Obviously, the key in all of this is to hear God’s
voice clearly. No relationship can grow without ongoing communication. But is
this for you? Yes! Everyone who fully surrenders to the Lord can hear His voice
clearly and continually. The following different renderings of John 10:27
should be encouraging to you. The first translation tells us that we can hear Jesus’ voice. The second
translation assures us that we can recognize
His voice. The third translation reminds us that the way to hear His voice
is to come to Him with a willingness to listen
(obey)! All three meanings are possible, so I believe we can treasure them all.
John
10:27 My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. NRSV
John
10:27 My sheep recognize my voice; I know them, and they follow me. NLT
John
10:27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. NIV
Are you one of His sheep? Then as you take time to
listen, coming to Him with a willingness to obey what you hear, you will hear His voice and experience His
love. As you do this, you will find that He is always speaking! The verb tenses
in John 10:27 are all present tense. John 10:27 literally reads, “My sheep are hearing my voice. I am knowing them, and they are following me.” This sounds to me
like we can be hearing Jesus all the time! Other verses tell us the same thing.
For example, Romans 8:14 literally reads “For as many as are being led by the Spirit of God are
children of God.” (The Spirit leads us by continually speaking to us).
The
core of the Christ life is an increasingly intimate relationship with God, and
constantly improving communication is essential for that relationship to grow.
And because God’s desire is for each believer to hear Him on his/her own, not
through a “pastor” or other teacher, it is crucial for you to learn how to hear Him well. Just how important is it for you
to hear God’s voice for yourself, up close and personal? I answer that with
another question: How else are you going to build a relationship with Him? How
else will you know what to do as a believer in any assignment God has for you?
It takes a revelation of God’s wisdom to live life as He intends it, doesn’t
it?
The
NIV rightly translates Proverbs 29:18a “Where there is no revelation, the
people cast off restraint.” The CEV translates it “Without guidance from God,
law and order disappear.” The ESV alternate says “Where there is no prophetic
vision, the people are discouraged.” What’s my point here? It’s that
discouragement and destruction happen when God’s people aren’t hearing Him and
obeying His voice. Note that this means more than reading the Bible. It refers
to immediate words from God (in line with Scripture) continually being spoken
to us.
So how can you improve your ability to hear God’s
voice? First, let’s think about how
God communicates with us. What does God’s voice sound like? What types of means
does He use to communicate with us? First, because God is infinitely creative,
He chooses to communicate in a lot of different ways, crafting His
communication to the unique needs of each of His children. Having said that,
Scripture and the experience of God’s people through the ages show us that
there are some ways that God often uses to communicate. Books about hearing God
list things like impressions, an inner voice, an audible voice, dreams, various
types of visions, angels, etc. What I want to concentrate on, however, is the communication
that I believe God most often uses to communicate with us as we seek to follow
His Spirit throughout the day. That communication usually starts with our
receiving nudges and impressions that eventually grow into words (and/or
pictures) that grow into the internal conversation with God that Paul refers to
as “praying without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Yes, I believe that it’s
possible to hear God all the time! How else can we be led by the Spirit? And I
have found that this communication usually sounds like me! That is, God’s inner
voice sounds a lot like my inner thoughts, except it comes from a slightly
“different place” within me (it takes time and practice to discern this,
however). How do we learn to hear this inner voice consistently?
Learning
to hear God’s voice is a process, and most folks find that they can hear God
only rather faintly at first. So if you are new to this, don’t be disappointed
if the communication seems faint as you begin. Those of us in the Western world
are especially not used to receiving input from anywhere beyond our 5 senses!
The existence of a spiritual world beyond the physical world takes time for us
to adjust to, so be patient with yourself as you learn to tune into the
spiritual realm where God chooses to communicate with His children.
We said earlier that God’s communication most
often starts with nudges and impressions. It was a “nudge” from the Holy Spirit
that first brought you to God, wasn’t it? Somehow you knew that God was
communicating with you and inviting you to surrender to Jesus. So you have
already heard God clearly at least once! And as you surrender more to Him, the
impressions will grow stronger as you learn to tune into them. You will find
Bible passages coming alive and you will know that God is saying something
directly to you. The same thing will happen as you pray or wait quietly before
God. Something will come into your mind that “feels like” God. It may be an
impression that you should pray for someone, or perhaps it will be the sense that
God is addressing something in your life (unforgiveness, a wrong attitude,
etc.), or you will sense Him communicating His love for you in a fresh way.
(This is one of His most frequent “words” to His people). As you respond to
these nudges and impression in obedience and/or with thanksgiving, they will
get stronger and louder.
A.W. Tozer describes this process in The Pursuit of God. “It is important
that we get still to wait on God. It is best that we get alone, preferably with
our Bible outspread before us. Then if we want we may draw near to God and
begin to hear Him speak to us in our hearts. I think for the average person the
progression will be somewhat like this: first a sound as of a Presence of
walking in the garden. Then a voice, more intelligible, but still far from
clear. Then the happy moment when the Spirit begins to illuminate the
Scriptures, and that which had been only a sound, or at best a voice, now
becomes an intelligible word, warm and intimate and clear as the word of a dear
friend. Then will come life and light, and best of all, ability to see and rest
in and embrace Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and all.”
So hearing God is a process which usually starts
with nudges or impressions that grow into clear conversation with Him. And although
God uses many different ways to communicate with us, the most common way is the
internal voice. So how do we improve our ability to hear the internal voice of
God? Let’s look at seven S’s for hearing God’s voice. Before that, though, I
remind you that the first step in your hearing God’s voice is for you to believe that you can hear His voice! Many believers don’t
seem to believe this! Psalm 23:2 says that the Lord as our Shepherd leads us
beside still waters, and being led to still waters requires us to hear His
voice. And John 10:27 doesn’t say “some
of my sheep hear my voice.” You can
hear God’s voice! Now for the seven S’s!
