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.
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?
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
Hearing God’s Voice is having wisdom for life.
Kelly, what a great post! And haven’t we all been there! Shooting out those text prayers to God without waiting for a response? I love your acronym for DAILY TIME. So perfect. In the season of raising teen boys, I’m learning how essential it is that I spend time daily with God. Reading His word, praying when a verse hits me. Praying during other times of the day. Listening to Him, especially in my interactions with my boys.
Such a good post. I so appreciate your reminders about how we best hear God’s voice!
It’s great to have you visit and share your thoughts here, Jeanne! It’s an all day relationship with God. And it’s a sweet thing, not an “oh no, He’s watching over me with a whip,” thing. Oh, how He loves us.
Loved this, Kelly! God is working on me to sit and wait. You are right – it is key. I am pinning this!
So right!!! The more time I devote to spending time with God, the more tuned I become in hearing Him. It’s like practicing an instrument. The more you play it the better you become at hearing every little nuance in the sound.
What a great analogy, Diane! Glad you chimed in!
It is too easy to do as you mentioned, “saying a five word prayer than forgetting about it.” We too often don’t hear God’s voice, because we are not making time to listen. I loves your sit down and shut up steps. It’s simple to remember but powerful if we do it. Thanks for sharing.
Simple practical application helps me remember the Word. Thanks for stopping by, Kevin!
Amen and amen! Hearing His voice is the best thing that could possibly happen to us! Thank you for a life-giving article!
Agreed, Jennifer! Thanks for stopping by!