Quickly Learn How To Hear From God

You can easily learn to hear from God.  Jesus clearly explained in John 10 that His sheep know His voice.  You can learn to recognize God’s voice and hearing from God will become part of your daily life.   

Over the years I have talked a lot about hearing from God because of its importance in my life.  Perhaps this sounds obvious, but I could never overstate the importance of hearing from God.  While this sounds like some sort of mystical or high-spirituality type practice, in fact it should be a part of everyone’s daily life.  Hearing from God should be clear, easy and regular.  We just need to learn how it works.

Many people approach spiritual topics such as this with the perspective that it will come by some special revelation or divine interaction.  Perhaps one day you will hear God’s booming voice or you will have some spectacular vision of Jesus talking with you.  But rather than hoping for a miraculous spiritual occurrence, we should simply start studying God’s Word on the subject.  Let’s approach this, as honestly I think we should with every spiritual subject, practically and mechanically.

The Bible teaches us how God speaks to people.  He uses a number of methods.  Once you know God’s communication methods, you can correctly listen and you will begin hearing from God.  The best analogy is a radio tuner.  God is broadcasting, but if you aren’t tuned in to God’s frequency then you won’t hear Him. 

Anyone who tunes in to God’s frequency will begin hearing from God.  Those who do not tune in to God’s frequency will not hear from God, at least not with any regularity.  While in the Bible we do see a few heathen people receive directions from God, those messages are infrequent and really only deal with how God wants those heathen to treat His people.  I’m not interested in that paradigm.  We are God’s people.  We should be hearing God clearly and regularly.

The Bible teaches us about God’s communication methods.  God will give people dreams and visions (Acts 2:17).  God will speak to people through prophets or interpreted tongues (1 Corinthians 12).  God will simply reveal something by His Holy Spirit, and this includes words of wisdom and words of knowledge (1 Corinthians 2 and 12).  God occasionally speaks with an audible voice (Acts 9).  God speaks with the voice of the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:19).  God may even speak through an angel (Acts 27).  God will guide you by peace in your heart (Colossians 3:15).  And of course, God speaks to us through the Bible (2 Timothy 3:15-17).  (I would like to point out that all of those verses are in the New Testament, showing that those are still viable communication methods today.)

Those are God’s Biblical communication methods.  While God may speak to you using other methods, He probably won’t, and He doesn’t want to.  God wants to speak to us how the Bible teaches us God speaks.  (If you think I’ve missed any Biblical communication methods, please let me know). 

You could, for example, make a list of the various ways that you can communicate.  You can speak, write a letter, use Morse code, produce smoke signals, or use some other communication method.  But for the most part humans want to speak or write.  Other communication methods can be difficult or unclear.  God is the same.  He has a variety of ways He can and wants to communicate.  He would rather not use other methods because they can be difficult to receive or understand.

Remember one of our cardinal rules that helps us understand many things.  God can do whatever He wants, but what He wants to do is revealed in the Bible.  The Bible shows us what God wants to do, and that’s what God is going to do.

So, how does one begin hearing from God?  You must tune in to God’s frequency.  I’m going to make a statement that sounds overly spiritual, but please hear it as practical rather than spiritual.  For the most part, God speaks on the frequency of the spirit realm.  To hear from God, you must tune in to the frequency of the spirit realm, the frequency of the Holy Spirit.

I’m trying to state a complicated idea simply, so just hear me out, and I’m doing this to help you grasp the importance of tuning in to God’s frequency.  God is a spirit (John 4:24).  For the most part, when God speaks, His word is spoken in the unseen, spiritual realm, and it reaches your heart in that realm (study Mark 4).  But for God’s Word to do you any good, it must move into the natural realm of your brain.  So God’s speech to your heart must get from the spiritual, unseen realm, to your brain, in the natural realm.  Therefore, you must teach your brain how to receive messages from the spirit realm.  This is what I mean by tuning in to God’s spiritual frequency.  Those words may sound goofy, but this is a very important idea.

There are various activities that open a channel between our brains and the spiritual realm, and these activities are how we tune in.  Reading the Bible (for God’s Word is spirit, John 6:63), spending time in prayer, thanks and praise/worship (Psalm 100:4), praying in your private prayer language (1 Corinthians 12 and 14), and gathering with other believers (Matthew 18:20) are all ways that we can open our minds to the spiritual realm and what God is speaking to our hearts.

When you engage in these activities with a heart that’s ready to obey God, you are correctly engaging your mind in the things of God.  When your mind is directed towards God, your mind opens to receive from Him.  To put it another way, your mind can now understand the messages God is speaking to you on the spiritual frequency.

