My Top 5 Tips for Hearing from God
By: Tania Harris | God Conversations
1. Ask God to speak.
This may sound obvious, but asking is a expression of faith and without faith, it’s impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).
We ask because we know that God’s heart is to speak and we’ve all been given his Spirit so that we can to hear (Acts 2:16,17). Be determined in your asking! I am constantly surprised at how quickly God responds to a seeking heart (Matthew 7:7-8).
Read: When you pray, do you expect God to speak back?
2. Prepare your heart to do whatever God says.
In asking, we need to watch what we are asking for. We don’t ask for answers we want to hear, but rather for what God wants to say. That means we need to be prepared for whatever he says. This of course, requires us to trust in his goodness. He always speaks to bring blessing (Matthew 7:9-11). He is a kind, merciful God. There is absolutely no need to fear what he says.
3. Be open to how God wants to speak.
God is a creative communicator and he uses the form that most effectively communicates what he wants to say to the person he is speaking to. No one form of communication is better than another. Whether it’s a dream, a prophecy, a verbal message or some other vehicle, the emphasis is never on the form but the message itself.
Read: Three Ways God Speaks
Read: Dreams: God’s Favourite Mode of Communication
4. Test what you Hear
Since it’s so easy for us to misconstrue what God is saying, every claim to revelation must be tested (1 John 4:1). The most important starting point is to ask the question, would Jesus say this? The Holy Spirit always speaks in ways that are consistent with God’s nature, and God’s nature is best demonstrated in the life and teachings of Jesus (Hebrews 1:3, Colossians 1:15). After asking this question, we need to test what we hear in the life of the church community.
Read: This is What God Sounds Like
Read: Three Areas it’s Difficult to Hear God’s Voice in
5. Do what he says
I often say it’s easy to hear from God… what’s difficult is doing what he says! That is because God’s words always lead us towards transformation. They call us to follow the way of Jesus and to become more like him. They call us to step out in faith and believe what God has said. They call us into supernatural living. These steps are not always easy! But if we understand the goodness of God as a baseline for everything he says, we will also understand that when we act on his words, life and blessing will be the outcome (John 6:63). In other words, it will be worth it.
Read: The Key to Hearing God’s Voice
Article supplied with thanks to God Conversations.
About the Author: Tania Harris is a pastor, speaker, author and the founder of God Conversations.
