How to Hear God’s Voice

Would you like to hear God’s voice on a regular basis? Our Heavenly Father is calling us to know His voice to obey it. Here’s how.


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Would you like to hear God’s voice on a regular basis? That has been a deep-seated desire since I found true relationship with Him.

Listen to My Voice

When I talk to my kids, I say, “Listen to my voice,” because I’m training them to recognize it and obey it. In the middle of the cacophony of voices, I need them to hear mine:

  • When we are enjoying others’ company, and their friends are clamoring for their focus, I want to be the one to have their attention at a moment’s notice.
  • If their sibling or friend is trying to tempt them, I want my kids to instead obey the words of life I am speaking to them.
  • When the voices of strangers are distracting, I need them to pick out my voice above the crowd and follow it.

David taught Solomon to treat his voice with utmost importance (Proverbs 4:3-4), and Solomon did the same with his son. So when mama lays down the law, you best do it, boy! Hey, I’m just following Solomon’s lead. 😉

Hear, my son, your father’s instruction And do not forsake your mother’s teaching. Proverbs 1:8 NASB

In the same way, our Heavenly Father is calling us to know His voice to obey it.

How We Tune Out God’s Voice

I used to pray a five-second prayer, “God, I need to know Your will concerning my life. Thanks. Amen,” and then forget all about it.

The reality was, I was tuning out God.

See, my old nature wasn’t in the habit of finding God’s voice in my everyday life. Sometimes we do this without realizing it. I had to learn to sit down and shut up.

The Sit Down Part

The first thing we need to do to hear from God is to spend time with Him. In today’s society we are able to send digital messages in a fraction of the time it used to take us to contact someone. But have we taken that into our relationship with God?  I think maybe I “texted” God with my old habits of five-second prayers. 😉

If we don’t spend time with a friend, we won’t ever get close to that person. I’m master of the obvious today, but learning about God doesn’t have to be complex.

Life. Is. Busy. Yet we will make time for what we want. If we truly desire to know His voice, then we will sit down, and spend time with the Father.

I call it my DAILY TIME (Determining Again I Live Yielded; Today I’m Maintaining Evidence). From crowdsourcing the subject of Daily Time, distractions is high on the list of impediments.  

If all the time we give to God on a regular basis is listening to the Christian radio station to-and-from work, or reading a pocket-sized devotional while we use the bathroom, then we probably aren’t going to know God’s voice very well. There are too many distractions doing that.

We need to realize that God is speaking to us. Will we remove distractions in place of attentiveness to Him?

Would you like to hear God’s voice on a regular basis? Our Heavenly Father is calling us to know His voice to obey it. Here’s how.

The Shut Up Part

God is speaking to us much more than we may realize. I had to learn to shut up, and:

  • Not nag Him
  • Ditch my expectations
  • Release what I wanted the answer to be

Now this is not the only way God speaks, but when I stop hogging the conversation, sometimes He shows me how He’s been speaking to me through natural means. A statement someone made here, what happened there, something I read recently…

Although they gave me a slight pause in reflection, they seemed unrelated at the time. I didn’t give them the time of day when they happened. But now that I sat down with God, He brought each significant moment to memory. Suddenly, each ordinary moment is profound as He helps me realize His wise answer is right before my eyes!

When this happens to me I’m caught between feeling flabbergasted that I didn’t see it before, and special that God spoke so significantly.

And He teaches the humble His way. Psalm 25:9b NASB

A Biblical Foundation to Hear God’s Voice Series

God promises that His sheep hear His voice in John chapter ten. As we walk with God we desire to know Him, to hear His voice so we can obey it. It takes some time to know His voice, but it helps to understand the answers to questions like:

  • What do I do to learn His voice?
  • How do I know His will?
  • Can I distinguish between the Lord’s voice and other voices?

Hearing God’s voice is having wisdom for life. In this series, we’ll be answering these questions and more.

Have you found that you heard from God more when you spent more time with Him? Has something “little” happened to you and you know it was God speaking to you?

