Three Principles for Hearing the Voice of God

Introduction

"How can I hear God's voice more clearly?" Tania, who comes from Sydney, Australia, says she has visited many churches, traditions and countries, and that everywhere people ask her the same question. For her, this is not surprising: we were born to live in relationship with God, and God is a God who speaks.

This message was given at CEP Lugano, as part of a month-long series called "Listening to God." Tania is visiting Ticino for the first time. Her ministry, based in Sydney, is to teach people to listen to the voice of God, and her book has the same title as the theme of the month: listening to God's conversations.

She does not give a three-step recipe. She offers three principles, the same ones that make a human relationship grow, illustrated with pages from her own story.

Outline of the message

1. God is not a vending machine

"Wouldn't you like me to give you a precise formula?" Pray for ten minutes, read three chapters of the Bible, go to church five times a week, and God will speak to you.
"It doesn't work that way." The reason: "God is not a machine. You don't slip coins into him so that the answer comes out. God is personal."
The principles that work in human communication also work in communication with God. Hence three principles, not three steps.

2. First principle: commit to communicating better

Learning to listen to and understand the voice of God develops over time. We understand better how God speaks by listening and putting it into practice.
It is the same in marriage. At the beginning, when a husband asks "How are you?" and his wife answers "I'm fine, thank you," he stops at the words. Over the years, he learns to recognize her voice and to understand beyond the words spoken.
Samuel did not recognize the voice of God the first time he heard it (1 Samuel 3). But he learned.
At Pentecost, the Spirit was poured out on everyone: sons and daughters, young and old (Acts 2:17-18). Everyone can hear the voice of God. So we can pray: "God, I know that you speak and that you can speak to me too, but I don't recognize your voice well. Can you teach me?"
Tania prayed this prayer at 21. In the church where she grew up, people did not think God could speak. She asked: "Teach me what your voice sounds like." And the Holy Spirit began to show her.
One night, while she was growing impatient with God ("You are so slow!"), she dreamed of faulty alarm clocks whose hands were spinning at top speed, then of a thief who had come into her home while she slept. When she woke up, she first thought it was indigestion after an Australian pizza.
In the morning, as she opened her devotional booklet, she came across the reading for the day: if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would have kept watch; be ready, for you do not know when the Lord will return (Matthew 24:43-44). "It was exactly my dream." She discovered that God can speak in this way too.
When in doubt, we can do as Samuel did with Eli: go to friends in the church or to its leaders and ask, "Does this seem to you like the voice of God?"
"The reason God speaks is to help us follow Jesus. He won't make it difficult for us."

3. Second principle: learn to trust what God says

In every relationship, trust matters: can I rely on what you tell me? With God, the question goes both ways: can I rely on what God says, and can God rely on what I tell him?
As a young woman, Tania went one afternoon for a prayer walk in a deserted park. She sang at the top of her voice a song she had learned at church: "I am yours, Lord, all that I am, all that I have."
She had set money aside for a beautiful trip abroad, a mission. God asked her to give away her savings. Why ask her this, and how would she go afterward? But she knew there was something in her heart: she loved money too much, she relied on it, and she recognized the voice of God.
That week she went to the bank and wrote a check for the whole of her savings. On Sunday, the pastor spoke about God's joy over the one who gives cheerfully (2 Corinthians 9:7). The offering basket drew near, she looked at the check one last time and let it drop. "It's easy to sing those words."
God said to her: "Tania, I want you to trust me. I will take care of you. I want you to trust me more than money."
She went to tell the missionary organization that she no longer had any money. Soon afterward, someone called her to organize a collection. At the meeting, people she did not know gave her enough to go. She stayed nearly two years on the mission field and lacked nothing. "I knew that God was trustworthy."
The other side of the coin: when you sing "I am yours, Lord," is it true? Are you ready to give up your pride, your desire to always have more, your difficulty forgiving? Are you ready to follow him?

4. What God says is for your good

Everything God says is for our good. Jesus said he came so that we might have life (John 10:10).
When the Holy Spirit speaks, it is to set us free, so that we can love God and love others.
When we say no to God, it keeps us enslaved to our sin. And sin destroys us; it prevents us from being the people we are.
Then the Spirit comes back and asks us: "Are you ready to trust me?"

5. Third principle: be more open with God

The last principle: learn to be more open in your communication, just as you allow God to be more open in his.
Tania tells of sharing a house with a friend. When they decided to live together again, they promised each other to be better friends and to be open. But tensions grew. As they talked, the friend explained that she had actually thought she was being more open: she did not like the way Tania loaded the dishwasher, or the overflowing trash can, and she felt that Tania got her way more often than she did.
"If we want to get closer to someone, we have to be open." That means sharing the beautiful things and the difficult ones too, and letting the other person see what is going on inside.
With God, it is the same. When everything is going well, we come to church and praise the Lord. When things go badly, we pull away, we hold back and we close our hearts.
God still has so much to say to us. He wants to show us things about our life and our future; he wants to give us revelation. The Holy Spirit speaks continually, but it is up to us to open our hearts.
This can take the form of hunger and curiosity: "Lord, when I wake up, what do you want to tell me today? When I go to work, speak to me. When I come to church, I am listening to you."

6. A heart that opens and that the Spirit softens

Tania sums it up: commit to listening, trust God who is faithful and keeps his promises, be open and honest.
Being able to come before God and say "Lord, I feel discouraged, I feel dry, I feel confused": "that is a sign of intimacy." When we open our hearts, we hear his voice more clearly.
During the prayer, she received an image from The Wizard of Oz , around a character from the story; later, she mentions the Tin Man and a certain resistance.
Jesus said: "The words that I speak to you are spirit and are life" (John 6:63). When God speaks, he fills us with hope and joy. His word is like an oil that penetrates the heart, softens it and makes it able to receive from God.
She invites those who want to hear God's voice more clearly, but who feel resistance or wear a mask, to come forward for prayer, so that the Holy Spirit may pass through them and fill them with joy.

Key takeaways

There is no formula for hearing God, because God is personal. What applies are the principles of a relationship.
Recognizing the voice of God is learned over time, by listening and putting it into practice, like Samuel.
Trust goes both ways: God is trustworthy, and he looks for children whose "I am yours" is true.
Everything God says is for your good: his word sets you free, whereas saying no keeps you enslaved.
Honesty before God, even in dryness or confusion, is a sign of intimacy that opens the ear of the heart.

Personal application

Have you ever simply asked God: "Teach me to recognize your voice"?
Whom in your church could you ask for an opinion when you are not sure God has spoken to you?
In what area is God asking you to trust him more than what you lean on: money, pride, resentment?
When things go badly, do you tend to hold back before God, or to tell him honestly what you are going through?
Tomorrow morning, can you start your day with: "Lord, what do you want to tell me today?"

Verses cited

Frequently asked questions

Is there a method for hearing the voice of God?

Not a formula. The preacher reminds us that God is not a vending machine into which you slip coins to get an answer: he is personal. She proposes instead three principles drawn from human relationships: commit to communicating better with him, learn to trust him, and be more open with him.

How can I know whether it is really God speaking to me?

You learn to recognize his voice over time, by listening and putting it into practice. Like Samuel, who did not recognize the voice of God the first time, you can ask the Lord to teach you, and ask friends in the church or your leaders. God speaks to help you follow Jesus; he will not make it difficult for you.

Why does opening your heart help you hear God?

In every relationship, getting closer requires sharing the beautiful things as well as the difficult ones. It is the same with God: daring to tell him "I feel dry, I feel confused" is a sign of intimacy. When we open our hearts, we hear his voice more clearly.