Hearing God's Voice: Unwrapping the Four Packages by Brad Huebert

What does God’s voice sound like? 

That’s a great question, and I’m going to answer it fairly clearly throughout the next twelve pages. I wish I could just say, “You’ll know it when you hear it,” but I can’t, because people hear God speaking all the time and don’t clue in. If I could show you a computer log that recorded how many times God spoke to you – and how – and when – I’m absolutely positive that your jaw would hit the floor. 

But what does God’s voice sound like? That’s easy! 

Like God, of course!

What, am I kidding? Not at all! What does your sister’s voice sound like? Just like your sister. What does your boss’ voice sound like? Just like your boss! Where am I going with this? To know God’s voice well, you’re going to have to get to know God, because he sounds a whole lot like himself. What is God like? Don’t take my word for it, find out for yourself. You’ve got some homework to do – starting with Genesis and ending with the book of Revelation. The Bible is full of stories about God speaking and performing miracles. Stories about God being himself. Acting like himself. Sounding like himself. 

If you already know God personally, you know what I mean. You’re nodding excitedly thinking, “Yes, that’s it exactly!” Because I know God deeply, I really do know his voice when I hear it. “My sheep listen to my voice. I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). But if you don’t know what I mean, I can’t explain it any better than this. Give your life to Jesus and get to know him, and then we’ll talk. 

But secondly, God doesn’t just speak. He communicates, and there’s a big difference. Communication isn’t just about someone’s voice. It’s about the message, and any package that can safely deliver the message, communicates. A hug communicates love or sympathy. A smile shows pleasure. A handshake signals respect. A kiss says, “I find you attractive and really yummy” better than words ever could. You get the idea.

Well, God’s communication comes in a million forms too. But don’t get discouraged, because every one of those million forms come in one of four packages. It’s true! There are verbal packages (words to hear), visual packages (images to see), intuitive packages (impressions to sense), and cognitive packages (ideas to realize). Once you clue in to all four kinds of packages God’s voice will make much more sense to you.

VERBAL PACKAGES

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but the Bible is a really thick book – which should tell you that God likes using words to package his messages. And its no wonder! We humans put a pretty high premium our words too. 

The Bible is called the word of God, and for good reason – he wrote the book, using prophets, sages, kings, shepherds, leaders, doctors, disciples, and even a few weirdos to get the job done over the years. But all that stuff happened a long, long time ago. If that’s all the Bible is – a record of what God said to people who lived so far back that it’s hard to remember why it matters – then it may have been God’s word to them, but I’m not sure it’s for us today. But the Bible is more than that. One biblical writer said, “The word of God is living an active” (Hebrews 4:12). That’s why James, a disciple of Jesus, gives kudos to “the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom (ie, the Bible), and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it...” (James 1:25).

Did you catch that? James says that if we look intently into scripture, we’ll see words and sentences and all that good stuff, but even better, we’re going to hear something. God is going to talk to us through the words on the page. Something in what God said to them then will become what God is saying to us now. 

Like I’ve said in other places, God’s words in scripture are the most important ones you’ll ever hear. They’re the foundation, guide, and ultimate measuring stick for your entire life. Trust me on that one. 

But Bible verses aren’t the only words God will ever speak to you. His words can come from all kinds of sources. His words could come through pastors preaching their hearts out, for example. A word or phrase will jump out at you and grab you by the throat, or you’ll just get the sense that you need to chew on a concept for awhile. Or it can come through lyrics in a song. That happens to me a lot, actually! Believe it or not, God can even speak through lines in a movie. I just watched “Night At the Museum” with my kids – and through all the juvenile comedy, God struck me with a one liner from Robin Williams’ character. He also speaks through conversations, perhaps with a friend or family member. And maybe, just maybe, he’s speaking right now through an internet dude with a website designed to help you hear God’s voice for yourself!

Sometimes God’s words bypass the outward channels and just pop into our heads directly. It’s true! Usually these kinds of words emerge when I’m having a conversation with God. I speak, he answers. He speaks, I answer. And most often, they aren’t complicated. Usually they’re one liners, or even single words. “I love you.” “Be careful.” “Let it go.” “Turn here.” “Persevere.” And they’re never anything terribly new. In fact, they always illuminate or apply what God has already said to us in the Bible. 

