Tuning into God's Voice

Does God actually speak? Learning how to tune into God's voice is the most important thing you can do. The more you practice hearing God's voice, the more you recognize when he speaks.

Apr 23, 2024

Hey friends!

Well, I’ve made it to my parents’ place in the Outer Banks and the quiet stillness of solitude has already made its way into my days. My parents are away for the week, so I’m here on my own with our dog, Emma, soaking in the serenity of this beautiful place.

My parents’ home is extraordinarily quiet when you’re on your own here. The back of the house faces a maritime forest and on the stillest evenings, amidst the gentle shifting of leaves swaying in the trees, I can hear the subtle roar of distant waves crashing on the beach.

It’s beautiful really — two of my favorite things in one place: the ocean and the forest. There is something about standing in the middle of a forest or staring out into the vast ocean along the horizon’s edge that brings me closer to the one who created it all. Somehow, beyond the chaos of the world, I can hear the loving voice that spoke light into darkness.

Today I want to talk about learning how to hear God’s voice because learning to recognize and discern God’s voice is the most valuable tool you carry along the journey toward calling.

So, let’s dig in together…

The first time I heard God’s voice, I couldn’t have been further away from him.

Eleven years ago, I was on a run in Wimbledon Park. I was in the middle of my grad school program and feeling completely lost as to what I would do next.

Although I had grown up in a Christian home, I couldn’t escape the confines of religion fast enough, and from fifteen years old and onward, I completely shut the door on God.

At this particular moment in time, I was 26 years old, in grad school in London, and living life in pretty major extremes — partying hard with all the familiar party favors on the weekends and then maxing out long days in the library and late nights of studying during the week. I had no margin, a lot of anxiety, and no direction as to what I was even working toward.

I was just about as far away from God as I could be. Yet, on this run on this particular day in 2013, completely lost and alone, some part of me wanted to believe that God was real and that he cared.

In a moment of desperation, I found myself praying as I ran.

God, if you are real, please give me some sort of sign that you’re real. Help me understand what I’m supposed to do. I’m so lost and confused and alone—

Before the last few words even left my thoughts, I felt a tingling all over my body. I share this in complete honesty, it was as if the clouds opened up and sunlight filled my entire being. I felt warmth, safety, wholeness; I felt what I can only describe as the purest love move from my head to my fingertips, through my body and to my toes. I had never experienced anything like it before.

Somehow I felt seen, accepted, full of light. All in a single moment.

In a still small voice, I heard a whisper clear as day in my ear: “There is hope for your future. It is not lost. You are not lost. You are also not alone. I have never left you.”

You see, I called out for help to this seemingly distant and uninterested God and to my surprise, he actually answered. In a moment, he whispered love and hope and truth. It was the most real thing I had ever experienced in my life.

In a moment, he planted within me the first few seeds of identity. It would take me quite a bit of time to fully embrace my faith, but this moment cracked the door open. It shifted something within me.

It was a signpost that God was real.

It was a signpost that perhaps he was closer than I thought he was.

And maybe, just maybe, he could actually help me.

You see, God is eager to speak to each and every one of us — no matter how far away you feel or how distant you think he is.

Last month I led a workshop on tuning into God’s voice for identity and calling at a Christian women’s conference in London called the Wise Well Woman Summit. The central focus of the workshop was both to break down calling as a lifelong pursuit and facilitate an imaginative prayer exercise where participants receive a gift from God — a gift that is central to their identity. It’s a beautiful exercise which will be part of the course I am building on calling and identity. (Stay tuned!)

I mention the workshop not because it’s still fresh in my mind, but because of the feedback I received from many of the women in attendance. God spoke quickly and powerfully right from the start of the exercise until the end. Women from all different backgrounds, in all different life stages, and from all different cultures were each getting really clear pictures from God — clues about their identity, words about God’s purposes for them, images of hope — and it all happened in a brief thirty minute exercise. It reminded me of how eager God is to speak to us about who we are.

He wants to speak.

He wants to tell you who you are. He wants to show you how much you’re loved. He wants to reveal bits of your calling. He wants to share his mysteries with you. He wants to give you identity. He wants to open your eyes so you can see yourself the way he sees you.

He wants to speak.

We just need to learn how to listen.

So, how does God speak?

God speaks in so many ways.

Although he can speak through an audible voice, God most commonly whispers in a still, small voice — a voice you grow accustomed to recognizing through practice. Sometimes it sounds like it comes from deep within you, or other times a thought or word pops into your head in a gentle whisper.

Another way God speaks is through Scripture, which can be a powerful way to hear his voice. As Pete Greig says, “First, we must learn to read the Bible with our heads, in order to understand what is actually, objectively, being said. And second, we must learn to read it with our hearts, in order to experience God’s voice through its pages.”1 We can especially hear God’s voice through the words of Jesus in Scripture because Jesus is the living word of God.

God speaks to us through prayer. In my own journey, God has always spoken really clearly to me in the form of images and pictures. Often when I pray, I will see an image or a series of images in my mind’s eye. It takes some time to unpack, but often my most powerful revelations have come from images. Or, he will give me a word, an impression, or a Scripture in prayer.

He can speak to you through other people and prophecy. Although this one is a bit trickier, and I do know that the church hasn’t always gotten this right, but prophetic words are a powerful way God can speak to you through others.

He speaks to us in our dreams. Although not all of our dreams are from God, he often gives dreams to help guide, correct, warn, or encourage. The Bible is full of people hearing form God through dreams.

