How to Hear the Voice of God Today!

©2003 by Gregory Dickow Ministries.

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 Table of Contents

Chapter One

How to Hear the Voice of God

Chapter Two

The Benefits of Hearing the Voice of God

Chapter Three

The Voice of Love

Chapter Four

Hindrances to Hearing the Voice of God

 The life of every great man and
woman in the Bible was marked by
the ability to hear and recognize
the voice of God.
Think about this . . . if Noah, Abraham,
Moses and others could hear the voice of God
under the Old Covenant, then we can expect to
hear His voice as clearly under the New
Covenant. In fact, as surprising as it may sound,
we should be able to hear His voice even better
because we are under a better covenant
(Hebrews 8:6).

For example, in Genesis chapter six and

seven, God told Noah:
 What He was going to do in the earth.

What Noah was supposed to do about it.

How Noah was supposed to do it.

God specifically told Abraham to leave his

father’s house and receive an inheritance
(Genesis 12:1-8). God clearly spoke to Moses
when He led His people out of Egypt and gave
Moses His commandments (Exodus, chapters 3-
20).

As clearly as He spoke to these men, He has

promised to speak to us as well. Jesus said in
John 10:27, “My sheep hear My voice, and I
know them, and they follow Me.”

God has not stopped talking and revealing

Himself to His people. The apostle Peter
speaks of how he was an eye witness of Jesus’
life, ministry and majesty in 2 Peter 1:16-17. He
heard when God said, “This is my beloved Son
in whom I am well pleased.” God spoke audibly
and Peter heard it. In fact, Peter heard the
audible voice of God on several occasions.
 He writes in 2 Peter 1:18, “And this voice
which came from heaven we heard, when we
were with Him in the holy mount. Yet we have a
more sure word of prophecy...” What is this
more sure word of prophecy? He tells us in
verse 20 that it is the prophecy of scripture.

The Bible you hold in your hand is the

primary instrument through which God will speak
to you. And if you are born again, you have the
Spirit of God on the inside of you to lead you,
guide you, and speak to you as well.

Let’s look at some practical ways in which

you can begin to hear the voice of God.

1. Obey Him in the little things that you

already know. Luke 16:10 says, “He that is
faithful in that which is least is faithful also in
much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust
also in much.” God is never going to speak to
you about big things if you don’t first obey Him
in the little things. As we are faithful to carry out
the simple commands of scripture such as:
forgive, serve, tithe, love—then God’s voice will
become clearer and clearer in areas of life that
are more complicated and harder to figure out.
 2. Put yourself in a position to hear God’s
voice. Habakkuk 2:1 says, “I will stand upon my
watch, and set me upon the tower, and will
watch to see what He will say unto me...”

How do we do this? By waking up in the

morning with the sole objective of hearing God’s
voice. Isaiah 50:4 says, “He awakens me
morning by morning to listen.”

Start your day by deciding not to do anything

until you have spent time listening to God.

In the midst of life’s challenges, confusion,

financial problems, even threat of safety,
hearing His voice will always deliver you. God
will always show you a way out if you begin to
sensitize your ears and your heart to hearing
His voice. God is always speaking but we must
develop the habit of listening and recognizing
what He is saying. Remember, you are His
sheep, and you hear His voice!

3. Listen consistently (morning by

morning). Notice the words “morning by
morning” in Isaiah 50:4. Each morning we
should pray in the spirit, read encouraging
scriptures and listen for the voice of God.
Things happen when you apply the law of
consistency to anything. If you will consistently
start your day listening to God, you will begin to
recognize what He is saying to you all the time.

4. Never listen to a voice that is contrary

to the Word (2 Peter 1:19). God will never
speak something contrary to the Bible. For
example, some people have thought God was
telling them they didn’t need to join a church.
However, Psalm 92:13 and 1 Corinthians 12:18
show us that it is God’s will (therefore it is His
voice) that we be planted in a church that will
help us grow and flourish in God!

5. Expect God to speak to you today. Study

Hebrews 3 and 4. These chapters focus on
understanding how to hear the voice of God.
You can hear the voice of God today, but you
must keep a soft heart. I will show you how in
the next point.

Hebrews 3:15 says, “Today, if you hear His

voice, do not harden your heart.” Make a
decision to listen with a heart of expectation and
obedience—Today!
 6. Keep a soft heart. The surest way to
keep a soft heart is by:

A. Be willing to do whatever He tells you

(before He tells you!)

B. Be thankful for what God has done. A

thankful heart is a soft heart.

