Are you going through a difficult time in your life, and you desperately want to hear from God? You want a solution, you want help, or you just need a word of reassurance from Him. It could be an illness, the death of a loved one, a divorce, unemployment, financial or other hardships. You feel hopeless, lonely, or abandoned. You are wondering if God cares about you, or if He even exists. You cry out to God for help, guidance, or comfort, but feel like you have gotten no answer. You want to know that He is with you, that He understands and cares about your situation, and that He has a plan for you.
You may wonder why it seems that some people hear from God more easily than you do. You may even wonder if there is a secret formula or a special technique to communicate with Him. He may be speaking to you, but are you listening? It is possible that you are not able to discern His voice from the many other voices clamoring for your attention. Many times, God is speaking to you and trying to grab your attention, but you are so overwhelmed with your situation that you don’t hear Him. You may also wonder if you are hearing from God or if you are just having your own thoughts about an issue. You may be fearful of being deceived or misled by mistaking another voice for His voice. Hearing from God is one of the most important aspects of the Christian life. But how do you know when God is speaking to you? John 10:27-28, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:”
In this blog post, I will share some biblical principles and practical tips on how to hear God and be sure of his guidance. I will also address some common questions and challenges that many believers face when they seek to hear from God.
Listen
First, let me say that God speaks to us. He is not a distant or silent God who only communicates through His written word. He does not only speak to a select few and not to others. He doesn’t only speak to your pastor, the prophet, or the preacher you listen to We can all hear and experience the voice of God. He is a personal and living God who also speaks through His Spirit, His creation, His people, and His circumstances. He lives in us and is always speaking, but we need to tune in to His frequency and listen with an open heart. We need to allow Him to reach us rather than allow our situation to overwhelm us to the point where nothing else matters. Isaiah 55:2-3, “Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.”
Accept
The truth is, that God is always speaking because His word is already written in the Bible. God speaks to us through His creation. The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands (Psalm 19:1). The natural world reveals God’s power, wisdom, beauty, and creativity. As we observe and enjoy God’s creation, we can hear His voice speaking to us through it. As we read the Bible He is speaking to us.
The Bible
The Bible is God’s inspired and authoritative revelation of Himself, His will, and His ways. It is the primary source of truth and wisdom in our lives. It is also the standard by which we test and evaluate any other voice that claims to be from God. As 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” When you read the Bible do specific verses seem to be targeted directly at you? You may have read that passage many times before but now those words just impact you in a different way and even from a different perspective than you had previously. God speaks to us in this way, so it is important to do bible study. Have you ever gone to church and the word that was preached seemed to be directed at you? It perfectly fits your situation, and it touches you to the core. You may even wonder if someone told the preacher about your situation. God will send the right word at the right time because His timing is perfect.
Ask, Seek, and Knock
If you want to hear from God, ask, seek, and knock. Talk to God through prayer. You need to read, study, meditate on, and obey His word daily. You need to ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate your mind and heart as you read the Scriptures and apply them to your specific situations and needs. You need to compare any other voice or impression that you receive with what the Bible says and reject anything that contradicts or adds to it. You need to have faith that the voice you are hearing is that of God. Sometimes we overlook it because it seems so simple. Instead of following what we are told we brush it aside as being insignificant or not the right voice. Matthew 7:7, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:”
Recognize
Another way that God speaks to you is through His Spirit, who lives in us as believers. When Jesus died on the cross for our sins, we were no longer separated from Him. The separation was removed and that was signified by the renting of the veil in the temple. The Holy Spirit became our point of contact with God. The Holy Spirit is our counselor, comforter, teacher, guide, and witness. He speaks to us in various ways, such as through conviction, peace, joy, love, promptings, impressions, dreams, visions, prophecies, words of knowledge, words of wisdom, etc. He also helps us to understand and apply the Scriptures to our lives. Have you ever disobeyed a strong prompting not to do something only to regret it later? God can and does speak to us in an audible voice as he did to Samuel, but not always. 1 Corinthians 6:19, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?”.
Confirmation
You need to be cautious as not every voice or impression that you hear, or feel is from the Holy Spirit. Sometimes it can be from your own flesh, your emotions, your desires, your fears, your prejudices, your expectations, etc. Sometimes it can be from the enemy, who can disguise himself as an angel of light and deceive you with lies or half-truths. Therefore, you need to test the spirits and discern whether they are from God or not. As 1 John 4:1 says, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.” How do we test the spirit? By using the Bible as our plumbline. As I mentioned earlier, the Bible is the ultimate authority and standard for truth. Anything that contradicts or goes beyond what the Bible says is not from God.
You can also discuss it with your pastor or a spiritually mature person in the church. In 1 Samuel 3, Samuel heard a voice and thought Eli, the priest was calling him. After the third time, Eli told him how to respond the next time he heard the voice. Indeed, it was the voice of God speaking to Samuel.
A Personal Experience
Have you ever had someone come to you with a word that you know to be one hundred percent from God? I have had that experience; I remember years ago I was going through a difficult time, and I felt abandoned by God. I was coming out of a supermarket when I saw a lady standing near my car I walked past her and as I entered my car she came and knocked on my car window, I rolled it down slightly, she said to me she was walking by earlier and as she approached my car the Lord told her to wait until the driver of the car returned and tell the driver that He has heard his cry. She told me the scripture that the Lord had given her to tell me and then she just turned and walked away. I was so shocked I could not respond. I was stunned because I knew that that message was sent by God. I should not have been stunned but I was. We often pray and expect an answer from God, but when it comes, we are taken aback. This should tell us that we were harboring doubts or that we were not sure that we would get an answer. He is not a figment of our imaginations He is real.
Have Faith – Believe
When you are seeking to hear God’s voice you should believe that He will respond to your request. His word tells us to ask, and it shall be given to us, so why would we not expect Him to answer us? He might not answer us in the way we expect or with the answer we are seeking, but we are given the assurance that He will answer. Habakkuk 2:4, “Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith”.
Unbelief – Three Young Men Studying to Be Pastors
One of my prayer partners shared a story about her son and his friends. They were in a Bible school studying to be pastors. Each year they had a period where they went into the nearby communities to evangelize. On one occasion the three young men knocked on a door and encountered a man who told them that he did not believe that God answers prayers. He was distraught. His sister was ill and, in a hospital, waiting to die. They asked him if he would like them to pray for her, and he allowed them to. Two weeks later they were in the same community evangelizing again. They knocked on the same door and the man came out very excited. He told them that his sister had made a miraculous recovery and would soon be home. The young men were perplexed and exchanged surprised glances because they had not expected to hear that the woman had made such a quick recovery. The man asked them if they did not recall praying for her. One of them quickly recovered from the shock and said yes. After leaving they admitted that they were shocked and realized that they prayed but did not believe that their prayers would have been answered. Matthew 13:58 says, “And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief”.
After reading this story we may wonder why these young men were surprised that their prayers for the woman were answered. Sometimes we pray but we do so as a routine. We are doing so because it is expected of us but that does not prevent God from answering us. These three young men were given a demonstration of God’s power and compassion. I am not sure why they did not expect an answer to their prayers, but I am sure that they learned from that experience.
Conclusion
Whatever your situation, be assured that God loves you unconditionally, cares for you intimately, and works for you sovereignly. Believe that He is always with you and for you, even when you don’t feel or see Him. He is always speaking to us through His Word, His Spirit, His creation, His people, and His providence. Believe that He is always listening to us when we call on Him in prayer. Believe that He is always faithful to His promises and plans. We should not only cry out to Him when we are in trouble or when we need a solution to a problem. We need to continually seek His presence and worship Him in all we do.