Hearing God Speak
God told me to marry you.”
No one ever said this to my wife or me, although I suppose it would have made things a little simpler if God had just told us to marry each other, but it is repeated as a running joke at many Christian colleges. The sad thing is that this joke has a basis in reality, because too many times God has supposedly told one person who to marry, but has neglected to tell the other person. And the other person is usually not too thrilled about the idea. Or worse, she has clearly heard God tell her not to marry the first person. Needless to say, in most instances the two people don’t get married, at least not to each other. Perhaps God is confused. Or, more likely, one person has been trying to spiritualize their feelings for the other person.
Perhaps you can remember a time when someone claimed that God told them something, when in reality it seemed that person was trying to impose their will and desires on others. Situations like these can make us skeptical about the whole idea of hearing God speak.
My Own Skepticism
When I was in my early twenties, I came to the conclusion that God doesn’t speak today. Or, if God does speak, it doesn’t happen often. Like many young adults, I was wrestling with major life decisions, like what vocation I should pursue and where I should live after college. As a result, I investigated a number of books about finding God’s will, and I even wrote a paper on that topic in my third year of college. One book I read, Decision Making and the Will of God, really got me thinking. It contained many valuable messages that I still nod my head in agreement with today.
I learned that the Lord doesn’t necessarily want to whisper in my ear what I should do in every situation I face. Instead, God gives me wisdom to help me make decisions. This was accurate biblical teaching: “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you” (James 1:5). Nevertheless, the book also taught me that today God only communicates through the Scripture. The basic idea was that God has said in the Bible all that needs to be said, so the Lord doesn’t need to speak today outside of the Bible. I remember sitting in a classroom one year after I read the book. Standing at the front, the professor smiled and asked, “Have any of you heard God speak to you?” Though I was embarrassed to admit it, I looked down at my desk and answered, “I used to think I had, but now I’m not so sure.”
God Who Speaks
Eventually I had an aha moment. I was reading the Bible and realized that God spoke to the people who wrote the Bible. I reasoned that if God spoke directly to prophets and apostles, God can speak directly to anyone, and God could speak directly to me. After all, God’s nature hasn’t changed. It seems so obvious, but I had missed it, at least for a while.
Throughout the stories of the Bible, God regularly spoke to people. In the first pages of the Scripture, in the story of Adam and Eve, “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number’” (Genesis 1:28). Later in Genesis 6:13–15, God said to Noah, “Make yourself an ark of cypress wood.” Exodus 33:11 reports that “the LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.” When faced with oppression from the Midianites, God told Gideon, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand” (Judges 6:14). The prophet Jeremiah was hesitant to accept God’s call, so God reassured him and said, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ . . . I am with you and will rescue you” (Jeremiah 1:7–8).
In the New Testament, no one locked up God’s lips and threw away the key. At Jesus’ baptism, the Father said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). And in numerous places in the New Testament, we are specifically told that the Holy Spirit was speaking to people. On one occasion, “the Spirit told Philip” to go near a chariot (Acts 8:29). As a result, Philip ended up sharing the gospel with an Ethiopian who was then baptized. In another story, the church in Antioch was worshipping and fasting and “the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul [Paul] for the work to which I have called them’” (Acts 13:2). As a result, Barnabas and Paul set out on their first missionary journey. First Timothy 4:1 warns, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith.” And, in numerous places the book of Revelation advises people to “hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22). The Spirit is not a vague force; the Spirit was and is still personal. And God speaks to us in the person of the Holy Spirit.
I am encouraged to find that God doesn’t communicate only with the holiest or most spiritual people. The Lord spoke to Paul the apostle, despite the fact that before Paul became a Christian he had made plans to travel around killing believers (Acts 9:1–2). Moses actually did murder someone (Exodus 2:11–12). And after the Lord spoke to Gideon, Gideon lacked faith and told God why he shouldn’t be the one to lead Israel (Judges 6:12–15). Even after God gave Gideon a miraculous sign to prove that God was speaking to him, Gideon continued to doubt and asked God to give him two more miraculous signs to convince him that God would do what God had said (Judges 6:36–40). While God might very well have given up in light of Gideon’s lack of trust, God was gracious and still spoke to him. God has spoken to many imperfect people in the past, and today God continues to speak to imperfect people, like you and me.
