HOW TO HEAR FROM GOD (WITHOUT BEING WEIRD)
In this blog post, I want to share some simple thoughts with you about how we can learn to hear God’s voice (without being weird). I love hearing from God. There is something intrinsically supernatural about the Creator of the universe speaking to His children. One of my favorite things to observe is the face of someone as they realize—perhaps for the first time—that God is real, personal, and, more importantly, interested in their lives.
One of the greatest challenges for most of us in this generation is that we live in the midst of an unbelieving world that denies the reality of God. There are many ways of addressing this unbelief and demonstrating the reality of God, and much ink has been spilled on the various approaches.
Creation testifies to the existence of God (Romans 1:20).
We can argue through apologetics the reasons why it is logical to believe in God.
We can rely on the testimonies of those living, and indeed those who have lived in ages past, regarding the reality of God in their lives.
We can point to answered prayer and to the many things that God has done in our own lives.
In spite of this, there is something glorious and immediate that happens when somebody sees God reveal something that another person could not possibly have known. When Jesus said to Nathanael in John chapter 1, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you” (John 1:48), all of Nathanael’s defences were immediately broken down, and he was ready to receive from Jesus.
The same thing is true in our own lives. I believe God wants to speak to us for many reasons. Some of these may seem important to us, while others may appear trivial. I believe they are all important to God.
For a reason I have never been able to understand, the subject of hearing from God tends to attract people with a tendency toward the weird, the wacky, and the spectacular. Sadly, in a country like America, subjects such as the prophetic and hearing from God often bear the stigma of those who have set a poor example in doing so. I have met many church pastors who shy away from allowing the prophetic—hearing God’s voice—to flow in their churches. I have found it interesting to note that none of these pastors base their objections on a biblical or theological argument. No serious student of the Bible can believe in cessationism. The very Bible we claim to follow denies its existence. Rather, the objection of many pastors is simply the damage that comes when people try to speak in God’s name and cause confusion, manipulation, and poor testimony. Many of these pastors have come to the conclusion that the answer to a bad example of hearing from God is to stay away from the subject altogether. While I love many of my pastor brethren, I must respectfully disagree.
The antidote to a bad example of hearing from God is a good example of someone hearing from God. The antidote to a poor biblical experience is a good biblical experience.
In this blog post, I want to give you five practical keys that I have learned and, more importantly, that I put into practice to help me on the journey of hearing from God. In the UK, when a young person is learning to drive, they are required by law to put a large “L” on the front and back of the car to demonstrate to everyone around them that they are a learner. I have often wished that older Christians (myself included) would wear an L plate when trying to hear from God, especially in the context of speaking that to others.
I encourage you to try these keys and put them into action in your life.
I. IDENTITY
The first key in trying to hear from God is not to try to hear from God. In the New Testament, God gives us our identity as a gift, and then empowers us to live that out in our daily lives.
I do not attain the status of a righteous person by doing righteous things. Rather, God calls me righteous—as an identity—and when I establish my heart in that identity, it becomes easy to live and practice a righteous life.
This may seem mysterious, but I believe that when we begin to establish our hearts in the reality that we can hear from God, then it will become easy to practice that reality.My name is Graham, and I hear God’s voice. This is not true based on my life experience. Rather, it is true because God declares it to be true in His Word. We must learn to take our identity by faith from God’s Word, and base it on His Word alone—not on our experience.
Jesus said in John 10:27, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” This is a statement of fact. It is not a promise we must attain, but a truth we believe, and the Holy Spirit will work it out in our life experience.
You can step into the identity of one who hears from God on a consistent, clear, and accurate basis.
II. GOD SPEAKS IN A NATURAL AND NORMAL WAY
One of the challenges in hearing from God is realizing that God is more natural than we are. God is never religious. He never puts on a funny voice. He never pretends or performs. There is a rule of thumb I have found very reliable in many years of ministry: the more someone tries to be dramatic, spectacular, and strange, the less they are actually hearing from God. The people who hear from God in a clear and accurate way usually do so without theatrics. Do not look for God in the wind, the fire, or the earthquake. Rather, listen for Him in the still, small voice (1 Kings 19:12).
