Now that you have some framework for hearing God and testing the voice, I want to offer some guidelines for developing a life in which hearing God is the norm.

Guidelines for Hearing God

Sometimes God bursts into our lives with a thundering word as He did with Saul on his way to Damascus (Acts 9:1-9).   But most often, His is the “still, quiet voice” of Elijah’s cave (1 Kings 19:11-12).  Our part is to become effective receivers.  The voice of God fills the air like radio waves.  But if we are to hear His voice we must be tuned to the right frequency.  The following guidelines help us “tune in” to God.

1.  Expect to hear from God.  (See Jn. 16:12-15)

Jesus promised that He would send His Spirit to teach us, remind us, lead us, take from Him and speak those things to us, bear witness with our spirit, etc.  Expect what Jesus promised.

2. Be willing to hear from God about every area of your life.  (See 2 Cor. 10: 5)

Taking every thought captive to Christ means submitting every part of our life and soul to him.  If we want to limit God’s involvement in our life and declare certain areas “off limits, ” we will not hear from him often.  Those will be the areas about which he wants to speak most, since those areas will be the strongholds in our lives that keep us from being free in Christ.

3.  Invite Him to speak. (See 1 Sam. 3: 8-9)

Ask Jesus to speak and invite Him to say whatever He wants to say to you.

4. Be still and know….  (See Ps. 46: 10)

Stop your busyness.  Learn to sit and listen quietly.  Be willing to wait for his voice.

5. Be patient.  (See Ps. 130:5)

Often, we will need to wait on the Lord, sitting quietly for a while.  God may also choose not to say anything that day but keep asking and listening.

6.  Enter His presence with worship, the Word, thanksgiving, and prayer.  (See Ps. 100: 4)

The psalmist tells us that praise brings us into God’s presence.  In addition, seeking God through his word and through your prayer language prepares you to hear him more clearly.

7.  Write down what you hear, see or feel.  (See Hab. 2:1-2)

God’s word is precious. Journaling is an effective way to remember what God has spoken to you personally and to see his hand on your life as you review your journal from time to time.

8.  Act on those things that you believe you have heard from God.  (See Jn. 14:21)
Sometimes God will speak things that are just to be received rather than acted upon.  But when he tells us to do something, we should act.  Obedience brings greater revelation. Disobedience quenches the Spirit and hinders our hearing from God. Again, if he is asking you to take life-altering actions, test the spirit and seek confirmation.

9. Be open to seeing Jesus through the eyes of your heart as he reveals himself to you. (See    Eph. 1:17-19)

You may ask him to show himself to you in scenes from his word, from a place of safety where you have encountered him before, or a place that he shows you. Fix your eyes on Jesus. (Heb. 12:2)

10. Exercise authority over the enemy if you sense that the he is interfering with your ability to hear God.

Declare something like the following:

“In the name of Jesus, I declare that I have the mind of Christ and I renounce all the works of Satan along with the thoughts of the flesh and the enemy.  I now submit my intellect, my emotions, my will, and my imagination to Jesus and ask him to capture every thought and make it His.  I submit my mind to the Lordship of Jesus and in his name and by his blood I bind Satan and any demonic spirit from speaking to me. I command you in the name of Jesus to be silent and not to interfere in any way while the Lord Jesus speaks to me.  Amen

Hindrances to Hearing God in the next post.

One of my favorite authors these days is Bill Johnson.  He is extremely practical and believes that Jesus is coming back for a glorious church rather than a church hiding in the shadows of persecution and apostasy.  He believes in a kingdom of power rather than resignation.  He believes in a triumphant church rather than a church winding down its influence in the last days.  I like that.

One of the thoughts he has challenged me with is that believers should limit their self-examination and introspection.  That thought immediately flies in the face of Paul’s admonitions in his letter to the church at Corinth form believers to examine themselves (1 Cor.11: 28) and to judge ourselves (1 Cor.11: 31).  Many of us have been taught that the true way to holiness and spiritual maturity is to identify every sin and shortcoming in our lives so that we might live a life of confession and repentance, bathing all those failings in the blood of Christ.  I am an introvert by nature so all that introspection is something I am wired for anyway.

However, I believe the Holy Spirit has confirmed in my own heart the truth of what Bill Johnson has said.  I’ll quote from him.  “I struggled for many years with self-evaluation. The main problem was that I never found anything good in me. It always led to discouragement which led to doubt, and eventually took me to unbelief. Somehow I had developed the notion that this was how I would become holy – by showing tremendous concern for my own motives.”

He goes on to point out that a preoccupation with our weaknesses and failings keeps the focus on “Me” rather than on Christ.  It keeps the focus on the failings of the natural man rather than the glory of the spiritual man who has been clothed with Christ.  It tends to deny the things that God says are true about me – that I am a son in the house of God, holy, forgiven, beyond condemnation, seated with Christ in the heavenly places, representing the courts of heaven on the earth, walking with the power that raised Christ from the dead within me, and so forth.

Its not that we never deal with sin and weakness, we just let the Holy Spirit point out the things he wants to deal with rather than us always being the judge and setting the agenda.  Paul had just pointed out specific issues in the church at Corinth that had ben revealed by the Spirit.  Once revealed by the Spirit, they were to acknowledge the issues within them and deal with them.  Part of the ministry of the Spirit is to convict us of sin and to lead us into truth.  Our role is to listen and be led by the Spirit, not to dissect ourselves on the table each day until we are overcome with remorse and condemnation.

Our own constant introspection becomes a kind of work where we are trying to establish our own holiness through our own efforts.  God’s process for making us holy is to constantly remind us if who we are in Christ rather than reminding us of all the ways we are not like him.  I have come to agree, that we should take the same tact – spend more time reflecting on who we are because of Jesus rather than the ways in which we don’t yet measure up.

So, if you are a prone to introspection, self – criticism, and condemnation think about it.  Satan is the accuser of the brethren.  The Holy Spirit is the encourager! Perhaps, you should park your introspection and simply listen to the Spirit to see what he is concerned about in your life.  See what God shows you.  It might be a better, more biblical path to spiritual maturity.