Does this prayer sound familiar?

“God, I want to do your will. I want to make the right decision. I want to fulfill my divine calling. But I don’t know if what I’m thinking is from you, or if it’s just my own desires. Please help me to hear you.”

Wouldn’t it be great if God phoned or texted us His clear guidance for our lives?!

Knowing how to hear God is a common struggle! In the Bible, God called to Samuel four times before Samuel realized he was hearing God! (1 Samuel 3)

You might think you never or rarely hear God at all. But Jesus said in John 10:27, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”

EVERY Christ-follower hears God! 

Three phrases from the above verse show us a three-step process for recognizing God’s voice and gaining the confidence to act on what we hear.

Three steps for hearing God:

1.   Notice:  (“My sheep hear my voice…”)

Psalm 139:16 says, “In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.”

Regardless of where you are on the free-will/predestination continuum, this verse means that whatever you are praying about was already on God’s radar screen before it was on yours.

God is probably already speaking about whatever you have been asking Him! You just need the confidence to know that you are hearing Him speak!

God’s prompt is often idea or a feeling or a deep desire that keeps coming at you from multiple sources, sometimes when you’re not even thinking about it.

You keep thinking, “Wouldn’t it be great if…” or “I feel like I’m spinning my wheels doing…” And your heart is stirred by so many things that you read, see, hear, and do.

If you already sense repeated internal prompts from multiple sources, and you’ve sincerely prayed for God’s guidance, there’s a good chance that you are indeed hearing from God.

But how can you gain more confidence about that?

2.  Evaluate: (“…and I know them…”)

Here are 4 questions to ask yourself:

•  Is what I think I’m hearing consistent with the Bible and God’s character?

•  Is what I think I’m hearing consistent with the passions, personality, and abilities God has given me?

•  Who or what would help me to process my unanswered questions?

•  How do I feel after I make a trial decision to go for it?!

3.   Act: “…and they follow me…”

If you’re reasonably sure that God is indeed prompting you, then take the next step! In fact, God usually reveals his plan gradually, not all at once. So only if you take the next step will you see more of His plan.

Only after you take a step will you gain more confidence and clarity!

Don’t worry too much about making mistakes in discerning God’s will. Mistakes aren’t sins. And in fact, we learn more from mistakes than from successes.

And there will be obstacles. Anything God-sized will indeed seem impossible!

But just take the next right step, and God’s purposes and timing will grow.

God says, “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” Jeremiah 33:3

Feel free to comment or ask questions below.