Tag: Hearing God’s Voice

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5 Ways to Practice Hearing God’s Voice

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Before you can hear God’s voice on behalf of others, you must develop a personal, intimate relationship with Him, in which you have learned to hear His voice for yourself. We do this by studying scripture, praying and asking the Lord for revelation, and taking time to wait on Him to speak to us. We must learn to practice hearing God’s voice!

As He speaks, it will take time for you to learn discernment between what is His voice, and what are your own thoughts and imaginations, as well as attempted distractions and lies from the enemy.

For the Christian, learning to hear the voice of God in your life is absolutely the most important and beneficial thing you can do. Here are five activities you can do to position yourself to begin hearing God’s voice.

Keep a Listening Journal

When I was new to hearing God’s voice regularly — not only on rare or “special” occasions — keeping a listening journal was one of the most helpful things I was taught to do. As it takes time dedicated to learning to hear, the journaling process helps you track your journey along the way. It also allows you to let other, more mature believers read things you are unsure of, to help you discern whether it was God you heard or not. The truth is, we all miss it sometimes.

Now that I have been hearing God’s voice regularly for many years, spending time praying and writing in my listening journal is still the most intimate time I have with the Lord, where I am able to press into Him more and to hear Him speak about issues of life, leadership, and ministry. Anytime I have one of those “I wonder…” questions, it usually goes into my listening journal, and it is always time well spent.

To keep a listening journal, get something to write on and something to write with, then simply ask God questions. I write my questions to God at the top of the page and use parentheses or “//” to mark when it is my words and thoughts, and then use the rest of the page to write down every impression or thought or vision I feel like God is using to answer that question. Sometimes the answer “bubbles up” immediately. Other times I will wait for a long time, but eventually an answer will come. As one question answered leads to another, I continue writing down my conversation with God until I am out of time or have exhausted that topic of conversation.

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What I have found is that God is eager to speak to us and help us live the Christian life, so this is a great way to let the Holy Spirit disciple you and lead your own Christian walk. In fact, many times when I am just craving some intimacy with God, but don’t have a pressing question to ask, I will just start my journal with, “Lord, what do you want to talk to me about today?” These are often some of the most profound things He speaks to me.

A listening journal is also a great way to keep a record of your journey with the Holy Spirit, to look back on and see your personal growth in Him.

The Name Game

For many people, a listening journal may sound like an exercise in futility. I have discipled various people in the practice, and it is always a long process to get started with an activity like that as it takes time to train yourself to hear God’s voice clearly and consistently, without your own thoughts and preconceptions getting in the way. Some people have sat for long periods of time with a blank page in front of them, not actually knowing what to do.

The name game is a little bit easier, and is a good starter exercise to begin hearing the voice of God. Here’s what you do: get into a setting where you can spend time in silent prayer, a place without distraction, then simply ask the Lord to tell you what He calls you or how He sees you. Then wait on Him to answer.

As people I know have walked through this simple process, God has always been faithful to tell them something very personal and uplifting. For one person who did not have a good relationship with his dad, God simply called him “My son.” For another who dealt with rejection and not sure how people saw her, God said, “Beloved.” God not only spoke clearly to them, but touched them deeply with His love in what He said. Since God wants to be our biggest encourager, we can actually go back to Him again and again asking Him how He sees us or what He wants to say about us, and He will always have something sweet to say.

Again, this is a very simple process, but it can still take some time to hear what God speaks. Though everyone I know who has engaged in this activity have heard God answer, it has not always been immediate, and in some cases have taken weeks before they were sure it was God. Just remember, God’s promise is that we can hear His voice. However, just like tuning an old radio with the manual tuning knob, it can sometimes take a lot of work to get  clearly on the desired station. Once you can hear God answer this simple question pretty easily, it can always become a good starting point for deeper question and answer times with God.

One neat story I can share about this activity is one time, when I was on staff at a local church in Texas, our Senior Pastor took all of our community group leaders through this activity. For some the answer came quickly, and for others took time, as is always the case. In that group was a husband and wife team who began praying together for this answer. The wife heard what God called her almost immediately. She then began praying for her husband, and she heard the answer for what God called her husband as well, and wrote it down secretly. It was, however, another two weeks before he heard the answer for himself. Yet when he did finally hear it, it was the same thing their spouse had heard on their behalf two weeks before. How’s that for confirmation?

