Hearing the Voice of God in Prayer
Many years ago, a woman named Maureen was largely pregnant and very excited as she progressed to the nearness of her due date. However, after a routine check-up, she received the terrible news that no mother ever wants to hear: her baby no longer had a heartbeat.
The finality of this circumstance was more than she could bear, and days before she would return to the hospital to give birth, she lay in bed, heartbroken, weeping for the dream and life of her baby. Yet, in between what seemed like empty, wordless prayers, God gently whispered to her, “I am going to give you a son.”
Five years passed, and Maureen remained without a child. She questioned God and her body, and after a time, she sought out medical intervention. Through tests and scans, doctors discovered a growth in her body that was preventing her from conceiving, and while they could remove the growth, there was no guarantee that she would birth a child of her own.
Days before the procedure to remove the growth, Maureen had lunch with her mom (who is in the medical field) and shared how hopeful she was about the surgery. However, her mom didn’t return the same sentiment. Instead, she discouraged Maureen from having the surgery because God told her in a dream that her daughter was pregnant with a baby boy.
Staring at her mother in disbelief, she was persuaded to go to the doctor and take an extensive pregnancy test. A few days later, Maureen received a phone call from her doctor, and right away, he said, “Believe it or not, you are pregnant! Please do not come in for surgery. Otherwise, there is a high possibility you will lose this baby.”
This story is significant to me because Maureen is my mother, and the one who heard the voice of God was my grandmother.
Hearing the Voice of God
I am willing to guess that someone in your life has heard the voice of God.
Maybe they heard it while in nature or through the words of a loved one. Or perhaps they recognized God’s voice while studying scripture or in their private prayer time.
But what about those of us who cannot confidently say we have heard the same?
Sadly, there are streams of theology and people from all walks of life who claim that God no longer speaks today. Yet, I am alive and breathing all because a woman heard the voice of God and took heed to what He was revealing.
Communion With God
It can be frustrating to decipher whether you are hearing God or your own thoughts. So, how can we tell the difference?
Communion With the Triune God
Andrei Rublev, a Russian painter, depicts the beautiful communion we can have with God through his 15th-century painting, The Trinity.
In this work of art, we see God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit interacting and connecting with one another at a table. This is exactly how prayer should be considered: pulling up a chair to God’s table.
This beautiful exchange at the place of fellowship allows us to not only share our heart’s deepest needs and desires but also have the opportunity to glean and listen to what God is sharing with us.
Experiencing His Power
Often, too many Christians are experiencing a lack of God’s sovereign power. We have heard every sermon, memorized every worship song, and solidified every spiritual practice down pat, but still, our faith lacks the transformation from within.
So what are we missing?
I could be in a crowded room, separated from my family by a mass of people, and can distinctly identify their voices or cries. Why is that? I believe it is because of my interaction with them – the trials, blessings, and the mundane I have endured with them, that allows me to recognize them intimately. And I believe the same is true of our familiarity with God.
We need the voice of God speaking into our lives because to interact with the presence of God is to experience His power.
When we know and become known by God, we can recognize when He speaks and listen.
So, together, let’s explore four tangible ways God speaks in our lives today.
4 Ways to Hear God’s Voice in Our Lives
1. God’s Voice is Heard in Scripture
Scripture is our starting point if we want to grow in hearing God’s voice. Throughout its pages, God points to His truth, correction, and righteousness.
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
2 Timothy 3:16-17, NIV
God’s voice is found in His Word as we pursue righteousness and dig deeper to discover who He is.
“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to the dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
Hebrews 4:12, NIV
Scripture is designed to reveal His perfect character. As we navigate the world and contradicting opinions, it is through the Bible that we can remain confident in the unfailing nature and voice of God.
Reading the Bible
Many of us have tried to read the Bible, finding it boring, confusing, or even offensive. But let me encourage you: with practice and a little bit of work, you, too, can find connection with God.
2. God’s Voice is Heard in Our Soul
Did you know God’s voice is always available, but it's not always obvious?
Jesus says in John 10:4 (NIV), “When he had brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.”
Through His word, God speaks to our souls, and because we are His, we know and recognize His voice.
However, sometimes, His voice is subtle.
“The Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ 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
Here, we see God not in the earthquake, wind, or fire but in the whisper.
Writer and speaker Paula D’Arcy says,
“God comes to us disguised as our ordinary life.”
I believe the reason God whispers is because He is close. He is with us in the normalcy, the mundane, and the stillness we find in between. Consequently, in this place, His voice can be easy to ignore or overlook, but if you are in tune with Him, you can miraculously engage.
3. God’s Voice is Heard in Prophesy
Prophesy may be hard for some.
Maybe you don’t understand it or have had difficult experiences with it. But here at Liberty Church NYC, we believe prophecy is God giving someone an encouraging message to share with another and is something all believers should eagerly pursue.
“Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers. So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and inquirers or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all, as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, ‘God is really among you!’”
1 Corinthians 14:22-25, NIV
When done right, prophecy is one of the most powerful ways we encounter God, and people are drawn to Him because of it.
4. God’s Voice is Heard in Promptings
“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh.”
Galatians 5:16-17, NIV
There will be times when the Holy Spirit will speak to you and ask you to go somewhere, do something, or say something. If you are obedient in following His lead, you will see something come to fruition that God was in all along.
Be assured that when God speaks, there is always love and power in what He says.
Pastor and author Pete Greig says,
“Unless our mission and our acts of mercy, our intercession, petition, confession, and spiritual warfare begin and end in the knowledge of the Father’s love, we will act and pray out of desperation, determination, and duty instead of revelation, expectation, and joy.”
I pray that you would have a relationship with Jesus that brings so much love and power into your life that it allows you to experience God completely.
How You Can Encounter More of God in Your Life
Practice Listening Prayer
“Call to me, and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.”
Jeremiah 33:3, ESV
Listening prayer is a valuable way to practice silence as you meet with God. My personal routine looks like this:
I begin by saying, “God, whatever you want to talk about today is what I want to talk about. Speak to me.”
Then, I breathe in, and I breathe out. If a name or situation comes to mind, I pray about it. If my mind remains blank, I repeat.
As a word of disclosure, I understand it can be discouraging not to hear the voice of God when we pursue Him. But I am learning that there is beauty in the knowledge that God enjoys our company.
Forcing yourself to remain silent will be hard at first, but I promise, with practice, it will be one of the most rewarding methods of prayer you will experience.
Ask God For the Gift of Prophesy, Starting With Encouragement
Often, Christians struggle with prophecy because they think it is reserved for the super-spiritual; however, that could not be further from the truth. It is for anyone who surrenders themselves to the will of God.
So, how can you practice prophecy? The easiest way to experience a gift like this is to be encouraging.
Ask God:
Lord, who would you like me to encourage today?
How can I pray for them?
How can I serve them?
Loving one another this way encompasses the voice of God in our everyday moments because it is here where we rely on God’s voice to lead us.
Will you make yourself available to listen?
For more on how to hear God’s voice in your personal prayer time, check out Pastor Stephen’s sermon, How to Hear the Voice of God When We Pray.