God Speaks Through the Bible
When I say God speaks, I am referring to the different ways the Lord communicates with us. In the Bible, people actually did hear an audible voice from God sometimes, like when Jesus was baptized (Matthew 3:17). In most places in the Bible, however, when God speaks we are simply told that “God said,” or that “the Lord responded,” or that “the Spirit told,” but we usually aren’t told exactly how God spoke.
The most obvious way God speaks is by communicating through the Scripture. “All Scripture is God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16), so it is appropriate to think of the Bible as words God has spoken to us. Before we concern ourselves with hearing from God in other ways, we should always begin with listening well to what the Lord has already said to us in Scripture.
Beyond only reading the Bible to hear what God has said in the past, we should also realize that the Bible is a primary way God speaks to people in the present. God’s Word is not some dusty artifact we discover hidden in the ancient history of the Bible. Rather, “the word of God is alive and active” and “it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
On one occasion I was relaxing on my living room sofa reading through the parable of the lost sheep. In this story Jesus explains that if a shepherd loses a sheep, he will leave ninety-nine sheep to go and find the lost sheep and then rejoice with his friends when he finds the missing one (Luke 15:4–7).
God spoke to me through this passage of Scripture about how I needed to be more active in sharing the gospel with others. I wrote in my journal: “It says that the shepherd ‘goes after’ the lost sheep. He doesn’t just wait to run into it. He is not passive, but purposeful. Lord, help me to be more purposeful.” God has spoken to me through Scripture on many other occasions in similar ways.
Other Ways God Speaks
God speaks through the Bible, but the Lord’s voice is not limited to the Bible. Jesus made this clear when he responded to a group of Jewish leaders who were harassing him and planning to kill him. While he recognized that these leaders would “study the Scriptures diligently” (John 5:39), at the same time he scolded them for their lack of relationship with the Father: “You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you” (vv. 37–38). Jesus’ reprimand serves as a good reminder that our relationship is with God, not with the Bible.
In addition to speaking through Scripture, God also communicates with us through visions and dreams (Acts 2:17) as well as through other people by means of the gifts of the Spirit, such as prophecy. God could also speak to us through pictures or nature. My wife finds that God speaks to her especially through songs. There are many ways the Lord might speak to us.
Aside from the Bible, I find God usually speaks directly to my heart. You could describe it as a feeling, an impression, an intuition, or a thought in my conscience. Before Jesus was crucified, he sat down with his disciples and told them he would send the Holy Spirit to guide his followers (John 16:13). The apostle Paul explained that God “put his Spirit in our hearts” (2 Corinthians 1:22), so it makes sense that the Holy Spirit would guide us by speaking to our hearts. In scriptures about the Spirit speaking to people, this was most likely what was happening. Because “God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts” (Galatians 4:6), we, too—to use the words of Gordon Smith—have the “possibility of intimacy with Christ” and a “kind of immediacy to our relationship with God.”1
Do I Need to Listen?
While I came to recognize that God does speak to people today, one thing that began to annoy me was when I heard people say that I have to listen more closely to hear God’s voice. Preachers would often emphasize that God has “a still small voice.” I thought, Can’t God speak loudly enough? When I looked in the Bible, it seemed to me that people were not unsure of when the Lord spoke to them. For example, leading up to Paul’s conversion to Christianity, he was walking on the road to Damascus, and he heard a voice plainly say, “Why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4). Couldn’t God speak to me like that? Experiences like Paul’s would remove any sense of uncertainty I might have about when God is speaking.
As I read my Bible, I was happy to find that God could and sometimes does speak loudly. David wrote,
The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the LORD thunders over the mighty waters.
The voice of the LORD is powerful;
the voice of the LORD is majestic.
The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;
the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of
Lebanon.
(PSALM 29:3–5)
That is the kind of God I wanted to experience. A powerful God—a God who speaks out of fire on mountains (Deuteronomy 5:4) and whose voice scares the living daylights out of sinners.
