Hearing the Lord

One of the biggest things I grew in on my race was my prayer life. I learned how I best communicate with the Lord but more importantly I learned how to listen to the Lord. 

Our team had the opportunity to spend several days in Nelspruit, South Africa together to debrief our first month. While there we had several sessions and I got to lead one of them. After spending a month with the participants, one of the things I heard over and over again from them was that they didn’t think they heard from God or they didn’t know how to hear from God. The desire grew in me to do as much as I could to help them with in that area so my session at debrief was about hearing the voice of the Lord. 

I’m not talking about audibly. While I know the Lord does that, he has never done that with me. I’m just talking about conversation everyday hearing from the one who guides and directs me. I wanted to share this will y’all as well so here are my edited notes from the session I gave on hearing from the Lord! Please feel free to message me if you have any questions! 

 

HEARING THE LORD 

God does speak today – I believe He’s speaking constantly in many different ways. Psalm 19:1 says that the heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim the work of His hands. The problem, according to Job, is that we don’t know how to hear or perceive what God is saying.For God does speak – now one way, now another – though man may not perceive it. (Job 33:14 NIV)

 

Recognize God has created you for a close relationship with Him. No one will ever say to you, “I want a close relationship with you.” then refuse to speak to you. God thinks you are worthy of speaking to and wants a deep intimate relationship with you. He WILL speak to you. 

I believe you CAN hear from the Lord. I believe you DO hear from the Lord. He is speaking to you. You may just not be able to recognize it. 

The more you hang out with and get to know someone the better you will be able to recognize their voice. The same goes for the Lord. The more you spend time with Him the better you will be able to differentiate His voice from others and have a clearer idea of His nature. 

 

In our western culture we have valued and idolized rationalism. The problem with that line of thinking is that Isaiah 55:8-9 states that God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways are higher than our ways. It requires a certain amount of pride to imagine that as Christians, our opinions and actions should be based on our human reason and human knowledge rather than on the eternal truths of God’s Word!

In Numbers 12:6 the Lord declares that He reveals himself to prophets in visions and He speaks to them in dreams.We need to learn how God speaks rather than demand for Him to speak in the manner we choose to hear. His way will be better. 

 

(Habakkuk 2:1-2)

“I will stand at my watch and station myself on the tower; I will look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint. Then the LORD replied: ‘Write down the revelation (or vision) and make it plain on tablets so that a he may run who reads it.’” 

“I will look to see what He will say to me.” Isn’t that odd? You would think it should read, “I will listen to hear what He will say to me,” or “I will look to see what He will show me.” But be aware that God’s voice often comes as a spontaneous thought. Get ready to hear God however He chooses to speak – it might come as a thought, a memory, a song, a scene from a movie, a Scripture verse that just “pops” into your head or any other creative way God chooses. If we are fixed on hearing in one specific way, we might miss what God wants to say!

 

HOW TO HEAR THE VOICE OF THE LORD

Key #1: Quiet yourself. Be available and truly listen. 

He says, “ I will stand at my watch and station myself on the tower.” 

He went to a place with the specific intention of hearing God speak to him and positioned himself to hear what God had to say. What this means for us is that we have to learn to quiet ourselves in the Lord’s presence. Sitting down and saying, God what do you want to say to me. Being available and listening. 

 

Key #2: Fix your eyes on Jesus 

As we read on, Habakkuk says, “I will look to see…” Habakkuk recognized the principle we talked about earlier from Numbers 12:6 – that God often speaks in vision form. But what I want you to see now is that he was focused. Often when we sit in silence 5 billion things come into our brain of things we have to do, things we shouldn’t have said, the fact that we’re hungry and what we want for lunch. The best way to begin is to fix your eyes on Jesus. Push all that other stuff out. If it’s really important write it down and go back to it later. Constantly turn your eyes back to Jesus and what he has for you. 

 

Key #3: Write it down

Lastly, the prophet hears from God, and this is what the Lord says, “Write down the revelation.” (Do you realize that if Habakkuk hadn’t obeyed that last part, we never would have known about this interaction with God? What if David hadn’t penned any of his Psalms? What about John? If he hadn’t written down his revelation, we’d be missing the last book of the Bible!) You will want to write down what you hear or see. It’s not necessary or a command. Sometimes you will hear from the Lord and immediately go to obey because it’s for you. But I would encourage you if it’s not immediate or if it’s for someone else, write it down. 

