Hearing God’s voice is not a special gift, it’s simply a matter of learning when to attribute a thought as having come from the Lord.
Our church was a rather unique church. We were originally part of Church of Christ which adamantly denied miracles and even God’s grace. But then a miracle happened in the midst of our church. Someone was miraculously healed who had been sick for years and the church was divided over the miracle. Some of the leaders in the church wanted us to deny that the miracle happened or else we couldn’t be part of the church any longer while one of the leaders couldn’t in good conscience deny the miracle. Half of the church broke with the Church of Christ denomination and started a church known today as “Grace Center” which is non-denominational. It was comprised with people who were suddenly aware that God still did miracles today and they desperately began seeking the miraculous and uncovering the grace of God.
I grew up in that church and to this day they see weekly miracles, healings, and some accurate prophecies. When I was young in third grade in Sunday school, we were taught to hear the Lord’s voice. Those lessons were some of the most influential and beneficial teachings in my life and have stayed with me to this day.
However as the years have progressed, hearing God’s voice has continued to be a natural and fundamental part of my life. It’s helped me out of dark situations, it’s helped me to heal, to grow and mature, to know how to handle difficult situations and understand the scriptures. In fact, I feel it is one of the most important things anyone could learn. That’s why I want to write this post.
Hearing God’s voice is a somewhat messy and at certain moments an unreliable process. We were told as kids that the more we practice the easier it gets. When we wanted to hear God’s voice we would ask God a question and then pay attention to whatever thoughts passed through our head and then use “discernment” on what thoughts we heard. One time we were told to try to quiet our thoughts and tune our spirit to focus on God like when you twist a radio knob to the right frequency so you can pick up a signal.
Those teachings were helpful, but over the years I’ve discovered new things about hearing God’s voice that has made it easier and more consistent.
There is nothing especially remarkable about hearing God’s voice other than the profound wisdom you receive. I think many people think if God speaks to them it will be a booming voice that sweeps them off their feet in a “Thus saith the Lord” kind of moment. Only once or twice in my life have I had an experience like that. For the most part, recognizing God’s voice is simply learning when to accredit thoughts that pass through your mind to God.
How God changes the world
God moves this world according to his will. He puts his intentions in the hearts of kings and people. He doesn’t just move through the miraculous but also through the seemingly ordinary.
For instance, I remember as a teenager God teaching me to ask him for things I wanted. I was one day visiting a grand piano store and trying out the pianos when I found one I particularly liked. It was a 7″ Yamaha Grand with MIDI Registration (a feature that allowed the piano to play itself). The piano cost well over $100,000 dollars. Remembering God’s instructions, I decided to ask for the piano on the off chance he would answer the prayer. So I prayed for a 7″ Yamaha Grand Piano with Midi registration. Nothing miraculous happened that day. I walked out of the store minutes later feeling a little stupid. Why would God give me a piano? I didn’t need one. Pianos cost thousands of dollars, what have I done to deserve one?
Two years passed and I didn’t receive any piano. One day I remembered my prayer and said, “God? Is there any chance of getting that piano I asked for?” A week after that prayer a friend of my dad called. They were moving houses and no longer had room to store their piano. So they were calling to ask my dad if he would mind keeping the piano at our house. I then told my dad about the prayer I had prayed. Their piano was an expensive Baby Grand Yamaha with MIDI Registration (a $2,000 feature). In fact it was the largest sized Yamaha that would fit in our house. Any larger and we wouldn’t have been able to keep it.
The piano was put in my room. After years of us borrowing the piano, the couple that let us borrow it decided to fully give it to us. We own that piano to this day.
How God speaks to us
I don’t know how God moves his will in the world. I don’t know why that couples’ new house could not fit the piano. I don’t know why they thought to call us, they didn’t know we were wanting one. I don’t know why the piano had MIDI registration. All I know is that I said a specific prayer and received that specific piano. Somehow God was able to direct the events in my life in such a way where I would receive one.
It’s the same with hearing God’s voice. God can put thoughts in your head. We may not know they are from God, we may not recognize them as God, but they still have an impact. When you are practicting hearing God’s voice, it’s simply a matter of learning to attribute certain thoughts as coming from him. Like that piano situation, I know it was God who put the thought in my dad’s friend’s head to call us about the piano. I know it wasn’t an accident. I think any reasonable person with faith would conclude that. It’s the same with our thoughts.
So then hearing God’s voice is not a special gift someone has, it’s simply logic.
How to attribute a thought as coming from God
Everyone hears God’s voice but most people don’t know it unless they analyze the thought to test if it’s inspired.
1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
There are a number of prominent methods to discern if something is coming from God.
1. Does it line up with God’s character?
God describes himself as a loving, peaceful, generous, kind, forgiving, powerful and patient God. Does what you’re hearing contradict that character or seem out of his nature?
