Discerning the Voice of God: How to Recognize When He Speaks

by Priscilla Shirer

do you really think He loved you enough to die for you, but not enough to talk to you?

The growing process is not a waste. There are benefits every small step of the way.

This is His work. His desire. All He asks is your receptive heart.

if we want to be able to sense His direction, we must slow down, quiet our hearts, and listen for the way His Spirit communicates.

creating and allowing margin to hear God is fundamental to discerning His voice.

One of the most common reasons why we don’t hear from God is perhaps the most obvious: We’re not listening.

The Enemy wins a victory every time we let our jam-packed schedules invade the sanctuary of our quiet time with God. And when we allow it to happen, we set a precedent that the rest of our lives seem to end up following.

Reading a verse, saying a prayer, or singing a song may help you feel better about checking “quiet time” off your to-do list, but these alone won’t help you get what you’re after—knowing Him more intimately, uniting with His heart, and receiving His direction for your life.

Ouch!

Listening to God is a purposeful activity that we are supposed to start doing.

Your relationship with the Lord is as personal as you are, and He intends to deal with you as an individual.

Anytime God is speaking—anyplace we expect to hear His voice—worship cannot be very far away. Worship rolls out the red carpet for God’s presence to invade a space.

if I’m ever to know what His thoughts are, they won’t come from my own self, my own words, my own talking. Only from listening. Listening in prayer.

Scripture encourages believers to meditate on God and His Word.

Meditation is the discipline of pondering.

At its core, meditation is about getting to know God, because the discipline of discerning His voice really boils down to one very simple yet poignant principle: The more you know God, the more clearly you can hear God.

What about those who are trying to trust Him, but not there yet?

What does that mean?

Relax instead of trying to fill in every space

If you’re not prepared to begin responding in obedience to the voice of God, please don’t read any further.

The Spirit’s ability to see what we cannot, and then communicate information to us based on His knowledge, provides us with insight we could never obtain through onboard instruments alone. And yes, sometimes what He asks of us puts us in a place of discomfort that at the time seems unnecessary from our vantage point, but trusting Him and responding to Him is always in our best interest.

The Holy Spirit we are listening for is within us.

All human beings, saved or not, are composed of three parts: body, soul, and spirit.

Your body is the material part of you—the

Your soul consists of your mind, will, and emotions;

Maybe

Your spirit is the true essence of who you are. More than just your visible identity or personality, your spirit is the part of you that longs for connection with a higher spiritual

My spirit is the part that longs for God?

being.

Taken from Augustine?

The unconverted conscious is not the voice of God.

As you are diligent to allow God’s Word and His Spirit to reprogram your conscience, it will begin to function with reliable data, thus responding differently—more accurately—regarding the decisions you are making in life.

As the apostle Paul said from personal experience, the Holy Spirit works in tandem with our conscience.

if His direction seems momentarily uncomfortable, remember that He sees the whole picture.

Look for the MESSAGE of the Spirit.

Search the MODEL of Scripture for guidance.

Live in the MODE of prayer.

Submit to the MINISTRY of Eli.

Expect the MERCY of confirmation.

What would you have written had God moved you to live and raise your family and work your ministry from downtown or a blighted urban neighborhood.

When the new life of the Holy Spirit takes up residence within you and begins to grow His influence in your life, He changes your taste buds. Things that were once important to you begin to fade away, and you begin to desire new things. With a passion. Not because you’ve suddenly figured something out or forced yourself to be different, but because God has begun making His desires your own.

Renewed minds begin thinking God’s thoughts. Renewed wills begin desiring God’s ambitions. Even renewed emotions begin feeling things they never expected to feel—not

And how do you know it is his voice?

Always?

the more you do this—the more sensitive you become to the Spirit’s prompting, the more successes He enables you to accomplish over your willful, demanding flesh—then the easier this all becomes, the more complete the miracle, the more direct the communication between your inside and your outside.

The more you immerse yourself in the Word, the more closely your thoughts, emotions, and decisions will align with what the Spirit is saying to you and the more your flesh will lose its power and strength.

By “fixing our eyes on Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2), we cooperate with the Spirit’s work and make this sanctification process a whole lot smoother.

The Bible and the Holy Spirit go hand in hand.

if we insist on seeking to hear Him only or even primarily in sensational ways—the

we will miss out on the most personal means of communication possible with Him.

If you do not know what you ought to do, stand still until you do.

God is relentless.

your God can be counted on to keep coming.