Treasure Hunting

Treasure hunting has become a world-wide “game” in many charismatic circles of Christianity, especially young adults who have come to learn that they can hear God’s voice and He will lead them into plenty of opportunity to minister to people and see God do awesome things. Another word for treasure hunting in this case would be, “Prophetic Evangelism.”

This can be an individual practice, but is a lot more fun when you do it in small groups of 2-4 people. The premise is this: You (and your friends) sit down in a room with a notepad and pray. You ask God to show you a place you should go to and other clues such as tattoos, clothing, jewelry, or other things that would lead to a specific person. You write down the “clues” He gives you, then you set out looking for God’s treasure.

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For example, God may give you a picture of a Starbucks sign in your mind’s eye. As you pray about who you should meet at Starbucks, He then tells you “red dress, black necklace.” You would then write those things down and head to Starbucks, to find God’s treasure. (Don’t forget to pray for words of knowledge, as to what God wants to say or do when you find them, too!)

It may be awkward at first, telling them, “God told me to come find you,” but as the Lord reveals further how you should minister to them, you will get past that quickly. 

I have been on various treasure hunts, both in the U.S. and abroad, looking to see if I heard God speak clearly. Sometimes I miss it and try again. Other times, I have had some good times of sharing the love of Christ and prayer with people who need it.

Ask God About The Person Next to You

How much of your day is spent near people you don’t know very well? It may in a check out line at the grocery store, waiting to order food for lunch, sitting in a waiting area of the hospital or car wash, talking to a sales person, or sitting on an airplane.

Why not make some spiritual use of that time and ask God for a word of knowledge for that person. They may be shocked when you look at them and ask, “Is your daughter sick?” If the answer is yes, then you have a perfect opportunity to tell them how you knew that, and then pray with them for their child. If the answer is no, you can still use it to share your faith but saying, “oh, sorry. It’s just that I’m a Christian and I’m trying to learn to hear how God speaks to us. I guess I missed it this time. Are you a Christian?”

Serve on a Ministry Team

I know to include this may sound a bit out of place, but if I’m honest, one of the best places to learn to hear God speak is when you are actively engaged in loving on other people and seeking to serve them in one-on-one ministry. Unless you are one of those few people who are happy and loving twenty-four hours a day, serving on a ministry team will require you to hear God’s voice, and find your love, strength and abilities in His leading. 

This may be serving long-term, on the ministry team in your church, or by serving on a short-term mission trip. My own ministry in Uganda and Kenya hosts various teams throughout the year for teaching and training in Spirit-led ministry.

I believe that serving on a ministry team can also offer one of the safest place to practice hearing without fear of rejection or intimidation. Though it isn’t always the case, it should be that as believers in the body together we encourage one another to keep trying to hear God more clearly, rather than bring one another down when someone misses it. 

Do you have any other practical ways you have grown to hear God’s voice? I would love to hear them in the comments.

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© Anthony Scott Ingram 2019. All Rights Reserved.

Photo by N. on Unsplash

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

Please note that I do get a small kickback from Amazon for any purchases made using the links on this post. Should you choose to purchase from them, I just want to say thank you for further supporting my work in ministry!

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How You Can Hear God’s Voice

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In the last post, we said “you can hear the voice of God.” There is as expectation in scripture that all believers would know His voice and follow His lead. We also discussed the “revelatory gifts” of scripture: prophecy, words of knowledge, and words of wisdom, and how they work. 

Today, we will begin to look more in depth at how you can hear the voice of God. All throughout the Bible, we see God speaking to His people in various ways. These are not always categorized into the three revelatory gifts mentioned before. Although there is no limit on how He might communicate with us, I want to explore eight ways He speaks to His people in the Bible. This will be followed in the next post on how to develop discernment in our hearing.

Reading Scripture

“All Scripture is breathed out by God…” — 2 Timothy 3:16

Even from the early days of the church, it was recognized that the Bible is a collection of books that was authored by men as they were directed by the Holy Spirit. That means that as we engaged with the Bible, we are reading a letter to mankind, written by the Holy Spirit Himself. As we trust in this fact, it becomes clear that the Bible is the foundational means for hearing God’s voice because it is in the Bible that we learn all about God’s character and His ways.

