I don’t think any of us can comprehend the great conflict raging right now in the spiritual realm. Nor do we realize how determined Satan is to destroy all believers who have fixed their hungering hearts firmly on Christ.

In our Christian walk, the moment we cross that line into a life of obedience to God’s Word and dependence on Jesus alone, we become a threat to the kingdom of darkness and a prime target of demonic principalities and powers. The testimony of every believer who turns to the Lord with all his heart includes the sudden onslaught of strange and intense troubles.

I know what it is like to face divine silence, to not hear God’s voice for a season. I have walked through periods of total confusion with no apparent guidance, the still small voice behind me completely silent. There were times when I had no friend nearby to satisfy my heart with a word of advice. All my patterns of guidance from before had gone awry, and I was left in total darkness. I could not see my way, and I made mistake after mistake. So often, I wanted to cry out in desperation, “O God, what has happened? I don’t know which way to go!”

Most of us pray as David did, “Do not hide your face from me in the day of my trouble; incline your ear to me; in the day that I call, answer me speedily” (Psalm 102:2, NKJV). The Hebrew word for ‘speedily’ suggests “right now, hurry up, in the very hour I call on you, do it!” David was saying, “Lord, I put my trust in you, but please hurry!”

Because God loves you, he will work to cleanse you, but it is a loving chastening upon those who repent and return to him. You may feel God’s arrows in your soul because of your past and present sins, but if you have a repentant heart and want to turn from error, you can call upon his chastening love. You will not feel his wrath as the heathens do but rather the rod of his discipline, applied by his loving hand.

When you know you have arrived at your lowest point, it is time to seek the Lord in brokenness, repentance and faith.

One night during a prayer meeting, God told me something about our church I was not expecting to hear. The Lord whispered to me, “This church needs shock treatment! Too many have grown satisfied and complacent. You feel safe and secure from all the winds and waves of false doctrines sweeping over the land, but you are not prepared for what is coming!”

The Holy Spirit abides in us to reveal what is true and what is false. He speaks with a still, small voice, deep within the heart. Many of our holy forefathers believed in this operation of the Spirit within believers. They preached much about “having the witness.” I don’t hear this truth being preached much anymore. In fact, the witness of the Spirit is virtually unheard of in most churches today!

Have you ever had a friend or loved one say to you, out of the blue: “Are you mad at me? Did I do something wrong?”

You may simply be quiet, deep in thought, so you answer, “No, I’m not mad. You didn’t do anything to hurt me. I’m just quiet right now.”

They press you, saying, “Was it something I said?”

“No, you didn’t say anything. Everything is all right.”

Finally, to convince that person, you have to hug them. “Look, I love you! I’m not upset. But if you keep this up, you’re going to get me upset!”

God has so much he wants to give you. “’And try me now in this,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it’” (Malachi 3:10, NKJV). He stands in a full storehouse, saying, “I am a giving, loving God, but so few will receive from me. They won’t let me be God to them!’

Of course, we are to thank God for all he has done and given already, but we are not to be satisfied with what we think is enough.

Those who truly know God have learned how to recognize his voice. I believe that three things are required of those who would hear God’s voice:

1. Unshakable confidence that God is wanting to speak to you. You have to be fully persuaded and convinced of this. Indeed, he wants you to know his voice so you can do his will. What God tells you will never go beyond the boundaries of scripture.

In Exodus 33, Moses didn’t know it, but God was about to bring him into a greater revelation of his glory and nature. This revelation would go far beyond friendship, far beyond intimacy. It’s a revelation God wants all his hurting people to know.