Have you ever wondered if you are in alignment with God’s instruction? Have you wondered if that little voice in your head was the devil or God? Have you heard something in your spirit, then second-guessed whether or not it was God? Or maybe you’ve wondered whether or not you were in God’s will in your life?
Some of us have even cried out to God in our journey with questions, like, “Where are you? Do you hear me? Do you even care?”
Today, I want to give you 9 principles of learning to truly hear the voice of God in your life. In order to walk out your Christian journey successfully, you need to understand how to hear from God and be in His will. These 9 tips will help you hear from Him more clearly.
1. Don't be Double-Minded.
“If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.”
James 1:5-8
Your faith cannot be in your job, relationship status, parents, grandparents, the pastor, or your church, and then expect to be able to sit and hear the voice of God. Your faith must stand in God alone. He knows your heart. He knows when you really desire to please him and really do want wisdom about a matter. God will not withhold good gifts from his children. He wants you to seek Him and trust Him. He wants to talk to you, so do not be double-minded. Do not be a fair-weather Christian. Do not simply seek God’s voice and attempt to honor him, when it’s convenient or easy. Seek to honor him and obey him, even when you are having to stand against the crowd or even when it means you are going to have to walk out an increased measure of faith. This is especially true, when God is asking obedience of you, when it seems to make no sense in the natural.
2. Practice obedience.
There are two components of practicing obedience:
The first component is in laying down sin. Obey what God has said to do in His written word - what He has already laid out long ago. The Bible gives us instruction of what is pleasing to the Lord and what dishonors Him. If we don’t lay down sin, it clouds our view. It muddles what we can actually hear. In order to hear clearly, we must remove any barriers of sin in our lives.
The second component of obedience is in obeying new instruction by the Holy Spirit. This means not only practicing what the Word has told us, but also following the prompting of the Holy Spirit through your own life, when we are asked to do something.
There is instruction from the written word of God (known as Logos), e.g. do not commit adultery. Likewise, there is instruction through the Spirit of God (known as a Rhema word), e.g. don't go to Sarah’s house tonight. Both logos and rhema are the Word of God, but the former is God's Word recorded in the Bible, while the latter is the word of God spoken to us at a specific occasion. It gives us specific instruction through the Holy Spirt. We must practice obedience. We must follow what both the written word of God and the spoken work of God prompt.
3. Practice listening.
John 10:27 says, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” The more you hear someone’s voice, the more you begin to recognize them. The more time you spend with them, the more you get to know them. Develop space in your life to simply listen. God speaks to those who are willing to listen. Listening is done, when you are not talking. You cannot talk and listen at the same time. In the same way, you cannot hear the voice of God while you are talking. Prayer time should consist of you praying to the Lord – honoring, worshiping, adoring - AND you being quiet and hearing what He drops in your spirit.
4. Practice Spiritual Disciplines.
Prayer. Fasting. Praise. Worship. Tithes and offerings. Church attendance. Read Mark 9:14-29. We are able to hear more clearly from the Lord, as we engage with our spiritual disciplines.
5. Test the voice against the scriptures.
Test the voice against the Scriptures. God speaks the way He writes. If what you are hearing does not line up with God’s word, then it is likely a lying spirit, which is a tactic of the enemy to keep you confused. For example, a woman is living with her non-believing boyfriend. She says, “Well, God told me that I was put into his life to minister to him, to help get him saved.” Yet, we know God’s word says for us not to be unequally yoked, as well as to not live in sexual sin. This could be an example of her hearing what she wants to hear, instead of truly seeking the Lord.
6. Humble yourself.
Live a fully surrendered life to the Lord. Live in child-like faith. Do not operate with a religious spirit. Do not think you know everything. Do not think you have arrived on your Christian journey. Do not think you have heard it all. We are all growing. The ways of God are mysterious. God is always moving in new ways. We must humble ourselves before the Lord and lay down all pride, self-righteousness, and piety.
7. Pray for increase of the spiritual gifts.
Ask the Lord to increase in you a discerning of spirits and wisdom. This will allow you to you to know when a lying spirit or a spirit of fear is present. This will allow you to operate in wisdom, beyond your years, education, or knowledge. This will allow you to know things you couldn’t have known otherwise, but through the gifts of the spirit. The more we use our gifts and sharpen them, the more clearly we’ll discern God’s voice.
8. Follow peace.
God is a god of order not chaos. Now, let me be clear. God will speak to you to do things that are uncomfortable. I did not say follow comfort. Peace is in the knowing that even though you don’t understand the instruction or how it will work out or why you’ve been asked to do a certain thing, there is an unexplainable peace in your spirit man.
9. Where the spirit is, the fruits are.
Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” This lets us know that when God is speaking, His fruits will flow. There will be peace. There will be kindness. There will be patience.
We’re going to practice listening to God.
Meet The Author
Jennifer Maggio is an award-winning author and speaker, whose personal journey through homelessness, abuse, and multiple teen pregnancies is leaving audiences around the globe riveted. At 19, Maggio was pregnant for the fourth time, living in government housing on food stamps and welfare. She shares with great openness her pain, mistakes, and journey to find hope in Christ. She ultimately became an 11-time Circle of Excellence winner in Corporate America. While a vocal advocate for abstinence, and sustaining today’s marriages, Maggio recognizes that single parenthood exists and is passionate about seeing these parents thrive. She left her corporate successes behind to launch a global initiative to see single moms living a life of total freedom from financial failures, parenting woes, and emotional issues. Her passion is contagious and her story has been used to inspire thousands around the globe. For more info, visit her website at jennifermaggio.com.
The Life of a Single Mom is a national, faith-based, nonprofit that exists to see that no single mom walks alone. To date, the organization has worked with hundreds of churches to start a single mom’s support group in cities throughout the U.S. and beyond, as well as having served hundreds of thousands of single mothers with a variety of programs. Offering a large array of books, curriculum, training materials, online instructional videos, podcasts, newsletters, life skills education, and more, TLSM is one of the largest single mom organizations in the U.S. The robust selection of single mom programs focus on empowering single moms to grow spiritually, emotionally, financially, and parentally through Single Mom University, Single Moms Across America, the National TLSM Single Moms Conference, boot camps, and a variety of other programs. For more information, visit thelifeofasinglemom.com.