What do words sound like in our minds and hearts? Well, imagine having a pretend conversation with someone in your head. You’ve done that before, right? Your boss overlooked you for that raise, and you practice telling him off right there in the office. Your arguments are brilliant! You can “hear” his feeble replies. You can “hear” his sheepish apology. Words in your head! 

God’s words are a lot like that, with one crucial difference: Your brilliant inner repartee is make believe and God’s words aren’t. 

How can you tell which is which? Simple: The bad boss scenario is being scripted by me and I know it. It always turns out exactly as I want it to because I take it there on purpose. In contrast, the better half of a true “God scenario” is being scripted by Him and goes where he wants it to go. When God is speaking I genuinely don’t know what he’s going to say next. The words coming from him aren’t the first thing on my tongue. They may surprise me, provoke me, challenge me, even offend me. And they have a certain ring to them. A weight. They’re from God, after all.

What about audible words? Does God ever speak out loud, so we can hear him with our physical ears? Sure! It happened to Saul, Moses, Joshua, Peter, John, Mary, and too many other people to count. And it happened to me!

Yes, I’m serious. And while I have to admit it was pretty cool, I need to tell you something catastrophically important about that experience: That audible voice in my ears was exactly the same as the one he uses in my mind & heart. What did it sound like? Like God! Like he always sounds when he talks to me with that inner voice. I’ve only heard God’s voice audibly once in my life, and from comparing notes with other friends of God I’ve found that hearing God audibly is pretty rare. But I’m OK with that because his inner voice is the same at the outer one anyway. 

To get started on hearing God’s words, try starting conversations with him (yes, you can do that). I often journal my conversations with God in a special book. You can also do it in your head, but when you’re just learning to listen it can seem a bit too trippy if it’s only bouncing around in your cranium. Writing it down somehow lends it a certain credibility, at least for me. 

But here’s the thought: If you’re having a bad day, ask “God, what would you like me to know about this?” If you’re confused about something, ask “Lord Jesus, what do you need me to understand or see about this situation?” If you’re doing it without paper, speak it out loud. If you’re using pen and ink, write down your question. And then simply listen. When words come, write them down. When I do that I often hear things like “let it go,” or “forgive him, Brad.” 

For a really cool experience, try this one sometime: “God, what do you see when you look at me?” And then listen, or write down what you hear. And don’t forget to keep going! You might be so thrilled that God even spoke to you that you’ll miss the rest of the conversation!

So you ask, “God, what do you see when you look at me?”

And he might say, I see a flower just beginning to bloom.

“You do? But I’m just a nobody.”

Not to me you’re not. I have a special plan for you.

God and I speak like this quite often. Just try it.

VISUAL PACKAGES

Words are amazing packages for God’s verbal messages, but that’s not all they are. They’re also powerful gateway to seeing. So watch this:

“Succulent red apple.” 

I just pushed a button in your mind. When you read the word “apple” you also saw one in your mind’s eye. And because I said, “red apple,” you saw a red apple. A succulent one, in fact. If I had said, “rotten green apple,” the apple picture would have been green and rotten. And if I say, “Don’t think of pink elephants,”... well, you get the idea.

Where am I going with this? Well, when Jesus says, “I am the Vine, you are the branches,” in John 15, he knows that merely speaking those words will paint a picture in our minds. In fact, he’s counting on it. Words are continuously transcribed into pictures in our brains, and because a picture is worth a thousand words, each picture can unleash great power in our lives. 

Scripture is full of stunning word pictures that God can and will use to communicate with you. Every story can be entered into. Every image is designed to be seen. When you read about Jesus dying on the cross, you’re supposed to see him dying in your mind’s eye. And you’re supposed to think, “I wonder what it would have been like to be there?” And to take it a step further, I think you’re even supposed to imagine walking up to the cross. I’ve helped too many people to count encounter God that way. When you visualize scripture like that, you’re letting it take you where it’s designed to take you. God records words that paint a picture in our minds, and what began with us imagining something often leaps to life as God commandeers the script and communicates with us.

