Hear God's Voice

As we focus on awakening to all God has for us, a good place to start is hearing God's voice. I believe God wants to speak to each of us. God has a calling in all of our lives. God has a plan and a purpose for you. However, we often miss that calling because we are not awake to the fact that God is calling us or we may not recognize God's voice when he calls.
The passage of 1 Samuel 3:1-11 tells the story of Samuel being called by God. It is the middle of the night, so Samuel is sleeping when he hears a voice calling his name. Three times he thinks it is his mentor the priest, Eli. So Samuel goes to Eli's room, but Eli says he did not call him. After this happens a couple more times, Eli realizes that it must be God calling out to Samuel. He encourages Samuel to say, "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening." Samuel does this and God shares with Samuel his calling.
As God calls out to us we need to be able to recognize his voice. I believe a way to know God's voice is by reading his Word, that is the Bible. As we read God's Word we recognize how God works. We notice the way he calls and the instruments he uses to wake us up. So as this new year begins I recommend getting into the discipline of reading the Bible.
I have found a wonderful website that is helping me with this discipline. www.Youversion.com This free Bible website has many versions of the Bible available to read. I am currently reading the Message paraphrase. It also has daily devotions. I personally use a reading plan. You can choose from several options of reading plans which tells you each day what chapters to read. I am reading the Bible in one year through the Historical plan. That means I am reading the Old Testament in a similar order to the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament in the order scholars think the books were written.
One of the best features of this website is that it has apps for your mobile devises. So I have the app on my i-pad and it can go with me wherever I go.
Samuel did not recognize God's voice as he was called and we may often miss God calling us. However, if we read God's Word we will learn to hear his voice and recognize his call. As we are awakening to more of what God is doing around us, we need to know his voice.