Is it possible to accurately discern what God is telling us? Jesus promised us 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.”
Many people who believe in Jesus may say that they cannot “hear” his voice. The inability to hear and recognize Jesus’ voice to us may be due to our not being born again. If you are in doubt about this, please refer to the article connected to this link. If we are convinced that we have experienced the new birth but do not know how to hear God, this could be the result of not understanding how God speaks to us. 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.
God is perfectly able and willing to communicate to us everything we need to know at precisely the right time.
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.
But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31 (NKJV)
It is brings him honor when we seek him and simply listen, even when he doesn’t seem to be speaking. That being said, if we are not hearing the Lord at all, the problem almost always lies on our side.
It may surprise you to hear that many people receive communications from God without being aware. We may not be paying no attention or not recognize them as coming from God. Once we learn how the Lord speaks, it enables us to more accurately discern his voice and grow in confidence regarding 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, and in our minds. It is a real hearing, but different from using the physical sense of hearing.
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 what God’s Spirit is saying nor experiences conviction regarding sin.
Jesus is more than willing to deliver us from this condition, but we must come to him in humility, repentance, and the fear of the Lord.
These are three heart attitudes that increase our receptivity to God. These are qualities found in those who have surrendered their lives to our Lord Jesus and in whom the Holy Spirit is working.
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.
The devil attempts to get us to 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 God and begin worshiping him 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 confuse evil for good. We worship him because we know that he will transform every single thing in our lives, even the difficult or terrible things, into something good. If we want to add a beautiful finishing touch to our praise, we can ask God to work our circumstances and our responses in such a way that they will bring him glory. That is a prayer centered in God’s will and will surely be answered. To summarize, if we want to hear God in a greater way, stop complaining. Start worshiping and declaring that we 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 except to repent. If we want to hear God clearly, ask the Holy Spirit to show us 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 must reckon with God. We can safely leave justice to him. If we clear our hearts of every offense, we will surely hear God’s voice.
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 will be disappointed and miss much of 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 God and the realm of the Spirit. When we surrender to Christ’s lordship, the Holy Spirit comes into our lives and unites with our spirits (1 Corinthians 6:17), reestablishing our communication line 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 expectations are Old Covenant in nature when God was with his people but not residing in them. 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 ways 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. Generally speaking, the Bible indicates that we should 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.
We can ask God to speak to us as we read the Bible. We should be alert to the Holy Spirit providing such revelation.
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 to us and our situation. I have had this happen many times. God is no respecter of persons. He will do it for any one of us, 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 try to be alert to God in expectation that he may speak. I will not go into more detail about this at this time, but, if you are interested, you can read more about it in my book, Promise of the Father, which goes into greater 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 the amazing 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 when God speaks to us.
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 hear. If we neglect or reject this safeguard, we may err. If God speaks to us, other mature believers will almost always be able to corroborate or correct us on the matter. This is 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 should try 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 to 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 or correction, and we should be open to their warnings and counsel, as long as it agrees with the Bible and does not violate our consciences. We submit to them as to the Lord. This means that we acknowledge God in their lives. We are never to simply mindlessly submit to authority. This can lead to bondage.
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 to those we are discipling.
Every person has this responsibility. 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 can 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, we should listen for God to speak to us through other people, but never allow this method to preempt our responsibility to hear God speak directly to us through the scriptures and by the inner voice of the Spirit. Generally, what others tell us should confirm 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
It is our responsibility and privilege to contend for what God has given to us, just as Israel contended for the promised land. God’s goal is for us to become so attuned to the Spirit that we more perfectly represent Christ and his kingdom. If we apply ourselves, we can grow to maturity and be able to tell others what we hear God speaking (John 8:28) and do what we see him doing (John 5:19). This is what it means to walk in step with God’s Spirit.
Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Galatians 5:25 (NLT)
