Hearing God

John 10:27–29 NKJV

27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.

Human voices are distinguishable. They can be identified and recognized. In this passage, Jesus clearly states that His people hear and recognize His voice. Just like we can clearly recognize the voice of our mom calling us in a crowd, or the distinct voice of an actor like James Earl Jones or Morgan Freeman, we can recognize God’s voice.

Think for a moment how your life would change if you could hear God and recognize His voice. What if you could learn to hear God’s voice for yourself? How would that change your relationship with Him and your confidence in the way you live out your faith?

To me, hearing God’s voice is one of the most wonderful experiences. I believe that you want to hear from God and be confident that you are walking in His will just like I do.

There Are Competing Voices

In my experience of walking with God and leading people of faith I can confidently say that we are much better at hearing God than we know but our greatest challenge is recognizing that it is Him speaking. How many times have you “heard” or experienced something and wondered, “Is that You, God?”

God is always speaking, just like radio stations are always broadcasting, but we are not always “tuned in” so we don’t hear clearly.

I also know that it is hard to move confidently toward our future or purpose if we are unsure what God is saying to us. There are so many other voices out there calling for our attention (cf. 1 John 2:15, John 8:44):

The world: this includes popular opinion, social norms, other people’s desires for us, money, fame, etc.

The flesh: this voice is primarily concerned with our desires, but it includes fear, anxiety, self-preservation, etc.

The devil: we know that there is an enemy of God who wants to draw us away from Him. The devil and his angels are working and whispering to turn us away from God.

Hearing God Leads to Confidence

When we learn to recognize God’s voice above the other voices we will have peace and confidence in our relationship with God and in the way we live.

We can see an example of the kind of confidence that comes from knowing God’s voice in the missionary trip of the Apostle Paul and his companions:

Acts 16:6–10 NKJV

6 Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. 7 After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. 8 So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.

They were trying to do God’s will and were taking steps of faith. But notice that God spoke to them both in a negative and a positive sense. He forbid them to go places and permitted them to go to others. When they knew where God wanted them to go, they immediately went with all confidence.

When we devote our lives to the will of God, He has a reason to speak with us. He may speak to us in other situations and circumstances, and even lead us using situations and circumstances to position us strategically. We are His people, even if we are not walking in holiness. When we can answer the question, “Who am I living for?” with a strong, “I am living for God” then we can live with the same confidence as the Apostle Paul that God will speak to us.

We Must Learn to Hear for Ourselves

This kind of confidence was based on the fact that God speaks to us individually, in some way. This is important because how can there be a personal relationship with God without some kind of personal, individualized communication?

Unfortunately, we’ve come to mean that a personal relationship with God is some kind of arrangement where He is something like a banker. We have an account in heaven that we can withdraw from whenever we pray and call on the name of Jesus. Or, we might mean that God is just going to take care of us and things are generally going to work out by His providence.

Don’t you think that there should be more to a personal relationship than that? God is more than just a gracious benefactor…He wants to be our friend (cf. John 15:15).

Unfortunately, the tendency of people is to seek an expert, like the children of Israel at the mountain of God. Instead of hearing God for themselves, they wanted Moses to do it for them—

Deuteronomy 5:24–27 NKJV

24 And you said: ‘Surely the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God speaks with man; yet he still lives. 25 Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore, then we shall die. 26 For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? 27 You go near and hear all that the Lord our God may say, and tell us all that the Lord our God says to you, and we will hear and do it.’

Isn’t this how we do things today? Let the “experts”—the pastors, prophets, or teachers—hear from God and tell us what He says. Let them devote the time to hear from God and then give us the Cliff’s Notes version.

And while they can offer some benefit to us and they can hear from God for us, this is a relationship by proxy and not the intimacy that Jesus promised.

Later, Moses would ask God, “Please, show me Your glory” and God did (Exodus 33:18-19, 34:5-7). The Israelites did not see the glory of God and instead made a Golden Calf…a god of their own image (Exodus 32:1-4).

