Sunday Message - Fountain of Grace International - Pretoria North
When You Stop Hearing the Voice That Used to Guide Every Decision
There was a time when you just knew what to do. Something quiet and certain guided you - a clarity that came from somewhere deeper than your own thinking. Then the noise of life got louder and that voice got harder to find. In this message, Pastor Ricardo Zaal opens John 10:27 to show that God never went silent. The problem is not on His end. And this message is Week 1 of a practical series that will help you hear clearly again.
Pastor Ricardo Zaal - Fountain of Grace International, Pretoria North - 10 May 2026
The Voice You Used to Rely On
Most people have experienced a season when God felt close and direction felt clear. Decisions that would have paralysed them came with a settled knowing. They could sense what to move toward and what to stay away from. Then something shifted. Life got busier, pain got louder, and that clear signal started breaking up. The silence that followed felt like abandonment - as if God had simply moved on.
Pastor Ricardo Zaal opens this message by challenging that conclusion directly. The sheep who belong to Jesus hear His voice - not heard, past tense, but hear, present and continuous. If you feel like you have lost the signal, the issue is not that the broadcast stopped. Something else is creating interference. And interference can be dealt with.
Hearing God Is Not Reserved for Special People
One of the most damaging lies in Christian circles is that only certain people - pastors, prophets, people with special gifts - have access to God's direct communication. This shuts down the expectation of millions of ordinary believers before they even begin. Paul wrote to an ordinary church in 1 Corinthians 14:31 that all may prophesy. Not a selected few. All. Prophecy at its root is simply hearing what the Holy Spirit is saying and being willing to speak it.
God is not selective about who He speaks to. He is consistent about speaking. The variable is not His willingness - it is our ability to tune in. Spiritual hearing, like any capacity, grows with use and atrophies with neglect. This series exists precisely to rebuild that capacity in people who know they have drifted from the clarity they once had.
Three Channels God Uses to Speak
Understanding how God speaks removes much of the confusion around hearing Him. Pastor Ricardo identifies three consistent channels. The first is Scripture - the most reliable and testable form of communication God uses, the one that never contradicts itself and never leads you wrong. The second is His Spirit, that inner unction or prompting that creates a strong pull toward something or a check that stops you in your tracks. The third is creation - God using what He has made in the visible world to communicate truth about what is happening in the invisible one.
These are not random or unpredictable. They are consistent and learnable. Someone who understands these channels and develops attentiveness to all three becomes difficult to mislead and difficult to silence. The static does not disappear from life, but it stops drowning out the signal. Week 1 of the Prophetic Reset is about recognising these channels and beginning to tune back in deliberately.
What a Prophetic Reset Produces
This series is not theoretical. Pastor Ricardo outlines four specific outcomes that someone who walks through the full reset will experience: hearing God personally and with confidence, interpreting dreams, visions, and impressions accurately, walking in purity and humility under the prophetic, and building communities that reveal Christ rather than manufacture hype. These are outcomes, not aspirations. They are what grows when the foundations are properly laid.
Week 1 - the Retune - lays the foundation everything else stands on. Before you can interpret what God is showing you, you need to be reliably hearing Him. Before you can lead others into prophetic community, you need to have recovered your own intimacy with the voice of God. If you have been running on memory of what God used to say instead of real-time communication with Him now, this is where it starts to change.
"My sheep hear my voice. Jesus did not say His sheep used to hear it. He said they hear it. That is still true of you right now."
- Pastor Ricardo Zaal
What to Do Next
- Spend time in Scripture every day this week, not as a devotional exercise but with a specific question: what is God saying to me today through this passage? Write what you sense, even if it feels small (John 10:27).
- Identify the three channels - Scripture, Spirit, and creation - and begin tracking when something from each of them catches your attention in an unusual way. Keep a simple note on your phone (1 Corinthians 14:31).
- Remove one source of consistent noise from your daily routine for seven days. Not for discipline, but to create the quiet that makes the signal easier to hear. Notice what becomes clearer (Psalm 46:10).
If you are in Pretoria North, come on a Sunday - these messages are preached live every week at Fountain of Grace International, 323 B Danie Theron Street.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do I feel like I stopped hearing from God?
John 10:27 in the KJV says, 'My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.' Jesus did not say His sheep used to hear His voice - it is a present, continuous statement. The issue is never that God stopped speaking. The static increases when life gets louder, when sin clouds the signal, or when we stop deliberately tuning in through Scripture, prayer, and stillness.
Can every Christian hear God speak or only special people?
1 Corinthians 14:31 in the KJV says, 'For ye may all prophesy one by one.' Paul was not describing an elite group. Every believer has access to God's voice. It is not about spiritual rank or years in ministry. It is about intimacy and attention.
How does God speak to us today?
Pastor Ricardo Zaal outlines three primary channels: through Scripture, where God speaks most consistently; through His Spirit, where an inner prompting moves you toward or away from something; and through creation, where God uses what He has made to communicate truth. Learning to recognise each channel is part of growing in hearing God clearly.
What is a prophetic reset and do I need one?
A prophetic reset is the process of tuning your spiritual hearing back to the frequency God has always been broadcasting on. If there was a season when you heard God clearly and you no longer experience that same clarity, a reset is exactly what is needed. It involves returning to the disciplines that kept the signal clear and removing the interference that built up over time.
Join Us This Sunday
Fountain of Grace International meets every Sunday at 09:00 at 323 B Danie Theron Street, Pretoria North. Come as you are.