Hearing God's Voice

My car pulled into its parking place at the courthouse and chugged to a stop. I grabbed my purse, slammed the door behind me, and strolled towards my office. The sun beamed down on a perfect summer day. My steps were effortless, my thoughts carefree. From behind me called a voice, like a friend, “Gloria!” As I twisted around to look, I yelled back, “What?” But to my surprise, there was no one there. The shock of the moment stopped me still in my path.

I looked around to see if anyone had heard me yell, but no one was in sight. Since that day I have heard God’s voice many times, in various places. And yet, I’ve never taken it for granted. It has never become an ordinary occurrence.

Hearing voices is not something we share with others lightly. We fear that family and friends might think we are weird or at the worst, mentally ill. However, in God’s kingdom it seems to be the norm. Not weird at all. In fact, in God’s kingdom hearing from Him is considered to be a blessing.

Jesus surely knew that His saints might have problems understanding hearing His voice, because He taught several truths about it. For instance, when He was making the analogy about Himself being the Shepherd, He said, “...the sheep listen to his (the shepherd’s) voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.” (John 10:3,4)

He said, “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice. ...” (John 10:16) and “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27) It seems that Jesus wanted us to know that hearing His voice is part of the job, so to speak. A natural, normal event. Therefore, when it happens to you, don’t be alarmed. Simply say to yourself, “This is normal. I am Jesus’ sheep. I hear His voice. I am His.”

What else do you do if you hear the voice of God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit? First of all, remain calm. Evaluate quickly whether God is telling you to do something. If He is, then obey. Plain and simple. If God’s voice tells you to do something, then take action, and do it. Don’t hesitate. Don’t procrastinate. Don’t try to reason it out in your mind. Move! Very often if you take time to think about it, Satan will try very hard to talk you out of doing what God told you to do. He’ll even try to convince you that you didn’t really hear from God at all. Or, worse yet, that you aren’t worthy to hear from God.

One of Satan’s favorite tactics is to say, “Who do you think you are–to be hearing from God? You didn’t hear from God. That was just your own thoughts! Do you really think that God would talk to you? Who do you think you are anyway?"

Just remember when you hear, “Who do you think you are?”, that it is the devil trying to put you down. A red flag should go off in your mind, and you should reply, “I am a child of the living God–holy, righteous, washed in the blood of Jesus! That’s who I am!” Remember that God will never ask you who you are. He knows who you are.

Your ability to take action determines your success. Just like young David, who picked up five smooth stones and ran toward the giant, swinging his slingshot over his head, and yelling, “The battle is the Lord’s!”, your ability to walk in victory lies in direct proportion to how swiftly obedient you are to God’s voice.

On the contrary, there are dire consequences in not obeying the voice of God. For instance when the children of Israel, during the time of the Judges, did evil in God’s sight, God’s anger burned against them. He admonished them, and they repented and He forgave them and sent them a new judge to rule over them. But finally in Judges 2:20 God said, “Because this nation has transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not listened to My voice I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died...” In other words, God removed His protection.

But, what if you haven’t heard the voice of God? What if no one has called your name? Does that mean that God doesn’t want to talk with you? By no means. There could be several explanations for the problem. Maybe it is just not the right time–yet.

Remember that hearing from God doesn’t depend on you or whether you have everything perfectly in order in your life for it to happen. Look at Saul. He did not have his life in perfect harmony with God’s when Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus. After all, Saul was a persecutor of believers. When Jesus said, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”, it wasn’t because Saul was a nice guy.

There exists many erroneous beliefs concerning one’s ability to hear God’s voice, such as:

• You have to be alone to hear God. Saul was not alone on the road to Damascus. Several men traveled with him. And they also heard the voice. (Acts 9:3-8) And Jesus was not alone on the mountain when he was transfigured and heard the voice of God say, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to Him.” (Luke 9:28 & 35)

• You have to be still in order to hear God. Jesus was not being still when the Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form like a dove. He was being baptized. A voice came from heaven saying, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:22) Because He was being obedient, God was moved by love to tell Him so.

• You have to be thinking about God. Experience tells us that this statement is not true. In fact, its very opposite is true. Most often you will hear from God right in the middle of thinking about something else. For instance, many saints relate of hearing God’s voice while they are washing dishes at the kitchen sink and thinking about their children or driving down the road thinking about their jobs or their vacation. It almost seems like God likes to surprise us by injecting Himself into our thoughts at the most unlikely times.

• You have to be Jesus or an apostle to hear God. Saul was neither of those people when he heard the voice of Jesus on the road to Damascus. Neither was Samuel when God called his name in the night. Samuel was a child. And he did not know the voice of God until the priest, Eli, explained to him what was happening. (1 Samuel 3:9)

So, how can you hear from God? For one thing, listen. Keep your spiritual ears alert. Secondly, talk to God–aloud. If you talk to Him, it’s very likely that He will talk back to you. Tell Him, “Lord, I have my ears attune to hearing your voice. I am your sheep. You are my shepherd. I listen to your voice, and I follow You. I am your obedient servant.”

It is very likely that someday you may be singing in your shower, soaped from head to toe, when you’ll hear your name spoken, and you’ll know it isn’t your thoughts. You’ll wash soap out of your eyes and look around, and you won’t see anyone. Just remember to say like Samuel, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”

Copyright 2011 Gloria Fisher.