And so, what begins as an exercise in meditating on the cross can actually take us to the cross. In fact, try it right now. Quiet your soul a bit, and then, as vividly as you know how, visualize the crucifixion scene in your mind: see the blood, the soldiers, the gathering darkness, the jeering crowd. Smell the sweat. Sense the sweltering heat. How do you feel? Step closer. Even closer. Now look into his eyes. What do you see? What’s he doing? What’s he saying to you? What do you feel? If you need some help, ask him: “Lord Jesus, what would you like me to know right now?” Park there for a few minutes. I love doing that. 

But as amazing as word pictures are, not everyone is verbal. Not everyone can use words as the springboard. Some people are highly visual. The good news is that God is too. One of my friends told me that unless he can see something in his head, he’s in trouble. Well, God absolutely loves to package his messages visually! When he first tapped a young prophet named Jeremiah on the shoulder, for example, the story went like this; 

“The word of the Lord came to me: 

“What do you see, Jeremiah?” 

“I see the branch of an almond tree,” I replied. 

“The Lord said to me, “You have seen correctly...” 

The word of the Lord came to me again. 

“What do you see?” 

“I see a boiling pot, tilting away from the North,” I answered.

Are you getting the picture? The message came in the form of something Jeremiah could see. In this case, he was seeing pictures planted by God in his mind. A vision. 

Some visions are pretty intense – so all encompassing that a person stops seeing the world around them and a “movie screen” of images fills their view. But other times they are less vivid, more like pictures in your mind. Sometimes I “see” things in my mind’s eye while I’m praying or driving. Often these are from God. Sometimes I see what it is I’m supposed to be praying for. Once we were praying for a sick missionary in church and I “saw” mental picture. There was a huge tumor in his stomach, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t see him healed. Weeks later the missionary died. They had opened him up to do surgery, saw the tumor, and closed him back up. God took him home, and showed me why he wasn’t going to answer that prayer.

A couple of years ago I was praying with a woman over the phone and I a vivid mental picture formed in my mind. I “saw” her lying on her side in her bed as a fifteen or sixteen year old, very thin and pale, clenching her fists and crying in the dark. My immediate thought was that the picture was symbolic. What did it mean? Was she feeling alone? Was she angry inside? I contemplated saying something like, “I’m sensing that you’re struggling with loneliness.” But I didn’t. 

I just shared the picture instead – with no embellishment or interpretation – to see if it meant anything to her. It did. She began to cry quietly on the other end. I waited patiently until she said something like,

“When I was in high school I struggled with anorexia. I would lie on my bed on my side in the dark, clenching my fists as I cried, wondering if anyone cared. Now I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God was there with me, watching me the whole time.”

Awesome!

Another common package God uses for his messages are dreams. A dream from God is pretty much just a vision you get when you’re asleep. Lots of dreams are just “pizza dreams” – things our mind conjures up because we ate spicy food before bed. But other times, we wake up “knowing” that the dream we just had was different. It seemed highly symbolic. We remembered every detail. We felt drawn to reflect on its meaning. At those times I write down my dream so I can go through a proper discernment process or bounce it off someone I trust in the morning.

But visual packages don’t have to be mental pictures. They can be a real person, place, or thing. In Jeremiah’s case, God could just as easily have pointed to a real almond tree, or an actual boiling pot. Jesus was probably pointing to a real flower when he said, “Consider how the lilies grow.” God has communicated to me through mountain peaks, sunsets, rain, wildlife, and a thousand other ways. As the Psalmist raved, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech... there is no speech or language where their voice is not heard” (Psalm 19:1-3). I totally agree!

We live in an image-based culture and God is happy to use many of them to get our attention. He’s often spoken profound messages of hope or challenge to my heart through movies, TV, photographs, artwork, or even sculptures. He’s relayed important messages to me through billboards, ladybugs, magazines, or on the internet. Almost everything you see can be a package for God’s communication.

One word of warning: Our minds are bombarded with images all day long, and not all of them contain messages from God. Don’t go crazy trying to figure it all out – just pay attention to the images you see and ask God to open your spiritual eyes to what you need to see. Every once and awhile you’ll get a distinct impression: This is significant. Sometimes God will even say to me, “Did you catch that?” Take the time to pause and ask God, “What’s this about? Is there a message for me in this?” Maybe there is, maybe there isn’t. If you’re not sure, write it down, file it, and see if it comes into play sometime in the future.