Nevertheless, in spite of God’s ability to speak loudly, the Lord can and does sometimes speak quietly. God told Elijah to go stand on a mountain so God could address him. There was a strong wind, an earthquake, and a fire, but the Lord instead chose to speak through “a gentle whisper” (1 Kings 19:12). And so, all those pastors who told me that God generally communicates with “a still small voice” were right. In fact, “gentle whisper” is translated as “a still small voice” in the King James Version. And more often than not, it seems God chooses to speak quietly, in our hearts.
While it might seem really spiritual to hear God speak loudly (it’s always nice to have a fascinating story to tell other people), I eventually realized that sometimes the reason God speaks loudly to people is that they haven’t been listening. Again, Paul provides a good example. Paul had no doubt heard the gospel before he had a vision of Christ on the road to Damascus and his subsequent conversion experience, because if he hadn’t heard the gospel Christians were teaching, he wouldn’t have been trying to arrest them. Until his encounter with Jesus, however, Paul resisted God’s call to repentance and faith in Christ. As a result, the Lord spoke more clearly to Paul as he walked on the road to Damascus.
Similarly, I have listened to some Christians tell captivating stories of their call to engage in some particular type of ministry and how God made it abundantly clear through some miraculous event what they were supposed to do. In many cases, though, even before the miraculous event, the Lord had already spoken to these people about engaging in ministry, but because they were resisting God’s guidance, God spoke loudly. Therefore, if God does choose to speak loudly to someone, it doesn’t necessarily mean that person is more spiritual or more in tune with the Spirit than the next person.
God Is Speaking
Because God often speaks quietly, we don’t always hear. Or perhaps the issue isn’t so much that we don’t hear God, but that we aren’t always aware God is speaking. On numerous occasions I have listened to Christians ask, “Why isn’t God talking to me? Why didn’t the Lord answer me? Why can’t I hear the Spirit right now? Why doesn’t God answer me when I pray?” In the Bible, Job had similar questions. He suffered the loss of his family, wealth, health, possessions, and friends. And, like so many people in the midst of suffering, Job challenged God: “I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer; I stand up, but you merely look at me” (Job 30:20). Job also lamented, “Oh, that I had someone to hear me! I sign now my defense—let the Almighty answer me” (Job 31:35). Finally a response came:
Why do you complain to him [God] that he responds to no one’s words? For God does speak—now one way, now another—though no one perceives it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they slumber in their beds, he may speak in their ears and terrify them with warnings. (Job 33:13–16)
Like Job, sometimes we are not aware of the ways God is speaking to us.2 But if we learn to listen, we will hear them—or, better stated, we will be more aware of what we are hearing.
You’ve Already Heard God
The first time I remember hearing the Spirit speak to me was when I was nine years old. I sat in my hard pew one Sunday morning, listening to the guest preacher end his message. From behind the pulpit he asked if anyone would like to dedicate their lives to following Jesus. My heart thumped like the foot of a nervous rabbit. My Sunday-school teachers had asked my class the same thing on more than one occasion. But until that morning, I had determined that I would wait until I was older and had the chance to enjoy life awhile longer, that is, sin a little, before I would become a believer—maybe in my twenties, when it was time to get married.
That Sunday morning, however, the Spirit was urging me not to wait any longer. And so I bowed my head and prayed, “God, I want to live my life for Jesus.” If you had a conversion experience similar in any way to mine, you have heard God speak. You might have even heard God speak by calling you to faith numerous times before you became a believer.
The biblical parable about a shepherd and his sheep illustrates the ability of believers to know the voice of God. Jesus said,
Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice. (John 10:1–5)
Jesus then explained the story: “I am the good shepherd. . . . My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (vv. 11, 27). Jesus didn’t say that his sheep might know his voice, but that they do “know his voice” (v. 4). In this story Jesus is first and foremost talking about salvation (vv. 9, 28). Therefore, if you are saved today, you have already responded to the Savior’s voice. But the story doesn’t only apply to salvation. Jesus didn’t merely say that his sheep knew (past) his voice, but that they know (present) his voice.