HOW TO KNOW WHAT YOU‘RE HEARING IS FROM THE LORD.

1. CONFIRM BY SCRIPTURE Like anything in the Christian life, we need to ensure everything we are hearing lines up with the written Word of God. If it doesn’t, throw it out. It doesn’t matter how clearly you receive the revelation – even if an angel comes and shares something with you – none of that matters unless it coincides with Scripture. The apostle Paul spoke about this when he wrote to the Galatians.  “But even if an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!” (Galatians 1:8 NIV) 

 

How do you process a revelation you receive if the Scripture is silent on the issue, yet isn’t necessarily contrary to? For example, if you sense the Lord instructing you to move somewhere, or He’s stirring your heart toward a change of career, how can you discern and confirm the Lord’s direction? There’s nothing specific in Scripture directing you either way, so, what do you do?  

 

2. CONFIRM BY THE NATURE OF GOD

In these situations you may want to ask yourself, “Is what I am hearing consistent with the nature of God?” In James he writes: But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. (James 3:17 NIV) there are more verses like this that talk about the nature of God. If the revelation you receive is consistent with some of the attributes listed in these verses, it is likely that you are hearing from God. 

 

3. CONFIRM BY THE INNER WITNESS Even if you have a confirmation from

Scripture and the nature of God supports your revelation, you also need to check your inner witness. John wrote:  “But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.” (1 John 2:27) 

John was speaking about the witness of God that dwells within your born-again spirit. This is not a witness in your mind or even in your emotions. It is the witness in the deepest part of your being. 

In that place there are, what could be called, “caution lights” or “green lights.” The caution light is like a little check or resistance inside your heart, even if it makes sense in your mind. The green light is a clearance within that enables you to move forward with peace, even if it doesn’t make sense to the mind. The inner witness is usually extremely accurate. Remember, this is from deep within and not simply a clearance or check in the mind or emotions. 

 

4. CONFIRM BY FRUIT INSPECTION Finally, check the fruit of what you are hearing. For example, how does it make you feel? Are you encouraged? Uplifted? Edified? Or does the word leave you feeling condemned, guilty or fearful? The first is the “flavor” of the Holy Spirit; the latter, the enemy. Does the word you are hearing produce the fruit of the Spirit? 

 The fruit of the Spirit will produce when you hear His voice and act on it (Galatians 5:22). The fruit of the flesh is very different and includes things like selfish ambition, strife, jealousy, immorality and worldly-mindedness according to verse 19 in Galatians 5. The word you hear from the Holy Spirit will always produce good fruit.  

Hearing God’s thoughts are like hearing your own, with the exception that they are often light and gentle. There will sometimes be unusual and surprising content  – for example, the thoughts you will hear regarding the way God feels about you are probably much nicer than any thought you have ever had about yourself. God will also speak through your own personality, communication style, and vocabulary. He made you unique.

 

A few other notes: 

1. Don’t be so afraid that it’s from you that you don’t share. Especially if it’s scriptural and of the nature of God. Any good that comes out of you is from God anyways. God can and will use what you say for God’s glory. 

Isaiah 55:10-11 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” 

Share what you hear! 

 

2. When you go to tell someone something or give them a listening prayer believe God will use it even if you never see it or never know if it’s from God or you (even though any good and uplifting thing you could ever say is ultimately from the Lord) 

 

3. Be willing to hear something you don’t want to hear. Don’t say God isn’t speaking  just because He is saying something you don’t like. 

 

4. What God wants to say and WHEN He wants to say it is up to Him. Your goal should not be hearing an answer to a question but growing closer to God. 

More Verses: 

• John 10:27– my sheep hear my voice 
• Romans 10:17– faith comes from hearing through the word 
• Jeremiah 33:3– I will answer you. I will tell you great and hidden things you have not known. 
• Isaiah 30:19-21– Your Teacher will not hide himself anymore…your ears shall hear a word. 
• John 16:13– the Holy Spirit will speak 
• Luke 11:28– blessed are those who hear the word and keep it. 
• 2 Timothy 3:16-17– God will speak through scripture. 
• John 14:26– the Holy Spirit will remind 
• Matthew 8:1-4– God is able and WILLING. 
  

I hope this helps you grow in listening to and hearing from God! 

Thank you to everyone who continues to read my blogs and support me! I really appreciate you! like I said feel free to reach out to me with any questions, thoughts, or comments!