How Do I Hear God’s Voice?
We’re inviting our entire church to join our leaders in a three-week season of prayer and fasting. During this time we are collectively seeking to receive clarity from God on how we should make decisions for the future as well as pursuing unity as a church family. For updates on why we’re doing this and resources to help you participate click here.
Fasting creates space to experience God’s presence and hear his voice. We are created for a relationship with our Father. God made each one of us so that we could hear Him, experience Him, and have real friendship with Him.
God is a perfect communicator and desires to speak to each one of His children. Hearing God is not just for the ‘elite’ few- God longs to speak to all of us! As children of the King, intimate friendship has been made available to us. Jesus says, “no longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15).
Some people may believe that God is silent or that He doesn’t like to speak much, but the Bible says many things about the voice of our Father! His voice is loud, rushing, and always flowing. Revelation 1:15 and Ezekiel 43:2 describe the voice of the Almighty as deafening, powerful, and glorious: “his voice was like the roar of many waters”. Psalm 29 describes the voice of the Lord as “powerful” and “majestic”. Psalm 12 calls God’s voice “flawless” like silver and gold.
We see all throughout the Bible, God speaks to His people in incredible ways (quiet whispers, dreams, visions, audible voice, impressions, nature, etc) in addition to His authoritative Word. God’s word promises that if we call out to God and ask him to speak to us, he will be faithful to answer us and tell us great and unsearchable things that we could never have known! (Jeremiah 33:3)
As you practice fasting, consider the many ways that God speaks to us:*
Scripture – the written language of God: God revealed His nature and character to us in the Bible (Ps. 19; Ps. 119:18; 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:21), Practicing Lectio Divina while fasting is a great way to hear from God through Scripture.
Quickening portions of Scripture: The Holy Spirit may quicken a portion of Scripture to us by making it come suddenly alive and giving us an understanding of what it means. There are times when the Bible does not deal with a particular situation, but the Holy Spirit gives us certain scriptures to apply to our situation to help guide us (Heb. 4:12).
Internal Promptings – the gut language of God: Sometimes we strongly feel we should or should not do something. Usually we can’t explain why we feel that way, but it may be God who has dropped that feeling in our spirit. (Neh. 7:5; Mark 2:6-8; Luke 5:22; Acts 14:9)
Dreams – the sleep language of God: The dream may be literal, but most of the time it is symbolic. He may or may not give us an immediate understanding of what the dream means. Take your dreams back to God and ask Him about them. (Gen. 40-41; Num. 12:6; Jer. 23:28; Joel 2:28; Matt. 2:13, 19)
Visions – the picture language of God: Visions are similar to dreams. They normally occur while we are awake. It is a supernatural picture of certain scenery or circumstances to the mind of a person. (Gen. 15:3-5; Isa. 6:1-8; Ezek. 40:3; Dan. 10:5-6; Acts 10:9-14)
Everyday Life – God will sometimes speak to us from our everyday life experiences to give us an understanding of spiritual reality. For instance, God may speak to us about His love for us as we are loving our children. (Jer. 18:1-6 – potter, Prov. 24:30-34 – field, 1 Sam. 15:27-28 – torn robe)
Nature – the earthly language of God: “All nature seems to speak. As for me, I cannot understand why everybody does not see it or feel it, nature of God does it for everyone who has eyes and ears and a heart to understand.” – Van Gogh. (Job 38:8-11; Ps. 8:3-4; Isa. 40:12; Matt. 6:26, 28; Rom. 1:20)
Inner Voice/Audible Voice – The voice of the Lord comes to Christians in two forms: inward and audible. Audible is with your natural ears. Inward is an inner sense or permission that you receive in your spirit. (Gen. 22:1-2; Num. 12:6-8; John 16:13; Acts 9:3-5; 2 Pet. 1:17-18; John 10:16)
Books, Movies, Songs, Art – the creative language of God: God can quicken things to us as we read a book, watch a movie, listen to a song, or see a piece of art. The parables of Jesus are stories; the Psalms are songs!
Angels – messengers of God’s language: Angels may appear in their glory or in human form. (Ps. 34:11; Matt. 2:13; Luke 1:30; Heb. 1:14)
Repetition – the language of God’s echo: Repetition is where God brings the same thing at you over and over again until you “get it”
Sentence Fragments - the short language of God: Sometimes God may only speak a single word. While the word may be clear, the interpretation may not be. Our glory is to search out meaning. (Prov. 25:2; Isa. 8:1)
Physical Manifestations in Our Bodies - the body language of God: We use our bodies to communicate love and do many other things. God also will use your body to tell you things. Ex: you may feel a chill when the presence of God is strong. Jesus felt healing power leave His body. (Luke 8:45-46)
Other People: God sometimes speaks to us through other people and then gives us a ‘yes’ deep in our own spirit (2 Sam. 12)
John 10:27 tells us that Jesus’ sheep know His voice and He knows them. Knowing God’s voice takes practice; however, the more you get to know God by spending time with Him, reading the Word, and talking to Him (growing in friendship), the easier it becomes to pick out his voice amongst the competing voices in our day. As you pray and fast, use this process to discern what you hear:
Write down what you hear
Share it with others
Ask yourself:
Where is this on the “Me to God” scale?
Are these my existing thoughts?
Have I been focusing on this topic a lot?
Did something happen recently that influenced my thoughts?
Is this a new thought that I haven’t considered?
Does this idea seem out of nowhere?
Does it give me goosebumps? (The spirit of God should make your heart skip a beat and give you goosebumps.)
Does it have potential to bring harm to someone? (If so, then it is probably not from God)
Does it give you peace or anxiety?
How does it align with what we know of God’s character and scripture?
* Adapted from Bridgeway Church “How God Speaks To Us”
Recommended Resources:
Bridgetown Church: Gospel of Matthew - On Listening
