What does it mean to hear God’s voice? How do you know that it is God who speaks to you? I believe God has given everyone the ability to hear His voice. I remember the first time I heard God’s voice. It changed my life completely. I remembered when I really wanted to her God speak to me. I wanted to hear Him for myself, not what someone else said, but I wanted to hear him for myself. When I prayed and began to seek him, and mediate on His word, he begins to give me instructions to let me know He was speaking to me. PRAISE THE LORD!
In order to hear God’s voice, we have to position ourselves in prayer, align our desires to His will. When we position ourselves in prayer to hear God’s voice, He gives us spiritual direction in our thinking, spiritual power in our obedience, and spiritual victory in our battles.
As clearly as God spoke to the men and woman in the Bible, he has promised to speak to us. God has not stopped talking and revealing Himself to His people. Jesus said “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me… My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:14, 27 NIV.
The Bible is the number one way to hear God’s voice and by reading his word. If you aren’t reading his word, you won’t hear his voice.
As a Christian, in your spiritual walk with God, you’re always looking for ways to hear and discern when God is really speaking to you, but the question is, are you listening. The most important thing we can learn as Christians is hearing God’s voice. God speaks to individuals in ways that are personal and unique to each person. There can be no intimate relationship with our heavenly Father without it. There is no communication without it.
It isn’t hard hearing God’s voice, it’s just knowing his voice when you hear it, and not your own. But once you get that understanding, everything shifts, and it provides you with a new level of confidence in your decisions even if they may not make sense in the eyes of the people around you. Most often we mistake the voice of the Lord for our own thoughts. So, it is essential for the sheep to know and recognize their own shepherd’s voice.
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” John 16:13
How Can I Hear God Speak to Me
To be able to hear God speak to you, you must set aside time to wait in His presence and allow Him to speak to you. It’s when we are quiet before the Lord that we can hear from Him more clearly. Spending time in His Word, God speaks to you. You can hear God speak to you in worship, through music, through quite times, we wait on him to speak, and when He speak, then we listen. Half of communication is listening.
It takes faith to hear God’s voice. Everyone on earth hears God’s voice every day, though they may not recognize it. Sometimes God asks us to step out boldly in faith and obedience, and then He reveals the next step we should take.
That means you can learn to know exactly what the Spirit of God is saying to you about every situation. You don’t have to go through life blindly making decisions or relying on your own abilities, not knowing what step to take next. You want to be confidence that it is God who’s speaking to you. When you learn to tune in to God’s voice, it won’t be an occasional event but an everyday part of life. That’s why, in the New Testament, Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
God is speaking to you all the time. He’s always speaking, you have to stop and listen. In fact, A.W. Tozer said, “It’s the nature of God to speak.” He wants to have fellowship with you, and He wants you to hear Him—all the time. God has promised to lead us by His Spirit and enable us to know His voice.
How Do You Know Its God’s Voice
The best way to distinguish God’s voice from your own is to always trust the leading of the Holy Spirit. It’s a step of faith. Trust the Holy Spirit in this process. Follow His voice. Even if you don’t feel like God speaks to you—He does. In fact, He’s speaking to you right now. But, if you haven’t positioned yourself to hear from Him, you haven’t expected to hear from Him. Listen with your heart. Whenever we open our Bible, we’re opening ourselves up to hear God speaks to us personally, specifically, infallibly, and intimately. From my personal experience, I find the greatest way to hear God’s voice is through daily Bible reading, devotionals, confessions, memorization, meditation, and saturation, and just singing to Him. I believe when you search for Him with your whole heart. you will fine Him.
God doesn’t communicate with us the way we communicate with one another. He communicates from His Spirit to your spirit, and then your spirit communicates what you hear to your spirit. That is what we call an inward witness. It is very similar to a thought or a prompting. It’s very subtle and requires a closeness with God and regular practice to hear it more quickly and clearly, if you keep your mind and your heart full of the things of this world, it will be difficult for you to differentiate between the Spirit of God and your own thoughts. The more time you spend with Him, the more certain you’ll become about hearing God’s voice. It isn’t just time talking to Him, though. We learn His voice when we listen to His voice. That’s why in Matthew 17:5 (NASB) He said, “This is My beloved Son…listen to Him!”
“And you will seek for Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” –Jeremiah 29:13 (NKJV)
Hearing God’s Voice Through the Noise
Are you so busy that you’re having a hard time hearing God’s voice? What can you let go or cut out of your everyday life so you can spend quality time with Him?
