Every person who has ever lived for God, or considered living for God, has asked this question. Even people who have lived for God many years often find themselves wondering how to hear from God, and how to know for sure if they did, indeed, hear God’s voice. First, let’s be clear. God does want to communicate with His people, and is, in fact, talking to us continuously. It is us who must learn to “tune in.”
In order to answer the question of how to hear God’s voice, we first have to talk about the ways God actually speaks. Here are the main ways He communicates with us.
1. HIS WORD
God has given us His Word through anointed men of God who wrote under the unction of His Holy Spirit. We call this collection of writings the Bible (the books), and it has stood the test of time through the millennia. The Bible is the account of God’s creative works, His plan of redemption for a lost humanity, the history of His people, His commandments and principles to live by and ultimately his prophetic words concerning the grand revealing of endtime events culminating in His return and establishment of His everlasting Kingdom.
“For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.“ (2 Peter 1:21)
God’s written Word, the Bible, cannot be separated from His Voice. Just like your word cannot be separated from your voice. Whether you think it, speak it, or write it, it is still your word which has imitated from your mind.
God’s Word is the first way He speaks to His people. He will never speak to you in any way that will go against or circumvent His written Word. This is one reason it’s so important to be students of God’s Word. We must study to know His will, and to be able to detect deception.
“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.“ (Psalm 119:11)
2. THE FIVE-FOLD MINISTRY
In addition to His written Word, God has given us a structure of support in the church called the five-fold ministry. These offices include apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.
“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:” (Ephesians 4:11-12)
*For further reading on the five-fold ministry, see my blog post, Unpacking The Five-fold Ministry.
The people who hold these positions are gifted and trained specifically to guide, teach, build up, encourage and instruct God’s people. His intention is for us to look to these ministers for help in finding God’s will for our lives. Beyond reading the written Word, it is by the preached Word that we hear God’s Voice in a practical way. This includes seeking confirmation on something we think could be the voice of God, but are unsure. God has strategically placed the five-fold ministry in the church for our guidance, and will not circumvent their influence in speaking to you.
SIDE NOTE
Every local church will have a pastor and teachers. Their guidance should be sought first. There will not be apostles, prophets and evangelists in every local assembly because their ministries reach further than the local church. They will, however, be available regionally, and known by the fruit of their ministries.
3. PRAYER
Prayer is to be our continual channel of communication with the Lord. We should spend as much time listening as we do speaking. He will drop a thought into our minds as we wait on Him in prayer. Anything He reveals to us should always be checked and weighed against His written Word, and the counsel of the ministry.
4. OUTSIDE VOICES
Sometimes God does use other godly people who are not necessarily part of the five-fold ministry to speak a word, make a suggestion or help us make a course correction. HOWEVER, we must take into account the first three avenues of His communication with us. He will never use an outside person to give direction that goes against his basic established structure of the Bible and the Five-fold Ministry. Most often. When someone gives us a “word from God,” it will most often be a confirmation of what we have already felt by reading His Word, counseling with the ministry and have sought in prayer.
5. SIGNS
This is the avenue that many people want to start at to hear from God, but it should be the last. This area is very often used by the enemy to draw us away from Truth and godly counsel. Many good, God-fearing people have been led away and deceived in this manner. While scripture assures us that signs will follow believers, it also very plainly tells us not to be sign seekers.
When we depend on signs above God’s Word, above the counsel of ministry and above consecrated prayer, we open portals into the spiritual realm of darkness called the occult. It is through these access channels that the enemy gains control of our minds, and ultimately our souls. Not everything spiritual is holy. It is sad when people will make decisions based on a sign, but refuse to read and apply God’s Word or seek godly counsel. When God chooses to show us a “sign,” it is most often to confirm what we’ve already received from the first three avenues of communication.
SIDE NOTE
Here is a personal example of wrongly seeking signs. Even from a child, I’ve always had a heart toward God and a tendency toward the supernatural. However, I wasn’t raised in the Apostolic church, and had no foundation to know how to hear God’s voice. One day when I was in junior high, I was walking to a friend’s house. We lived out in the country, and it was back in the day when kids spent time outside. On my way, I saw a red cardinal. A little further down the road, I saw a red scrap of cloth on the side of the road. Yet a bit further, I saw a piece of red trash stuck in a tree.
In my desire to hear from God, but having no foundation of how to do so, I determined this must be God attempting to speak to me. It wasn’t. It was a red bird, a red scrap of cloth and a red piece of trash. Because I had this tendency, my heart and mind were open to things like evil dreams and even apparitions appearing in my room at night. I was tormented by the spirit of fear for years until I was born again (Acts 2:38) and became grounded in a local assembly that taught the truth of God’s Word. But for the grace of God, I could have been deceived and lured away from truth.
IN SUMMARY
It is true that God created us to be in communion with Him, and that involves hearing His voice. It is also true that He is always communicating with us. It is us who must learn to hear what and how He is saying it.
He has placed specific processes in place for us to hear what He is saying. These include His written Word, the five-fold ministry, consecrated prayer. Then further removed, He sometimes uses outside godly voices, signs and occasionally His audible voice. It is absolutely necessary for us to remember that each one of these processes build on the previous ones. They do not circumvent them.
Realizing how God uses these ways of communication, and how vital it is to not be deceived, we must also realize the need to be rooted and grounded in a local church that preaches truth. Many people want to have their own relationship with God without actually submitting themselves to, or investing themselves into a church family. This is not God’s plan. He designed the church to be where we learn to hear from Him as we mature spiritually.
Warm Regards In Jesus’ Name!
~Pat~
