voice of God, look closely at how Jesus spoke to people in the gospels.  The way He spoke is the way God speaks.

We don’t normally hear the voice of God  with our physical ears even though in some rare occasions it looks like we do.  Usually, His voice comes as a flowing stream of unpremeditated thoughts  coming out of our spirit. The Spirit of God resides on the inside of us and not outside,  so we must expect to hear Him speak from within our hearts.  Mostly, the voice that comes from outside is usually the voice of the enemy who lives outside of us. I  pray that God will enable us to grow in recognizing His voice so we can participate fully in His kingdom in Jesus name.