Newbie's Guide: How do I hear from God?

As mentioned in the previous section, a conversation with God is a two-way street. You talk and He responds to you, and He talks while you listen to Him. Only problem is, God is not a physical person you can see, so you can’t just hear Him the way you hear a physical person when they’re talking to you. So how can you hear from God when you can’t even see Him?

Even though you can’t see God, He is definitely a person, and He has a voice. The Bible describes His voice in many ways.

Sometimes, His voice is described as mighty, to the point where it’s unmissable:

“Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth, sing praise to the Lord to him who rides across the highest heavens, the ancient heavens, who thunders with mighty voice.” (Psalm 68:33 NIV)

But He doesn’t always make Himself known through big mighty acts or thunder and lightning. Sometimes His voice is small, like the voice of your conscience when you’re doing something right or wrong, such as in these verses:

“Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.” (1 Kings 19:11-12 NIV)

“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.” (Isaiah 30:21 NKJV)

Very often, God will not speak to us through an audible voice, but through a voice that you hear inside yourself, such as the voice of your own thoughts. John 4:24 says, “God is a spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” (NKJV) There are multiple meanings to that verse, but a major one to take for now is that God mainly speaks to us through our spirit, which is the inner part of our being, much like what secular sources call “the soul”. 

For example, you may pray to God about what to say to a friend who is hurting. You may not hear anything physically in that moment, but then right before you go to see your friend, you read a Bible verse that totally explains what you want to say and send it to your friend. Or you may just have the feeling that you should write them a card or send them food, or do something specific that would help them. You then find that the thing you did or said was exactly what they needed. That is an example of God speaking to you.

Sometimes God can also send His answer to you through other people. For example, you might pray to God for advice on where to spend your summer vacation (if you’re in school) or where to go for an internship. You may not hear or feel anything in the moment, but maybe the next week you’ll be at dinner with a friend, and they just happen to mention a summer camp or internship that works out perfectly for you. This is another example of God speaking to you. Sometimes God can even prompt other people (usually people who have been Christians for a while) to directly speak to you about your current situation, even if they don’t know anything about your situation before talking to you. This is called a word of knowledge (1 Corinthians 12:8).

The big problem with this is that God is not the only person speaking to your spirit or your thoughts. You have your own thoughts as well, and it can be hard for you to distinguish your own thoughts from what God is saying. Other people also have their own thoughts, and it can be hard to distinguish their opinion from what God is saying, too. (Even seasoned Christians find this hard at times — please reference the large number of mistakes the Church has made throughout history.)

So how do you distinguish between God’s thoughts and your own thoughts?

One way that you can know that God is speaking to you is to compare the thought you just had with what the Bible says. This is one of the many reasons why it is very important to know the Bible for yourself. The Bible is an entire book full of God’s thoughts towards mankind. Through the Bible, we get to know what God thinks about many different subjects. By getting to know God through His Word (another name for the Bible), you get to know God Himself, and you know what He would say.

For example, you might have a sibling who gets a new house or a stable relationship while you’re single and barely have money to pay your rent. You may get thoughts of jealousy towards your sibling because of this, wishing you could have what he or she has. Those thoughts may come repeatedly, but you’ll know it’s not God if you read the last of the Ten Commandments, which states: “You shall not covet [be jealous of] your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife…or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:17 NKJV, explanation mine) And so, you’ll know to not act on those thoughts. 

God’s voice will NEVER contradict His Word! If you hear anything from your own thoughts or from anyone who claims to be speaking for God, and it contradicts what the Bible says, you can automatically nix it — it’s not from Him.

Another major way to train yourself to hear God’s voice is to make time for yourself to hear it. In modern Western society (your writer is from the U.S.), this has become harder than ever. On top of the many tasks that a normal day entails, such as getting to work or school on time, doing homework, hanging out with friends or taking care of the kids, we are also kept continually busy by the voice of TV, social media, and smartphones, devices that are tailored to keep you distracted. Very often, it can be hard to hear your own thoughts, let alone God’s voice, over the noise of social media or streaming apps or favorite TV shows, or just the pure busyness of life. 

We obviously cannot avoid life’s busyness, but we can make time for ourselves to slow down and attune ourselves to God’s voice. This is why many Christians have a “quiet time” every morning or evening. This can be maybe 20-30 minutes set aside every day (or every other day if you’re just starting out) to read the Bible, pray to God, and then sit still and listen to what God has to say to you. As said in the previous section, you can talk to God at any time during the day, and you shouldn’t just limit your time talking to God to your “quiet time”, but setting a quiet time is a very good habit for every Christian. By setting a quiet time and sticking to it, you are making sure that you are distraction-free, that you are getting into the Word (the most accurate record of God’s voice that we have), and that you are making time and space for God to speak to you. In this way, when God speaks to you, you will know His voice, and over time you will be able to discern His voice from your own thoughts. 

“Quiet time” doesn’t just have to be sitting at a desk either. It can be listening to an audio Bible during your morning workout. It can be going on a walk around the neighborhood and praying. And it can 100% be done in bed (speaking from experience). However you can do it, making time to hear from God is one the best habits you will get into as a new Christian, or even as a seasoned Christian. (Yes, seasoned Christians, I see you reading this…welcome!)

Another thing you have to learn to do is to discern God’s voice from your voice and the devil’s voice. Remember when I talked about the devil in section 1? Yes, unfortunately, he has a voice too, and being a spirit, he can also speak to your thoughts and emotions. As I said in section 1, the devil can try to convince you that a certain action is rational or even right, but that action will always end up leading to your hurt. In John 8:44, Jesus calls the devil “the father of lies”. The best way of separating the devil’s voice from God’s voice is again, knowing the Bible well. If you know what God thinks about a certain subject, then regardless of what the devil has to say about it, you’ll know that you shouldn’t follow what he says to you. 

The devil is also mean. John 10:10 says that he comes “only to steal, kill and destroy”. That voice that’s browbeating you about something wrong that you did 10 years ago, that everyone else has forgotten already? The voice that’s making you too anxious to move or do anything? Yeah, that’s probably the devil. 

I hope that was a good introduction to hearing from God. The next section will cover special kinds of prayer, such as meditative prayers, prayer and fasting, and spiritual warfare.