Even though you might not think of yourself as someone who knows the Lord’s voice, I suspect you have heard God in many ways.3 Have you ever heard the Spirit speak through the Bible? Maybe a verse jumped out at you. When we read the Bible, we don’t just ponder the things the Lord said “once upon a time,” but we are confronted with the very voice of God speaking to us today. In times like this, the Scripture not only teaches about God and how we should live, but it also becomes a place where we encounter the living God.
Have you ever heard God speak to you through a sermon or during a time of worship? Have you ever felt a strong urge to pray for someone? Perhaps the Spirit has prompted you to encourage someone by sending them a note or phoning them. Has the Lord ever spoken to you about something you’ve done wrong or were about to do wrong? I am usually pretty good at hearing from God about my sin. Quite likely you have already heard the Spirit speak to you many times. You can even ask God right now: When is the last time you spoke to me?
Not What You Expect
One reason we aren’t aware of the times God speaks to us is that when it happens, it isn’t always what we might expect. Many students who come into my office only desire to hear the Lord’s voice so God will help them make difficult life decisions, like what job to take or where to live, but they usually aren’t so thrilled with hearing from the Spirit about the ways they need to stop sinning. God, however, doesn’t want to be our free psychic hotline—God wants a close and personal relationship with us.
God may direct you regarding your future, but I’ve noticed that when God told a person in the Bible to go somewhere, they usually weren’t seeking divine direction. Rather, the Lord just gave them direction. For example, Abraham (called Abram at the time) lived with his family in Harran for decades and likely anticipated living there for a long time. He didn’t seem to have any reason to wonder about where to move next. And then, out of the blue, God told him, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you” (Genesis 12:1). But God spoke to Abraham about more than just where to live. For example, God told Abraham, “Do not be afraid” (Genesis 15:1).
God speaks for all kinds of reasons. A couple of days after we buried our stillborn baby, God spoke to encourage my wife. It was Krista’s first time returning to the grave after we buried Avery. As the van rolled up to the cemetery gate, a song started playing on the radio. Krista listened as the singer declared how God does not abandon us in our sorrow. And as the tears slid down her cheeks, the song assured her that God holds our tears.4
Krista then stood by Avery’s grave, reflecting and praying. When she got back in the van, another song immediately began to play. It held her captive to that spot near the grave. Through that song, God reassured her again: even though we might feel alone, God holds us in our moments of suffering. And because God even cares for the flowers (Matthew 6:28– 30) and the sparrows (Matthew 10:29–31), we can be sure that God will hold our tomorrows.5 More than she needed direction for her future, that day Krista needed to hear the words she had heard so many times in Sunday school as a child: “He’s got the whole world in his hands.”
Sometimes the Lord may speak because you need correction. One time I was thinking about how ignorant somebody sounded, and God spoke to me by warning me not to be self-righteous about knowledge. Sometimes “the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” (Romans 8:16). At times God may speak to assure you that even though God isn’t going to change the difficult situation you are in, God’s “grace is sufficient for you” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Other times, you may ask God a question, and God won’t answer you. The Lord is not obliged to answer you or respond in the way you want.
Silence
Some people experience silence from God because they actually don’t want to hear from God (Deuteronomy 18:16). Most Christians I come across who find God silent, however, truly do long to hear from God, yet for some reason they just aren’t hearing anything. They are sometimes left feeling unspiritual and asking many questions. The problem is, we can’t force the Lord to speak. If you are struggling and not hearing God speak for whatever reason, please know you are not alone. Many biblical authors struggled with times of silence from God too. David lamented, “Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night you hear my voice, but I find no relief” (Psalm 22:2, author’s paraphrase). At times like this, it is important that we continue to declare our faith and trust to God, as David did in the next verse: “Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel” (v. 3 NLT).
Even when we don’t hear from God, we can be assured that the Lord is still at work in our lives, because “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). If you are in a place where you are not currently hearing from God, consider asking God if there is a reason and what you can do about it. Perhaps God is using silence to get your attention.
