Listening to God is the key to being faithful. If you are unable to recognize His voice in the middle of your every day life, how do you live a life of faith?
If you bring your ear close to the lips of God, then His quiet whisper will become the loudest voice you hear.
How does God talk to you?
Like humans, God does not communicate in a singular fashion; so when He talks He will engage all of who you are. When a person talks they make sounds with their voice – both their content and their tone communicate. They also move their hands and their bodies giving another layer of information. Sometimes they will refer to and point at things beyond themselves to illustrate and aid understanding. God does the same thing.
He talks:
Many of your thoughts are actually not your own and are from God.
He illustrates:
Many of the images in your mind (awake) or dreams (sleeping) are from God.
He feels:
Many of your emotions are from God.
He touches:
Many of the physical sensations that run through your body come from God.
He creates events:
Many of the situations you bump in to are put there by God to guide us: people, things, books, creation, events, etc.
Thoughts, images, dreams, feelings, sensations, and events will be very familiar to everybody, for they are a natural part of being human. Therefore the ability to listen to God is not the skill that needs to be learned; rather it is learning to recognize and engage with what He is already communicating.
How do I recognize God’s voice?
Ask Him to teach you and He will. Here are some things He taught me along the way that may help you in your journey.
> Listening to God is equally about your internal and external life
God will guide and talk to you through things outside of yourself as much as He guides you from within yourself. He will use other people, the things you read or watch, and the events He orchestrates around you. It is easy to think that listening to God only involves recognizing His voice inside and to entirely miss everything else God brings to you outside. However, not everything people say to you is from God. Not every event in your life is a signpost. Not everything you read or watch is to be received. But when it is from Him, you learn to recognize the affirmation of the Spirit within, so you can receive this in the same way that you receive any other revelation.
> Most of what He says is for you
This is about your personal walk with your Lord; therefore most of what He says to you is for you alone. He will encourage you, smile with you, rebuke you, and discipline you. He will show you which way to go, teach you His ways and reveal the secrets of the Kingdom. Sometimes, what He says to you will be for others – He will need to teach you how to recognize when this is the case.
> Expect Him to lead and guide in every aspect of your day
When you are talking to people, expect Him to be leading and speaking to you. When you are at work, in the boardroom, in a meeting, on a construction site, in a classroom, doing surgery…these are all the places to be listening to God. Don’t be surprised if you start seeing images while talking to people, or hear thoughts quite clearly in meetings, or experience strong emotions at odd occasions, or start to feel like events around you are orchestrated, as He refines and teaches you His ways.
> Don’t focus on a singular way of listening to Him
If you become intensely focused on one mode of communication you increase the risk of deception. The many layers of Gods communication bring a helpful check and balance. For example, if you focus solely on your thought life, you may miss the emotions He gives as a safeguard to guide and help you discern a thought. If you focus on your inner life and ignore the outer life you may miss a correction that He wants to give. We need to become aware of all of His engagement with us: both what He brings to our inner life and what He brings to our external life.
> One mode of communication may become dominant
Depending on what gifts God has given to you and what job in the Kingdom He is training you for, you may find that one mode of communication is stronger than the others. For example, you might experience emotions constantly, and strongly as He leads you, yet rarely get an image. This is normal and you will find as you talk to others that they will have a different experience.
> Pay attention to tone
God can and will communicate gently and firmly, quietly and urgently. He will teach you when you need to wait and when you need to move immediately. A lot of these nuances come from an awareness of His tone, is He speaking quietly, slowly, or loudly? Is a particular part of a thought, scripture or something you are looking at highlighted boldly? Are you receiving the same lesson from multiple locations, from a vision, a scripture and a person He sent to you?
Surprisingly it is also possible for God to shout in your thought life and to blind you with a vision in the midst of a conversation or to hold your tongue so it is hard to speak – sometimes He chooses to be quite blunt and all nuances disappear.
> Expect God to start asking you to do things
As you listen, He will ask you to obey. As you say yes and step in faith, He will move and do whatever He chooses to do. This is greatly encouraging and helps with becoming familiar with His voice. When you see His work as a result of your obedience it helps you to grow in confidence and it is easy to get excited about trusting His whispers again.
> Be prepared for the miraculous
As you listen and obey, God will sometimes move in miraculous ways. Some of the miracles will only be obvious to you but some will also become visible to others. Let Him teach you how to handle His glory and do not be surprised if there is an ebb and flow in how His power moves. It is also likely that He will expand and redefine your definition of a miracle.
> Be prepared to fail and open to being corrected by Him
As you are learning to listen and obey His voice in all that you do, you will not always get it right. You will make mistakes and the Lord will need to point this out to you. Sometimes He will gently reveal an error as you are talking with Him, or maybe He will send someone to gift you an insight. He may also intentionally send you in to situations to expose an error in your thinking or practice. Often He does this to grow your discernment and to teach you how to recognize the deceptions that can entrap you and other believers. However, if you are obstinate in receiving His teaching, He will rebuke you strongly.
As you listen and obey, do not be afraid of making mistakes, for it is impossible to enter a life of faith without a few cuts and bruises. Peter made many mistakes and upon that rock Christ built His church.