Learning to Hear God Speak

Learning to Hear God Speak

I’ve had many people say to me, “I’m having trouble hearing the voice of God. How can I learn to hear His voice?”

Maybe you’ve asked the same thing yourself, so let me answer that question with an illustration. Suppose you and I are standing on opposite sides of a large auditorium and I want to talk to you. I try to yell across the room, but you can’t quite hear me. What could you do to hear me better? You could move closer to where I am standing!

Well, that’s what you need to do in your relationship with God. You need to draw much, much closer to Him than you are right now. You need to become so well acquainted with Him that you recognize His gentle, small voice in your spirit the moment He speaks.

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Attend to Your Heart

Attend to Your Heart

Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. (1 Corinthians 16:13)  

Have you ever been working around the house, vacuuming and doing the laundry while the television was on? If so, you know that the television can be on for hours giving out all kinds of information but because you’re not paying attention to it, you have no idea what’s being said.

At other times, however, you can sit down in front of the television and watch it very attentively. You can become more aware of what’s on TV than what’s happening around you. You can tune out the ringing phone and the barking dog and tune in to the television to such a degree that you don’t miss anything that’s happening on it.

That’s what we do when we watch in the spirit. We tune in to our hearts or our inner man. We observe closely the leadings and impressions on the inside of us. We keep our spiritual eyes and ears attentive to see what God is saying and doing.

If you’ll watch your heart, you’ll sometimes realize you’re picking up on what someone else is experiencing. For example, you might find yourself feeling depressed when you have no reason for feeling that way. Everything may be going just fine in your life. You’ve been perfectly happy but suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, feelings of depression sweep over you.

What’s happening? You’re perceiving by the Spirit what someone else is going through.

That’s often the way a burden of intercession for the lost will come upon me. I’ll just be going along my way, fellowshipping with God, watching and praying when all at once I’ll feel like God has forsaken me. I’ll feel totally lost.

That’s not really me feeling lost. I’m not separated from God. I’m just identifying with a lost person. I’m feeling what they feel so that I can pray for them.

Remember this, if something is abnormal for you, if there is no natural reason for it, it is probably emanating from your spirit. So stop using your head trying to figure it out. Just be alert and on guard and when you sense something like that, yield to the Holy Spirit and pray. You don’t have to know who or what you’re praying about. You don’t have to understand the situation with your brain.

Just pray in tongues and trust the Holy Spirit to handle it.

Scripture Reading: Proverbs 4:23

 

This post is an excerpt from Lynne Hammond’s book, Devotions for the Praying Heart: Prayer Notes. To purchase your own copy of the book, visit our store.