How To Hear From God

Have you ever felt like you don’t know how to hear from God?  I know I have.  I use to look at others around me and wonder why do you hear from God and I don’t.  I pray, I talk to Him, and ask Him questions but all I hear is silence.

A few years ago, I started really trying to hear from God.  I was so desperate and wanted a relationship where I could hear His words.  Then one day when I was driving, I heard my mind say don’t go the way you always go, turn left and go down this other road.  I would go the same way to work each day and that day why was my mind saying turn here today?  I listened.  Come to find out there was a wreck the way I usually go.  This was not me telling me to turn, this was God.  There was no way I would have known there was a wreck, it was God trying to save me.  Have you had this voice in your head and you thought it was you?  It is God.  Isaiah 30:21 Your own ears will hear him.  Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left. (NLT)

Over time I started looking for preachers that taught on how to hear from God.  I found a few, but it still wasn’t giving me what I needed.  I would pray; God I want to hear from you, and still I felt I wasn’t hearing.  I was trying all I knew.  Then our church had a prayer and fasting for twenty-one days in January.  I thought I’m going to join this and set aside time to spend with God.  This was the first time I had ever done this.  I had read the Bible here and there, but never really sat down to give God time except for a few minutes to pray.  I would read the Bible maybe a few times a week or a month, but not consistently.  So when our church announced this I told God I want to do this.  Then I asked Him, “What do you want me to fast?”  I heard in my head, social media.  I thought that sounds good, I’m just wasting my time on it anyway (not realizing this was God telling me this).

Time to Fast and Spend Time With God

January 1^st came.  I was dedicated to sitting down each day with God.  I decided around 7:00pm each night I would go into my bedroom and spend some time with God.  I had purchased a journal to write down anything I thought I heard from God.  I didn’t get on social media all day, and it was easy.  I didn’t even have a desire to get on.  I thought to myself, it was the first day anyone can do that.  I told my family I’m going to spend time with God.  I went to my bedroom, shut the door and put on some light instrumental music and started praying to God.  I started by thanking Him for all He has done, and worshiping Him.  I didn’t look at the clock, I didn’t look at my phone, I just tried to focus on Him.  I wanted to give Him the time He deserved.  He does so much for me, I wanted to show Him how much I loved Him and give Him time just like I would a friend or family member

After some time, I got my journal out and told God if He had anything to tell me I am listening.  I wrote down what I heard.  I wasn’t sure if it was coming from my own mind or God, but I just wrote.  Jeremiah 29:12-13 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. (NIV)

When I didn’t hear anything else, I said “God if this was from you can you give me a confirmation verse?”  I heard a verse in my head and turned to it.  Remember, I still hadn’t spent much time in the Bible, and I didn’t know many verses.  The first verse was exactly what I heard.  I still wasn’t convinced it wasn’t myself I was hearing, so I asked again.  He told me another verse of a book in the Bible I didn’t even know existed.  I turned to it and to my amazement it too was exactly what I heard.  I was so excited, I just heard from God.

Over the next twenty-one days I continued to spend at least a hour with God and I didn’t even desire to be on Social Media.  I thought to myself it was so easy.  One of the things He told me was “prayer time is important to Him; He wants more of my time so I can get to know Him.” I have held onto this, and I honor this each day.

Confirmation

How do you get confirmation from God to know you are hearing from Him?  One could be the example I gave where I heard a verse to confirm the word He gave me.  Another could be by another person. Several times I didn’t get a confirmation verse and I felt I didn’t hear from God.  Then a few days would go by, and I would be led to a video where the word given was exactly what God just told me.

I have also had a word given to me by someone at my church.  I had been praying for something for a while and this person, who I just met, said she had a word from God for me.  The words were exactly what I had been praying about.  There is no way she would have known since I had just met her.  I knew this was from God and it answered my prayers.  It was so detailed that I knew God was hearing my prayers and He was answering them too.  1 John 5:14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. (NIV) 

What does it mean to spend time with God?

To build a relationship with anyone you must spend time with them.  Either face to face, phone calls, text, emails, etc.  Any of those you must spend time with them to get to know them.  The same is with God.  You don’t get to know God unless you spend time with Him.  How do you spend time with Him?  You read His word, the Bible.  You talk to Him by praying.  You worship Him by singing songs to Him and lifting up His name, thanking Him for all He does.

What does this look like?  For me, it is getting up early before anyone else is up and reading the Bible.  This started out with about fifteen to twenty minutes a day.  Now that is not even enough time.  I now spend about an hour or hour and half with Him.  I read his word, pray, talk to Him just like my best friend, because that is what He is.  As I’m spending time with Him, I ask Him if He has anything to tell me.  I get my pencil and journal and just write what He tells me.  Then I always ask for confirmation.  I go to the verses He tells me (what I hear in my mind), and write them in my journal.  One verse He has brought to my attention a lot is Jeremiah 33:3 Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. (NIV) He wants you to call to Him and ask Him to teach you the unsearchable things, and He will.

I’m not special, God is not going to talk to me and not to you.  God will talk to everyone, you just have to spend time with Him.  God says in Acts 10:34-35 Then Peter began to speak: I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35 but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. (NIV)

He may speak to you through dreams, visions, or other ways.  You just have to be open to see and hear what He has to say.  He knows you better than you know yourself so He will know the best way to speak to you.

Knowing God’s Voice

What is the secret to hearing from God?  Spending time with Him, showing Him that you want to hear what He has to say and being open to hear, worshiping Him and a desire.  Have patience and if you ask He will give it to you.  In John 10:27 Jesus says, “my sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”(NIV)