How To Hear God’s Voice

God is always speaking, in every place and at every moment. He speaks through his word, he speaks to us in prayer, he speaks through us through people, and he speaks through the circumstances of our lives, even when our lives seem chaotic or random. But above all, God has spoken to us through Jesus, who came to demonstrate the infinite and sacrificial love of the God who wants to be with us forever.

ISAIAH 65:24 – It will also come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will Here.

Jesus is always speaking to you. Are you listening?  When he speaks, his voice is so gentle, meek, and peaceful. There is so much Jesus wants to speak to you about. He wants to share some intimate things, that He would like for you to know. There have been so many things you have asked him, he wants to answer.

One of the greatest benefits of our salvation must be that of hearing God speak to us personally. There can be no intimate relationship with our heavenly Father without it. In the times we are living in, we need directions in our lives, and that comes from hearing god’s voice.

It takes a hearing ear and a determined heart to hear the wisper of God’s voice. “Be still,” He says, “and know that I am God” (46:10).

God has designed us to hear His voice. In a sense, we have a built-in receiver that enables us to get guidance from God. If we want to hear God voice, we need to quiet our hearts so that we may hear what He has to say and being patient enough to wait for Him, and prayer is how you begin a conversation with God; think of it as saying, “hello.” As if you are talking to someone in the room with you

Elijah was zealous for the LORD and found that God was not in the great wind, or an earthquake nor a fire but he heard God in a still, small voice (1 Kings 19:13 KJV).   

King David provided us a model for meeting with God.  “Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you.  Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.” (Psalm 143:8 NIV)  David sought God’s direction at the beginning of the day.  You must find the time of day that works for you but morning is a perfect opportunity to spend time with God and Scripture says, “His mercies are new every morning…” (Lamentations 3:22-23). 

Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”  (John 10:27). 

 We also need to position our hearts to hear Him.  Practice being in the presence of God.  Practice recognizing other ways God speaks to us.  God can and does speak to us in many ways, through nature, through practical situations and through our everyday surroundings.

I was reading how God spoke to Solomon.  In Proverbs 24:30-32 God spoke to Solomon through a practical experience, “I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; and it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles covered its surface, and the stone wall was broken down. Then I saw, and considered it; I looked on it and received instruction…”  He was passing by the field of a lazy man and received wisdom from God.  If we maintain a listening ear, we may discover that God speaks through and about many things as we go about our everyday life. 

God also speaks to us through godly teachers.  Have you ever been in church or a Bible study and felt like the teacher was speaking directly to you?  God may use others to speak to us including teachers as well as other Christians.  If we learn God’s Word and stay in tune with Him sometimes God will use you to say things to people that He wants to say to them.  God not only speaks through pastors and teachers, but God also speaks through every believer at different times.

Many of us speak to God but we never stop to listen, or we do not develop listening skills.  Jesus said, “He who has ears, let him hear.”  (Matthew 13:9).  

Solomon prayed for God to give him a hearing heart (1 Kings 3:9). Many translations say “understanding heart” in that verse but the Hebrew word translated “understanding” in that verse is shama, which translates to hear, understand, listen, or obey. Pray that God will give you a hearing heart, then listen and obey.

Isaiah “heard the voice of the Lord … And (God) said, Go and tell this people, hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of these people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.” (Isaiah 6:8-10)

Though at the time these words were originally spoken they fell on deaf ears, it is significant to note that the same passage of scripture in which they were recorded was quoted in every gospel account.¹ It was only because Isaiah heard the voice of God himself that the prophet could deliver such a word. God speaks through those who have learned to listen. It is a process.

Spending time with God and spending time in His Word enables us to fellowship more with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives inside us and may be speaking to us more than we realize. Jesus said, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you” (John 14:26).  If you seek God, you will hear His voice. You do not necessarily have to be in a quiet room to hear from God. Your soul just needs to be quiet and focused on Him. Listen with spiritual ears and an understanding heart. You can hear Him!

Why is Hearing God’s Voice So Hard?

There have been times in my young life it was hard for me to know God’s voice. I would hear him speak, but I did not comprehend it was him. I wanted so badly to talk to him, but as I began to get in the word of God, the Word began to speak to me. As I hear the Word speak to me, I would hear God speak through his Word.

At first, it was hard for Samuel to know God’s voice. The Lord called Samuel three times. Samuel thought Eli was calling. Three times Samuel went to Eli, and Eli told him that he did not call him. The three-time Samuel went to Eli to see what it was he needed so, Eli told Samuel the next time he hears the voice to say, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.” Samuel obeyed and did just that. 1 Samuel 3:10 says, “And the Lord came and called as before, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.” Not only was Samuel obedient to Eli, his God-given spiritual authority and mentor, but referring to himself as God’s servant implies, he is also obedient to God.