I have often taught on this subject using the passage in 1 Samuel chapter 3. In this passage, God speaks to Samuel for the first time. God speaks in such a natural, normal, and familiar voice that Samuel makes the mistake of thinking it cannot be God. He assumes it must be a familiar voice—namely, that of Eli, the man he heard every day. It is only when Samuel begins to believe that he is actually hearing from God that God continues to speak to him.
“Speak, for Your servant hears” (1 Samuel 3:10).
Ninety-nine percent of the time, God will not speak in a weird or dramatic way. Usually, you will think it is your own voice in your own mind. Just as an exercise, take a moment right now and count to five in your mind. That is the voice you will hear when God is speaking to you. Natural. Normal. Familiar. And yes—often followed by doubt.
III. GOD SPEAKS TO OUR FAITH
I was blessed to learn this lesson at a very young age, and it has served me well over many years. Simply put, God speaks to faith. When we believe that God is speaking to us, we will begin to hear His voice.
Most people have a simple problem: they do not believe God is speaking to them, and they do not believe they can hear from God (see point number one).
In the story of Samuel, it was only when Samuel acknowledged that the voice was God’s and placed himself in a position to hear from Him that God continued to speak. Before trying to hear from God, come into a place of faith. Believe that you are no longer hearing your own mind, the devil, last night’s pizza, or anything else. Believe that God is speaking to you, and you will begin to hear His voice.
Satan speaks to our fears. God speaks to our faith. Selah.
IV. REALITY
For many people, this is a difficult key and the area in which they often stumble. It is possible to develop our relationship with God in a way that only expects to hear from Him at the devotional level. In such a place, we hear God affirm His love for us, correct us from sin, remind us that we are His children, and so on. This is absolutely priceless. However, we are missing out on the glorious benefit of hearing God speak into accurate and precise situations.
Take a moment to think this through. The challenge for most of us is that hearing God say “I love you” or “You are My child” requires very little faith. In one sense, it is almost impossible to get it wrong. I liken this to learning to swim in the kiddie pool. It is safe, shallow, warm, and very difficult to make a mistake.
The challenge comes when that same person tries to hear from God in a way that is predictive, regulatory, or specific. I have noticed over many years that people will often avoid having their “hearing from God” tested by whether it was actually real or not.
I love to move in the word of knowledge in a church or ministry setting. In an average week, I will usually do this five to ten times at a minimum. One of the things I love about this gift is the instant feedback it provides. If I stand up in a meeting and say, “There is a lady on my left with a damaged heart valve,” it is either right or wrong. If it is right, faith in the room rises. If it is wrong, I feel foolish.
The challenge for most of us is that we are so afraid of looking foolish. We are so afraid of getting it wrong. We are so afraid of having our ego—or indeed our pride—damaged, that we learn to avoid testing what we think we have heard from God with reality.
I have discovered that the more willing we are to do this, the more God will speak to us. Also, the more we are willing to test our hearing from God in the real world, the more our own faith and confidence will grow.
A great way of doing this is to begin each day by praying and asking God to show you what will happen that day. Ask Him to show you things to come (John 16:13).
Over time, you will grow in both accuracy and confidence in this matter.
V. PRACTICE
The way we learn any skill is through practice. The challenge I have seen in ministry is that many Christians never want to practice hearing from God until a very dramatic situation arises in their life. That is the wrong time to practice.
The best time to learn to hear from God was twenty years ago. The second-best time is today. The worst time is tomorrow. We improve in any skill by repetition and intentionality.
It is perfectly acceptable to wear the “L” (learner) plate and be someone who is constantly growing, using every situation to develop their ability to hear from God.
Everything that comes from God will be perfect. Everything that flows through us will be imperfect. Each and every time we practice, we move forward on that journey of hearing from God. Selah.
I hope these keys will help, inspire, and challenge you. I am well aware that there are many other subjects I could have mentioned, and vital topics I have omitted.
My encouragement to you is to be a hearer and a doer of the Word of God (James 1:22).
Graham Jones