Since the Bible is true and written by the Holy Spirit, we can also trust that the Holy Spirit will never speak anything to us which is contrary to the scriptures. Therefore, not only does the Bible help you learn to hear God’s voice, but it also builds discernment for whether it is God’s voice you are hearing at all. We cannot neglect this foundation, if we want to hear God speaking to us.

Spirit to Spirit (or Intuitive Hearing)

Often times you will hear Christians say, “I feel like God is saying…” What they are usually talking about is hearing God with an intuitive hearing, rather than hearing God’s audible voice. It is the Holy Spirit inside of us, speaking to us from the inside. 

Oftentimes, these words come more as impressions or as “outside thoughts,” not originating in your own mind. In the Old Testament, it is the Hebrew word, “nabi” meaning “to bubble up.” The thought you have is a Holy Spirit-given thought that seems to bubble up from the soul, rather than from the mind. 

In my experience, this is one of the primary ways they hear God speak in the busyness of daily life for most Christians. It certainly is for me. Growing in discernment between the voices in your head will be key in learning to hear God speak this way.

Hearing the Audible Voice of God

This is when God speaks out loud, and we hear it with our natural ears. One biblical example is when Jesus blinds the Apostle Paul at his conversion, and speaks to him audibly with a loud voice, “Why are you persecuting me?” The Lord then spoke to him of his destiny and gave him instructions on what to do immediately.

The audible voice of God seems to be rare among Christians, but it does still happen. There are a few people who hear it regularly; however, the majority of people who do experience the audible voice of God only do so once or twice in a lifetime. This has never happened for me.

Dreams

Dreams are another very prominent way that God speaks to people. Some believe it is because that is the time our rational minds are at rest, and He can speak to us without us reasoning it away.

Deuteronomy refers to one type of prophet as a “dreamer of dreams.” (Deuteronomy 13:1)

This is not to say that all dreams come from God. (Though it is likely that many dreams are from God, though we haven’t realized it.) You still need discernment in determining where the dream comes from and if it has meaning to reality.

Visions and Trances

There are different types of visions given in scripture.

Visions (Internal) – In general, a vision is similar to a day dream, though it does not come from your human mind. Instead, you see something play out in your head in the same way an intuitive word from God “bubbles up” from the soul.

Open Visions – Open visions are external. They play out in front of you like you are watching a tv screen. Rather than just being a daydream, it overlays reality so that you can see with spiritual eyes what is going on. One example is Elisha’s servant, who’s eyes were opened to see the angel armies supporting them from the mountaintops. 

Similar to visions is a trance. According to Jamie Galloway of Global Awakening:

“A trance is when you completely lose consciousness of your physical surrounding because you are overcome by the Spirit of God. It seems you lose your logic and are overcome with what God is presenting to you as if it always was.”

We might say that a trance is when an open vision does not just play out in front of you. Instead, you are actually pulled into the vision completely, and therefore lost to reality around you. A person in a trance may seem fully awake and conscious, but in reality their mind is somewhere else. Again, this can be from the Spirit of God, or can also just be a fleshly preoccupation with some thought that has consumed the person.

Peter finds himself in a trance on his rooftop while praying in Acts 10:10.

Physical Sensations

Physical sensations often occur in relation to words of knowledge for healing. You might call it a God-given sympathy pain. It would be where you experience a sudden pain in your knee, where you should not be feeling pain. This could be God prompting you to ask the people around you if they have knee pain. It builds faith that He wants to heal.

In our ministry, we seek words of knowledge for healing in prayer, and then call them out to the whole crowd at our crusades and events. We have seen many people healed in this way.

Sometimes God can give you physical sensations leading to other things, like perhaps feeling something in your ring finger could be pointing you to ask questions about the persons marriage or if they are married.

Physical sensations can go along with intuitive hearing as they may just be a very direct way for God to initially get your attention.

Visitations

Visitations are when a heavenly being, whether an angel or even Jesus Himself shows up to you in person. Sometimes the visitor will have a message to speak to you. Other times they may use non-verbal communication to tell you what they were sent to say.

