How to Hear God’s Voice

Tips for Hearing the Lord Speak to You

Jan 12, 2008 Venice Kichura

When Christians need answers, too often they run to everyone but the One who can give them what they need. That One is God, the Father, and He wants to speak to you.

When Christians need answers, too often they run to everyone but the One who can give then what they need. That One is God.

But can you really hear God’s voice? Scripture clearly relates how He spoke directly to prophets of old such as Abraham (Genesis 17:1-22). The good news is that God doesn’t change (Hebrews 13:8).

Does He speak in an audible voice? For the most part, no. Instead of writing His message across the sky in big bold red letters, most often God speaks in the still small voice of the human spirit. However, you have to know what His voice sounds like. For example, take a mother who walks down the hall to pick up her toddler at the church nursery. From a distance, she hears her child’s voice above all the other children, because she’s spent time with him (or her).

It’s the same with God. The more you spend time with Him, the easier it is to hear His voice. In John 10:27-29 it says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

How Can You Hear from God?

• Be born again. Before you can hear God’s voice, you first need to make sure you’re His child, by being born into His family. Being born again is simply trusting Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, asking Him to forgive you for your sins. If you’ve followed these steps, you’re His child and should expect to hear Him speak to you. Of course, you shouldn’t put God in a box, as on rare occasions God does speak to unbelievers, but that’s to bring them to a saving knowledge of His Son.

• Be fine-tuned. As an example, take radio waves. There are millions of radio waves in your room right now. But unless you have a radio receiver, you won’t be tuned in. You need to tune out the sounds of the world and tune into the realm of God’s spirit.

• Spend time reading the Bible daily. This way you’ll begin to hear God speak to your spirit. Maybe you’ve read a familiar verse for years, but then one day, it takes on an entirely new meaning for you. That’s God speaking from His spirit to yours. Many times Christians attest that just by meditating on a scripture, it gave them answers.

Warnings

Be careful about well meaning people who tell you “God told me to tell you…” If God hasn’t first spoken to you, chances are their messages aren’t from God.

Also, be aware that God never contradicts His Word. In other words, if you think God’s telling you to divorce your mate because you feel you connect better spiritually with someone else, forget it, as it says in Malachi 2:16 that "God hates divorce." You’re not hearing from God. You have to know God Word, as it must always line up with what you feel He’s telling you to do.

Finally, be sure to act on whatever you believe God is telling you. It’s not just hearing from God, but doing what He says where you receive the blessing as Jesus tells us in John 13:17, where we read, “Blessed are you if you do these things.”

The copyright of the article How to Hear God’s Voice in Protestantism is owned by Venice Kichura. Permission to republish How to Hear God’s Voice in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

We learn to hear God's voice by studying His Word.