Hearing God’s voice is essential to the Christian walk. Jesus tells us in John 10 that his sheep hear his voice and a stranger’s they do not follow.
When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” (John 10:4-5 ESV)
That tells us we need to be listening for the voice of God and know how to hear him. It also tells us we need to be aware of when we are hearing the voice of the enemy.
Now, if you have never heard God’s voice, don’t be discouraged. I grew up for years as a Christian and never heard him speak to me. Now I hear him every day. Be encouraged that you are going after it now, and trust me, you will hear him speak.
To be clear, when I say I hear God’s voice, I have never heard him audibly. Some people have, but to this point in my life, I haven’t. I hear in my head something like a thought or I get a picture in my mind’s eye. Sometimes I feel something in my spirit. As I’ve grown in this I’ve seen God use different ways to speak to me, and it will be different for everyone, that’s what makes each of us unique.
If you haven’t heard God speak to you, you’re in the right place. Let’s talk about the importance of hearing from God first.
Then I have another blog post on How to hear God’s voice.
If you’re a Christian, God’s spirit in inside of you. His spirit communicates to your spirit and that is how we can hear his voice. And I believe all we have to do is learn to hear how God is speaking to us and be in relationship with him each day to hear him speak.
Just like Jesus mentions in John 10, there is the voice of God and the voice of the enemy. So we use the Bible as the measuring stick for what could be God and what is the enemy.
God will speak words of encouragement, love, peace, joy and other positive things. If you have thoughts along these lines, you are most likely hearing from God.
The enemy will speak words of condemnation, guilt, regret, shame and unworthiness. If you have thoughts that follow this pattern, or sense these things, it is from the enemy.
When you are aware of this constantly, you can walk only listening and absorbing the words from God and dismiss the thoughts and feelings of the enemy because you know the are lies. Since he is the Father of lies. And all he wants to do is get you to agree with him.