Only hearing from God through the “experts” is not enough because this is not primarily a “hearing” problem, but a relationship problem. Those experts are not with you every moment of every day, but God is. He wants to have a personal relationship with you.

Being In Tune

Proverbs 3:32 AMP

For the perverse are an abomination [extremely disgusting and detestable] to the Lord; but His confidential communion and secret counsel are with the [uncompromisingly] righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with Him).

Instead of depending mostly on others to hear from God, we need to learn how to tune in and recognize His voice for ourselves.

One time, Joshua told Moses that there were other people prophesying (hearing God and repeating what He says) and wanted to stop them.

Numbers 11:29 NKJV

Then Moses said to him, “Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!”

If we can learn to hear God for ourselves we will not have an unhealthy dependency on others for our relationship with God. We will be more in control, and responsible, for our walk. This allows us to be proactive and not passive in our faith.

This is the way God wants to relate to us.

Amos 3:7–8 NKJV

7 Surely the Lord God does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets. 8 A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken! Who can but prophesy?

God is speaking today and we can be those who hear His voice. This is the way God set it up because He is relational and communication is a critical way we know one another and accomplish shared goals.

I have been led by the voice of God.

I have seen others who lived in partnership with God as they listened to His voice and followed Him.

The church has been built up on the the words of Scripture and the words of the Spirit. Many of us have been encouraged, comforted, and exhorted to know God more deeply and to do His will through the prophetic gift (1 Corinthians 14:3).

There is power in hearing God’s voice.

Getting Calibrated

So then, how are we going to develop our ability to recognize God’s voice? How are we going to get calibrated so that we can tune in to hear Him?

Here are a couple of practical ways we can become more sensitive of God’s voice:

1. Draw Near to Hear

We know that if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us (James 4:8).

Why are you able to recognize your parent’s voice in a crowd? Because you are familiar with that voice. You have spent your whole formative life listening to that voice. This is the same principle in learning to hear God’s voice.

Ecclesiastes 5:1 NKJV

Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil.

Whether we come to God in prayer, or in worship, or at church, we want to always have the attitude that we are coming near to hear.

2. Become Students of the Bible

The Bible is God’s word. As such it is God’s speaking and His communicating. When He speaks He is sharing His mind, intention, character, and personality.

Matthew 12:34 NKJV

Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

God’s word—His speaking—reveals His heart.

The Bible is our dictionary and lexicon. It defines meaning and vocabulary. God’s voice outside of the Bible sounds like the words in the Bible. This is why we need to be diligent to…rightly divide the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).

The more we know the Scripture the more we know what God sounds like.

3. Practice Listening

Isaiah 55:3 The Message

Pay attention, come close now, listen carefully to my life-giving, life-nourishing words. I’m making a lasting covenant commitment with you, the same that I made with David: sure, solid, enduring love.

How do we practice listening? We listen and then act on what we’ve heard. God’s word will be established and we will gain confidence that we heard him.

Examples: praying what you hear; listening for prophetic words and sharing them with others.

4. Evaluate Your Experience

God’s words come to pass. His word is infallible. But just because God is infallible and His word is infallible it doesn’t mean that we hear perfectly. One way we know for sure that we heard right is that it comes to pass.

Exodus 3:11–12 NKJV

11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” 12 So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

We want to constantly check what we think we hear against the word of God, circumstances, and impressions of the Spirit. If these things do not line up, we probably misheard God. If they do, it is likely that we heard from God.

Conclusion

As we continue to work on calibrating our receiver, we'll discover if we look for God we will find Him. Spend time to study the Scriptures, practice listening, evaluate your experience and you will begin to recognize God’s voice more quickly and consistently.

As we choose to do these things we will grow closer to God, more confident in His love for us and His leading in our lives. We will become partners with Him in this world and we will expand the kingdom and bring blessing to others.

Eternity is a life with God. Developing the practice of hearing His voice is about making a life and relationship with Him more than it is about guidance. And when you know somebody you can relax and be yourself with them (and they with you).

That is what God wants for you and why you should tune in to His voice.

Pray for “ears to hear” and “hearts to understand” the voice of God.