INTUITIVE PACKAGES

Some people will probably roll their eyes reading over this section because its so subjective, but the simple fact is that God communicates with us on an intuitive level all the time. By intuitive I mean something different than thoughts, ideas, or even emotions. You might call it a “gut feeling,” a strong impression, or a hunch. More spiritual words and phrases for it are “a nudge from the Holy Spirit,” an “inner impression,” or “God’s leading.” You don’t know how you know something, you just know it. It could well be that a full third of all God’s messages to me come packaged this way.

Jesus was God, but he was also human and listened to his Heavenly Father. As Jesus listened to God, he wasn’t just getting words. Sometimes his Father helped him “know things” intuitively that no human being could possibly discover on their own, like what was going on in people’s thoughts, or what would happen in the future (Matt. 9:4, 22:18, Luke 9:47, John 18:4, 19:28). God didn’t “tell” him, per se – he just knew.

Was that only for Jesus? Not at all! Jesus said that, “his sheep follow him because they know his voice” (John 10:4). They know. There are Greek words that mean, “to know through study,” or, “to know by experience.” The word Jesus uses here means “to intuitively know.” It’s a fairly common experience for a spiritually sensitive person to say, “I think God wants me to do so-and-so.” If you asked them how they came to that conclusion, they might say, “I’m not sure. It just feels right.” They intuitively know God is in it.

A good friend of mine got saved one Easter Sunday when he and his wife stayed behind after the service. There was a large wooden cross mounted onstage. As he was standing there, reflecting on what Jesus had done for him, he changed. There were no words, no formal prayer – and as far as I know, God spoke no words to him in return – but as he tells it, “As I looked at the cross, I felt myself die. And suddenly, I was reborn.” How does he know that? He just does. His spirit bears witness to the truth, just as “the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” (Romans 8:16). Remember that God isn’t looking for words, he’s looking for faith. It’s faith that saves us, not a sinner’s prayer. Faith is mostly intuitive, a function of the heart (Romans 10:10). It has a cognitive or mental component, as we will see next, but it begins deeper than that.

I don’t think I can count how many times I’ve been confronted with a situation or a mistake I’ve made and I have a strong gut feeling that I need to do something in particular to make things right or to choose the right path. Just yesterday I sent an email clarifying something to a team I’m working with because a little nagging hunch was sitting like lead in my gut. The feeling lifted as soon as I sent the email. When these kinds of burdens come from God, they lift as soon as we’ve given God what he’s looking for.

As you can tell from some of my stories, God’s intuitive communication often produces certain emotions – guilt, anxiety, sometimes even nausea if we resist them – but the emotion isn’t the message or even the package per se – it’s the ripple effect the message is causing. God isn’t “making” you anxious. That just happens to be how you’re reacting to what he’s saying.

And ironically, even though this kind of package seems so subjective, the purpose of God’s intuitive communication with us is usually to make things crystal clear! Most of the time, God sends a package that answers a yes or no question related to guidance, or gives us a gut reaction to whether something is good or bad. Intuitive messages tend to be bottom line messages: Should I call Bob for lunch today? Yes, comes the impression – not in words, but in the form of a gut feeling. Or, I’m listening to someone trying to sell me on a new business opportunity. Bad, comes the message – not in words, but in the form of a kind of gut feeling. A check in my spirit, a stop sign in my heart. I’m learning to trust those impressions.

How can I trust something so open to interpretation? Technically I’m not trusting the impression, I’m trusting God. Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” We’ve traditionally understood this to mean that God will satisfy our desires if we make him our number one passion. There might be some truth to that, but I take it to mean that if God is my number one passion, God will make sure my heart is filled with his desires, his will for my life. And so I trust him to anoint my intuition with divine wisdom.

In one of my pastorates, I met a young man who had gone through some deep moral doo-doo and had apparently been restored to faith. The moment I shook his hand and looked into his eyes I was struck with an uneasy conviction. Bad. No words, just an impression that translated into, Don’t trust this guy. My wife had the same experience with him, and she didn’t even know about the moral doo-doo! As we found out a couple of heart- breaking months later, our gut feeling was bang on. It often is.