As you tune in to God through these activities, and you now know God’s communication methods, you will begin hearing from God.  Let’s briefly go through the Biblical communication methods to understand how they sound.

God speaks to all of His people through the Bible.  The Bible contains countless instructions for our lives.  But God can also give you specific direction for your life as you read His Word.  If you sense a verse continually coming to your mind, read that verse and study it.  Consider what God might be saying about your life.  If you are reading the Bible generally and receive a strong feeling about a situation in your life, that’s likely God’s Spirit speaking to you about that situation.  If you are praying about a situation and a particular verse comes to mind, that’s probably God’s answer (note especially John 14:26).

Dreams and visions can be a bit more complicated.  A dream is basically a vision while you are sleeping.  True dreams and visions from God can include both direct interactions with God and also metaphorical situations that show you God’s will for your life.  Just as an example, one time I was thinking about working full time for a client, and in a dream I was going to see that client and I needed to hurry.  This was God’s way of telling me that I needed to take that job opportunity.  That was a great job that provided for my family for the difficult years of 2019 and 2020.   Interpreting dreams and visions takes time and prayer, and you should probably have a spiritually mature friend or two help you develop this gift, if you believe you are receiving dreams and visions from God.  That said, dreams and visions are a wonderful communication method where God can give us complicated and nuanced directions and show us many aspects of a particular situation.

I’ve never seen an angel or heard God’s voice with my physical ear, but that’s great if you do.  Those communication methods probably don’t need a lot of explanation, just remember some of the safety guidance I give you later in this teaching.

The idea of hearing God speak through other people should be an entire book in and of itself.  We know that God does speak through people (note especially Romans 10:14).  But we must use a little wisdom when determining whether God has spoken to us through a particular person.  This reminds me of the great wisdom in not ordering seafood at the steakhouse.  God probably won’t use someone who has never been married to give you marital advice.  God probably won’t speak parenting directions to you through someone with no kids.  You shouldn’t expect to receive spiritual, financial guidance from someone with no money or who doesn’t regularly give to the church (yes, that’s the way it is).  This probably sounds obvious, now that we are airing it out (and yes I’ve made some mistakes here).  If you think God has spoken to you through someone, consider the source, their area of expertise, and their personal spiritual maturity very carefully (and this includes people who claim to be speaking prophetically or interpreting tongues).

While many Christians never hear God’s audible voice, God wants all of us to hear the voice of His Spirit.  In a way this is like hearing God’s audible voice, only you are hearing God with your spiritual ears rather than your physical ears (note that Jesus mentions this idea in Luke 8:8 and other places).  Have you ever heard words but knew you didn’t hear them physically?  Have you ever heard voices inside yourself but it was not your typical mental voice that you hear every day?  You were likely hearing the voice of God’s Spirit speaking to you. 

There are a few ways that I know I have heard the Holy Spirit’s voice.  The voice is authoritative, the voice seemingly comes out of nowhere, the voice is not audible, the voice is not my internal mental voice, and the voice is not heard in my head.  For me, this has been a rarer occurrence, and it typically happens when I am totally focused on God and engaged in some spiritual matter.  It doesn’t have to happen that way, I’m just relating my experience. 

Just the other day, for example, I was seriously studying and meditating on a particular Bible verse.  In an instant I heard God say, “you must obey my directions.”  That wasn’t really the subject of my Bible study, but as I was tuned in to God’s frequency, the Holy Spirit spoke and I heard Him.  The message was strong and clear.  I immediately shifted my focus to that Word, and God (not necessarily speaking with the voice of the Holy Spirit, but now simply revealing things to my mind by His Spirit) began showing me important points on that subject.  To be open with you, I think God said this to me because He is about to give me some directions that won’t make any natural sense or will look impossible.

The last Biblical communication method I will mention is being led by God’s peace.  Colossians 3:15 teaches us, and this is especially clear in the Amplified translation, that God will help us make decisions by peace (note also Isaiah 55:12).  Other people may refer to this as God’s Spirit bearing witness with a particular matter or decision (see Romans 8:16).  As this is the single most important communication method in my life, and the one I use on an almost daily basis, I will discuss it in some detail. 

As you go through life you are going to make countless decisions.  Often, you will need to make decisions quickly, even in very serious situations.  Recognizing God’s peace from the Holy Spirit will help you instantly make the right decision.  Moreover, recognizing God’s peace will help you confirm every other Word you’ve received from God, and can quickly be a second, confirming witness when you need it. 