Hebrews 4:12
“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

I wanted to experience that power that is in the Word of God. I wanted to walk in that power. And did not know then, that I was born again, and that power was already residing inside of me. The enemy did not want me to know this, that is why he tried to hide it from me.

It has been said that if we read the written Word with faith, then it begins to read us. Nothing is hidden from God. Nothing about our own motives, our own desires, our own hearts, is hidden from the Word of God, though it is hidden from ourselves. God is alive and active, so his Word is alive and active. Our hearts are laid bare before his Word, his Truth, and his understanding.

Now I understand that word moves and breathes. It never changes, but the specific application and the audience change with each passing moment.

The Lord does not require you to do anything or go anywhere to meet with Him. Rather, His simple command is for you to “be still” – to cease from your own efforts and from all that would distract – and to allow Him to reveal Himself to you.

There are many things that can hinder our ability to hear from God. If we have any unconfessed sin in our lives, it is a huge hinderance to hearing the voice of God, because God does not abide sin. Misunderstandings and wrong teachings formed and shaped a paradigm for people to hear from God. If we allow fear to take over then faith gets pushed aside. Faith is from God and fear is from the enemy.  In 1 Kings 19 we see how detrimental fear can be to hearing God.  Elijah, God’s prophet, had just had an amazing victory, when verse 3 tells us that he became afraid and ran for his life. Fear has a way of distorting truth and eats away at what God is doing in our lives. When we are afraid, it is difficult to discern whose voice we are hearing making it challenging to hearing from God. We need to have faith that Scripture is true.  If we are God’s children, we can hear and know His voice and the voice of another we will not follow. 

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. (John 10:27 NIV).

Allowing doubt and unbelief into our lives can become a hinderance to hearing God’s voice. When we doubt that God speaks at all, or we doubt that He will speak to us, it creates a blockage in our hearts and minds.  If we doubt the truths of God’s word, we need to confess and repent. Ask God for forgiveness and to open our spiritual ears to hear from Him.

“But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord” (James 1:6-7 NIV). 

Pride is sin and will keep you from hearing God’s voice, plain and simple.  It is a mindset and attitude that says, “I don’t need God,” “I don’t need to hear from Him,” or “I can do it myself.” As you read Samson’s story in Judges 13-16, we see he clearly had pride.  Samson was overconfident and determined he did not need help from anyone or anything including God, he wanted to do things his way, and often took matters into his own hands.

“As has just been said: ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion’” (Hebrews 3:15 NIV).

There is a sense of hearing beyond the natural capacity. When Jesus said to His disciples, “Let these sayings sink down into your ears” (Luke 9:44) He was referring to the ear of the spirit, in the inner man.

We learn to discern the voice of God by listening to Him. The more we hear, the more we spend time in His presence, the more surely will we be able to recognize when He is speaking. Hebrews 5:14 says that our spiritual senses are sharpened “by reason of use” – that is, with experience. In the same way, repeatedly refusing to respond to the call of the Spirit results in a spiritual condition that leaves our hearts hardened before Him – calloused, so to speak – and insensitive to His voice. This grieves the heart of God. (Hebrew 3:7, 8, 10)

To maintain an adequate level of spiritual sensitivity we must learn to respond without delay to the gentle beckoning of the Holy Spirit. God requires an immediate response within the hearts of His people: “Today, when you hear His voice, harden not your hearts . . .” This verse is three times repeated, for emphasis, in the third and fourth chapters of Hebrews. “See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh . . .” (Hebrews 12:25)

Similarly, Isaiah 55:6 exhorts us: “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near.” “Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at ant time we should let them slip.” (Hebrews 2:1)

Jesus was continually having to repeat Himself because His words fell on deaf ears. At least eight times in the gospels we read of Him exhorting the people, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear (or Listen!).” This same verse is also quoted eight times in the book of Revelation. Though each of the seven churches of Revelation was at a different stage in the development of their spiritual experience, his invitation to them all was the same: “He that hath an ear, let him hear …” (Revelation 2, 3) 

To each of the seven churches He was, in effect, saying, “There is more.” All but one had either settled down or fallen away at one point or another along the path, and He wanted them to move on. Many in our own day have become satisfied with the knowledge that they will “someday” inherit the promise of eternal life. However, that is barely enough to get them through the “here and now.” Jesus said, “He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath (that is, now possesses) everlasting life, and … is (already) passed from death unto life.”

