gods voice
Hear God’s Voice – Part 3
Hear God’s Voice – Part 3
Hearing God’s voice is often described as a deeply personal and transformative experience. Many people perceive it as an inner whisper, a profound sense of guidance, or a sudden clarity during prayer or meditation. God’s voice brings comfort, direction, encouragement, or reassurance.
In Part 1 and Part 2 we began to look into the vital importance of learning to hear God’s voice. In order to grow closer to God. And to learn God’s will. And to learn God’s calling for your life.
Now in Part 3 of this 4 part Bible study series we will continue to learn how to hear God’s voice.
Hear God’s Voice – Part 3
We need to learn to hear God’s voice. It does not come naturally, and it takes time and effort.
Hearing God’s voice is by far the most important part of your prayer & fellowship time with Him. You cannot have an intimate and wonderful fellowship with God without leaning to hear God’s voice and intimately communicate with Him.
There can be a big difference between hearing God’s voice and listening to Him. The Biblical word listening means to reverently and attentively hear God’s voice, with the intent of doing & obeying what you hear God say. Our heart needs to be right with God, with no hindrances to hearing God’s voice. Seeking God and listening to His voice is part of having a humble and reverent heart attitude toward God.
In order to learn to hear God’s voice and discern His will for you, you will need to spend time with God. You will need to read God’s word, and take the time to meditate on His word. And you need to spend time in prayer, and take some time to be still and listen for His voice in your heart.
You can definitely learn to hear God’s voice, so keep at it and don’t give up. God promises us that if we seek Him with all of our heart, we will find Him. Here is what you need to do in order to learn to hear God’s voice:
How To Hear God’s Voice
Hearing and Listening Is An Active Process
You need to be willing to make the effort to learn to hear God’s voice. And keep at it until you accomplish your goal.
Spending time with God in prayer, and reading the Bible, and meditating on His word is vital. You cannot learn to hear God’s voice without making the effort. And you cannot know God intimately and personally without hearing God’s voice. Nor can you know His will and His calling for your life.
Jeremiah 29:11-13 – “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
You Need To Take The Time Necessary To Hear God’s Voice & Know God
It takes time to get to know God and to hear God’s voice. Knowing God more and more intimately is a lifelong process.
It will not take you a lifetime to learn to hear God’s voice. And to discern His leading and will. But it will take time and effort.
You need to have the desire in your heart to know God more. And to hear God’s voice.
Hear God’s Voice
Meditate On God’s Word
When you read God’s Word the Bible, don’t just read it quickly. Take the time to meditate on God’s word. Ask the following questions as you read God’s word.
What is God saying to you ?
How does what I sense in your Prayer time, or in your Circumstances, or what Godly People are telling you confirm what you read and hear from God’s word ?
How can you do / apply / obey/ follow what you are reading & hearing from God ?
It will be difficult to hear God’s voice if you just quickly read God’s word. Take the time to meditate on God’s word and what God is saying.
How To Hear God’s Voice
Anticipate And Expect God To Speak To You
God speaks to His people. It is His pattern in the Bible. God reveals Himself by speaking to His people.
In the Old Testament God spoke in various ways. Primarily through His prophets.
Now God speaks primarily through His word. And through His Holy Spirit in your fellowship time with God.
Hebrews 1:1-2 “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.”
God spoke to many of His people in the Bible. To lead them, or guide them, or teach them, or rebuke them.
You need to know that God wants to speak to you also. And you should expect Him to. God wants to reveal more of Himself to you. And reveals His will to you. And reveal His calling for your life.
Be Ready To Respond When You Hear God’s Voice
You need to have your heart ready to hear God’s voice. You need to be ready and willing to do whatever God reveals to you.
There is a big difference between hearing God’s voice and listening. In the Bible, to listen means to have a humble, soft, and willing heart that is ready to obey or follow. Even before you hear what God is saying.
James 1:22 – “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”
Hear God’s Voice
Look For A Conformation When You Hear God’s Voice Leading You
When you sense God revealing His will and calling for your life, it is wise to ask Him to confirm what you are sensing.
Early in 2004 I started to sense God speaking about selling my business and serving Him full time. And God was revealing that He would bless my business and then I would sell it and use our own resources to serve Him. We had no idea what God was leading us to do.
We prayed and sought God and His will for a year and a half. Then on a mission trip to Sao Paulo Brazil in mid 2005 God spoke very strongly and clearly in my heart. God wanted us to serve as missionaries in Brazil and join Him in what He was doing there.
Before we went off and sold my business and everything else, we prayed. A lot. And we asked God to confirm His calling. God clearly confirmed that we correctly heard His voice and understood His calling. After that, we prayed and asked God to give us a clear vision of that He wanted us to do. You can see the vision God gave us on our Missions Ministry page.
It took a lot of time and prayer to hear God’s voice. And for God to reveal His calling. And it also took a soft and willing heart to do and be whatever God wanted. We also needed to be willing to pay the cost to follow God’s will and calling.
We had to be willing to use and spend our own resources in order to serve God as missionaries. That was clearly His plan for us. Realistically they are not “our” resources anyway. Everything belongs to God, including our lives. We also had to be willing to live far from our family. And to learn a new language. And to live in a completely different culture.
Learn To Hear God’s Voice
Ask And Look For A Confirmation
God typically speaks primarily through His word the Bible. And also through His Holy Spirit in your fellowship time with God. What you sense the Holy Spirit speaking and revealing to you must line up with what God’s word says.
And God typically confirms what He is saying and revealing through your circumstances and Godly people. And His Holy Spirit will also confirm His leading and calling.
This is an important step, especially if you sense God leading you to do something to serve Him. Especially if it involves making changes in your life.
When God was making it clear that He was calling us to sell my business and become full time, self funded missionaries, we were not about to do major things like that without asking Him for confirmations.
We prayed asked that God would clearly confirm that we heard His voice and leading correctly. God answered and confirmed that it was His will and calling for us to go and serve in Brazil. He confirmed this in several different ways, using our circumstances, and by what some Godly people were saying. And what we sensed in our hearts during extended prayer times of seeking Him.
We became absolutely sure of what God what leading us to do because of His confirmations. And because we completely surrendered all to God and were willing to do whatever He wanted, God also gave us a very clear vision. A clear vision and idea of exactly what and how God wanted us to do in our missions ministry. Or a better way to say it is that God gave us a clear vision of what God would do through us.
God Speaks
God speaks during your prayer time. Primarily through His word and the Holy Spirit And God sometimes uses your circumstances to speak to you. God typically uses circumstances and godly people to confirm what He has been saying through His word. Everything must match up with God’s word. God’s word the Bible is always the main way that God speaks to people.
You need to be careful with trying to interpret your circumstances. Often times our feelings and what we think we see going on can be deceptive.
Also, you will hear many different things from many different people. Even people in church that mean well can tell you things that do not match what God is trying to tell you. Or with how He is trying to lead you.
When we were in the process of being called by God to serve as self funded missionaries, we heard many different things from various people at church. And we even had a pastor give us advice that was contrary to what God was saying to us. He suggested the traditional way that people from the denomination go to the mission field. But God was clearly leading us to follow a very different path and plan.
Pursuing Intimacy With God
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Salvation: The Requirements for True Salvation
Other Links
Preview the Pursuing Intimacy With God Studies Book
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The Desires of God’s Heart – Part 2
The Greatest Desire of God’s Heart
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