Seeking. Jeremiah 29:13 says,
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” This verse
promises that people who fervently seek to know God and hear His voice will
find that God always responds! This wonderful promise boils down the
requirement for finding and hearing God into something we can all qualify for:
desire! If you really want to hear God’s voice, you will learn to do so.
Scripture. When God speaks, what
He says sounds like the Bible! Getting God’s Word into our lives gives the Holy
Spirit a vocabulary to use for speaking to us. I find that the more of God’s
Word I memorize the clearer His voice becomes and the easier it is to
distinguish His voice from my own voice. Hearing God’s voice often starts with
hearing God speak through His written word. That’s one reason why we encourage
folks to write down what He says through His Word. If you aren’t already doing
so, try giving God the opportunity to speak to you in this way. Take some time
to sit quietly and read the Bible, asking God to speak to you. I can guarantee
that if you do this with expectancy, you will hear His voice.
Surrender. Would you spend a lot
of time talking to someone who wasn’t responding to what you said? The people
who hear God best always approach Him with an attitude of absolute surrender,
yielding their lives to God’s loving embrace and His purposes. To hear God’s
voice clearly, you must approach Him with a willingness to do what He says
without hesitation or reservation! Smith Wigglesworth often boiled the
Christian life down to one word: yield.
He told his hearers, “Yield and yield and yield!” You see, even though God’s
desire in communicating with us is to build relationship with us, like any good
father, He won’t speak much to the person who isn’t willing to follow Him. One
sure way to improve your hearing His voice, then, is to start obeying those
“nudges” you get from Him. The nudges get “louder” as we come ready to obey and
then follow through with obedience. Try it!
Stillness. It’s amazing to me how many people think that they can hear God in the middle of the noise of their crowded lives. Have you ever tried to carry on a serious conversation in a noisy restaurant or while the TV was going? It’s impossible! God often speaks very, very softly, so we need to really get still to hear Him. In fact, when you first start trying to hear Him, you will find that you face not only external noise but internal noise as well. Even when we get alone and quiet, most of us find that our minds at first are filled with “noisy thoughts” that drown out God’s still, small voice. What can you do about this? First, be quiet! Make prayer a two-sided conversation, not a laundry list or a 911 call! If God can’t get a word in edgewise, it’s not likely that you will hear much. For me prayer is now well over 50% listening. Second, take the time needed to get still. Get alone, tune out the outside noises, put on some soft worship music if that helps, and just sit until your soul quiets down. “Coming to interior stillness requires waiting. Any attempt to hasten the process only stirs up the water anew.” Brennan Manning, Abba’s Child (Kindle Locations 508-509). Certain scripture passages have helped me get still and may help you, too (Psalms 46:10 and 131:1-2, for example). Finally, don’t give up! Most of us are so unaccustomed to stillness that it takes practice to get really still. But when you do get still, hang on! You will find God speaking volumes to you, and you will learn how to take that stillness with you wherever you go.
Solitude. We can’t form a
relationship or recognize someone’s voice in a crowd. Learning to recognize how
someone communicates—with both verbal communication and non-verbal
communication—requires us to spend time alone with them, doesn’t it? Our
relationship with God is no different. If we want to get to know the subtle
nuances of the ways He communicates, we must spend time with Him alone. It is
impossible to learn to hear God just by attending meetings. That may help, but
it cannot take the place of time alone with Him. I have found a direct
connection between how much time I spend alone with Him and how well I
recognize His voice. And I have never met anyone who took the time to be alone
with God (to listen) who didn’t learn to hear God well. Again, try it! Take the
time in your life that’s yours to invest as you wish and spend it alone with
God and see what happens!
Spiritual
friends.
God’s people were never meant to live in isolation, so in spite of what we said
about solitude, part of your learning to hear God must happen as you live in
relationship with other believers. Learning from people who know how to hear
God well and living in community with others who long to hear God well has
helped me to hear God better. I also believe that it’s possible for those who
hear God well to pray impartation into others. My own hearing level greatly
increased after I was prayed for by men and women who hear God well. I have
also learned more about hearing God from books by authors who know how to hear
God. Two books that have helped me are by Jack Deere: Surprised by the Voice of God (a big book!) and A Beginner’s Guide to Prophecy. Other
books by authors like Andrew Murray, A.W. Tozer and others have also helped me.
You really need to find people who hear God consistently and ask them to pray
for you and assist you in this. Find a spiritual friend or two and learn more
together!
Spiritual
Language.
Most people who have activated the personal gift of speaking in tongues
(“spiritual language”) report that regular exercise of this gift helps them
hear God better. One friend of mine was able to hear God so clearly that when
he ministered he could sometimes call out license plate numbers of people in
his meetings! (It was always interesting to go somewhere with him!). When I
asked Herb how he learned to hear God so clearly, he said that one thing that
really helped him was praying in his spiritual language. Herb explained that
God’s voice seemed to originate from the same place that his spiritual language
came from and also built him up spiritually, as 1 Corinthians 14:4 says. You
will find that your hearing level will increase as you pray often using this
gift.
One
last thought for you about hearing God: keep practicing and you will get
better! Jesus makes an amazing promise in Mark 4:23-25: 23 “If anyone has ears
to hear, let him hear.” 24 “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued.
“With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. 25 Whoever
has will be given more; whoever does
not have, even what he has will be taken from him.” Do you see the promise?
Jesus promises that if we give attention to what we are already hearing, we
will hear even more! Since hearing God forms the foundation of all else in a
maturing life, I recommend that you start increasing the volume now!
For
another great resource on hearing God’s voice, check out Mark Virkler’s free
download at http://www.cwgministries.org/4Keys.pdf
