One of the greatest promises recorded in the Bible is Jesus’ clear assertion that his sheep will hear and recognize his voice.
"But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. 3 "To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 "When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 "A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers." John 10:2-5 (NASB)
Every born again follower of Christ has the ability to “hear God.” This article will show you some of the ways God communicates with his people. It also covers the prerequisite heart attitudes for being able to discern God’s voice. If you are a person who wants to follow God but has struggled with knowing his voice, this should help you.
The first point I want to make is that God is perfectly able to communicate to us everything we need to know at precisely the right time.
Generally, God is always speaking. If we are not hearing him, the problem almost always lies on our side. Granted, sometimes God chooses to be silent, which is a profound way he communicates.God is not a vending machine ready to dispense “words” to us at our bidding. Instead, he is worthy to be pursued and waited upon. It is honoring when we seek him and simply listen. We don’t have to hear anything. We honor him by listening.
God communicates in a variety of ways. Some of us have been receiving messages from God for a long time, but we may have learned or decided to discount them and pay no attention, doubting they are real. Once we learn how God speaks, it helps us to accurately discern his voice and have confidence in what we hear. Note: When I use “hear” and “voice,” I do not necessarily mean that we hear with our ears an audible voice. That is rare. Rather, we hear in our hearts, in our spirits. It is a real hearing, but different from using the physical sense of hearing. We hear in a variety of ways.
Prerequisites for Hearing God
The greatest requirement, perhaps the only requirement, for being able to understand what God is communicating to us is to have a proper heart attitude toward him and other people. The scariest threat to each one of us is what the Bible calls a “hardened” heart.
FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES, OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.' Matthew 13:15 (NASB)
A hardened heart is one that is closed to God. It does not have the ability to perceive the nudgings and whisperings of God’s Spirit nor his conviction regarding sin.
Jesus is more than willing to heal us from this condition, but we must come to him in humility, repentance, and the fear of the Lord. These are three prerequisites for our being able to readily hear what God is saying. These are qualities found in those who have surrendered their lives to our Lord Jesus.
Perhaps the greatest reason people’s hearts become hard is our refusal to acknowledge, honor, and worship God. Paul graphically illustrated what happens to those who make this choice.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Romans 1:18-21 (NASB) One of the most telltale signs of having such a darkened heart condition, even among professed Christians, is murmuring and complaining about our circumstances and lot in life.
One of God’s most important attributes is his sovereign power and rule over all things he created. Even though he does not originate evil, whenever we encounter difficulties, tests, or even terrible things, it has to be acknowledged that God allows it. This is a huge snare for many. They would rather accuse God of evil and injustice than surrender to his loving sovereignty.
One of the most important verses in the Bible is the following.
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 (NASB)
When we stop fighting and begin worshiping God in the midst of our most trying circumstances, we will be able to hear God’s voice on a whole new level.
We praise him not because we like what is going on or because we think it is a good thing. We worship him because we know that he will convert every single thing in our lives into something good. If you want to add a beautiful finishing touch to your praise, ask God to work your circumstances in such a way that will bring him glory. That is a prayer centered in God’s will and will surely be answered. To summarize, if you want to hear God in a greater way, stop complaining. Start worshiping and declaring that you believe God is sovereignly working all things together for our good and his glory.
Another huge hindrance to being able to know what God is communicating is when we harbor resentment and bitterness.
I have found that, until we forgive, we will usually hear nothing at all from him. If you want to hear God clearly, ask the Holy Spirit to show you if you need to forgive anyone. To forgive, biblically speaking, means to release from a debt. When we forgive, we tell ourselves, God, and perhaps the other person that he or she no longer owes us anything at all. They are “off the hook” as far as we are concerned. They still have to reckon with God. Leave justice to him. Clear your heart of every offense and prepare yourself to hear God’s voice, for you surely will!
How God Communicates with Us
God is a Spirit and communicates via the Holy Spirit. The ways of God are different from ours. If we are expecting God to only communicate as another human being does, we may be disappointed and miss what he is telling us. Humans are unique beings. We have bodies, souls, and spirits (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
God made us to be able to interface in the natural world and the spiritual one.
When Adam and Eve sinned, it severely damaged our connection to the spiritual world which God inhabits. When we surrender to Christ’s lordship, the Holy Spirit unites with our spirits (1 Corinthians 6:17), reestablishing communication lines with God. In fact, it is much better than that. In the Old Testament, God spoke externally, from afar. Now he speaks from within us. The Bible says we have the “mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16), which means we are able to think his thoughts. This does not mean that all our thoughts are from God, but many are. In other words, quite often God communicates seamlessly with his people. If we are expecting an external voice to speak to us, we may miss God altogether. In fact, such expectation are Old Covenant in nature. Now Christ lives inside each of us.
To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:27 (ESV)
There are four main vehicles that the Holy Spirit uses to communicate with us: the scriptures, the inner voice or prompting of the Spirit, other people, and circumstances. Often he uses all four in harmony. Let’s examine each.
The Scriptures
The Bible is the gold standard for God’s will. If what we think is God’s voice does not agree with the clear teachings of Scripture, we should reject it.
The only caveat is that sometimes our understanding of the Bible is defective, as when Peter was told by the Spirit to violate his religious tradition to go to the Gentile Cornelius’ house. We can rest assured that the Spirit will never instruct us to violate God’s moral law, however.
