Everything rises or falls on one thing: communication. Relationships fail partly due to the lack of effective communication. Business failure starts with miscommunication. Even the most properly trained and well-equipped military can lose a battle on account of poor communication. If you doubt this reality, read how miscommunication led to a “friendly fire” that claimed the lives of five US soldiers. As believers, we may not suffer a “friendly fire” but can lead defeated lives if we do not hear, recognize, and respond to God’s voice. We must train ourselves to hear God when He speaks.
How does God speak?
1. Dreams-
To some, God communicates through dreams. He can warn us of impending danger or reveal His plans. I am not talking about wishful thinking or nightmares.
2. Visions-
You can see some visions during the day or night while you are not sleeping. I am not talking about imagination.
3. Impression in mind-
A strong idea may remain in your mind. I am not talking about obsession.
4. God’s word–
The Lord sometimes emphasizes a scripture trying to get our attention.
5. Other believers–
If God realizes He cannot get our attention, He uses other people. In other cases, He uses them to confirm something He’d already spoken to us about.
How do we hear God’s voice?
To hear God’s voice, we only have to:
1. Commit ourselves to maturity–
There should be a desire to know God. Read that word and apply it. Take time to fast. God cannot ignore a son who desires to grow up.
2. Indulge in His presence–
One natural law I know of is that the more you interact with someone, the more you learn about them. Even in the military, they have informants and undercover agents who relay information. Likewise, we can only know and experience God’s voice by spending more time with Him. This happens through His word, prayer, meditation, fasting, and all the other spiritual disciplines we have.
3. Be conversational with God–
Many times, we perceive God as an instructor or a school principal who gives us orders. However, you will notice that God loves fellowship. He stayed with Moses for 40 days. He’d interact with Jesus every night. We should change our religious way of interacting with God, whereby we think that prayer is a monologue. Instead, we should try something like this, “Hello, Father. How are you doing at this hour?” After that, we can keep quiet and hear Him respond. Listen, in a typical father-son relationship, more time is spent in conversations than instructions. A son learns more from the father through interactive sessions than directives.
4. Approach God as your friend–
Religion tries to show that fear is respect. We go before God trebling instead of rejoicing. I mean, who shows fear after meeting his close friend? Listen, honoring God is okay, but He wants us to be free in His presence. It is impossible to hear God’s voice while in tension. Be free in His presence, as advised in Hebrews 4:16. This is why we encourage you to make declarations as a way of interacting with the Father.
5. Leave all channels open–
You may be disappointed if you get accustomed to one way of hearing God. In His sovereignty, God can choose any method to reach you. Think of your friend, who might choose to send you an SMS, email, a call, or even send someone else. Holding on to one method of hearing the Father may leave you frustrated.
6. Eliminate clutter and obstacles-
We sometimes miss God’s voice due to our current spiritual state. Our hearts are harboring jealousy, hatred, and bitterness, or we are distracted by the world. Even in such situations, God will still speak BUT we will not hear Him. In John 12:28-30, God spoke, yet people thought it was a thunder. Some said it was an angel, but it was God. Jesus says the voice was meant for the people, not Him. Elsewhere, the Bible says, “For God speaks in one way and in another, yet no one notices (Job 33:14). Samuel did not recognize God at first because he was used to hearing Eli’s voice (1 Samuel 3). See?
7. Show an eagerness to obey-
God hopes that His voice will lead us to obey. Balaam’s greed for earthly possessions hindered him from really comprehending God’s will (Numbers 22:24). We should only seek God’s voice if we intend to respond to it.
Why we do not hear God
- Distractions- We pay more attention to everything and everyone else, except God.
- Always in a hurry- We expect to make a 30-second prayer and still hear God.
- We do not listen- As noted, our engagement with God should be conversational. We should listen after talking.
- Distorted view of God– Elijah expected God to speak using violent signs so much that he missed His whispers.
- Pride- I will define pride as elevating and thinking of yourself more highly than others and living with a sense of self-sufficiency. We should never confuse pride with self-confidence. Proud people despise others and strive to live independently of God and other people. God opposes the proud (James 4:6).
- Zero or limited knowledge of God– While we cannot comprehend the fullness of God, we should be able to know how He speaks. Samuel could not hear God because he was not trained; he was just a small boy. However, with time, it was easy for him. That’s what God expects from each of us. While we may struggle as young believers, we should hear His voice clearly as we grow in Him. The tragedy is that we never desire and commit to knowing Him. As a result, we remain believers who have been saved for years but are still in a (spiritual) infancy stage.
Final Remarks
God always speaks, but we do always recognize His voice. If Paul tells us we’re in unbroken fellowship with God through Christ (Romans 6), then it means God speaks. The Bible further shows that God speaks, but we miss His voice. “For God speaks in one way and another, yet no one notices” (Job 33:14).
We are still immature if we cannot hear and recognize God’s voice. At infancy, a child does not understand anything the mother says. In early toddlerhood, a child may deduce and grasp some communication cues. In adolescence, a teenager knows even the facial cues through which a parent communicates. God would want us to be in adulthood, not even adolescence. In adulthood, a son or daughter already knows what annoys and pleases his or her parents. The writer of the Hebrews (5:11) complains that his audience ought to be teachers but still need basic training. Hearing God is a basic element.
We are still immature if we cannot respond to God’s voice- God does not do small talk. He does not engage us to pass the time. His voice is meant to accomplish something. His calling of Samuel was meant to establish a relationship, signaling Samuel’s calling.
It should bother us a lot if we cannot hear God’s voice.- Failing to hear God makes us very vulnerable to the enemy’s voice. The old prophet (1 Kings 13:11-25) reminds us of the danger of failing to hear God.
References
Burns, R. (2014, September 5). Miscommunication blamed for deadly U.S. mistake in Afghanistan. PBS NewsHour. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/miscommunication-blamed-deadly-u-s-mistake-afghanistan
