Article: Six Keys To Hearing God’s Voice | Ann George, Qatar

We all face many questions in life like, What am I going to do with the rest of my life? Where should I go to school? Should I take this job, or is there something better on the horizon? Who should I marry? Life is a never-ending series of choices. Can we know whether we are making the right decisions? Do we go with what the experts are saying or rely on our gut-feeling? Should we consult the horoscope? Should we look to the stars, or should we seek the Maker of the stars?

Well, I have good news for my friends, and God wants to speak to us. Yes, you can know that you hear His voice. God wants to fellowship and communicate with us, and it is a two-way communication. It is because you can’t really have a relationship unless there is a true dialogue. Moreover, we get to know a person by communicating with them, that is, by talking and listening. It is the same with our relationship with God. When He talks, we listen, and when we talk, He listens.

God loves us so much that He sent Jesus to take our place and to die for us. He did this so that we could once again have fellowship with Him. In the book of Hebrews, we see that we can have access to God’s very presence, “…having the boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way…” (Hebrews 10:19-20). He also wants us to be fulfilled, blessed, and successful in the plan that He has established for our lives so that we can be a reflection of His love and blessing in the earth. In Jeremiah 29:11, the Lord makes clear His intentions for you and me, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

We see in Genesis 3:8, “…they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day…” This is how God wants to relate to us today as well. It is God’s desire to walk with and to communicate with His children. He wants to talk to us. And He wants us to listen and talk to Him, too. Is there more good news than we can hear His voice? The Bible, which is God’s love letter to mankind, makes it clear that we were created to have two-way communication with Him. Jesus tells us in John 10:27, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”

However, as a child of God we don’t have to walk blind because we can have confidence that we will hear His voice. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 8:14, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” Conversely, this scripture implies that if we are God’s children, and if we are born-again, we will be led by His Spirit. We have further assurance of this promise in Psalm 37:23-24, “The steps of a good [righteous, born-again] person are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way. Though he falls, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the Lord upholds him with His hand.” God will order our steps, even when we blow it, if we are truly trying to do His will, and He will lift us up and give us a second chance. The most difficult part of hearing God is the fact that it takes time to learn to discern God’s voice, and it takes a humble heart. Jeremiah 29:12-13 says, “Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” We can’t make demands on Almighty God, and we also can’t shake our fist at the sky and say, ‘All right God, let me hear you.’ But we can ask, seek, and knock, and the Bible promises that God will open the door. God will reveal Himself to those who humbly seek Him.

Now that we know we can hear God’s voice, we need to be alerted to the fact that there are other voices whispering into our ears as well. In fact, there are three voices that we can hear – the voice of God, the voice of our own fleshly desires, and the voice of the Devil. But Jesus tells us in John 10:4 and 5, “…and the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”

The writer of Hebrews tells us that we can train our ear to recognize the voice of God above all the noise.

Isaiah 30:21 says, “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” Whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.” So God will speak, and you can hear His voice, but you must be careful, especially when you are a young Christian because you objectively confirm that you are following the Holy Spirit and not another voice. Our own flesh can scream pretty loud (especially when we are under pressure, or we want something very badly). And the Devil is the father of lies, he is the great deceiver. So how can we know whether we’re hearing the voice of God? The Bible gives us seven basic keys or filters through which every possible leading should be judged. We are to carefully examine the thoughts and intentions of our hearts, and the words of godly people who may have influence on us by their words and actions through the use of these six keys:

1. Scripture: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (II Timothy 3:16-17).

2. The Holy Spirit speaking to our heart: “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, and everyone his brother, saying, ‘know the Lord,’ for all will know Me, from the least to the greatest of them” (Hebrews 8:10-11).

3. The Prophetic (word of knowledge, word of wisdom, personal prophecy): “Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:19-21).

4. Godly counsel: “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counselors there is safety” (Proverbs 11:14).

5. Confirmation: “By the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed” (Matthew 18:16).

6. The peace of God: “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful” (Colossians 3:15).

Many times the Lord will confirm His direction to us through three, four or more of these keys especially when we are in the process of making an important, life-changing decision.
The bottom line, as Pat Robertson has said for years, is that big decisions take big prayer. In other words, as we humble ourselves before the Lord, seek His guidance in our lives, the Good Shepherd will be faithful to lead us, “…in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake” (Psalm 23:3).

Yes, my friends, you can hear and know the voice of God. And because of this the world is changing more than perhaps you have heard.