Hearing the Voice of God — July 2025 Newsletter
Hearing the voice of God seems to be the theme of everything I’m reading and watching and listening to. Seriously. Books. Bible studies. Sermons. Sunday School Lessons. Graphics. Videos. My husband and I have been leading a small group and are studying “Discerning the Voice of God” by Priscilla Shirer (my 6th or 7th time working through this study). Leading up to that, I was reading “Whisper” by Mark Batterson for the second time. Knowing God’s will is so important to our daily walk and hearing His voice is paramount. John 10: 27 KJV Jesus says “My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me.” There are several things I’ve seen recently and heard that have really stirred my heart and soul on this. One is how sheep will only follow the voice of their shepherd. I recently saw a video on Instagram that showed this in a powerful way (see the link below). This morning, I watched a video from “Better Together” on TBN’s YouTube channel where several well known Bible teachers were discussing this topic as well. Several things stood out to me from this video – 1) God doesn’t pressure you; He guides you. 2) If it is contrary to His word, He didn’t say it. 3) God is responsible for speaking to you; you don’t have to strive for it; you just have to listen for His voice. There are many ways the Lord speaks to us, but the most important way is through His Word. Through reading and studying Scripture, we begin to know His true character, and we learn how He speaks. God speaks in love first and foremost. If what you are hearing isn’t coming from a place of love, but of condemnation and shame, that is not God speaking to you. Another way to know if what you are hearing is from God is whether it is accompanied by a sense of peace. This is a very important measurement for me. If what I’m hearing doesn’t give me a sense of calm, then it most likely is not coming from my loving Shepherd. God will also confirm what He is saying to you through various ways as well — through Godly counsel and wisdom from others, through sermons, through songs, and through dreams and visions. Don’t just take action based on what someone else tells you though, even if they are wise counsel; wait until you hear from God to confirm what they have said. If you aren’t sure of the direction you are supposed to go, then WAIT on Him to give you the next step. I’m reminded of Psalm 46:10 that says “Be still and know that I am God.” Sometimes we have to quiet our soul to give Him space to speak. God isn’t going to yell at you. He comes to you in a still, small voice, and you must be close to Him to hear it. This requires that we get into His Presence and spend time with Him. Also we must realize that waiting on God is not the absence of activity. Christine Caine, in this video, shares that waiting on God is similar to a server (waiter) at a restaurant. A server will come to your table and take your order; then they go about actively preparing it for you. This is how it is in our walk with the Lord — He gives us a directive and then we are actively working on his directive — waiting on Him — for the next thing. God longs to speak to you, but He may be waiting on you to get quiet before Him so the noise of the world doesn’t drown out His voice!!
