When we are struggling to hear God, the problem could be disobedience. In those times we need to ask ourselves a question. “Is there something the Lord asked me to do that I either neglected, refused, or out of fear, did not comply with His request? For many, this is a turning point in their life of faith. For others, it is a retreat from their destiny never fully experiencing all God had planned for them.

Jesus told His disciples to love each other the same way He loved them. He also said there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life, in love, for others. After His instruction about the nature of love, Jesus provided the following instruction and clarification.  

^“You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me” (John 15:14).

We cannot be friends of God if we claim His name but continue to live in disobedience. “You are my friends if you do what I command.” The “if” in that verse has huge ramifications. Only when we are willing to make the transition from being a slave to becoming a friend of God, evidenced by our obedience, can the Lord trust us enough to confide in us the deeper revelations offered only to His friends.

When we walk in the love of God and choose obedience over disobedience, revelations and insights not previously present in our life will begin to appear. Those revelations can make a slave nervous, even fearful, to the point of rejecting what a friend of God will share. The delivery of what the Lord shares with His friends will require another level of obedience. That obedience will take us deeper into the heart of God where He will reveal mysteries about His Kingdom that were previously unrecognized while still living within the mindset of a slave.