Practical Suggestions on Hearing God’s Voice

Jim Goll

OBSTACLES TO HEARING GOD’S VOICE

There are at least 7 reasons why Christians today do not hear from God on a regular (even daily) basis.

  1. Lack of faith to believe that hearing from God is for today.
  2. Lack of strong commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord of their life.
  3. The presence of unconfessed sin add a “double-standard” lifestyle.
  4. Ignorance of the scriptural evidence of the believer’s privilege to hear from God personally.
  5. Lack of teaching on how to pursue such a listening prayer experience.
  6. Fear of being called a “religious fanatic” or “mentally ill”
  7. Fear of being open to the “wrong spirits” or led astray by the enemy.

ASSURANCE THAT GOD IS SPEAKING

If you can respond to the following statements affirmatively, then rest assured that God is speaking to you:

  1. What I heard helps me to respect (fear) the Lord and to depart from evil (Job28:28)
  2. The message increases my faith in or my knowledge and understanding of Scripture (Proverbs 4:7)
  3. The actions that will result from following this will be full of spiritual fruits: purity, peace, gentleness, mercy, courtesy, good deeds, sincerity, and without hypocrisy (James 3:17)
  4. What I heard strengthens me “with all might” so that I can keep going no matter what happens (Col 1:11)
  5. It causes me to experience joyfulness and thanksgiving to the Father (Col. 1:12)

TWELVE POINTS TO REMEMBER

Loren Cunningham, founder and director of Youth With a Mission has been receiving God’s direction for many years. He has taught hundreds if not thousands, of people how to hear from God. In his book, Is That Really You God, Loren gives twelve points to remember when hearing the voice of God:

  1. Don’t make guidance complicated. It’s actually hard not to hear God if you really want to please and obey Him!... Here are three simple steps that have helped us to hear God’s voice:
  1. Submit to His lordship. Ask Him to help you silence your own thoughts, desires and the opinions of others… you want to hear [only] the thoughts of the Lord … (Prov 3:5-60)
  2. Resist the enemy … Use the authority which Jesus Christ has given you to silence the voice of the enemy (James 4:7; Eph 6:10-20)
  3. Expect an answer. After asking the question that is on your mind, wait for Him to answer. Expect your loving heavenly Father to speak to you. He will (John 10_27; Psalm 69:13; Exodus 33:11)
  1. Allow God to speak to you in the way He chooses. Don’t try to dictate to Him concerning the guidance methods you prefer… Listen with a yielded heart; there is a direct link between yieldedness and hearing. He may choose to speak to you:
  1. Through His word..
  2. Through an audible voice…
  3. Through dreams and visions…
  4. Through the quite inner voice – probably the most common of all means (Isaiah 30:21)
  1. Confess any unforgiven sin. A clean heart is necessary if you want to hear God (Psalm 66:18)
  2. … Have you obeyed the last thing God told you to do?
  3. Get your own leading. God will use others to confirm your guidance but you should also hear from Him directly …(I Kings 13)
  4. Don’t talk about your guidance until God gives you permission to do so… The main purpose of waiting is to (help you) avoid four pitfalls of guidance:
  1. Pride…
  2. Presumption…
  3. Missing God’s timing and method
  4. Bringing confusion to others…
  1. … God will often use two or more spiritually sensitive people to confirm what He is telling you (II Cor 13:11)
  2. Beware of counterfeits… Satan has a counterfeit for everything of God that is possible for him to copy (Acts 8:9-11)
  3. Opposition of man is sometimes guidance from God (Acts 21:10-14) The important thing to remember here, here again is yieldedness to the Lord… Rebellion is never of God…
  4. Every follower of Jesus has a unique ministry (1 Cor 12:1, Pet 4:10-11) The more you seek to hear God’s voice in detail, the more effective you will be in your own calling…
  5. Practice hearing God’s voice and it becomes easier. It’s like picking up the phone and recognizing the voice of your best friend… you know his voice because you have heard it so much…
  6. Relationship is the most important reason for hearing the voice of the Lord… If you don’t have communication, you don’t have a personal relationship with Him. True guidance… is getting closer to the Guide. We grow to know the Lord better as He speaks to us and as we listen to Him and obey, we make His heart glad (Ex 33:11; Matthew 7:24-27)