All of us seem to be busier than ever, and that’s one of the big reasons we don’t hear the voice of the Lord better. If we entertain too many different influences, thoughts and opinions, it can lead to confusion, and God is not the author of confusion. 1 Corinthians 14:33 (KJV).
God is a speaking God, and He speaks to us every day. We have the wonderful opportunity to listen to Him and learn to hear His voice. We don’t have to go through life blindly making decisions or relying on our own abilities and understanding. If we acknowledge Him, he will direct our path. Proverb 3:6. We can hear Him clearly and consistently.
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10 KJV)
Satan loves to interrupt chaos in our lives to keep us from walking in fellowship with God. To keep us from hearing from God. He interrupts our days with noisy distractions in his efforts to get us to tune God out. You can hear God’s voice every day and walk in the confidence of being led by the Holy Spirit in your life.
Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God.”
It’s in stillness, not busyness, that we tune our spiritual ears to hear the voice of God. The Lord always speaks to us in that “STILL, small voice” (1 Kings 19:12), emphasis mine), but often it’s drowned out by all the turmoil of our daily lives.
Make time for the quiet moments, as God whispers, and the world is loud. – author unknown
How Can I Really Know If It’s God’s Voice That I’m Hearing or If It’s Just Me”
So, the way that God speaks is different for everyone, but a lot of the times it’s a still small whisper, it’s a gut feeling, you just know in your knower. For some people it’s a thought that just rushes in and it’s nowhere close to what you had been thinking about. Sometimes it’s a dream. Sometimes it’s a picture that you see either with your eyes open or your eyes closed. Sometimes it’s a sense of peace or joy that covers your body in a moment of chaos. Sometimes it’s wisdom in a situation. Be assured, take it from me, you will know its God speaking to you.
“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:26).
Always remember that your spirit is made in the image of God, so sometimes, the voice you are hearing is the same voice. Your spirit often “echoes” what God is saying.
Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit…” In other words, they sound remarkably similar. But to simplify ways you can know it God’s voice when:
He agrees with Scripture. He agrees with love. He brings that peace that “surpasses comprehension.”
He brings comfort, encouragement, and confidence. He agrees with the character, love, and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Hearing God’s voice has happened to me so often, when I was in the middle of a period of waiting, praying about an important matter in my life or the lives of my children, or just in a place of quietness, waiting on the Lord to speak. In hearing the voice of God or being led by His Spirit, I have also found that God speaks to me after I have spent considerable time meditating on His Word.
To put it simply, I make my request known unto God first, as the Bible says in Philippians 4:6” Be careful about nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”
What Does God Say About Hearing His Voice
We can hear His voice. God makes it clear that we were created to have two-way communication with Him. Jesus tells us in John 10:27, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and a stranger they will not follow.
The more you commune with the Lord and worship Him, the clearer His voice will be and the more specific His directions will become. He said to, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou know not. Jeremiah 33:3.
Why Is Hearing God’s Voice So Hard
Hearing from God and following His Will doesn’t have to be complex. Once you grasp, how much God loves you and how He wants to be involved in your life, you can begin to hear His still small voice and see His hand move in your everyday life.
Samuel Hearing God’s Voice
Samuel heard the voice of God. In 1 Samuel 3, scriptures tell us that Samuel was sleeping in the Temple. He heard the sound of his name and initially thought it was his master Eli calling him. He responded to his master’s call, but it was not the master who called him. It happened again and the master said if he hears the voice again, he should say “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.” Samuel obeyed and that’s how God spoke to him specifically about his call/ministry. What spurred up God’s desire to speak to Samuel and what made it possible for Samuel to hear God’s voice in the first place?
Samuel said, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. Even though Samuel did not recognize God’s voice at first, but Eli, his master said to Samuel if you hear the voice again, he should say, speak Lord. God was searching for Samuel, because he had a pure heart, and He found this in Samuel.
How to Hear God’s Voice
There are many ways we can hear God’s voice in our everyday business of life. It is so important for us to fine-tune our spiritual ears to hear the Lord’s voice. God is constantly speaking to us. He’s trying to warn us and show us the things to come.
Put yourself in a position to hear God’s voice. Habakkuk 2:1 says, “I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what He will say unto me…” How do we do this? By waking up in the morning perfectible looking to hear God’s voice. Isaiah 50:4 says, “He awakens me morning by morning to listen.” Start your day by deciding not to do anything until you have spent time in prayer.
Spend time in His Presence. Elijah had to “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord,” when the Lord passed by. Once the Lord was there in the silence, Elijah went out and heard His voice.
