Learning to Listen to God's Voice

Standing in Barnes & Noble in 2003, I noticed a woman who could have been the age of my mother. She stuck out to me, and I did not really know why. It was like she was being emphasized by an invisible highlighter. Something stirred in my spirit, but I did not understand or know what it was. I felt a nudge. Not physically, but spiritually, whatever that meant. I felt like the Holy Spirit was prompting me to start a conversation with this woman and eventually pray for her at some point. So, not really knowing what I was doing, I started a conversation with the woman and eventually prayed for her. The woman was very touched and encountered the Living God.

This was one of the first times I learned to recognize the voice of God in my life.
I think we all long to know the voice of our Creator, the One who loves us so deeply and dearly. When we begin to recognize the voice of Jesus in our lives, our relationship with Him takes a different turn, it becomes more intimate, real, tangible, a friendship. We join into partnership with our God and walk with Him in our daily lives.

Scripture is riddled with stories and examples from Genesis to Revelation of how the God of the universe speaks into the lives of His simple creation. He longs to speak to us, He longs for us to know His voice. Please know, when I use the phrase "voice of God," I mean the various ways in which God speaks to His people. Begin to take special note when reading Scripture of all the different ways God communicates to humanity.

As I have studied the Scriptures, examined my own life and the lives of several others, I have discovered some guidelines to recognizing the voice of God in our lives. (Please note that I did not use the word "formula," for I believe that there are no formulas in the Kingdom of God.)


Our Praying

"The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed. The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears; I have not been rebellious, I have not turned away." (Isaiah 50:4-5)

Notice it is God who takes the initiative to open our ears so that we can hear Him speak. We can pray that God would more and more wake us each morning to commune with Him, to have open ears to hear His voice. As we do this, I believe God will respond to our prayer and open our ears to more clearly hear His voice.


Following Jesus' Model

"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed." (Mark 1:35)

"Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed." (Luke 5:16)

Jesus had a rhythm of drawing away to be with God consistently to pray. Jesus practiced silence and solitude to better tune-in with the voice of the Father so He could respond to the Father's will throughout the day. To better listen to the voice of God in our lives, we can follow Jesus' model of drawing away to be alone with God to more clearly hear His voice. 


Our Practicing

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed - or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." (Luke 10:38-42)

Jesus made it clear that the highest priority and responsibility of His followers is first to sit at His feet and listen, and then to go and do His work with Him. The spiritual practice of listening creates a space for the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts and transform us from the inside out, renewing our ability to hear God in our daily lives. The more we practice listening, the more clearly we will hear God's voice.


Fruitful Living of Listening to God's Voice

"Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does." (John 5:19)

"...I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me." (John 8:28b)

Jesus only did as He saw the Father doing and only spoke as He heard the Father speaking. How many of us in our daily lives seek to live into the will of the Father like this? Jesus is our model for how to live in relationship with God. If Jesus sought only to do and speak as Father God did, than how much more should we follow in Jesus' example? The more we learn to listen to God's voice, the more we will do His works and speak His words and harvest fruitful living in the Kingdom of God.



Jesus, may you teach us to learn to listen to Your voice more clearly for fruitful living in the Kingdom of God. Amen.



Recommended readings in learning to listen to God's Voice:

• Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God, Dallas Willard
• Surprised by the Voice of God, Jack Deere
• Forever Ruined for the Ordinary: The Adventure of Hearing and Obeying God's Voice, Joy Dawson