You Can Hear God’s Voice

Is your prayer life more of a monologue or dialogue? You’re wired for communication with God. God is constantly speaking to you…though you may not perceive it.  You just need to learn to concentrate on His voice. My prayer is this article will help. 

Superman Hears His Father’s Voice

During one point in his life, Clark Kent lost his sight causing him to depend on his other senses to save his friend Pete. This is an episode of Smallville. In this episode Superman develops his super hearing, but not without the help of his father, Jonathan Kent. 

To hone this ability, Clark goes into the barn and turns on all the machinery. I’m sure you understand how loud farming equipment is, but if not; it’s loud. 

Clark stands on one end of the barn and his father stands on the other. With all the equipment blaring in between them; his father begins to whisper, “Concentrate on my voice, son.” Everything goes slow motion as Clark begins to hear his fathers voice. 

The whisper becomes clear when all distractions are removed. In this post we’re working on removing distractions so we may hear our Father’s voice. 

Hearing God’s Voice: From Monologue to Dialogue 

People define talking to God as prayer. Many…however, define God speaking back as paranoia. If that is true than I’ll be the first person to declare myself crazy because I can honestly say what I’m writing about has completely changed my life. 

I grew up only hearing the voice of God sparingly and usually it was to bring correction or direction. I never dreamt that it was possibly to hear the voice of God whenever I wanted. 

During the first week of the ministry school I learned this method of communicating with God…and it has now become such an important part of my life that words will not correctly convey what it means to me. 

I no longer have a prayer life that models a monologue but it is now a dialogue between me and God. I journal, asking the Father, Jesus, or Holy Spirit questions, and God speaks life into my very being.

Just writing this I’m almost at the point of tears thinking about the love God has for me. I honestly was scared at first because I was afraid of what God might say to me if I was able to hear his voice. 

He’s so loving and that’s something nobody could teach me but something I needed to experience myself. 

It’s one thing to hear your pastor tell you that God loves you but it’s a completely different experience to hear God, the creator of the entire universe, say, “Chris, you are my beloved son in whom I’m well pleased. I absolutely love you! I know you and I love you!” 

It’s my desire that everyone learns how to hear His voice because everyone is wired for communication with God.

God is Always Speaking

As a child of the King you’re privileged to many wonderful things from God. You’re His son and He longs to give you numerous blessings, one of those blessings is the ability to hear His voice. God is always speaking to us but most of the time we don’t hear Him. 

Hearing His voice is imperative to living a life of sonship as God gives us direction, confirmation, and conveys His love to us. Contrary to popular belief, hearing the voice of God is not hard. God would not speak to you if it was impossible to hear Him. Your Father is speaking to you.

“I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.” John 10:16 

Jesus is saying those who follow Him can hear His voice. He speaks to everyone and wants to bring every person into the body with Him being the head. Many of us; however, cannot hear what He is saying to us. 

When we look back at Psalm 139 we see an amazing truth. 

“How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand…” (Psalm 139: 17-18) 

God has more thoughts for you than there are sands on the seashore and every one of them is good. So how can you hear what God is saying?

God Speaks in Different Ways 

God is constantly speaking to us. If you stop hearing His voice…it’s either because you stopped listening or He changed methods.

  “For God [does reveal His will; He] speaks not only once, but more than once, even though men do not regard it.” (Job 33:14 AMP) 

Job says that God speaks in one way this time and another way another time. God speaks in limitless ways even though we don’t recognize His voice. Let us work on recognizing His voice. 

What was Jesus’s secret? Jesus only spoke what He heard His Father saying and only did what He saw His father doing. 

“I don’t speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it. And I know his commands lead to eternal life; so I say whatever the Father tells me to say.” (John 12:49-50 NLT) 

“…the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” (John 5:19 NIV) 

If communication with the Father was important for Jesus, I think it’s safe to assume that it is important for us. 

The Rhema and Logos Word of God

What’s the difference between hearing God’s voice and reading His written word? One is Rhema and the other Logos. Both are important. 

Rhema is the Holy Spirit communicating with our spirit. Logos is the Bible. Logos is the word of God whereas Rhema is the voice of God. 

The Bible, Logos, was written through Rhema as men communicated with God. You receive the Logos when studying the Bible. 

When God speaks to you through a scripture, that is Rhema. Receiving the Logos is important because it’s the absolute standard set against all things. Rhema is God speaking directly to you; Holy Spirit to your spirit. 