Testing Content
Hopefully you are not experiencing silence from God. Hopefully you realize that you have heard and have been hearing the Spirit speak. Nevertheless, when you do hear from God, it won’t always be clear that it is God speaking to you. Pretty much everyone I talk to about hearing from God agrees that you will sometimes need to discern if you are hearing from God or not, no matter how long you have been a Christian.
Some Christians get anxious about discerning whether they are hearing from God or the Devil. No believer wants to follow the Devil’s voice. The negative result is that some people decide discerning the Spirit’s voice is too difficult and, therefore, they choose to stop listening to God altogether. Not listening to the Lord, however, may be just as dangerous for our lives as listening to the Devil. We must remind ourselves that God does speak. And we need to have more confidence in God’s ability to address us than in Satan’s ability to deceive us.6 Rather than giving up on hearing from God, we should “test everything; hold fast to what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21 NRSV).
Whenever we believe we are hearing from God, we should test the content of the message. This starts by comparing what we are hearing in our hearts to how God has spoken in the Bible. If what you have heard contradicts the Scripture, you obviously have not heard from God. For example, the Spirit would not tell a person that because their spouse is ignoring them, it is okay to commit adultery; the Lord has already unambiguously condemned adultery in the Bible (Mark 10:19).
Group Discernment
Sometimes what you think you hear from God does not contradict anything from the Bible, but it still might not be from God. A story from the pastor of a church near Chicago, illustrates this point:
In the early 1990s, I was in the process of recuperating from a time of burnout and over-commitment. At my lowest point during that season of extreme exhaustion—when I was emotionally fried—a business friend of mine from out of state made an offer for me to join his company. It was an exciting and lucrative offer, and I truly thought that God might be calling me to leave church work and re-enter the marketplace.
I was quite confident that I had heard God’s voice . . . Nothing in Scripture would prohibit me from going back to my original career in the marketplace. . . .
Somewhat begrudgingly, I called together a few spiritual mentors and other people whose opinions and perspectives I genuinely trust, and who understood my current state of exhaustion. I described the offer I was considering, then sat back and listened to their response. To a person, they said, “ . . . you are in no condition right now to make such a sweeping decision about your future. Even if you believe that God is steering you in this direction, we implore you to wait three months and then reevaluate at that time.”
I will forever be grateful that I heeded their wise advice. Within a couple of months I did get healthier, and I began to see things more clearly. As I fell in love with my ministry role once more, I realized how much I would have missed if I had gotten that one decision wrong.7
This story illustrates another important way to test the content of a message: discuss what you have heard with other people you trust within the Christian community. Often when people hear from God, they are reluctant to share it with others because they fear they are wrong. When you discuss with others, however, you can find encouragement, particularly if you conclude you have indeed heard from the Lord. Furthermore, it can save you heartache, if you discern that you haven’t heard from God.
We see the principle of group discernment practiced in the Bible. Before Paul and Barnabas embarked on their first missionary journey, the Holy Spirit spoke to the church and told them to set Barnabas and Paul apart for their mission journey. Only after “they had fasted and prayed” did the church commission Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:3). Paul and Barnabas did not make the decision to go out as missionaries by themselves. Rather, “they”—the church—concluded this was the right thing to do. Group discernment took place again during Paul’s second missionary journey. Only Paul had a vision of a man in Macedonia calling to him for help, but it was the whole group of people traveling with him who concluded that God called them to go and preach in Macedonia (Acts 16:9–10).
Wisdom and Waiting
Friends can also help you discern if what you think you have heard from God is wise. Proverbs 12:15 teaches us that “the way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.” Even though the Bible often affirms the value of wisdom and seeking wise counsel (Proverbs 4:7; James 1:5), some people think one way to confirm that a message is from God is if it is not wise “from a human perspective.” They usually quote Isaiah 55:8, where the Lord says, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” as though this scripture indicates a general rule about God’s plans for us. The previous verse, however, clarifies that the manner in which the Lord’s ways differ from human ways is that if “the wicked forsake their ways and . . . turn to the LORD,” God “will have mercy on them” and even “freely pardon” them. In other words, the Lord’s ways differ from people’s ways because God will forgive freely. Therefore, when God says, “My ways are not your ways,” it does not mean that God only desires things for us that seem unwise from a human perspective. It is possible that in some instances God may ask you to do something that seems unwise from some human perspectives, but this is not a general rule about how God works.
