Hearing God's Voice

One of the greatest benefits of a true relationship with God is the ability to hear God speak. However many say they can’t hear God’s voice. Honestly this is a tragically common claim even among those who have been Christians for a long time. They know they can hear God through the Bible but when it comes to a day-to-day interaction with the living God it’s as though they pick up the phone to pray and are met with silence on the other end. This is almost entirely due to a misunderstanding of what it truly is to hear the voice of God and part of this is due to the language we use.

God's Thoughts

Read 1 Corinthians 2:6-16.

In this passage, Paul states that the place of spiritual communication is in the realm of the mind. He draws a parallel between the spirit of a man which knows his own thoughts and the Spirit of God which knows God’s thoughts. Then he says that we have received that same Spirit which knows God’s thoughts. He goes on to say that “we have the mind of Christ.”

Imagine someone else having your spirit. The very essence of what makes you you was living inside of another person. That person would have access to all of your thoughts, feelings, and motivations. You wouldn’t need words to communicate because your thoughts are inside of them. Can you imagine anything more intimate than that? Yet that is the very relationship we have with God!

Part of the problem we have with hearing God’s voice is that we’re expecting to receive something from the outside. Maybe it’s a voice we hear with our ears or something profound like that. That can happen from time-to-time but the primary way that God speaks is in the realm of thought.

This happens when we are in prayer or reading the Bible. A thought occurs to us and we sometimes just dismiss it as a random thought or something that is insignificant, but often that’s God speaking to us. Pay attention to your thoughts when you are in prayer!

How to Tell What is God and What Isn’t

The Holy Spirit is consistent. He doesn’t contradict Himself. You can tell what is God by looking at the character of Jesus as revealed in the Bible. Can you picture Jesus saying what you believe the Holy Spirit is speaking to you now? If not, you can toss that thought into the garbage can. Does it contradict anything the Bible teaches? If so, you can through that into the garbage can as well.

What if the thought is directive? What if you get a thought telling you to go into a grocery store and pray for someone? How do you know whether or not that is God? Well, would you normally have that kind of thought? If the answer is no, then it’s probably God. Pay attention to those thoughts and act on them! You’ll find that more often than not, those are God thoughts.

There’s really no shortcut for trial and error. As you actively try to hear God’s voice, test it out and see if it holds water. As you continue to do this you’re going to get better and better at distinguishing God’s thoughts from your own.

Finally, it’s essential to bring other mature Christians who also hear the voice of God in on the process. The Bible says that when prophecy is happening in the church (that is the act of speaking what you believe God is saying) two or three at the most should speak and the rest should weigh carefully what is being said. (1 Corinthians 14:29) Here Paul is giving us a safeguard for prophetic ministry. Bringing other mature believers into the process of hearing the voice of God along with you will help you to better hone your ability to discern God’s voice.

How to practice hearing God's voice

Spend some time in prayer with a Christian partner and let’s practice hearing God’s voice. Read the prompts below and ask God what He says regarding those prompts. Don’t be afraid to be wrong. If you allow fear of being wrong to stop you from trying you’re going to have a hard time growing. Write down the thoughts that come to your mind and ask your partner if that seems like God’s voice.

1. Ask God what He thinks about you.

2. Ask God what He thinks about your partner.

3. Ask God if there is something going on in your partner’s life that you should be praying for. Ask especially if there is something going on with them that you don’t know about in the natural. For instance, do they need healing for anything? If so from what? Is there something going on in their family that needs prayer? If so what? Share whatever comes to you and don’t be afraid to be wrong. We’re just practicing here. If you’re right, thank God and pray for that thing. If it’s physical healing they need, pray and expect God to heal it on the spot. Have them test it out.

4. Ask God if there is something you need to change in your life. Write it down and commit to obeying what God is saying to you.

Watch these videos, either with your Christian friend or before you meet: