PRACTICAL WAYS TO HEAR GOD’S VOICE

God wants to speak to each one of us more than we want to hear from Him. It is not for the selected few or even the perfect ones. He is not only focused on those who do everything right, but he desires to have all hear Him. He wants to talk to all of us. It is possible for you to hear God’s voice. You don’t have to go to someone to ask them what God is saying about you. Because of the finished work of the cross, you and I can have a personal relationship with God.

For God does speak—now one way, now another—though no one perceives it. ¹⁵ In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they slumber in their beds, ¹⁶ he may speak in their ears and terrify them with warnings, ¹⁷ to turn them from wrongdoing and keep them from pride, ¹⁸ to preserve them from the pit, their lives from perishing by the sword. ^{[a] 19} “Or someone may be chastened on a bed of pain with constant distress in their bones, ²⁰ so that their body finds food repulsive and their soul loathes the choicest meal. Job 33:14-20

From the scripture above, we see that God is always speaking, and just because we don’t hear Him does not mean that He never does. This means that you need to be sensitive to His voice to know when He is speaking and this stems from having a relationship with Him. The genesis of having a relationship with God is accepting Jesus as the Lord and Saviour of your life. Once you receive Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, you automatically become a child of God.

Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes and is justified, and with the mouth, one confesses and is saved. (Romans 10:9-10) Once you become saved, you gain the right to become a child of God. This is according to John 1:12. So this makes it clear that your salvation is through grace and not works. It is a gift from God. It is through salvation that God translated you out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God. Jesus’s death on the cross was for restoration between God and His creation. God created us for fellowship and communion with Him and this includes hearing and speaking to Him.

Salvation gives us the avenue to have our spiritual antennas open and as we practice, we grow accustomed to the voice of God. Because of the Blood of Jesus, we do not need to go through priests and prophets to hear what God is saying like in the old testament days. Rather, we now have the opportunity to hear God for ourselves as it is said in Acts 2 and Joel 2. God already gave us His Holy Spirit so we can hear what He says, know His heart, and even hear what God has to say for others too. This is because we now have the righteousness of Jesus and so we are blameless in His sight http://bible.us/1/2co5.21.amp

So how can you practically hear God’s voice?

Before you can learn how to practically hear God’s voice, allow me to give you a small analogy. Do you have someone whose voice you are used to that even if they called you from a strange number you would immediately recognize them? On the flip side, do you have people that even if they called you from a familiar number that you haven’t saved you would never guess who they are until they introduce themselves? Have you ever asked yourself why it is so?

The secret to all this is intimacy. When you have a relationship or friendship with someone that is intentionally cultivated and tended, intimacy results and that’s why you can recognize their voice anywhere. Spending quality time with someone is the secret to being able to recognize their voice. This is the same concept that you need to apply if you want to hear God’s voice. So the first step is intimacy.

Intimacy with God is the key that will help you hear God’s voice.

Intimacy stems from understanding someone’s character and intentions towards you. It is very easy to switch your mind from some voices if you don’t believe that they have good intentions toward you or that they don’t add any value to your life. So in your quest to practically hear God’s voice I want you to get to understand who God is and His character.

The best place to understand God’s character is through reading the Bible. The Bible reveals God’s character, and in the Bible, God makes intentions very clear. His first intention is that He loves you so much and that is why He willingly gave up His only Son to die for your sins and mine and reconcile us with Him while also making us co-heirs with Jesus. Another one is that He has a plan and purpose for your life and this is clearly defined in Jeremiah 29:11. In this verse, He clearly states that He has a plan that is meant for your good and a dazzling future. Another thing is that He created you in His image and likeness and knew you before He ever formed you.

The more you read scriptures like this, the more you are drawn to Him, and it is when you are drawn to God that your spiritual senses are activated and this allows you to hear Him more clearly. So let me ask you this: do you have an intimate relationship with God? Do you know what He says about you? There is no way you can be drawn to someone if you don’t know them. Have you intentionally made time to read the word of God?

Intentionally make time for God

Make time for God. For you to hear God’s voice, you have to spend time with God. The only way you can hear and know God’s voice is when you intentionally spend time with Him. A relationship is built through spending quality time together and constant communication. This same concept applies to our relationship with God. The only way you can know who God is, His voice, heart, and ways are by actively spending time with Him. This can be through reading His word, prayer, worship, and praise.

Every time you make room for God, you empower your spiritual senses and by so doing, you become more in tune with Him. Abraham, Elijah, David, and Jesus all knew God’s voice and His ways. Their secret was the fact that they actively spent time with God. They would withdraw from the world to commune with God and that is why they could hear God’s voice whenever He spoke.

Had Elijah not heard God’s voice when He told him to move from the desert and go to the widow of Zarephath, he would probably have died of hunger. Elijah had intentionally learned to spend time with God and, in so doing, he could decipher when God spoke to Him. The secret place is where your senses get refined. The first time you will probably not get it right as you are still getting to know Him. But the more you lean into it you will become accustomed. After all, habits come from doing the same thing repeatedly.

Abraham would have probably killed his son if he did not know God’s voice. He was just about to kill his son when God told Him to stop and showed him a ram. Schedule your time with God and ensure that you show up at the set time. God is always looking forward to the time you set to spend with Him. If you have not, do not feel bad. You can always start now. What are you waiting for? Look forward to spending that time with God. And how you can do that is by actually spicing things up. You don’t always have to do the same things all the time or even go to the same spot. Some days, just worship and praise more than reading the word. Other times talk to God like you would a friend than sit still to hear what He tells you.

Understand your personality and listening skills.

Because we all have unique personalities and backgrounds, God will not speak to us the same way. The way God will speak to you is not the same way He will speak to me. Maybe God will speak to you in an audible voice, but for others, it could be an impression in the spirit. He could speak to you in a dream or even in a movie. The point to note here is that God is a personal God and your relationship with Him will be unique to you. Ge to know yourself in the process because, as you do, you will clearly understand when God is speaking to you. Also, note that God can use a combination of all based on the level you are spiritually.

Don’t put God in a box and assume that He will only speak to you when you are praying. God might speak to you as you on doing the normal chores and go about your day. Whenever a thought pops up, test it so that you can know if it’s from Him, and how you can do that is ask yourself these questions.

• Does it align with God’s word?
• Is it congruent with God’s character?
• Does it feed my flesh or spirit?

If the answer you get is a yes, then you can be sure that you have heard from God. God will never give you a word that contradicts His word and character. That’s why He gave us His word so that we can use it as a blueprint to know when He speaks.

Believe

The next key is to believe that you can hear from Him. God is always speaking, but until we can believe that we can hear from Him, we never will. We can only receive some truths in our souls when we believe them. It is not enough to know that God speaks to you, believing that you will hear when He speaks is vital, too.

Faith is the currency used in your walk with God. And again, you attract what you believe. So when you believe God speaks to you, you will hear Him more often. This is not because He wasn’t speaking before, but it is because your mind is now tuned to His voice and sensitive enough to hear Him speak.

Have you ever noticed that the more you focus on something, the more you keep seeing it in your life? Let’s say you focus on a number like 55, you realize that you will easily notice this number even when you are not trying to look for it. Believe it and you will see it. Abraham believed that he would have a son even before he had one. And because of that, he started making room, for the same. Make room to hear from God. Intentionally set out to hear from Him and you will.

Do not feel bad if you don’t believe. Just ask for forgiveness from God and ask Him to help you in your unbelief. Receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit as It is the Holy Spirit who helps us discern the voice of God. This is through the gift of discernment that gives us the ability to hear God’s voice.

Quiet your soul

In the silence, we can hear our souls more clearly. When we rid ourselves of every other distraction, that is when we can hear our soul and the noise within. Unfortunately, this becomes a hindrance to hearing God because of all the junk. The best way to quiet your voice is to listen to what the soul is saying and write it down. Ignoring it will not make it go away. Just have a journal and pen next to you, and write everything down, whether it is a chore or your emotions, etc. After you have done that, you realize that the junk will lift and this gives room for God to speak.

Listen

Once you have silenced your soul, now listen. God will speak to you as you read the word, worship, pray, or just soak in His presence. Whatever you feel led to do by the Holy Spirit, do it. But remember, you have to actively listen and be expectant that He will speak.

If a scripture jumps out as you are reading, that is God talking to you. Ask Him how the verse applies to you and what He wants you to do. He will tell you.

Act on what He tells you to

God will speak. The question is, will you do what He tells you to? Hearing God’s voice is effective if you will follow what He tells you. Delayed obedience is disobedience. Has God spoken to you and have you acted on what He has told you? God is merciful and if you have not acted on what He told you, He hasn’t disqualified you. Just like Jonah, He is waiting on you to act on it.

Conclusion

God’s voice is loving, redemptive, caring, soothing, and comforting. Even when He is correcting you, He does it lovingly. His conviction is not condemnation. He will never condemn you. For you to know that it is God speaking to you, ensure that you know His word, character, will, and heart. Our God is relational and personal. He longs to talk to you more than you want to. So today resolve to hear from Him. Remember that He is always speaking, the question, however, is, are you listening?