how to hear the voice of God, when you don’t know where to start can feel discouraging but don’t let it be! God is faithful and he IS speaking to you. Let the tips in this post bring your mind and heart closer to hearing the plans God has for your life!
God’s voice is loving.
God’s voice is forgiving.
God’s voice is confident.
But yet in the middle of our busy, everyday life we have trouble discerning God’s voice from the noise around us. Occasionally his voice comes across loud and clear and there is absolutely no denying that he is guiding you. But most of the time it comes to us as quiet whispers, in the time when we are still.
The only challenge with that is the fact that our days are SO filled! From sunup to sundown, there is nothing but constant busyness.
How can we hear what God has to say when we never sit still?
As a culture, it is rare that we ever allow our minds to quiet. Your mind is filled to the brim with trying to keep up with the to-do lists and anytime your hands aren’t busy doing that, it is busy with some sort of screen time.
And yet, you and sit back and act surprised that is difficult to discern God’s voice in our life!
The definition of discerning is the process for determining God’s desire for a situation, one’s life etc. and it is a question SO many of us find ourselves asking… God, is that you?
This article is going to cover how to discern the voice of God through the help of 5 strategies that are simple and easy to do, whether you are beginning your journey with God or trying to find your way back to him.
Whether you have a big decision to make or you simply want to lean into the life God designed you for, learning how to discern God’s voice is key! It has taken me years to get better at hearting his voice and while I still trip and stumble along at times, these 5 strategies are what I always come back to!
Here are 5 strategies for learning How to Hear the Voice of God:
1.Learning to Be Still
The best way I’ve learned how to discern God’s voice is learning to be still. And I’m not just talking about my hands!
I’ve had to learn how to intentionally quiet my mind (more on that in a bit) as well as settle down a distracted heart.
This has been a transformation of both my mind and heart, that’s for sure! As a self-proclaimed A-type personality and master of the to-do list, “downtime” used to literally make me cringe…
I never once considered how that personality flaw of mine was keeping me away from God! At times, I need to still reground myself in the importance of allowing myself to be still on the days where I can feel my old ways creeping back in.
For those of us that struggle with being still, let me remind you of the story of 2 sisters, Martha and Mary! This story is so perfectly designed to give me just the snap back to reality that my easily distracted heart needs!
Now as they were traveling along, Jesus went into a village. A woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat down at the Lord’s feet and kept listening to what he was saying.
But Martha was worrying about all the things she had to do, so she came to him and asked, “Lord, you do care that my sister has left me to do the work all by myself, don’t you? Then tell her to help me.”
The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha! You worry and fuss about a lot of things. But there’s only one thing you need. Mary has chosen what is better, and it is not to be taken away from her.”- Luke 10:38-42
Learning to be a Mary in a world that rewards us for being a Martha takes some work. But we don’t want to be rewarded by the world… we want to be rewarded by our Father in heaven!
So, on the days when my inner-Martha is creeping back up and stillness is the farthest thing from my mind, here are 3 ways that I disrupt my old, over-busy behavior and reground my mind to the importance of stillness:
How to quiet your mind:
Worship Music
Whether it be singing from memory or blaring your favorite hymn in the background as you fold laundry, having worship music playing takes capture your thoughts. From the wandering thoughts to the rhythm of the music and the power in the words, you can allow yourself to get caught up in the music and after a few songs you’ll be surprised how much quieter your mind is! Use this time after (or during) listening to worship music to talk with God and lean into the stillness of your mind so that God may fill the space with whatever thoughts and feelings he desires…. You’ll be amazed at how often it is NOT a to-do list 😉
Disrupt the spinning thoughts with a fall to the knees kind of prayer
I’ve started doing this more and more recently and love it! When I feel myself starting to second guess or begin to let the fleeting thoughts take over… I can’t hear anything but my own worried self.
“Evening, morning, and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice. ” -Psalm 55:17
I fall back on a very simple prayer that usually sounds something like this:
“Lord, I hand over my time, energy and heart to you. I’m not sure why I feel so (whatever it is that you are feeling) right now but I know that only you can bring me the peace I need. Let me feel confident to step away from the distractions at my feet and sink into your presence today instead”
Prayer Journaling
If you’ve ready any of my other posts than you probably already know how much I adore the art of Prayer Journaling! It has changed my relationship with God… literally has been the vehicle that has changed my life! If I had one wish, I would wish that every woman picks up an empty notebook and begins prayer journaling-seriously!
If you are new to the idea of prayer journaling, check out my Ultimate Guide to Prayer Journaling!
How to hear the voice of God can be answered with one word: stillness.
The enemy looooooves to keep us feeling busy and distracted.
In fact, he loves to keep us feeling like we can’t hear God. He is the biggest doubt-seed planter and we have to be careful to watch out for those little seeds of doubt! Stillness gives God center stage in our mind and is such a great way to grow your faith in God!
The other strategies listed below for learning how to hear God’s voice below build from the principle of stillness because it is only when we learn to be still, that the Lord can fight for us (paraphrased Exodus 14:14).
2.Learning To Recognize the Author Of Your Thoughts: How to Hear Gods Voice
There was a time when I 100% believed the thoughts I thought were true.
I just heard them and took them into my heart and believed them at face value, never even second guessing!
I mean, they were “my thoughts” after all… how could they be wrong?
As I started to pay more attention to the thoughts I noticed that when I wasn’t feeling my best it was because my thoughts were guiding me to remember that I was always too something of not enough: too out of shape, too strong of a personality, too sensitive to love, too busy to accomplish a new goal, too young to get promoted, too little of this or that…
Notice all of those feelings come from a place of lacking something?