Intuitive messages are unspoken, which means you may have to look beneath the surface. For example: one of the most precious gifts God gives us is his grace. And grace says something. Underlying grace is a message that says, “I love you. I treasure you.” When God fills you with peace, with joy, with strength or courage, these are self-contained, precious gifts, true – but they also speak volumes, just like bringing home flowers speaks volumes. Don’t miss the message in the gift! God will send people to give hugs, smiles, compliments, you name it – and each of these contains a deeper message. Once a bunch of youth and their leader took the time to decorate the door of my office. There were encouragement notes, a CD with worship songs burned onto it, candy, treats, cards, the works. I stood there and wept, because I was going through a difficult time. Yes, these wonderful youth blessed my heart – but the deeper, more profound message was from my Father in heaven; See, Brad? I’m watching. I care. I love you desperately, and I will tend your heart if you let me. It didn’t come with words, but I sure got the message!

Another form of intuitive communication can come in the form of passion for something. As Jesus said, “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love… I have told you this so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:10,11). Or as Paul put it, “Christ’s love compels us” (II Corinthians 5:14). There are moments when God doesn’t tell us what to do, exactly – he just fills us with his love or joy or peace and expects us to do what comes naturally. So we’re walking down the street and are suddenly overwhelmed with deep compassion for someone in need. This wave of love and mercy may be from God, not just our own reservoir of niceness. Often I have been filled with an inexplicable joy during worship and feel compelled to dance or shout. This, too, can be from God.

But the opposite can also be true. God may be communicating via a lack of motivation for things you normally feel motivated for. Yes, I’m serious! This one must be tested more carefully, but I’ve found that if I’m lacking “Umph!” for a task, it might be because God is saying, “Wait” or “Don’t do this.” I’m a do-er, so I tend to charge ahead without praying to see what God wants me to do. I’m thinking of the one of many times I’ve worked at preparing a message for a service or youth event. Usually the ideas just flow as I prepare, but occasionally, it’s really hard work. On several occasions it’s been like flogging a dead horse. Often I flog it for hours on end.

“But I’ve got to prepare for this event,” I wail to God. And God “says” nothing. All I have is this heavy, uninspired feeling. Could be spiritual warfare, right? Sure.

But then a snowstorm hits and the event is cancelled. In the aftermath I realize that the reason God didn’t inspire me to prepare a message was because I didn’t need one and he didn’t want me to waste my time on it! Procrastinators need to be careful not to hide behind this as an excuse, but people who work hard may want to pay attention to a lack of inspiration.

I was thinking about creating an exercise for you in this section… and realized that I can’t. They tend to come when they come. Just pay attention the next time you feel a check or an asterisk in your spirit.

COGNITIVE PACKAGES

Cognitive packages are a whole lot like intuitive packages but they take things a step further. Intuitive packages tend to be about YES or NO, GOOD or BAD. Cognitive packages are more concrete. They come as ideas, thoughts, conclusions about what we’re experiencing. So you have an idea like, “I believe we ought to hire Jim instead of Ralph.” (No offense, Ralph). It didn’t come with words – that would be a verbal package. And it was more than a YES or NO, an intuitive package. It was more specific, more like a fully formed idea. A cognitive package.

Let me show you what I mean by using scripture. “Who do you say that I am?” Jesus asked his disciples one day. Peter was jumping up and down like a school kid. “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!” he answered enthusiastically.

“People didn’t reveal this to you,” Jesus replied excitedly, “My Father in heaven did!” (paraphrase of Matthew 16:13-19). In other words, Peter’s “good thought” was actually from outside of himself. God gave it to him. Dropped it right into his lap. And the fact that Jesus had to point it out – “Peter, that was God talking to you!” – tells me that the very same thing probably happens to us all the time. God speaks to us, drops ideas, thoughts, and conclusions into our minds, and we assume we’re the ones who thunk ‘em. Just like Peter did.

In other words, God doesn’t always speak to us in first person. Sometimes he just inserts thoughts into our minds that fit right in with our train of thought. Sometimes they’re so artfully nestled in there that we fail to distinguish them from our own ideas.

A friend of mine was working on his car out in the parking lot one day. I came and sat in the front seat to keep him company. “What’s wrong?” I asked. He replied that there was something wrong with the electrical system. The overhead light wasn’t going on anymore or something like that.

First off, you’ve got to realize that I know basically nothing about either electrical or cars. Zippo. So sitting there with my buddy, I’m about as useful as a greasy bag of onions smiling at him. I watched him fiddle for about twenty minutes, getting sweaty and frustrated. So I started to pray. It was all I could do!

