Hearing the voice of God is vital for our everyday lives. Jesus said in Matthew 4:4, “Man cannot live off of bread alone, but every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” For believers, it should be normal for us to hear from God and experience His presence. This is, in fact, God’s passionate desire for you. He wants to be heard more than you want to hear. You have been intentionally hard-wired by heaven’s infinite hand to be a spiritual being who hears from God. You were created for this.
As children of God we’ve been intricately designed to connect with God for ourselves. An epidemic in the church is that so many believers depend on pastors and ministers to hear from God on their behalf to the neglect of seeking God for themselves. They live from Sunday to Sunday without personal interaction and communion with their God and Savior throughout the week. This is a sad reality that God desires to radically change. I’m by no means diminishing the role of pastors and teachers in the body of Christ, but their essential function is to point people to Jesus, not themselves.
Sadly, so many believers wrestle through life without ever truly connecting with the Lord on an intimate level. In my ministry travels around the world I’ve heard the same cry resonate from countless lovers of God, “Why can’t I hear God’s voice?” The truth is, God is always speaking but we aren’t always listening. Our minds are so cluttered with the cares of life that it makes it nearly impossible to hear from God. It is imperative that we tune our spiritual ears to the frequency of heaven instead of the voices bombarding us from every angle.
Hearing God comes from intimacy, not through following a “five step model.” Intimacy is the crux of the gospel, and without it, nothing works properly. All fruitfulness in our lives comes from abiding in the Vine. We must make intimacy with God the preeminent focus of our lives if we truly desire to hear from Him. Our God is living and willing to speak with those who draw near to Him. Our God isn’t an impotent dead idol who can’t hear or speak into our lives; no, He is alive and mighty to save!
I believe that one of the most common reasons people don’t hear God’s voice is because they don’t believe they can. Their thoughts are filled with doubts that war against the truth of Scripture. They believe lies like, “God speaks to everyone else except for me.” Allow me to ground you in the word of God. In John 10:27, Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” Jesus was speaking about YOU. If you are a believer, you have the ability to hear His voice and follow Him. Remove the lies that fill your heart with doubt, and speak the truth of God’s Word. Declare over yourself, “I hear the voice of God and I’ll follow Him wherever He goes!”
You hear God more than you think. There have been several times in my life when I was hearing God, but I thought it was my own thoughts and ideas. I’ve learned that I hear from God more than I realize, and so do you. The result of Jesus living inside of you is you are now one with Him in spirit. You have the mind of Christ now, and as you grow in your relationship with the Lord, it’ll become easier to distinguish your thoughts and feelings with His.
The pursuit of our life in Christ is to know God deeply and personally. As he becomes your main pursuit and focus then all else will fall into place. Hearing God’s voice and experiencing His presence will come naturally to you. The Holy Spirit lives within you to teach you how to walk in the fullness of your heavenly destiny. Draw near to the Lord and the anointing of His Spirit will teach you all things. He’ll even teach you how to hear His voice.
Michael Lombardo‘s book Born for More can be bought at www.lifepouredoutintl.org/shop