How Can We Hear From the Lord?

How do we position ourselves to hear from God? How do we free ourselves from our own desires in order to know His will? Well, I can tell you from firsthand experience that fasting causes you to take that sword of God’s Word and separate what you “want” from what you “need.”

Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. —Hebrews 4:11–13

Fasting, praying, and feeding on the Word of God puts that sword in your hand and positions you to discern the difference between your thoughts and God’s thoughts. There is no higher authority than to know the heart of God for a situation you are facing. His Word is final!

Imagine living just doors away from where Jesus lived much of His earthly ministry and never getting swept up into His message or miracles. Cornelius is such a man. He must have been a rather busy man because he completely missed the move of God. Luke tells his story in the Book of Acts. He begins, “There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always” (Acts 10:1–2).

So we know that this generous, probably kind-hearted Italian man had been around the Jewish faith enough to begin to believe in their God and to pray to Him, but as yet, the gospel of salvation through the blood of Jesus was a message that had only come to the Jews, not to the Gentiles. Still, Cornelius was diligent—and his diligence is why those of us who are not of Jewish descent are able to call upon the name of the Lord and be saved today.

The Bible tells us that around the ninth hour of the day, an angel appeared to Cornelius and told him to send for Peter in Joppa and listen to what Peter would tell him. So he faithfully sent his most trusted men to Joppa to bring Peter back with them. Now, stop here and think a moment. Here’s a man who is not born again but is devoted to God. Was he just at his house watching a game on TV when this angel appeared to him? Not hardly.

When Peter arrived at his house, Cornelius said, “Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing, and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your alms are remembered in the sight of God’” (Acts 10:30–31).

Cornelius was fasting and praying. He was diligently seeking God when that angel came to tell him that his diligence was about to be greatly rewarded. Peter preached the gospel to them, and “while Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also.” (vv. 44–46).

Those of us who are not of Jewish descent can thank one man for being diligent to seek the Lord and bring the message of the cross to the Gentiles. Cornelius gave to the poor and prayed often, but he was a lost man. Fasting puts you in the mainstream of God’s priorities.