If God does ask you to do something that doesn’t immediately seem wise, wait and see if God confirms it in another way. For example, one day I peered out my window through the blinds and found that an ambulance was parked across the road at my neighbor’s house. Right then, God directed me to walk across the road and offer to pray for my neighbor. I didn’t think it was wise. I thought I might just be getting in the way of the paramedics or my neighbor might think I was being nosy. Still, I sensed the Spirit telling me I should hike over and offer to pray. Nevertheless, I closed the blinds and went back to preparing supper. Of course, my young and curious children kept peeking out the living room window to see what was going on across the street. I kept thinking about what God had said and was even debating with God about it. Then, one of my daughters said, “You should go pray for them.” I smiled. I put on my flip flops and walked across the street ready to pray because I knew God was gently confirming for me what the Spirit had already spoken to my heart.
Another important way to test the content of a message you believe you have heard from the Lord is to wait and see if the prompting from God lasts. Taking this time will allow you to discern if it was really God speaking to you, or if you just had a temporary desire or whim.
Recognizing God’s Voice
To summarize the last few sections of this chapter, first, when you think you are hearing from God, you should test the content of the message against the Scripture. Second, you can ask trusted friends in the Christian community what they think about what you heard, including their thoughts about the wisdom of the idea. Third, you can wait to see if the prompting from God remains, being confirmed in other ways as well. Unfortunately, sometimes these tests regarding the content of the message don’t always work—that is, they don’t always help clarify things for you, or they aren’t practical. For example, what if you are in a church service and you believe God is telling you to go pray for an individual right then and there? You know it is biblical to pray for other people, but it isn’t practical to ask someone what they think about the idea, and you probably don’t have the time to wait to see if the prompting from God lasts. Situations like this show the importance of not only testing the content of the message you think you hear but also learning to discern what God’s voice sounds like when God speaks to you so you can recognize it in the future.
You might be frustrated with the suggestion that you need to learn to recognize God’s voice, just as I was once frustrated with the idea that I need to listen better to hear God speak, as though God can’t speak loudly. The problem, if we can call it a problem, is that when the Spirit speaks to your heart and mind, God doesn’t promise to give you big, special, profound thoughts that will stand out radically from other thoughts you might have. You might expect that if God is going to communicate to you through a dream, for example, it won’t be like a normal dream—it will be a dream-dream—that is, an out-of-the-ordinary, super-spectacular dream. But God’s voice doesn’t always stand out in a majestic way. It is encouraging, though, that just as you learn to recognize the voice of your friends on the phone, you can also learn to better recognize the voice of God.
When God does speak to people, they often write it off as something else. They might think, That is just me, or, It must be what I ate last night. When God spoke to Samuel, he didn’t immediately recognize God’s voice either. The Lord had called for Samuel, but Samuel figured it was Eli the priest calling him. After Samuel had made this mistake three times, Eli told him to respond to God: “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:9). You might think Samuel should have recognized God’s voice, especially since it seems Samuel heard a literal, audible voice. But, like many people today, Samuel came up with another explanation for what he heard.
Is It God?
I have found that God speaks differently to different people, so you will have to discern how the Lord communicates with you. The primary way you can learn to recognize God’s voice is by getting used to recognizing it over time as you confirm times when the Lord has indeed been speaking to you.
One way to do this is by considering the fruit or outcome of the particular voice or prompting you have followed. Does the voice lead you in a generally disruptive or peaceful direction? How does the voice affect your relationship with God? If the voice consistently leads you to hurt people or to bad outcomes, there is a good chance the voice you heard was not from God.