The Logos confirms the Rhema. God never does anything that contradicts His word. It is to say; however, that sometimes it’s our understanding of His word that is wrong. I’m sure you understand that studying the Bible and prayer are both necessities. 

Your mind has analytical thoughts; however, your heart experiences spontaneous thoughts. When learning to hear God’s voice; learn to listen to those spontaneous thoughts. 

This is easier or harder depending on which part of the brain you use more often. Before you go to the hospital and undergo brain mapping please keep reading and I’ll explain.

Using Your Right and Left Brain

Mark Virkler includes an interesting study in “The 4 Keys to Hearing God’s Voice.” The study is on the right and left sides of the brain. Though everyone has both sides of the brain we tend to operate majority out of one side. 

Where I operate more out of my left brain many of my friends operate more out of their right side of the brain. The left side is more analytical whereas the right side is more creative. I absolutely love charts, formulas, reading and writing. 

When I switched from aerospace engineering to theatre in college; I switched from a degree that primarily focuses on the left side to obtaining a degree that mostly uses the right side. 

I’m grateful I did so because I underestimated the power of the right side. I said, “I underestimated the power of the right side,” not the power of the dark side. I’m not a Sith Lord.

This may surprise my friends, but I do still operate mostly out of my left brain. I still love formulas and such. Even now as I’m writing, I have an extensive chart I made showing me everything I’m planning to write about. 

To say I love working on that chart is an understatement. Being creative is a struggle for me but I’m able to understand it a little more thanks to theatre. Most people grow up developing their left side and not their right side. 

In fact, one of the things I love about being an attorney is the analytical thinking you have to do…however, there is a good mix of creativity as well. We have to prep for trials, conduct depositions, write briefs, etc. To me…attorneys are unique in that they must use both sides of the brain almost equally. I like that.  

We as a society deem being an engineer, lawyer, or doctor to be good jobs where we tend to look down on people who create amazing things for a living such as painters, musicians, actors, or magicians.

Some of my best friends are painters, musicians, actors, and magicians. Trust me, they’re doing well for themselves and are creating amazing art. 

Even for those of us who primarily operate out of the left side of the brain…it’s incredible important that we exercise the right side as well.

Developing the Right and Left Brain

Virkler, also a left brained guy, had somethings to say when concerning the development of the right and left brain. 

“Psychologist tells us that they consider the majority of people in our culture to be neurotic. I suspect that a large contributing factor to this widespread neurosis is the failure to cultivate both sides of our brains in a balanced way. Corresponding to this idolization of logic is the demise of creativity, which is a more right-brain function involving vision, intuition, and visualization.

Statistics show that almost all children rank high in creativity before they enter school at age five. By age seven, only 10 percent still have high creativity, and by the time we are adults, only 2 percent score high in creativity test.”

Virkler continues with,

“Therefore, what we are doing in our current educational system is essentially destroying the creative ability God has placed within man. I believe it is because we train the left side of the brain-the logical, analytical part-and stifle the right side of the brain–the intuitive, imaginative side.

Where in scripture do we see God suggesting we do this? I suspect that God gave us two sides of our brains so that we could offer both sides to Him to use.”

Understanding the left and ride sides of the brain helps you not only connect with God but it also helps you connect with people who are different from you. 

I love formulas and statistics but I had to learn to appreciate the creativity God gives us. Why? Because God speaks in many ways. When He speaks, I want to perceive it, even if it’s in a way I don’t normally operate. 

Conclusion

God longs for our prayer life to be a dialogue and not a monologue. He wants to speak with you. God is always speaking…even if you don’t perceive it. If you’re not hearing His voice it’s either because He changed methods or you stopped listening. 

Learn to remove distractions by concentrating on His voice. Remember,  the Logos confirms the Rhema…so read the Bible. God will never say anything that contradicts His written word…though He might contradict your understanding of His word. 

If you’re more left-brained, I suggest try doing something creative. I know this might be a stretch but try painting or something. I’m not saying you’ll be good at it, I’m just saying it’ll help you hear God’s voice. Ask God to show you a picture and then try painting what He shows you.

Further Study: Read my article How to Hear God’s Voice to learn the 4 Keys I use to hear God’s voice. This article will walk you through the 4 steps to hearing God’s voice anytime you desire. Read the article Here.

Question: Do you primarily use the right or left side of the brain? How do you plan on strengthening the other side? Let me know in the comments below.