When we are unaware of what God is doing, deception can take root, and we will miss the purposes of God in the earth. Therefore, the Father warns us, “Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it?” (Isaiah 43:19).[1] We must be aware of what our Father is doing.

If you remember the story of young Samuel, God called to him, “Samuel, Samuel.” The child woke up and looked around. Since he did not see anyone, he ran to Eli and asked, “Did you call me?” Eli replied, “No. Go back to bed.” Finally after the third time, Eli realized that the Lord was calling Samuel. So Eli said, “Go lie down, and it shall be if He calls you, that you shall say, ‘Speak, LORD, for Your servant is listening’” (1 Samuel 3:9). God was going to do something new through Samuel the prophet. Yet when God first started speaking to him, Samuel did not understand; he had to grow and become that prophet.

God is going to proclaim new things to us (Isaiah 42:9). But there must be the ear of a prophet that hears, discerns, and understands what God is saying. Yeshua (Jesus) was able to hear the Father’s voice and said, “I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me. And … I always do the things that are pleasing to Him” (John 8:28–29). Yeshua had that prophetic understanding and awareness that was born in the depth of His relationship with the Father.

God is trying to tell us that even though there is hearing, it does not mean there is understanding. It is time that the Body of Christ grows in the Lord to become the prophets of God. We must be those who are seers and prophets, hearers of what God is speaking and proclaiming now. It is great to be a biblical scholar, but do you hear the voice of the Lord today? And when you do hear that voice, do you understand the new thing that God is proclaiming? We must have an awareness so that we can hear, understand, and proclaim what is to take place.

God is going to speak new things (Isaiah 48:3). The arrogance of man will say, “Oh yes. I knew that. I was proclaiming that a long time ago.” But be careful because God is going to do something new that you have not heard. It is not good enough to have heard from long ago what He was going to do. You must know what it is that God is getting ready to do now. New things are going to take place, but the issue really becomes our awareness.

Samuel had to grow and became the prophet who knew what God was doing and speaking to Israel. Likewise, we must mature in God. We are not to “sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober” (1 Thessalonians 5:6). We should not fall asleep; we should understand. We must come into the ability to see, discern, and understand what God is going to do in the days just before us.

I bless us to be those who seek the Lord and grow like young Samuel did—until we hear and understand what the Spirit is speaking as He reveals the new thing that God is doing in our day.

Listen to the entire message: GIG241 Will You Be Aware?

[1] All Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995).