And then, out of nowhere, an idea popped into my mind. “I think the problem is in here,” I said, pointing to where the front passenger door hinged onto the frame. He cut back the rubber joint, and sure enough, the wires had come apart at precisely that spot! 

Ha! Believe me, I can’t take any credit for that one.

But sometimes, God’s thoughts aren’t just dropped into our minds. Sometimes they’re woven into our thought processes, which is way more subtle. 

The most common question I’m ever asked as a Pastor is, “How can I learn to hear the voice of God?” The second one almost always comes on its heels: “How can I know when it’s God talking to me and when it’s just my own thoughts?” It’s phrased in an either or way. Either its God, OR its my own brain at work. How do I know which is which?

Who says it has to be either or?

Let me put it this way: Who wrote the book of Ephesians in the Bible? “All scripture is inspired by God,” Paul himself said in II Timothy 3:16. But who wrote the book of Ephesians? 

Paul did.

Who’s grammar is all over the writing? Who’s run-on-sentences are those? God’s, or Paul’s? 

Paul wrote the book of Ephesians. That’s his grammar, his vocabulary, his life experience, his writing style. Even some of his bias. 

But every word was also given by God, inspired by the Holy Spirit. So if you could somehow ask Paul, “Were those your own thoughts, or were they from God?” he would have to say...

“Yes.”

Yes? Yes. Both are true. That’s God’s word, but those are Paul’s words. All God, all Paul. Weird, huh? Yup. And incredibly instructive. It means, practically speaking, that one of the ways God communicates with us is by guiding our thoughts. 

Think about it: There must be times when you had an idea so good or an insight so dead-on or stellar that you thought, “Where’d that come from?” 

Well, now you know.

The next time an idea drops in your lap, you may want to check in with God. He usually doesn’t sign his name on things like this, so it’s way to easy to take the credit for his inspiration. On the other hand, if God gave it to you and you sign your name to it, that could be considered plagiarism. You’d better at least give God the nod in your heart – or even give him credit for helping you.

NOW WHAT?

OK. I’ve just given you the most practical teaching on hearing God’s voice I’ve ever heard (and I’ve heard quite a bit of teaching on this topic). But it gets even better! I’m not done yet! There are four more truths – concepts you’ll need to apply this stuff well – that will help you in mind-blowing ways. Here they are.

1. COMBINATIONS

As you might have guessed by now, God’s messages rarely come solo in one package. The packages tend to work together. So let’s say God gives you a dream. That’s visual, right? Yes, but in the dream you hear words, you come to realizations, you get distinct impressions. That’s a four-dimensional communiqué from God! Or you open the Bible and read a verbal message, and the passage leaps to life. You are transported into the story you’re reading – a visual package. As the picture evolves, you get a gut feeling – an intuitive package. And then, finally, a fresh way of looking at your life pops into your mind – a cognitive package. You ask God about the idea forming in your mind and he speaks his affirmation in a verbal package. Your gut tells you what you are hearing is from the Lord. Another intuitive package. It goes on!

A whole flock of messages, all in one encounter!

Now imagine, if you will, reading that same scripture – the verbal package. But nothing visual happens. Nothing intuitive either – you don’t feel strongly about anything one way or another. And no fresh insight occurs to you. You close the book and wonder if there is more to the Christian life than this.

As you can tell by now, there sure is!

You could experience the same rush of verbal, visual, intuitive and cognitive packages watching a movie, reading the paper, spending time in prayer, walking the dog, talking with a friend, or bowing in worship. Sometimes the message comes in two of the four packages. Or three. The possibilities are practically endless!

2. TENDENCIES

While the possibilities are endless, your particular personality and wiring influences how you hear God. On a practical level, this means that you will tend to experience one or two of the four packages more than the others.  

Some people are highly visual. Others are intuitive. Others verbal. The point is, we’re all unique, and shouldn’t expect to hear God just like the person next to us. We’ll lean toward one or more packages from day to day. On the flipside, we’ll lean away from others. Some people rarely receive visual packages. Or verbal ones. And I’ve found lots and lots of people that are almost entirely cognitive package people. 

