How to Hear from God & Recognize His Voice

The household I grew up in wasn’t exactly a Christian home. Don’t get me wrong, we claimed Jesus as our savior, but we didn’t really live like it. I had a front row seat to domestic violence, adultery, drugs, expletive filled fights, and much more. There wasn’t any emphasis on going to church – other than on Easter Sunday – or on building a relationship with God.

When I finally decided to pursue Christ as a teen, I was very much left to figure it out on my own. It would be another four years before I would get join a church. In the meantime I had to seek God for myself. This is how I learned how to hear from God – it was born out of necessity. 20 years later, I believe it is vital that every person know how to hear from God for themselves.

The Lord wants to speak to us. God has important things to tell us about our purpose. He wants to warn us when danger is coming and comfort us when we are overwhelmed. He wants a relationship with us, and that all hinges on communication.

Today I want to walk you through 1.) the different ways God may speak to you, 2.) some practical ways to position yourself to hear from God, and 3.) simple ways to distinguish when God is actually speaking.

Different ways God speaks to us

1 | Through scripture (the Bible)

In 2 Timothy 3:16-17 it says that “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip His people to do every good work”.

The Bible is the primary way God communicates His will to us. What’s powerful is there are times when you will be reading the Bible and “stumble across” a verse that seems to speak directly to a situation or dilemma you are going through right now. That’s not a coincidence! Many times, the Holy Spirit will lead us to scriptures that speak specifically to what we are going through.

2 | An inner voice

Some people call this an “inner witness”. It is when God speaks to us in the form of a thought, a gut feeling, or intuition.

John 14:26 shares how the Holy Spirit speaks to us inwardly. He instructs us and brings things to the forefront of our thoughts.

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”

~ John 14:26

3 | Through others

God very often uses other people to speak to us. Your pastor, husband, best friend, boyfriend, boss, coworker, heck even your enemies can all be sources to hear from God. In 2 Samuel 12:7-13, God uses a prophet named Nathan to correct King David for committing adultery and murder. In Acts 9 God sent a fellow believer named Ananias to tell the newly-converted Saul what his next steps were as a new believer.

I’ll never forget the time God used my pastor to give me an answer to one of my prayers. I was in college and repeatedly struggling with the same sin. One day in my bedroom I prayed in frustration, “God I just need to know how to get out of this. I know it’s dangerous, but I can’t seem to stop. Just help me escape this, please!” A few hours later I went to church for our weekly Bible study. I’ll never forget my pastor’s opening line. He walked up to the podium and said, “Tonight we’re going to talk about the dangers of sin and how to escape it.” I was floored! I knew God was answering my prayer from earlier and using my pastor to talk directly to me.

4 | Through dreams and visions

Another way we hear from God is through dreams and visions. There are examples of this all over the Bible. Job 33:14 – 15 tells us that many times we don’t perceive God is trying to get our attention, so He will speak to us while we sleep in dreams and visions. In Numbers 12:6 God Himself says He makes Himself know through dreams and visions. God will use dreams and visions to warn us, correct us, teach us, comfort us and so much more. In Matthew 2:11-13 He spoke to Joseph in a dream and told him to take baby Jesus to Egypt because king Herod was going to try to murder Him.

In my own life this has happened many times. The most recent was when I lost my job this past September. I was on my last day of vacation before returning to work and the Lord showed me in a dream that when I got back, I was going to be laid off. The very next day when I went into the office, that is exactly what happened. The Lord had been gracious enough to warn me ahead of time so I wouldn’t be blindsided.

5 | Audibly speaking

This is much rarer, but God will sometimes speak to us in an audible voice. We see this in Acts 9:1-7 when Saul was confronted about killing Christians and also in Matthew 3:1 7 when Jesus was baptized. I have not personally experienced this, but from the testimonies of others I’ve gathered two things: 1.) it is initially terrifying to hear from God audibly and 2.) His voice is POWERFUL like thunder or rushing water.

Positioning ourselves to hear from the Lord

It is very easy to miss out on what God wants to tell us, because we often don’t set ourselves up to hear. It’s not hard; we just have to be intentional. Here are four main ways we can position ourselves to hear from God.

