Learning to hear the voice of God is essential. After all, it is God’s purposes that we want to fulfill, so hearing Him speak brings clarity. Wouldn’t it make life a whole lot easier if we knew His voice?

God is speaking

Learning to hear the voice of God is a lifelong process, but it is simple enough that even a child can do it. Let’s say you just thought of a friend that you have not heard from in years, and later that day you get a letter, email or phone call from them. The fact that you had that little intuition ahead of time was actually God speaking to you.

Training to hear

How about when you’re waiting in the checkout line at the supermarket? You get a feeling you should have gone to a different line; then you look over and sure enough, that line was moving much faster. That is God speaking to you. Sometimes God speaks more clearly, but most of the time it comes in the form of a small, quiet voice inside us that, unless you train yourselves to listen to it, can be considered a coincidence.

God will often speak to us by impressing a verse on our minds. Reading the Bible regularly will help condition us to be more spiritually sensitive.

What happens when His voice isn’t clear?

Sometimes God speaks to us clearly, and other times He is not as clear. God often conceals matters and requires those who really want more of Him to search for God as they would to uncover hidden treasure. If we spend time with Him, we will access the treasures of kings!

“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings” Proverbs 25:2.

Practice listening

These are ways God wants to interact with you regularly. However, to hear God consistently and accurately takes practice. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:14).

Many Christians are afraid of being deceived when it comes to hearing God. According to Hebrews 5:14, the remedy for this is to train yourself, which will take practice.

One reason why many people do not hear God consistently is because they have not practiced listening. They may also have trouble discerning whether what they hear is from God, themselves or other sources. Practice is required to grow and mature in our spiritual life.

How can we practice hearing God?

1. Ask God to train you and the Holy Spirit to make you sensitive to His voice.
2. Write down what you feel God is speaking to you.
3. Track your experiences and make notes on things you heard in advance that actually happened. We’re not trying to predict anything or be a prophet. We are simply asking God to speak to us so we can learn to hear Him better.

I do various exercises regularly, and I teach students at my training seminars to do the same. Since this is just practice, you don’t have to worry about getting it wrong!

Blessings,
~ Doug Addison

Doug Addison is a prominent conference speaker captivating audiences with clean stand-up comedy and high energy prophetic messages which he has shared on television, radio and the internet for over a decade. Doug brings laughter, fun and a unique prophetic style while empowering people to transform their lives, discover their destiny and understand dreams, tattoos and piercings. His powerful messages stay with his audiences long after hearing him.