Angels are all around us. It shouldn’t be a surprise that sometimes they come just to see us. It is also worth noting that you won’t always know they are angels (Hebrews 13:2). Sometimes they will come to you in the form of a person and give you a word from God, or simply converse for a while or ask for charity, then leave without you knowing their true identity.

Inspired Speech

Inspired speech happens often in the public presentation of the gospel. It is when you open your mouth to say one thing, and something completely different than you planned comes out. Yet what does come out is more profound than what you meant to say or reveals some deep hidden truth. In a surprise to everyone, God speaks through your mouth. Inspired speech will always be helpful to the person or group of people you are ministering to, rather than condemning or judgmental.

Some of the greatest prophetic words I have heard or received have been inspired speech.

The Desire to Hear

There are many ways God can and does speak. The biggest question is, “Are we listening?” If you haven’t experienced any of these phenomena in your walk with the Lord, do not get discouraged. Instead, press in closer to Him and ask Him to help you hear His voice. He will!

If you want to learn more about these different ways God speaks, I discuss them in depth on The Christian Life Podcast. I encourage you to check it out, and subscribe if you want to hear more!

If you have experienced any of these things in your life, I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

If you haven’t subscribed to my weekly email with all new content, I’d love to have you join. You can also follow along with all my writings on Facebook and Instagram!

If you’re enjoying the content I produce, a little caffeine to keep me going would be appreciated!



© Anthony Scott Ingram 2019. All Rights Reserved.

Photo by Alexander Andrews on Unsplash

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

Please note that I do get a small kickback from Amazon for any purchases made using the links on this post. Should you choose to purchase from them, I just want to say thank you for further supporting my work in ministry!

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You Can Hear God’s Voice

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One of the things I talk about on the blog, regularly, is listening to the Holy Spirit and hearing God speak. However, I probably take it for granted that everyone reading understands how to hear God’s voice, and live their lives with His presence and guidance in mind. Unfortunately, that is likely not the case.

In my 18 years of church experience, I have found there are three general ways people view how the Holy Spirit actively speaks to His people. 

Cessationism

The first viewpoint is to deny that He still speaks. This is a form of theology called cessationism. It argues that the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit ended with the completion of the Bible. Since the Bible is held to be the “complete revelation” of God to man, cessationists do not believe that the Holy Spirit can add any more supernatural revelation beyond what the scriptures reveal. They do not believe He speaks, so they do not listen. 

This is obviously not the position I take, though I have many friends who do. However, I will not make time in this writing to argue against this viewpoint. (Here is a great book that does so better than I can.) It will suffice to say that the main problem with this view is that the Bible itself is where we learn that the Holy Spirit speaks to His people, and how we are to hear and interpret His words. 

Continuationism

The second view is that the Holy Spirit is still active and speaking to His people. In some form, this is the view of most modern Christians and ministries. Although the level at which God speaks is viewed differently – some believing that He speaks daily to all, others that He only gives special revelation at certain times – there is a value for His leading, and it is encouraged to listen and obey. This view is called “continuationism.” These people believe that He speaks, so they actively listen to Him. 

Functional Cessationism

The third view, and the one I want to focus on in this post, is those who affirm with their mouths that the Holy Spirit speaks to His people, but their practice does not involve listening to Him. They functionally live and do ministry the same as the cessationists, even though they have better theology. They believe that He speaks, but do not listen. 

Often, this is simply a lack of understanding of how to hear Him speaking, which is what we will address here. Sometimes, however, it is not a lack of understanding. Rather, it is a lack of priority for His direct leading and guiding. This cannot be corrected with a blog post. It must be corrected in the heart. 

What I want to look at, today, are the spiritual gifts involving hearing the Spirit speak. Then, in my next post, I will discuss the various ways the Bible says we can hear His voice as believers.

THE REVELATION GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 

There are three specific “revelatory” gifts listed in the New Testament. These are given by God for personal ministry within the church. Though all of these gifts are hearing God’s voice, and may function in some of the same ways, they seem to have different and distinct purposes for which they are used. 

General Hearing

The first thing to be aware of is, though some gifts are clearly labeled, such as prophecy and words of knowledge, there is also a general expectation that ALL believers will hear God speaking. Jesus Himself said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).