1 | Ask Him

In Jeremiah 33:3 God says, “Call to Me and I will answer you; and show you great and mighty things you do not know”. God is saying if you want to hear from Him all you have to do is call out and ask Him.

2 | Submit your life to Jesus

In John 10:27 Jesus says, “My sheep hear My voice”; and in John 8:47 He declares: “He who is of God hears God’s words.” When we make the choice to follow Jesus, it grants us access to hear from God without restriction.

3 | Remove distractions

Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

~ 1 Kings 19:11-13

This encounter between God and the prophet Elijah is one of my favorites because it teaches us something powerful about the way God operates. Notice that God wasn’t speaking during the chaos of the wind, the earthquake, or the fire. It wasn’t until after all the noise died down that God soke in a still small voice.

The Lord is not interested in competing against social media, work, your family, your hobbies, or anything else. We have to remove distractions and get into a place of quiet in order to hear from God.

4 | Spend time with Him consistently

Perhaps the best example of someone who heard from God the Father regularly is Jesus Christ. In John 12:49-50 He tells us that the things He says come from the things the Father said to Him first. In Luke 5:16 we get a glimpse into why Jesus was able to hear from God the Father so easily. It says that Jesus “often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed”. Jesus had a habit of regularly communing with the Father and this is why He was able to hear from Him consistently and clearly.

Was that God, Satan, or my own thoughts speaking to me?

There are times when you will get a thought or a gut feeling and wonder “Was that God speaking to me?” And sometimes it really is difficult to tell! I used to struggle with this until I read Lysa TerKeurst’s book “What Happens When Women Say Yes to God”¹. In the book, Lysa suggests asking three questions to help you determine if what you heard was from God or not.

1 | Does what I’m hearing line up with scripture?

God will never tell you to do anything that will violate His word (the Bible). For example: say you’re applying for a loan and you get a thought “Well it’s OK to exaggerate on this loan application a little bit to secure the funds, especially if you tithe off the money and give it to church.” However, God’ word explicitly condemns lying and defrauding others. If what you are hearing goes against scripture, that’s a clear sign it isn’t from God.

2 | Would what I’m hearing please God?

Ask yourself, “Would this bring glory to God? Is what I’m hearing consistent with His character or things we see in scripture that please Him?”

I remember years ago I had fallen out with a friend who hurt me very badly. During my prayer time I got a thought to bless her financially the next time I saw her. I knew instantly it was God speaking, because in scripture He tells us that His desire is for us to love and bless those who hurt us.

3 | Is this beyond me?

The third question is powerful. It forces us to look inward and be honest about ourselves. ‘Is this beyond me?’ means, “is this something that is outside of my normal character, comfort zone, or selfishness?”. Is this something that would require you crucifying your flesh or confronting fears? If so, it’s highly likely God is speaking.

During my freshman year of college, my then boyfriend of two years cheated on me with another girl back home. This girl tormented me for weeks, because she was back at home with him while I was away at college. She would taunt me with pictures of them together. She would call my phone and harass me. It got so bad that I had made up in my mind I was going to fight her when I went home for summer break. Then one day as I was praying, I had a thought to invite her to church with me the next time I was home. I balked at the idea, but after calming down I knew it was God speaking.

What woman who had gotten her heart broken by her man and his disrespectful sidechick would turn around and invite said sidechick to church with her? I knew it was God, because this task was WAY beyond me. It required a level of self-sacrifice and dying to self that I had never done up until that point.

These three questions aren’t an end all be all. Just because what you’re hearing checks all the boxes doesn’t mean God is absolutely speaking, but it’s a good way to start filtering what you heard and lead you to the right answer. I always suggest if you really can’t decide, ask the Holy Spirit to give you peace and confirmation. He is faithful to do it!

It takes consistency

Learning how to hear from God is like a muscle; it has to be exercised. Spend time in prayer and doing Bible study so you can get to know His character and how He has spoken to others in time past. Over time you’ll begin to recognize His voice and hear from Him on a regular basis. For more resources on how to spend time with God check out the related posts below. In the meantime, I’m praying for you and cheering you on.