If we accept the Bible as authoritative, the next challenge is how to properly interpret it. Although Scripture clearly speaks to many issues and situations, it does not cover everything we will face in life. Generally, we can depend on the broad outlines shown in the Bible. When it come to what job to take, we may have a choice between working for a company that has integrity and one that does not. The Bible teaches us to choose the former. But what about when the Bible does not specifically address our situation? There have been many times in my life when this has been the case; nevertheless, God spoke to me clearly from the scriptures. While reading the Bible, specific verses seemed to “jump” off the pages. I had an inner conviction that the Holy Spirit spoke directly to me, that the verses I read were specifically for me in my situation. We cannot make this happen. I do not advise simply opening the Bible and putting your finger on a random verse, trusting that it will be a specific word for you, although God can even do that, too. Instead ask God to speak to you as you read the Bible. Be alert to the Holy Spirit showing special things to you. This is called revelation. Jesus promised us that the Spirit will do this for us.
But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. John 16:13 (NASB) Some call this receiving a “rhema” word from God. The logos is the written word, but rhema is when God makes the Bible come alive personally for us and our situation. I have had this happen many times. God is no respecter of persons. He will do it for you, too.
The Inner Voice or Prompting of the Spirit
The rhema word of God can be considered an inner prompting of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit also communicates messages that are not strictly Scripture, but will never violate or contradict Scripture. God’s Spirit communicates via what we might call an inner voice, dreams, visions, and the gifts of the Spirit, as listed in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11. Once again, we cannot manufacture these communications. Our responsibility is to listen alertly in expectation that God will speak. I will not go into more detail about this here, but, if you are interested, you can read more about it in my book, Promise of the Father, which goes into great detail about the baptism and gifts of the Holy Spirit.
This kind of communication is very real, but sadly many followers of Christ are almost totally ignorant and out of touch with this tremendous way God shows us things. I have heard clear words, not audible, but extremely clear from the Holy Spirit. I do not know how I knew it was God’s Spirit. We just know by the Spirit.
As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. 1 John 2:27 (NASB)
Intuition is a function of the Spirit. It is how Jesus knew things outside the realm of human senses and reasoning.
The same Holy Spirit indwells and empowers us. God’s gifts are very much alive and well. The Spirit will open our hearts and minds to him if we seek him.
Because what we hear from the Spirit is often very subjective and open to interpretation, it is crucial that we submit what we hear to the Bible’s teachings and to other mature believers who can help us judge what we heard. If you neglect or reject this safeguard, you may go off the path right into a ditch. If God speaks to us, other mature believers will almost always be able to corroborate or correct us on the matter. This one reason why it is so important to be in a local church under trusted oversight and have strong peer relationships with other mature believers.
Other People
As just mentioned, God uses others to speak into our lives. This can be in the form of teaching and preaching, counseling, or casual conversation.
Leadership in the local church has a profound responsibility to speak into the lives of the people it oversees.
Paul wrote Timothy the following.
preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 2 Timothy 4:2 (NASB)
We should pay close attention to what our leaders tell us. They are given to us by God to watch over, protect, guide, and feed God’s people. No godly leader wants to direct the small details of your life or lord over your faith and walk with God. Instead, good leaders help their people grow to spiritual maturity and learn how to hear and follow God for themselves, just as a proper parent does for his or her child. Nevertheless, sometimes our parents and leaders must speak very directly to us in the form of a command, and we should follow their warnings and counsel, as long as it agrees with the Bible and does not violate our consciences.
Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you. Hebrews 13:17 (NASB)
In addition, we have a responsibility to speak into the lives of the other people in our local church and those we are discipling.
Every person has this job. God makes us all competent counselors, as long as we are feeding on the Word of God, listening to the Spirit, and are properly related in a local church.
Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, 6 who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 2 Corinthians 3:4-6 (NASB)
God wants to speak through his people when we gather as disciples, too. Each of us is able to be used by God’s Spirit to encourage, comfort, and build up our brothers and sisters.
What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. 1 Corinthians 14:26 (NASB)
To summarize, listen for God to speak to you through other people, but never allow this method to preempt your responsibility to hear God speak through the scriptures and by the inner voice of the Spirit. Generally, what others tell us should confirm or warn against what we think God is showing us through the first two methods. One obvious exception is when we are following a sinful course of action. In that case, we are not listening to God or his Word and need to be rebuked.
Circumstances
God often uses circumstances as a way to direct our paths, but being directed this way requires a lot of maturity and discernment. We dare not simply “go with the flow” of our circumstances. Sometimes God wants us to push against adversity by faith. At other times God uses circumstances to correct our course.
Circumstances always have to be interpreted by the Word of God, the Spirit’s voice, and often with the help of other counselors.
If our circumstances are difficult, we may improperly read them as an evidence of God’s being unhappy with us. Conversely, if things are going well from our perspective, we may falsely assume that God is well pleased with us. God blesses those who are not obedient quite often and allows his beloved children to endure suffering and hardship at times. In fact, God uses suffering to shape Christ’s character in us.
Wisdom always asks God to help us interpret our circumstances. God will be sure to help us understand, if we seek him and are open to input from trusted brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Conclusion
Learning to hear God speak to us is one of the most exciting things in life. When we hear him speak, life becomes quite an adventure. God’s goal is for us to become so attuned to the Spirit that we more perfectly represent Christ and his kingdom. As Jesus did, we can grow to a maturity when it is possible for us to tell others what we hear God speaking (John 8:28) and do what we see him doing (John 5:19). What a life!
