So, I was talking with a friend the other day about how I learned to hear the Lord’s voice for myself and my journey in the past few years with that and I felt led to share. I firmly believe and know in my heart of hearts that the Lord seeks an intimate, passionate relationship with each one of His children, which is all of us. As we were ALL created in the image of God and we were literally born TO BE LOVED by God. God is LOVE and He created us first and foremost to LOVE us and share the deep love of the Trinity with us.
So, essentially God created us to be IN RELATIONSHIP with us, as individuals and as the Body of Christ. The way we learn to hear God’s voice as He speaks uniquely to us is through practice and persistence. It’s an art and He speaks differently to each person and He also doesn’t always speak in the same way throughout your life or even throughout the day. He is a CREATIVE God. After all, He is the CREATOR of everything so He’s gonna use a myriad of ways to speak to you. And, that keeps us on our toes and makes it fun and an adventure! We’ll certainly never be bored 🙂
For me, I’ve noticed a pattern in my life. I don’t think this is true for everyone but I do think that the progression of this is common for most Christians on their journey to discern His voice.
When I was young, I primarily “heard” God through scripture, people preaching/ teaching, and through people I was in relationship with when God spoke through them. I didn’t always recognize it as God speaking to me but I know that He was. I know now that God is always speaking to us, even from the time in our mother’s womb. We just may not recognize it for most of our life or even ever for some people. He never is not speaking to us. We just have to tune in to the right frequency to hear what He is saying at that particular moment.
So, He is patient with us and never gives up on us. He uses means to speak to us that He knows we can handle during each season of our lives and that we will accept. As we start to develop a deeper one-on-one relationship with Him, He expands the ways He speaks to us. Or perhaps, we are just more perceptive of Him speaking in these new ways. I’m not sure, haha. Regardless, we start to hear Him more easily and more broadly in a lot of ways consistently throughout the day. This is a journey for each person that is unique and He slowly and patiently guides us.
For me, once I realized that I could hear the Lord for myself without having to just rely on scripture as my only source (For the Lord is not confined to scripture to speak to us although He does speak to us through it. He will not be put in a box.), I started to yearn for His still small voice. For me, specifically. It took me a bit to learn how to hear Him and in the meantime, He was still so faithful to speak in ways that I could identify. Mainly, via my circumstances.
In the entire year before I did the World Race, I longed to hear His voice for myself but still wasn’t quite there and He met me so graciously right where I was. Through losing my job and having closed door after closed door in my effort to get a new job, He steered me to the World Race. He had set up situation and miracle after miracle to get me to the World Race and that is how I could hear Him best at that point. He had to give me clear signs and basically block all other paths for me to realize I was supposed to go on the Race, as I was reluctant and didn’t feel a complete peace about it. And, He still speaks to me through my circumstances or situations now but that isn’t the primary way He speaks to me, because I don’t need it as much now. I love that He gives us what we need in each season and is ever so patient with us, not rushing us but also beckoning us to come closer as there’s always more and deeper that we can go.
So, be encouraged, friend. The God of the Universe, your loving Father, speaks to you and knows you and longs to be in deep relationship with you. And, He will gently guide you and meet you where you’re at and then take you farther, one step at a time.
When you’re listening and trying to hear God’s voice, it can be confusing and hard to discern. Oftentimes, His voice sounds like your own thoughts and isn’t an audible voice so you have to learn to decipher what He’s saying to you through your thoughts.
I was taught a way to distinguish between if it’s my voice, the Lord’s voice, or the Enemy’s voice and I think this is helpful.
First of all, here’s some clarification:
God’s voice: edifying, encouraging, in line with Scripture, full of love and truth, convicting but doesn’t bring shame or condemnation
My voice: logical, sounds like me
Satan’s voice: the opposite of God; full of lies; condemning and pours out shame; negative; discouraging; causes you to doubt yourself or God’s character
If you sit and ask the Lord a question or just create space to hear Him speak to you, usually the first thought that comes to mind is the Lord. The second thought is your thought and you trying to talk yourself out of the first thought and how it couldn’t be God. The third thought is the Enemy trying to undermine you hearing from God and is always the opposite of what God would/did say: discouraging, full of lies, and condemning.
This is not always the case but helps to learn to distinguish between your voice, God’s voice, and the Enemy’s voice. As you get better, I find that if I analyze it long enough, it’s easier to distinguish between the Enemy’s voice and God’s voice. As they are the complete OPPOSITE. But, it’s harder to distinguish between my voice and God’s voice and the Enemy’s voice and my voice, especially as I’ve believed a lot of the lies from the Enemy for years and it sounds like truth to me so I don’t realize it’s from the Enemy. This is why we need to daily renew our minds and ask God for His truth and His perspective to replace my thoughts/ the Enemy’s lies with His loving Truth.
So, I encourage you all to go deeper in your relationship with God.
Ask Him a question and then wait in meditative silence for His answer. Even if you hear nothing or are unsure, keep trying, day after day. He longs to speak to you and have a conversation so He will faithfully respond, because that’s His heart. And He will help you to hone in on His voice amidst all the chaos of your mind. He is a God of order, not confusion, so He will give you clarity and discernment on what He is saying. It just takes time and perseverance. Also, go to friends who hear His voice and ask them to help you discern 🙂 And, just see how your life will be transformed for the better! He’s so so good and so faithful.
Love you all!
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out!!!
All my heart,
Raina
Here’s a link for a resource I found on learning to hear the Lord’s voice.
https://catchthefire.com/blog-full/the-beginners-guide-to-hearing-gods-voice