Be sensitive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. The voice of the Holy Spirit is that still small voice that brings conviction, confirmation, and clarity. “How can, I be sure?” you may ask. If you are not sure if you are hearing His voice, be obedient anyway. He will confirm that you heard from Him or not and you will know what He sounds like, or not. But, if you never test it, how will you know what He does not sound like. (Heb 3:7-8)
Recognize and understand that God speaks to us through other people, but also know that what He says, never contradicts His Word. When God speaks to us through other people, it normally confirms that which He has spoken to us previously in our time with Him Be careful who you allow to speak into your life and position yourself alongside people who you know hear from God, regularly.
Keep a humble heart. Be willing to do whatever He tells you (before He tells you!) Be thankful for what God has done. A thankful heart is a soft heart. Stay in the love arena.
Pray and ask God to reveal Himself to you in a way that can’t be missed. If we are confused about whether or not we are hearing God, James says to pray for wisdom. James 1:5 (It’s good to pray for wisdom, for direction in our lives, and ask God to make His will known to us clearly. When we pray, we “must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind”. James 1:6. If we have no faith, we “should not expect to receive anything from the Lord”. James 1:7
God longs to reveal Himself to you in a way you can’t imagine. What does to reveal means. It means to uncover something. I am reminded when God spoke to Moses out of the burning bush in Exodus 3:1. He will do the same for you as well. He desires to fellowship with us in such an intimate way. That’s why He created us.
Remember that the voice of God matches the Word of God.
God and His Word is one. When we make the Word our focus, we make God our focus because God and His Word are one. That means that everything that Jesus is, His Word is. Everything that Jesus can do, the Word can do. Jesus said, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. John 15:7
So, allow the word of God to abide in you, and you will hear his voice. Spend time with Him, spend time in the Word, spend time in prayer, spend time in silence. And listen. He wants to speak to you. In Jesus Name.
Seek God with all your heart. God promises us that if you seek Him with all your heart, then you will find Him. If you seek to know God in real and personal ways with all of our heart, then you will get to know God by Him revealing Himself to you.
When you commit to seek God’s will (ahead of our own will) and seek God with all your heart, then God will reveal His perfect will and purpose and calling to you. If you seek God’s guidance and wisdom and seek God with all your heart, then God will personally guide you and give you His wisdom for any decision, need, or situation.
Be of sober mind, alert, aware, and ready to hear God’s voice. “Sober” implies mentally alert and self- control. When you are in a position to hear God, he will speak.
God’s voice, he’s going to speak to you in ways you do understand. God will…speak to us in a voice we recognize when we come to Him—for he knows us. He meets us where we are.” No matter our level of understanding, God does want to communicate with us through prayer and through the influence of the Holy Spirit. Whether we respond better to thoughts, feelings or other means, that is the way God will try to communicate with us. The more you hear his voice, the stronger your faith will become.
Related: When God Speaks: How to Recognize God’s Voice and Respond in Obedience
Prayer to Hear God’s Voice
Father, in the Name of Jesus, I thank You that You desire to speak to me every day—guiding me in spirit and in truth to obey Your Word and enjoy an abundant life. I thank You that You have called me Your friend and that I may come boldly to the throne of grace to find help whenever I have a need in my life.
Lord, Your Word says that when we draw near to You, You will draw near to us. So, I draw near to You today. I seek Your face, Your truth and Your word for my life. I want to know You more, hear You more and obey You more. In the Name of Jesus.
Your Word says Your sheep know Your voice and we will not follow the voice of a stranger. Help me to know Your voice and not be deceived by any other voice. Help me to guard my heart from the influences of this world and the people around me. Help me not to be deceived by the devil and his lies, but to view all thoughts and decisions through the lens of righteousness.
As I seek to hear You today for instruction, correction and guidance, help me to confirm Your voice through Your Word. You said if I ask for wisdom, You will give it to me liberally, so I am asking for wisdom in the Name of Jesus to hear You clearly and consistently today and every day.
Help me to feel confident in knowing that I hear Your voice. I praise You and thank You for it, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Scriptures: John 10:27, 15:15; Hebrews 4:16; James 1:5, 4:8
In Your Presence Prayer Devotional
Looking for additional resources to help you cultivate a deeper relationship with God? Check out these free opportunities!
This Prayer Devotional, Journal, Prayer Request, along with the Monthly Bible Reading Pan, and two Walking with God Plan are great ways to draw closer to God. You can use them to write down your thoughts, prayer requests, praises, and so much more. Feel free to use the following prayer devotional in your personal prayer time with the Lord!
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- What Should I Pray For? 30 Gratitude Journal Prompts