He speaks through nature. There is a reason why I feel God’s presence so strongly when I stand on a mountain and look out at a vista, or stare out at a glistening ocean at sunrise, or stand in the magic of a forest of Sequoias. His love is behind all of creation.

He speaks through art — whether it be a painting or piece of music or a poem or any other art form — God can reach out with his love and embrace us with his truth. He is the ultimate artist and creator.

Okay, okay, this is all good. But, how can we know it’s actually God speaking?

Tyler Staton is the Pastor of Bridgetown Church in Portland, Oregon and the National Director of the 24/7 Prayer Movement in the U.S. When speaking about knowing and recognizing God’s voice, Tyler says, “There’s no formula. There’s only familiarity.”2 The more we practice hearing his voice, the more we recognize it.

I can recognize my husband’s voice anywhere at anytime. I don’t recognize it because he has a particularly memorable or unique voice, I recognize it because I have heard him speak to me for the last 12 years. His voice is familiar, so I recognize it.

It’s the same with God. The more you spend time listening, the more you recognize his voice. Now of course there are some practicalities we can follow.

God will always say things that

align with his character
match up with Scripture
speak life over you

His voice will never tear you down, put you down, or make you feel small. His voice will never shame you or belittle you. Even when he corrects and convicts you, it will carry the air and presence of love not condemnation. Knowing who God is and his character is a hugely important part of the process because he will never speak in contradiction to who he is and his characteristics.

Here are a couple exercises you can try to practice hearing God’s voice.

Remember, it’s about familiarity not formula. God wants to speak to you. Know that this is true and he is longing for you to reach out and listen. These are a couple exercises which have helped me create space to listen to his voice. The book I’m recommending this week — How to Hear God: A Simple Guide for Normal People —is also chock full of great practices to try.

Lectio Divina

Lectio Divina is an ancient exercise to help practice hearing God’s voice through scripture. When we read small passages slowly through lectio divina, we ask God to speak to us through the verses. Usually, you can tell God is speaking through his word when you notice a word or phrase that jumps out at you while you read or you feel a stirring in your heart.

Here’s an example for you. I was once practicing lectio divina while reading a portion of Jesus’s birth story in Luke. I read the verses slowly and asked God to speak to me through his word. As I read, “Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart”, I couldn’t help but feel the weight of those words. As I meditated on the Scripture, I began imagining myself in Mary’s shoes. As I slowly read the line again, God revealed powerful insight. Before I knew it, I found myself thinking about the things that God plans to birth through me. The gifts and treasures that I ponder in my heart with the Lord.

I related to Mary in so many unexpected ways, and although I had read those verses and heard them countless times during the Christmas season, they had never felt so intimately close before. God was sharing his love for me through the story. He was reminding me of things that I had forgotten.

Through Mary’s story, he was solidifying that he was a promise keeper. I had read that verse with my mind so many times, but when I read it with my heart and listened to the Father’s heart for me, it changed everything. God downloaded so much insight and truth into this moment.

24-7 Prayer has an incredibly helpful resource in the Lectio Divina Resource Guide, which I encourage you to read through as you experiment with this exercise! The more we say yes to God, the more we learn to discern his voice.

Taking a Prayer Walk in Creation

I often hear God the most powerfully in creation. Taking a prayer walk in creation can be a great way to practice listening to God through his created world. Before you begin your walk, ask God to speak to you through what you see. You can go on a walk in nature or in an urban setting. Evidence of God’s goodness is always all around us!

As you walk, pay attention to your surroundings and take note of your awareness and what you notice. Look at the details in things you would normally walk past. Be fully present with God in your walk, asking him things like, “What does this say about your character?” or “What does this say about your love for me?”.

Here’s an example to illuminate this exercise. I remember one afternoon I was collecting flowers around my apartment building. We had these beautiful wildflowers all around the front and back of my apartment. I would often collect a few from time to time and put them in a vase on the windowsill. There were also these beautiful yellow lilies in my front yard, but I never cut those because they were in the front of the building and they looked so beautiful there.

After I collected some flowers from the back and brought them inside, I felt so much gratitude for the beauty around me. When I left the house after putting together a fresh bouquet on my table, I said a quick prayer, “Thank you Lord for these flowers. I really wanted to add a lily to my bouquet, but I won’t take it because it looks so beautiful in the front yard”. I smiled as I walked down to the shop, which was about a 10 minute walk away.

As I returned from the shop around a half hour later, I walked up my driveway and there was a fresh cut yellow lily sitting at the base of my stairs. I looked around shocked. How did this happen? No one was around, it was the middle of the day, how did this get here?

I couldn’t help but feel in my heart it was the Lord saying, here is your lily. I picked it for you so you can add it to your bouquet. As I prayed that day, God began to reveal more meaning to me about the lily. The significance of the flower and how I was like a lily in many ways. It was a beautiful way the Lord spoke to me through the natural world and is still an experience I deeply treasure.

Walk with him. Be curious. See what he may want to reveal to you through the world around you. God loves to speak through his creation.

Poetry Nook

My love and appreciation for nature has deepened since drawing closer to Jesus. It’s amazing really, how beautiful and mysterious creation is. I wrote this poem during a prayer of gratitude for the world around me.

Despite the evil which tries to steal every bit of good in this world, God’s love can never be extinguished. It is in the very root systems, rocks, and soil beneath our feet. It is in the air, and the mountains, and the sea. It is in us, deep within us, love pulsing from before time began. I hope that as you read or listen to this poem, you are reminded just how precious our world is and what a gift it is from God to care for it.

Behind the World is Love