Drop the Bucket: How Bad Do You Want to Hear From God?

Let me ask you a straight question. How bad do you actually want to hear from God?

Not “Would it be nice?” or “Sure, if it came easy.” I mean really want it. Because here’s the truth — the people who hear God clearly aren’t the ones with more spiritual gifts. They’re the ones who want it bad enough to do what most believers won’t do. Today, I’m putting that challenge in your hands.

You have to want it more than you want anything else.

We’ve spent a whole week convincing you that you can and should hear from God.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

Romans 8:14 NKJV

Now it’s time to get practical. And the very first piece of practical application is going to sting a little.

You have to want it.

Let me be transparent with you. My wife Terry is losing weight right now. She is crushing it. Disciplined. Focused. Meanwhile, I seem to be finding everything she’s losing, because I can’t get off the custard. We’re both capable of dropping the weight. But she’s getting results and I’m not, for one simple reason — she wants it more than I do. She’s willing to give up what I’m not willing to give up.

Same principle applies to hearing God. You can’t eat custard and lose weight. You can’t chase distractions all day and then wonder why God seems silent. Desire is the first step.

Counsel is deep water. You have to draw it out.

Here’s the verse that changed how I pray.

Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.

Proverbs 20:5 NKJV

The counsel of God is already inside you. The Holy Spirit put it there the day you got born again. But it’s not sitting on the surface where you can skim it off in thirty seconds and get back to Netflix. It’s deep water.

Let me paint you a picture. I once lived in Georgia where a well had to be dug several hundred feet down. When the pump broke, you’d look down that well and see nothing but darkness. No water visible at all. But if you had a rope long enough, you could tie a bucket to it, drop it in, swish it around, and pull it back up — and you’d get a full bucket every time.

Think about that process.

You drop the bucket. Takes time.

You swish it to fill it. Takes time.

You pull it back up. Takes time.

At any point you can say, “I don’t want it that bad. I’m not that thirsty.” And guess what happens? You don’t drink. The water was there the whole time. You just weren’t willing to draw it out.

Scripture calls it a lack of understanding.

Read that verse again. A man of understanding will draw it out.

That means if you’re not willing to take the time to draw out the counsel God has already put inside you, Scripture is plainly saying you’re walking without understanding. That’s not me being harsh — that’s the Holy Spirit being clear.

People without understanding skim. People with understanding draw.

So when somebody says, “I don’t have time to spend an hour with God,” what they’re really saying is, “I don’t want it bad enough.” And darlin’, if you don’t want it bad enough, you’re not going to hear Him clearly no matter how much you complain about not hearing Him.

Seek Him with all your heart — not a spare five minutes.

And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29:13 NKJV

Notice what God didn’t say. He didn’t say, “Seek Me with the first five minutes of your morning and the last 30 seconds before bed, and you’ll find Me.” He said all your heart.

That’s the full attention. The full focus. The full priority.

Most of us treat God like McDonald’s. We want Him to conform to our schedule, our drive-thru window, our convenience. Listen — He is perfect. He is not going to leave His perfection and conform to you. You have to move toward Him.

When I proposed to my wife, I spent thirty days seeking the Lord about it. Thirty days of throwing the bucket in and pulling it back up. I wanted that answer to be rock-solid, not a hunch. And I got it. Because I was willing to take the time.

Sometimes God is present — you’re just not focused.

Have you ever been in a church service and all of a sudden the presence of God felt thick in the room? People will say, “Wow, God just walked in.”

No, He didn’t. God was in that room the whole time. He never leaves you nor forsakes you. He was there before you got there. He’ll be there after you walk out. The difference wasn’t that He showed up — it’s that you finally focused on Him.

That’s what happens in your daily life too. God is speaking. The Holy Spirit is counseling. Direction is available. But if your focus is on your phone, your job, your kids’ ball game, your next meal, and your to-do list, you won’t pick up anything. Not because He’s silent. Because you’re not tuned in.

I learned this the hard way. I want to save you the pain.

Let me be brutally honest with you.

Years ago, we had a 22,000 square foot building. The Lord told me to sell it. I brought it to our board. We had six yes votes and one no vote — from a brand-new board member. I thought, “I don’t want to override him on his first major decision.” So I waited.

Then the housing crash hit. Then we took two hurricanes that did nearly a million dollars in damage. Insurance jumped from $7,000 a year to $70,000. Electricity went from $700 a month to $2,500. We got behind.

My father passed away and left me an inheritance. I poured every penny of it into trying to save that building. We eventually lost it anyway. If I had obeyed the Lord when He first spoke, we would have had $1.5 million in cash sitting in the bank before the crash ever hit.

That wasn’t the devil. That wasn’t God failing to protect me. That was me not wanting to hear from God badly enough to act on what He said.

I’m teaching you this because I don’t want you learning the lesson the way I did. Obedience starts with desire. And desire starts with deciding — this matters more than anything else on my schedule.

Drop the bucket today.

You have counsel inside you right now. Direction. Warnings. Promises. Wisdom for tomorrow’s decisions. All of it. It’s just deep water — and deep water takes time to draw out.

Quit skimming. Quit giving God your leftover minutes. Quit pretending you can hear clearly while you’re chasing everything else. Grab the bucket, drop it deep, and pull up what He’s already put in there for you.

Want it more than anything else. Drop the bucket. Fight To Win.