That isn’t the voice of a loving Father. Thoughts rooted in lack, worry or fear are the thoughts of the enemy. An enemy who just so happens to love to keep our minds distracted from the abundance God provides.
How to hear the voice of God starts with listening and how easy it is to fall trap to the enemy’s whispers of our lack because we are so busy and distracted each day.
The enemy’s voice sounds like this:
-doubt, fear, worry, anxious, condemnation, obsession, confusion and fretting while we rush from one thing to the next.
God’s voice is one of a loving father:
-Convict in love, encourage and reassure, brings calm and comfort, brings forward clarity and confidence, it leads us, guides us and brings stillness upon our hearts.
Friend, when we learn to guard our thoughts, we learn to guard our peace!
Which is why I love to say my affirmation in Christ each and every day! This practice keeps me reminded of my unwavering certainty in God and the plans he has for my life, leaving little to no room to hear the enemy’s lies.
3.Learning to Trust God’s Will: Discerning God’s Will
God isn’t Santa.
God isn’t Amazon Prime.
God isn’t a genie.
But yet we show up in prayer, hand him over our wish list and then start questioning his love for us 3 days later when we don’t see our wish list of prayers answered.
Learning to trust God’s will has taken me intentional effort. I’ve had to capture my fleeting thoughts, reground them in God’s will.
I’ve studied scripture about wisdom and God’s guidance (Proverbs 3) to provide myself with the right tools to redirect my prayer wish into discerning God’s will.
Reading words like John 5:30, “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me” helps me remember how important it is that I am not leaning on my own will.
I’d love to say that it was easy for my to wake up one day and fully trust God’s will but the harsh truth is that while I believe his will is best by my words and when I’m having a conscious conversation about it, the fact is, I was living out a different truth which was clearly demonstrated by:
My desire for control… I am pretty darn good at solving problems! I actually love to solve problems. Whether it be my own problems or a friend coming to me, I can pretty clearly see the next steps that need to be taken to resolve the issue… so it should come to no surprise to you that learning to let God and really let God’s will be the next steps took some *heart work*.
My desire for God to answer my prayers… oh goodness, I look back at my first months of prayer journaling and it was like a child’s Christmas list- pleas to God that he may help provide me with the things on my heart; the things I had deemed necessary to have in my life. Prayer Journaling has absolutely changed my life and I’m grateful to be able to look back on those days and see how far my relationship has grown with the Lord!
My desire for taking back what I handed over to God… Ever pray something and hand that burden over, just to find yourself literally minutes later worrying about it again? What a waste of time but yet I did it for years and years!
Learning to trust God’s will and not lean on your own understanding will pay dividends in being able to hear God’s voice in your life!!
Remember that one time with Jonah decided his plans were better than God’s and he ended up being swallowed by a whale?
Don’t be Jonah.
God has a plan for your life, it is as simple as that! Learn to trust God’s will and you’ll begin to hear him so much more than you ever have before!
4.Learning to Open Your Bible
If reading scripture was like brushing your teeth, how would your teeth look?
Would you stand proudly for a selfie with your girlfriends? Or would you be the one in the back with a closed mouth grin?
I didn’t grow up reading my Bible consistently. Like many, as I grew older I have gotten better about it. Over the last few years it has become just as important in my daily routine as brushing my teeth is!
I love the new habit I’ve created because it has brought me a lot of peace and contentment, and most importantly, I better hear God’s voice because I understand what I am listening for.
Scripture is what has helped me recognize that all of the strategies I’ve listed here in this article are actually strategies to connect me back to God!
We often cry out to God to hear his voice loud and clear when we need to make a decision or we are starting to feel a restless need for change in our hearts. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him (James 1:5)
Scripture is such a good source of wisdom! But you have to open your bible to receive this wisdom! I have found more times than I can count that God has revealed to me just what my heart needed through scripture, and I pray He does the same for you!
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.- Romans 10:17
If you aren’t sure how to wade into regular Bible reading, check out my Daily Bible Reading plan that is packed full of practical ideas to help you get started!
5.Learning to Hear His Truth: Discerning God’s Voice
Ever notice that your spouse can’t seem to hear you very well when you ask them if you can start a home improvement project?… only half kidding 😉
I feel like even as believers, we aren’t too far behind this sometimes. Unfortunately, when it comes to learning how to hear the voice of God, many of us are totally guilty of this same selective hearing behavior!—remember my wish list prayer journaling I mentioned above?
God tells us that he is always present with us and yet, we take a step back and wonder if that’s his voice we hear when we don’t get what we want. If we’ve been praying to quit our job but we hear him guiding us back into that job we are going to be much more likely to wonder where God’s voice is because His truth, His will might be sounding different that our own desires.
Discerning God’s voice and not just what we want to hear is an important part of discerning God’s voice!
His truth might begin to uncover some things on your heart that you’ve been trying to avoid for a long time (been there, done that!).
His truth might show you where you need to surrender to him when you’ve been priding yourself on being so strong and independent (also, been there and done this!).
His truth might make you feel a little unsure, maybe like unchartered territory but oh man, let me tell you how sweet His truth is when you begin to surrender!
The Ultimate Transformation to hear God’s Voice
Transformation is really what is needed to begin to learn how to hear the voice of God.
Transformation of the heart to begin to trust that God’s will is far better than anything you can drum up.
Transformation of the mind to begin to see and hear God’s truth and not your own wish list for life.
With the help of these 5 strategies you will be well on your way to transforming your own heart and mind and begin to connect deeper with God and the question of, God is that you? Will be a question of the past.
