Do You Know God’s Voice?

My favorite part of the day is early morning when I rise to hear God speak to me as I read his Word.

If you’ve never experienced God speaking personally to you through his living, active Word (Hebrews 4:12), read on to find out how the Holy Spirit and the Holy Bible work together.

Does God Really Speak to Us?

God is always speaking—if we’re listening. He speaks through his son, who reveals the father. He also speaks through circumstances, through prayer, through pain and suffering, through others, through his creation, through angels, through dreams and visions, and once through a donkey. But this article will focus on how God speaks personally to us through his Word.

Two Foundational Principles

As you learn to hear God in this way, here’s an important principle: “The Spirit does not give new revelation; he reminds believers of what God has already revealed and then applies those truths to their lives” (Hearing God’s Voice, Henry Richard Blackaby). You will never hear God contradict the Bible.

Here’s another principle: Jesus longs to have a close relationship with you! In fact, I don’t think we ever know how much he loves us until we learn to hear his voice. And it’s that love that transforms our lives. If you’re willing to learn to listen, be prepared for the adventure of your life. God is working for your good.

4 Steps: Hearing God Through Scripture

While my approach is by no means the definitive way to listen to God through his Word, it is easy-to-remember because it rhymes:

Pray and Stay—Read and Heed.

1. Pray. Whenever I read God’s Word, I pray that I will see what he wants me to see and hear what he wants me to hear. I ask him to teach me, to guide me, to rebuke me, to comfort me, and to encourage me.

I first learned “listening prayer” from pastor Tim Jones, who recently published The Anatomy of Doubt: A Lighthouse for Dark Times (highly recommended). Here’s how he begins every listening prayer: “I plead the blood of Jesus over this time of prayer and command that only the Spirit of God shall come close and prosper.”

I also thank God that his Word brings me life, as Jesus told his disciples in the book of John: “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (6:63).

If you would like to begin by reading your prayer, here’s one:

Father, thank you for your wonderful Word that brings me life. I invite you to come and sit with me. Thank you for treasuring me and delighting in me. I know that you love me and that your love can transform me to be the person you want me to be. Thank you!

As I read your Word, I pray that you speak to my heart and fill me with your spirit so that I can hear your voice and know you better. Strengthen me to joyously surrender to your perfect will. Help me to grow in my faith.

And now I plead the blood of Jesus over this time of prayer and command that only the Spirit of God shall come close and prosper. I ask that all other voices be silenced, including my own thoughts that are not of you.

2. Stay. Our minds love to wander, and mine wants to go straight to my daily to-do list. Instead, I’ve learned to stay in the moment with God by thinking about resting in God’s loving arms. I think about being immersed in his wonderful light. I visualize ridding myself of concerns as I take some deep breaths and blow them away.

3. Read. I like to read from one of the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) or one of the New Testament letters. I also enjoy reading Psalms and Proverbs regularly in the morning. Sometimes I read silently, and sometimes I read the text aloud like a prayer.

You can read expectantly, knowing that your heavenly father wants to speak to you.

How long do you read? Until you see the blinking neon words. Just kidding! Sometimes I read just a paragraph or so. Sometimes I read much more before I hear what God has for me. And sometimes God speaks to my heart about something that’s not even connected to my Bible reading. But I hear him because I’ve positioned myself to listen.

I hear God because I’ve positioned myself to listen.

4. Heed. Once you hear from God, I encourage you to write it down. I keep a journal in which I write the verse or the part of it that God has highlighted for me. Then I write what he said, the personal application of the verse to my life. My journal is full of thanks, questions, concerns, experiences, insights, and epiphanies. Basically, I record the conversations between God and me. I’ve got seven years of journals—and what a faith-builder they are as I reread them.

Then heed what God has said—perhaps it’s something you need to do—or change—or embrace. There’s not much point to listening if you don’t trust God and do what he has said! Also, God may have little more to say until you heed what he’s already said.

How Do I Know God Is Speaking to Me?

You may have heard the story of the man who sought God’s guidance as he read the Bible. First, he read Matthew 27:5: “Then he went away and hanged himself.” Next, he read Luke 10:37: “Jesus told him, ‘Go and do likewise.’” Finally, he read John 13:27: “So Jesus told him, ‘What you are about to do, do quickly.’”

Obviously, this story violates the two principles of hearing God through Scripture. It shows what happens when someone tries to read verses as if they were fortune cookies. When the Holy Bible and the Holy Scriptures work together, God is always true to his revealed nature in the Bible and is always at work for your good.

If you are just becoming familiar with the Bible, be sure to talk with someone who walks with Jesus about what you believe God is saying to you. Whatever God says will always be in accord with what the Bible proclaims. For example, if someone believes God is saying to withhold forgiveness until the offender apologizes, that person would be mistaken because of God’s revealed truths about forgiveness.

In the beginning, you may not be sure of what you hear. It’s difficult to tell someone else what it’s like to personally hear from God. But as your relationship grows, you’ll know when God is speaking to you. You’ll be able to recognize the voice of your beloved heavenly father just as you recognize voices on earth. You may hear God prompting you to do something good, affirming his great love for you, or nudging you to admit you’ve done something that needs to be fixed.

What Happens When We Listen to God?

As you learn to hear God, you’ll develop an intimate and meaningful relationship with him. You’ll find your faith strengthened. You’ll know how much you matter and are loved. You’ll break free from fear and doubt and learn to live boldly for Christ. You’ll find divine direction for your life. You’ll renew your love for God and others.

Your heavenly father is ready to talk to you. Are you ready to listen? Once you begin, you’ll never want the conversation to end.