As you consider a decision or course of action, put aside the natural considerations for a moment.  Maybe it looks lucrative or costly.  Maybe it looks quick or time consuming.  Maybe it looks peaceful or dangerous.  Those are all in the natural realm.  Put those aside for a moment (consider not the flesh).  Do you feel true heart peace about the situation?  Does every part of you feel good about the option, even if it seems crazy in the natural.  Do you feel strong and compelled to do it in a spiritual sense, then go for it.  On the other hand, if you feel a “check” (which for me almost feels like a little gag or nausea) then you must not go forward.  That is a warning from the Holy Spirit.

On New Year’s Even before 2020 my family and I were in Vancouver.  We had planned to go to the festivities on Grouse Mountain to play in the snow and enjoy the activities, but the weather was dreadful, cold and rainy.  It made no sense to go, but in my heart I felt compelled to go.  The whole 45 minute drive out there my head kept saying it was wrong, stupid, that the whole event would be cancelled any minute.  But my heart kept pushing me forward.  (Shannon is great about trusting me when I feel something strongly from God.)  We made it out there, there was almost no one there, they didn’t cancel anything, and we had the most amazing time.  I know that’s not a very spiritual example, but it is a good example for trusting God’s peace in your heart, even when a direction makes no sense in the natural realm.

God wants to help you make all of your decisions.  God is never silent or refusing to speak, as some people suggest.  He is always with you, always loving you, and always ready to guide you with peace, or the absence thereof, from the Holy Spirit.

To finalize our discussion today I’m going to discuss three principles that will help keep you safe when you think you’ve heard from God, and as you begin obeying directions received from God.

The first principle is that every word should be established by two or three witnesses (2 Corinthians 13:1).  Did someone claim to have a prophetic word for your life which involves serious decisions?  Ok, where is the second witness?  Did you have a dream confirming that word?  Do you know you feel amazing peace in your heart about those directions?  Ok, then go forward boldly in faith.  But did some other spiritually mature person give you the opposite advice?  Did you have a bad dream about that situation?  If you combined every potential direction you have received about something, do they all point in the same direction (even if it’s crazy to your mind).  This is what you are looking for. 

God has no problem bringing you two or three confirming words when He speaks to you, especially when the direction involves a major decision or movement on your part.  This confirming witness principle is God’s and it is from His Word.  It is wrong to ask God to tell you the same thing multiple times because you are fearful or you want more supernatural support for your decision.  But it is not wrong to ask God for the second or third confirming witness for a potential divine direction you have received.  And, especially when you are first starting out, or if the word is potentially unclear (like a dream), then this principle is extremely important.

The second principle is that God’s spoken Word will never violate God’s written Word (Psalm 138:2, for example).  God will never tell you to do anything that violates His written Word.  God will never tell you to murder someone, rob someone, cheat on your spouse, or do any other such thing that clearly violates His commandment to love others or His other commandments.  Please remember this simple rule.  If you ever hear someone tell you that God told them to commit some sin or do anything that directly contradicts the Bible, you can try to warn them and help them, but you must not agree with them or take any advice from them until they’ve turned from this error.

Lastly, you must be very careful if you think you’ve heard God speak to you outside of the Biblical communication methods.  Like me, you have probably heard people say that God spoke to them all sorts of ways.  “I saw a commercial for a particular medicine, and I just know it’s God.”  “I got a call about a job with another company, and I just know it’s God.”  That ad on Facebook was not God, it was the algorithm that sees your Google search history. 

I’m not suggesting that we should limit God’s desire or ability to communicate, but I am suggesting that you shouldn’t trust any communication you think came from God by an unbiblical method without significant prayer and other confirmations.  I have seen people make very tragic and costly mistakes by violating this principle. 

If you really think that unbiblical communication, or that voice of an unbeliever, was God, then pray about it.  God will confirm that word through another one of His Biblical communication methods, and then you will have at least two witnesses.  Then pray about it some more, and make sure you have peace about it as well.  Do not go forward without those confirming witnesses.    

Learning to hear from God is by far one of the most important skills you can develop, if not the most important.  Learning to obey His crazy directions is another matter entirely, but we’ll talk about that another time. 

You must learn to hear Him.  Your destiny, the good works God has planned for you to do, can only be found in God’s specific directions for your life.  The highest expression of you and your best possible life will only be found in your obedience to Him.  Moreover, making the best decision every time is possible, and divine direction for every decision is available, when you start hearing God.  God’s voice to us is one of the greatest treasures the universe has to offer, and you will hear Him regularly and clearly when you start tuning in to Him.