2. Does it bear good fruit?
God will never say something that hurts your relationship with him, that hurts your inner-peace, self-esteem, damages your view of yourself, discourages you, or makes problems big. He will never say something that causes you to see God in a negative light. He will never tell a prophecy that does not come to pass. He never makes you distressed, worried, anxious, or paranoid. If you start to see any of these fruits, you can quickly realize that God wasn’t saying what you thought he was.
There are several characteristics you must look for when attributing a thought to God:
James 3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
1 Corinthians 14:3 But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach God‘s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
What are the three reasons God wants to prophecy over people? In order to 1. strengthen, 2. encourage, and 3. comfort them. If the thoughts you’re hearing don’t result in your strengthening, encouragement, or comfort then it’s not from God. As 1 Peter 5:7 tells us, approaching God will always result in less anxiety not more. We are to have confidence in our relationship with God, if you’re hearing something that is attacking your confidence in your relationship with God, it’s not from God.
James says the wisdom God provides is gentle. It’s not pushing you or making demands or testing you. It is “open to reason.” That means you are welcome to argue with God over what you think he is saying. You are able to test the logic and see if it stands up to scrutiny. It is sincere. You won’t find any generic answers to your deeply personal problems, God knows you better than you know yourself, and you’ll often find when he says something to encourage you it hits close to the heart. It’s peaceable. God’s voice will always result in more peace, never less.
3. Does it line up with the scriptures?
God never lies. If he has spoken something as true in the scriptures he will never contradict himself later on. If you’re hearing God say something that obviously goes against what the scriptures teach, that can be a strong indication you are not hearing God.
However, it should be said that none of us perfectly understands the scripture. A lot of times the meaning isn’t obvious at first, which is why we have scholars and people who dedicate their lives to understanding the Bible. So while God will never contradict the scriptures he might be telling you something that contradicts what you “think” you know. If you aren’t understanding the Bible correctly it’s very possible God may be correcting your understanding. If this is happening, it’s important that you go back and study that subject in the Bible and see if you were understanding the Bible properly.
Does it have the tell-tale signs of God?
Often, but not always God’s words have a distinctive character from your own thoughts. They are wiser, have a deeper understanding of the problems you’re facing, contain more mercy, peace, and hope than you would have from your own thoughts. They are often smarter than you know yourself to be. They usually connect the dots, make things come together and make sense, make solutions clear, bring the “ah-ha” moment. When God speaks it is usually revelatory, that is, something finally makes a lot of sense and you realize what was being said was too smart for yourself.
In addition, when God speaks you will find his words very approachable and often come with a sense or gut feeling of peace and wellbeing.
But sometimes we can also discover the Lord’s voice using logic. My dad’s friend thought to call us about the piano. Knowing my prayer, I feel I can safely say it was God who gave him that idea. Thus when I analyze how God orchestrated the events, the need for the thought, the timing of it, then I can make an educated guess of what was coming from God.
Practical applications
One of the simpliest things you can do to hear God’s voice is to simply ask him a question and then pay attention to the thoughts that pass through your mind within the following seconds. The Bible says God has more thoughts towards you than the sands on the seashore.
Psalms 139:17-18 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!
If God has trillions of thoughts towards you and you ask him something, why would he be unwilling to speak with you? If you’ve asked God a question a few seconds ago you can be somewhat confident that one of the thoughts passing through your head afterwards could be the Lord’s. You’ve invited him to speak and are listening for his response. If I were God, I would take such an opportunity to say whatever I wanted to say to that person and I’m sure that’s how God thinks as well.
There is nothing special about hearing God’s voice. He sends rain on the righteous and unrighteous.
Luke 6:35 for He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
Matthew 5:45 He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
God blesses people whether they are grateful or not. He blesses them whether they ever realize he is blessing them or not. Thus, if you don’t realize God is speaking to you or consider that he may be speaking to you but decide he isn’t when he in fact was, that doesn’t mean God will be angry or stop speaking to you. He will continue to bless and speak to you. When the opposite scenario happens, that is, when you’ve thought you heard God but didn’t, there is grace for that as well. However because of such cases, we need to be responsible and humble in our evaluations of the Lord’s voice and how we share that with others, being prepared to be wrong when we previously thought we were right.
What you and other’s believe God says plays a powerful role in your life and if that voice is not a healthy one it can be very damaging. But if you are discerning and practice dismissing the thoughts that don’t meet the criteria for being God’s voice, you will find that same power will have a wonderfully healthy impact in your life.
I would encourage you to ask God questions and wait for the answers. And while you wait, perhaps write down some of the thoughts you are hearing so later you can analyze them. It does get easier to pick up God’s voice in time, and if you take the time now to practice it will greatly benefit you now and for the rest of your life. I mean, common. The God of the universe speaking to you!? If there’s a chance he could tell you something, wouldn’t that change your life? Wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing? You wouldn’t want to miss that simply because you were shy or unwilling to try.