We must learn to come to know Him with whom we will spend eternity, if this life is to have any meaning or purpose at all. Unless we learn to know His voice and fellowship with Him now, we shall never come to experience the abundant life of which Jesus spoke.

God’s greatest complaint in this matter is not with the unregenerate world, for He does not expect from them the same sort of respect for His word: they are “uncircumcised in heart and ears.” (Acts 7:51) The Lord’s deepest concern is for His own people – those who have the ability to hear but refuse to listen. They “have ears to hear and hear not.” Many have “stopped their ears” and have by choice turned “away their ears” from hearing the word of the Lord. Others have become “dull of hearing” their “heart is waxed gross.”

So, we see that the famine in Amos 8:11 is “not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.” Churches are plentiful; the Word has gone forth – but the famine or lack is for those who would hear His voice. God has not stopped speaking; the problem is that His people have failed to listen. When the message becomes too demanding (“Forsake all?” “Deny myself?”) many try to avoid the issue by seeking an escape: any excuse that will allow them to continue in their own ways. However, the claim upon our lives remains the same and we cannot find true, lasting peace apart from His best.

Why Is It Important to Hear God’s Voice?

Knowing his voice and distinguishing it from the voices around you is key to closeness with God and growing your relationship with him. Staying in the word of God through Bible reading, worship and prayer with time for quiet meditation all help you tune into God’s voice and discern his words from that of others.

“The Lord spake unto Moses’ face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.” Samuel heard His voice and responded: “Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.” It was Abraham whom God called His friend, because He knew he was trusting and could be trusted. They two communed together often. Hence, when God was contemplating the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, He first discussed it with His friend Abraham. “Surely the Lord God will do nothing except He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets.” Now “I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends: for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you.”

Jesus said, “God is no respecter of persons.” He speaks to those who will listen.

In the time of Moses, Scripture says, the people of God did not want to hear from the Lord Himself, because they feared they would then be held personally accountable to both hear and do it. (Exodus 15:26; Leviticus 26:14) They were content to hear from God through His prophet, Moses. (Exodus 20:19; Deuteronomy 5:2; 18:16) Oh, let us never be satisfied with the secondhand revelation of any man, but ever seek the Face of God for ourselves.

In Revelation 3:20 we are given the picture of Jesus standing outside the doors of His own church, seeking entrance, waiting for someone to hear His voice and open the door. The Lord continually knocks at the door of our heart, daily seeking entrance into new areas of commitment and surrender. He desires to be welcomed by waiting hearts.

How can we better hear God’s voice? As it is in the natural, Paul says, so it is in the spiritual. When we have trouble hearing, we can (1) get closer to the speaker; or (2) close out the distracting sounds or voices which interfere or compete for our attention. In other words, the problem often is not hearing, or even listening, but discerning His voice.

“The Lord God … wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.” Isaiah 50:4, 5

When we practice hearing God’s voice, we can ask Him for wisdom in any situation in our lives: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” (James 1:5). God gives us the freedom to make decisions, but He is faithful to guide us in the way we should go. He guides us by His Word, His voice, and His people. We can trust that as we practice listening and spend time in His Word, we will be able to recognize His voice: “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it'” (Isaiah 30:21, NIV).

Please Read the 20 Powerful Bible Scriptures on Hearing God’s Voicehttps://awomenaftergodsownheart.org/20-powerful-bible-scriptures-on-hearing-gods-voice/

20 Powerful Bible Scriptures on Hearing God’s Voice

A Prayer to Hear God’s Voice

Life is full of twists and turns that require big decisions, small decisions, adjusting to major life changes, and tackling day-to-day living.

We must be incredibly careful whose voice we are hearing. If we entertain too many different influences, thoughts, and opinions, it can lead to confusion. During it all, you may feel uncertain that you’re hearing the one voice you long to hear most—the voice of God.

God is a speaking, and He speaks to His children every day. We have the opportunity as believers to listen to Him and learn to hear His voice. We do not have to go through life blindly making decisions or relying on our own abilities. We can hear Him clearly and consistently.

You can hear God’s voice every day and walk in the confidence of being led by the Spirit in your life. Here is a prayer to hear God’s voice you can pray in faith:

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. 

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.

When you seek the Lord with all your heart, and listen for His voice, you will always have the advice you need to face any circumstance. You will enjoy a powerful relationship with Him that will change your life. Begin to listen and be confident in knowing that He wants to speak to you, and He wants you to hear His voice. You can hear from God!

Scriptures: John 10:27, 15:15; Hebrews 4:16; James 1:5, 4:8 

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