I also find that cognitive package people are the most likely to believe God doesn’t talk to them. Why? Because they’re still obsessed with the false question, “Is it God speaking, or just my own thoughts?” The right answer is often YES, remember? These souls often think that unless a train of articulate words is flowing through their head, God isn’t speaking. Once I point out the truth, that God often speaks through their thoughts and even guides their thoughts throughout the day, cognitive package people tend to come alive. They couldn’t experience God’s voice for what it is because they didn’t have a “cognitive package” box in their world view. Now that I’ve given you one, you should be off and running too. 

“You mean that’s God? Using my thoughts?” 

Yes. Could very well be!

And remember – you can also grow into a deeper experience with packages that aren’t your forte right now. Keep your mind and heart open!

3. HEALTHY OBSESSION

The fact is, the more you think about hearing God, the more of his messages you’ll clue in to. It’s like adjusting the dial on your radio until you’re tuned into the right station. It’s been there all along, but now you’re looking for it. “He who seeks finds,” Jesus said. Absolutely. And he who listens, hears. Right! Only the people looking into the sky see the clouds. And people looking into the sky especially for clouds see the most clouds of all.

Is that going overboard? Am I making too much of this listening thing? Not at all. Jesus himself said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). That particular usage of the term “word” is referring to words that are spoken. Jesus is saying that you need to hear from God every single day – several times a day at least – because his words are food for your soul.

So meditate on scripture. Read this article over again. Digest Christian books about hearing God. Take the time to really listen, both on the fly and in the quiet moments. And one more thing: Start a prayer journal.

A prayer journal? Yeah. A journal reserved entirely for recording your conversations with God or tidbits you tune into here and there. A place to write down your impressions, the things you’re learning in scripture, the images that seem significant, the words God speaks to your mind. As Mark Virkler points out, that’s what the entire book of Psalms is. And the book of Revelation. And large parts of the book of Daniel. Prayer journals, all three of them. That’s a pretty hefty precedent. 

Why is prayer journaling an important discipline? Because sometimes God’s communication with us comes in multiple packages, like puzzle pieces – and prayer journaling will help you keep track of the pieces and put them together over time, without having to remember them all at once. I use my prayer journal as a place to ask questions and record answers, a place to write out my conversations with Jesus. My prayer journal is full of great stuff God has laid on my heart, but even better, it’s a place I can go back to if I want to check what God has told me. Just the other day I re-read one of my prayer journals and was amazed at how accurate God’s messages about my future were back then (now that I’ve lived the season they foretold). And because I wrote them down, I can learn from each experience. I can review what it felt like, sounded like, and looked like – so I’m better prepared to receive packages in the future.

4. THE POINT

And finally, remember that the package isn’t the point; it’s carrying the point inside it, pointing to an experience with God. The words, the pictures, the impressions, the ideas – they’re all important, but they’re just packaging. The point is what kind of effect God is trying to produce by communicating with you. The point isn’t that God said, “I love you.” It’s that he wants that fact to change your life and draw you into a deeper intimacy with him. The point isn’t that God helped you understand what to do in your job setting; it’s that he wants you to do it.

Well, there you go. The most practical teaching on How to Hear the Voice of God I can give you. Be sure to check out the other resources on my website as well. There will be more and more offered as time goes on.

God bless!

Brad Huebert

Comments

[Laurie]

Marvelous article. Now I know I AM hearing from God.

[Elizabeth Ross]

Wow! Thank you for sharing this. Surely this article itself was inspired by God. Thank you for expressing all that you expressed, and sharing personal examples. I have also experienced God's voice and I wanted to see whether others had written on the subject. It can be difficult to talk or write about, because from what I know it is a rather rare experience for most people. Plus there are those stories about "schizophrenic people who 'hear' God and other voices." I know that I am not schizophrenic, and my experiences with God's voice have been exactly like the ones you described. I even faced criticism from Christian friends who balked at the idea that I could have "heard God" audibly or seen a vision.

Through that I realized that many people who have an encounter with God will choose only to share relevant parts with others, rather than tell the entire story to others who may not understand. I learned this by reading through the scriptures. In particular, the story of Abraham and Isaac showed me that he had a private, personal experience with God and did not tell his servants or (possibly) the rest of his family all about it. They merely observed what they observed. That can be an important part of a conversation with God, or experiencing His word, is to remember that it is a personal experience. If it needs to be shared with other people, God will provide the right opportunity so that it may increase their faith and yours.

God Bless.