This is not to say God will only ask you to do things that will make your life better or easier. When the Israelites were in slavery in Egypt, the Lord directed Moses to confront Pharaoh and tell him to free the Israelites. Moses eventually obeyed, but Pharaoh responded by telling the Egyptian slave drivers to push the Israelites harder in their work of making bricks. Things got harder for Moses, too, because the Israelites blamed Moses for their hardship (Exodus 5:21–23). Despite this hardship, Moses was confident he had heard from God because God confirmed it to Moses through miraculous signs (Exodus 4:2–7). Moreover, the Lord’s direction ultimately saved Moses and the Israelites through their mass exodus out of Egypt (Exodus 12:31–34).
In addition to considering the outcomes of following the voice you hear, when you think you are hearing from the Lord, it can also be beneficial to ask God who is speaking. If God can talk to you about other things, then God can certainly clarify for you if it is really God speaking. I remember asking God once, “Is that really you, God?” and the Lord responded quite plainly, “No way!”
Another helpful way to recognize God’s voice is to begin by identifying ways you have already heard the Spirit speaking to you. I have found I am really good at hearing the Lord when God talks to me about sin in my life. Because I can recognize God’s voice when God communicates to me in that way, I can also hear the Lord speaking to me in the same way, but about other things.
Practice Listening
If we are going to hear from God and recognize God’s voice, we need to practice listening to God. Perhaps it would be better to say we need to take more time for our relationship with God. The Lord wants to have a relationship with us, not just to tell us fascinating things. And as we build our relationship with God, we recognize God’s voice more. But listening means more than just spending time praying, if by praying we only mean talking to God. To hear God and grow in relationship with God, we must make room for a two-way conversation. We might even ask the Lord some questions.
Many Christians find that the main way they hear from God is through the Bible, so one way to practice listening to God is by starting there. As you read the Bible, don’t just study it or read a devotional about it, but also ask if God has anything to tell you through it. And then take some time to listen to God. Sometimes I hear the Lord speaking to me as I am reading the Bible, and other times not until after I have finished reading and am praying about what I read.
We can also practice listening to the Lord for the sake of ministering to other people. God often speaks to us when we are already following God’s will, and we know God desires us to “serve one another humbly in love” (Galatians 5:13). When I read the Bible, especially in the New Testament, I see that most of the times God speaks is for the purpose of directing people to minister to others. I’m not saying God will tell us everything we should do in ministry—God has already made clear much of what we are supposed to do, like giving to those in need—but sometimes God will give us more specific direction.
One day I had a layover in a big international airport. I already knew God is pleased when we share the gospel with people, but as I wandered around the airport, I invited God to direct me to someone. I sensed the Lord telling me to stroll over to where a young man was sitting in a row of seats, leafing through a book. I didn’t want to be rude and disrupt him, but I sat down beside him anyhow. I noticed he was holding a book on the religions of the world. The fact that this young man was already thinking about religion and spirituality confirmed for me that it was indeed God speaking to me. I asked him where he was from and about the book he was reading, and we ended up having a lengthy conversation. By the time I walked away, he said he was going to give the church he grew up in another try.
Reengage
If you’ve given up on hearing from God because you have been turned off by others who have made false claims about hearing God’s voice, I encourage you to reengage God. No doubt you will also sometimes be wrong about hearing from God. I have been. But that is okay. We make all kinds of mistakes while learning math, and, while those mistakes can be frustrating, sometimes very frustrating, they are just part of the learning process. In the same way, over time you can learn to recognize God’s voice better. I believe the Lord would say to some of you today what God said to Jeremiah: “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3).
Thank you, Lord, that you are not silent, but you speak to us by the Holy Spirit. Please help us become more aware of when you are speaking to us. Help us also obey when we do hear your voice. Forgive us for any times we have turned you into a psychic hotline. Help us aim for intimacy with you instead.
Questions for Reflection or Discussion
1. Do you get more frustrated or excited at the prospect of hearing the Spirit speak?
2. Has anything in this chapter led you to change your thinking about how God speaks or what God might speak to you about?
3. What are some ways and reasons God has spoken to you in the past?
4. Has God ever spoken to you at a time when you weren’t asking God anything?
5. If someone came to you and said, “I think God might be speaking to me about something,” how would you help that person discern whether they were hearing from God?