Spiritual Gifts
Week 04: Hearing God’s voice
We all want to hear from God. We long to hear God speak. But why does it seem like some people constantly hear God speaking and others feel desperate for just one word from God? Why do some people seem to always have a word from God and others don’t? Is God only speaking to some people and giving the rest of us the silent treatment?
I think many of us are asking, “Does God still speak today? Can I hear his voice? What does God sound like? Does he want to speak to me? And how will I know if he is speaking to me?”
Whether you know it or not, God is speaking to you. Every Christian hears from God. We follow a God who speaks. God primarily speaks through the Bible. This is his preferred form of communication. He also speaks through dreams, visions, angelic visitation, creation, and prophecy. God is speaking. The question is, are we listening?
What if we don’t have a hearing problem, but a recognition problem? What if our problem is not that God isn’t speaking, but we haven’t learned to listen?
God’s voice is super natural.
I think we struggle to hear God’s voice because we often expect a dramatic event, something written in the sky, or a loud voice from heaven. Pete Greig writes, “Most people today miss the voice of God not because it's too strange but because it's too familiar. They expect the Almighty to sound dramatic, bombastic, unmistakable, and a bit spooky.”
We often miss God in the ordinary because we only expect him in the extraordinary. But let me let you in on the secret… The supernatural is super-natural. God isn’t always in the fire and earthquake moments. Often he is in the still small voice moments (1 Kg. 19:11-13). God isn’t only in the dramatic and spectacular. He’s more often than not in the ordinary and the simple things. God’s voice is super natural.
Jesus, who is the word of God, was overlooked because he didn’t appear to be as impressive as one would assume (Jn. 1:1-3; 14; Isa. 53:2). Isaiah prophesied and said, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him” (Isa. 53:2). The point is: we can easily miss God’s word because we don’t expect it to be super natural. But, God’s voice is super natural.
Learn to recognize God’s voice
In the Old Testament, there's a story about a young boy named Samuel. Samuel is in training to become a priest. And one night God spoke to Samuel multiple times. But God’s voice seemed so ordinary that he couldn’t recognize it (1 Sam. 3:4-7). He had mistaken God’s voice for the voice of Eli (1 Sam. 3:8). His problem wasn’t hearing God’s voice it was recognizing God’s voice. Our problem is not simply hearing God’s voice, it’s recognizing it.
Like Samuel, we hear God’s voice. We just might not realize it yet. We need to learn to recognize God’s voice. In fact, Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice” (Jn 10:27). Jesus seemed to think you hear his voice. What this means is that we simply need to learn to recognize the voice of Jesus.
Learning to recognize God’s voice isn’t always easy and takes some work. So, how do we learn to recognize when God is speaking and what God is speaking? How do we learn to recognize God’s voice?
01 – Learn what God’s voice sounds like. God already speaks to you (John 10:4, 27). The journey is learning to recognize his voice. Spend some time this week reading the Bible and paying attention to what God’s voice sounds like. As we said earlier, God’s primary way of speaking is through the Bible.
As you read do you feel encouraged, challenged, or pushed toward obedience to Jesus? Do you sense God’s whisper to you specifically? This is the best way to begin to hear God’s voice.
As you read Scripture you will begin to recognize the gentle whisper of the Spirit. You will sense his prodding and leadings. You may even get a phrase, a picture, or a subtle sense of what God may be saying to you.
02 – Learn to recognize God’s voice. As you grow in recognizing God’s voice in Scripture you may want to make more space to hear God speak. Consider spending some time in quiet listening to the still small voice of God (1 kg. 19:12). We’ll get more into discerning words in a couple of weeks. But for now, a good place to start is “Does this sound like Jesus? Is this something he would say? Is this something he would want me to hear? Will this lead me closer to Jesus?”
God’s voice sounds like Jesus. Jesus is God’s very word in flesh (Jn. 1:14). If you want to learn to recognize God’s voice or discern if you are hearing correctly — look at Jesus! Jesus is what God looks and sounds like. He is the invisible God made visible (Col. 1:15).
03 – Listen and obey. The Holy Spirit is given to those who obey him (Acts 5:32). Some people want a prophetic word, but have neglected his written word. Others want a fresh word from God but haven’t been faithful with his previous word. If you want to hear God speak, you’ve got to be ready to be obedient. You’ve got to be ready to do whatever he tells you (Jn. 2:5). The Holy Spirit rarely speaks beyond our capacity to obey. If you want to hear God more, be ready to listen and obey.
Recommended reading:How to Hear God by Pete Greig +Hearing God by Dallas Willard