Read the Posts in the Hearing God’s Voice Series

How to Hear God’s Voice (this page)

Implement These 4 Tips Now to Learn God’s Voice

Lose the Frustration: Discern Counterfeit Voices and Know God’s Voice

8 Characteristics of God’s Voice

A Dangerous Mistake That Will Make You Miss God’s Voice

How to Pray When You’re Desperate to Hear God’s Voice

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25 Comments

  1. This sounds like a great series, Kelly! I agree, I think the problem a lot of the time is that we are so busy rushing around instead of setting aside time to listen.

    1. kellyrbaker says:

      I’m preaching to myself here, Lesley. Productivity is good, but pausing in His presence is needed too. Have a great day!

  2. Living yielded.
    That phrase caught my attention, and it occurs to me that this is the reason we so need to hear God’s voice. I get impatient with this waiting process, and also find myself tempted to nag God for answers. It’s helpful to be encouraged today that I’m living by His direction and according to His time table.

    1. kellyrbaker says:

      Yes, Michele, waiting is so intwined with hearing from God. We’re eager but thankfully when we live yielded we know He’s in control of our lives.

  3. Very good post, Kelly. You are right…the more time we spend with God, the more we hear and recognize his voice. Sharing this on Twitter and Pinterest, friend!

    1. kellyrbaker says:

      Thanks for shares, friend! Stay blessed!

  4. I love the times where “little” things happen that can only be attributed to God’s involvement in our lives. I have a jar that I write these things down. I think of them as His fingerprints and personal touch on my life. Thanks for the point about letting go of what we want Him to answer. It’s a good reminder that He isn’t a genie.

    1. kellyrbaker says:

      I love that thought, Char, and also that you keep a memory jar. How encouraging that must be! So great to see you here. 🙂

  5. Spending time with Him is the key. So often I hear His Word teaching, admonishing, encouraging. But only because I spent time in His Word to begin with.

    1. kellyrbaker says:

      Amen, Debbie. And how He desires sweet fellowship with us.

  6. It’s so easy to ask God to speak to us while we have our hands over our ears and wonder why we can’t hear Him. What a great and practical reminder of what we need to do to actively hear God!

    1. kellyrbaker says:

      I visualized that in my head, and wow how we need to be open to hear whatever He has to say. Even the hard stuff. Thanks for chiming in, Rebecca!

  7. Thank you a ton for this series. I SO look forward to reading more. I am also getting Priscilla Shrier’s book, Hearing God (I think that’s the title). This is a topic I have wanted help with — and he is helping by pointing me to resources and people I can trust. It is wild to see him working like this (using what I have said or done, you & Debbie K) and showing me how to hear him through the simple steps of obedience. I am in awe of it all and feel like the last person on Earth to be in the positions he has put me in. It’s like whaa?! But here I am Lord… Love you friend, keep up the good work. If it’s okay, I am going to share an excerpt from this tonight at Bible school.

    1. kellyrbaker says:

      Our church went through that study for small group recently, and I only skimmed it because I already had drafts written for most of this series. But I love all her stuff. How cool that God is plugging you in where you need to be in all areas. He’s in the details for sure. And yes, totally fine. Hope someone got something out of it. Love you, my friend!

  8. Kelly! Your post is so inline with my new book! I love that God is having you right this series on Hearing God’s voice! I often tell people, God is speaking all the time, we just have to be quiet and listen. You hit the nail on the head, we have to spend time with God! Get to know Him, His heart, and His ways. Out of the overflow of our relationship with Him is where we learn to hear His voice! So exciting you are doing this series so more people can learn about hearing from God! It is an essential part of our Christian walk. This is why prophetic encouragement is so important too.. it’s simply tuning into the frequency of Heaven and doing what God asks us to do. Yay Kelly, I am so excited to read the rest of your series.

    1. kellyrbaker says:

      Yes hearing God’s voice, and discerning it within everyday circumstances is key with walking in the prophetic. I can’t wait to read your book! So blessed by you!

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