Jesus went on to say (John 16:12-15) that He had so much He still wanted to tell His people that it would have to wait, and would come through the Holy Spirit. It would be the Spirit’s job to speak to believers, teaching us God’s truth, and revealing everything Jesus still has to say. He would be the one to “declare” what God wants to say. God’s plan is that the Holy Spirit would be our guide in how we live our lives as believers.

Therefore, we must begin with an understanding that the Holy Spirit Himself is the first “gift” given to us, and the Bible expects Him to speak to all of us! (Here is a great book to get you started personally.) The rest of these gifts, are simply different methods He uses to do that in some circumstances.

Prophecy 

While the Bible tells us that all believers should be hearing God’s voice for their own life and personal direction, the gift of prophecy is when you are hearing the voice of God on behalf of other people. This may be a revelation or insight into their life. It may give direction in a decision making process. It may be speaking to their destiny and calling in life. 

The Bible tells us that the purpose of prophecy is to build people up, encourage them, and to console (1 Corinthians 14:3, ESV). No matter how a prophecy plays out, at a minimum, it must always lead people toward Jesus and His ways. It will agree with scripture, and will leave them feeling encouraged. 

The Apostle Paul places the prophetic at the highest place among other spiritual gifts, telling the Corinthian church to “earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy” (1 Corinthians 14:1).

Words of Wisdom 

A word of wisdom is one of the nine gifts of the Spirit Paul talks about in his letter to the Corinthians. It is not natural wisdom, rather, it is when the Holy Spirit speaks to you with specific instruction pertaining to a specific time and place. 

This gift may come into use, for instance, whenever you are ministering to someone under deep stress due to some personal situation. As they seek guidance on how to handle things, we must do more than just give advice. This gift would be when the Holy Spirit speaks through us to tell the person exactly how to handle the situation, leading to peace and a good outcome. 

A word of wisdom may also be God instructing you what to do in a ministry situation with another person. For instance, you could be ministering to someone who has many needs, and the Holy Spirit leads you to pray for them or speak to them in a different way than human reason would naturally lead you to. 

Personally, this is a key gift in my life when I do pulpit ministry. Before a meeting, I wait for God to show me a mental picture of exactly what I am supposed to do and speak, and how I should pray or minister to the people. It is always more effective than when I simply come to the platform with a well crafted sermon I wrote myself.

Words of Knowledge 

If words of wisdom tend toward God giving instructions, words of knowledge would simply be God revealing information. It is when you simply know something you should not otherwise know.

Perhaps you are ministering to someone who has not been forthcoming with the sinful root of their issue. In love, the Holy Spirit uses this gift to reveal the underlying problem to you so you can minister to them appropriately.

Words of knowledge also play prominently in my own pulpit ministry, especially in the area of healing. Sometimes God reveals to me that He wants to heal someone with a specific sickness, and when I call that sickness out and pray for them, there is a much higher percentage of healings of that issue, than when I just pray for the sick in love.

Not only do words of knowledge help you minister effectively, but they also build faith in the person receiving ministry. Hearing the word lets them know with certainty that God sees them in their situation and cares what is happening in their life. 

Other instances of words of knowledge might be when God leads you to a certain place, or reveals a certain person to you that you need to minister to.

Remember, God will never reveal knowledge to us about something that He does not intend on working on. This is one of the ways we can “see what the Father is doing” and then follow His lead (see John 5:19). 

Any time we receive a word of knowledge or word of wisdom, it should embolden us to speak, being confident that God wants to use us in those situations. 

Conclusion

From all of these things, it is clear that the Bible expects us to be hearing God’s voice and to live by the Spirit’s leading. So the question is, do you? Have you taken time to seek God’s direct input in your daily life? Do you invite Him to use your mouth as His own in the lives of others? Have you desired spiritual gifts, especially prophecy?

In This Series

In this blog series we will look at:

Want to know more about this topic? I discuss this topic in depth on The Christian Life Podcast. I encourage you to check it out, and subscribe if it blesses you!

I would love to hear from you in the comments. Don’t forget to come back soon, in the next post, I share the many ways you can hear God speaking for your self. Don’t miss it.

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