C. Hold nothing against anyone, for any

reason. This includes forgiving yourself.
Jesus’ blood was shed for your sins,
shortcomings and mistakes! He holds
nothing against you! So treat yourself and
others the way He treats you. You are
forgiven!
 God loves you so much that He never wants
you to be alone! He will be with you wherever
you go and speak to you in every situation in
which you will listen with a humble heart.
Problems increase in our lives when we don’t
listen to God. Solutions come when we hear
from God. Let’s look at some of the benefits of
hearing God’s voice.

1. Rest. Isaiah 28:12 says, “To whom He

said, ‘This is the rest wherewith you may cause
the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing; but
they would not hear (listen).’” Rest speaks of
refreshing, and the fulfillment of God’s
promises. Hebrews 3:7-19 shows us that God’s
people did not enter into His rest because they
did not listen to His voice. Therefore, the more
we learn to listen to His voice, (with the intent to
obey), the more rest, refreshing and fulfillment
we will experience.

2. Peace. Psalm 85:8 says, “I will hear what

God, the Lord will speak. He will speak peace to
His godly ones.” God promises peace to those
who listen. The Hebrew word for peace,
“shalom” means “nothing is missing and nothing
is broken.” It means to be made whole, to be
secure, to have confidence and triumph over
opposition.

3. Forward Progress. Look at this amazing

and telling scripture in Jeremiah 7:23-24: “But
this thing I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My
voice, and I will be your God. And you shall be
My people. And walk in all the ways I have
commanded you, that it may be well unto you.’
But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ears,
but walked in the counsels and the imaginations
of their evil heart; and went backward, not
forward.” Wow! How much clearer can God be?
When we pay attention and listen to His voice,
we will go forward, make progress and grow.
When we don’t listen, we will go backward, lose
progress and fail.

For the believer who desires to grow, there is

absolutely nothing more important in this life
than to hear His voice and follow it!

You may say, “But how can I really know if it’s

God’s voice that I’m hearing or if it’s just me?”

Well, fortunately, your spirit is made in the

image of God, so sometimes, the voice you are
hearing is the same voice. Your spirit often
“echoes” what God is saying.

Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit Himself bears

witness with our spirit...” In other words, they
sound very similar. But to give you some
guidelines, you can know it’s God’s voice when:

A. It agrees with the scripture.

B. It agrees with love.

C. It brings that peace that “surpasses

comprehension.”
 D. It brings comfort, encouragement and
confidence.

E. It agrees with the character, love and

grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

4. Supernatural Deliverance. In 2 Samuel

5:17-23 David seeks for direction from God on
what to do about the Philistine army. God then
speaks to him and gives him a strategy that
results in David’s victory and his enemy’s
defeat. This is exactly what God will do for you
when you listen for His voice. But keep in mind,
His strategy will not always make sense to your
“natural” mind. You must be “spiritually” minded
(Romans 8:5-6).

5. Favor! Proverbs 8:33-35 says, “Hear

instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.
Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching
daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my
doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and
shall obtain favour of the LORD.”

As you listen to the voice of God, (which is

the highest form of wisdom) God will open doors
for you that no man can close. He will surround
you with favor as a shield. And, you will
experience His provision, protection and
promotion!

Again, it is critical to make a decision, in

advance, that you will do whatever He tells you
to do before He tells you. Jesus said in John
7:17, “Do you want to know whether what I said
is from God? Be willing to do it first, and then
you will know.” (Paraphrased).

When we do not do what He tells us to do,

our heart begins to harden. It’s essential that we
keep a soft heart as we discussed in the
previous chapter. Hebrews 3:7 says “Today, if
you hear His voice, do not harden your heart.”
So, we see here that a soft heart is an obedient
heart. Obeying God in the simple things will
keep your heart soft. A soft heart can also be
defined as: A willingness to listen and a
willingness to change.
 As I stated in the last chapter, one of the
ways to identify and recognize the voice of God
is that His voice always agrees with love. God is
love. If you are hearing love, you are usually
hearing God. If you are hearing retaliation,
bitterness, unkind thoughts toward others, and
things like these, you are definitely hearing an
ungodly voice. In fact, if you are hearing things
like, “You’re a failure,” or “You’re not going to
make it,” or “Look at all your mistakes, you can’t
recover,” then this is not the voice of love;
therefore it is not the voice of God!

Look at the first thing God spoke to Jesus

that we have recorded in the Bible. After Jesus
came up out of the waters of baptism, Mark 1:11
records the voice of God—the voice of love:
“And there came a voice from heaven, saying
‘You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased.’”
 Notice before Jesus ever ministered, before
He ever performed a miracle, God spoke to Him
about His love for Him. God’s love was not
based on Jesus’ performance. His love was
completely unconditional. He called Him, “My
beloved.”

This was the most important and

foundational Word from God that Jesus
received. And it is the most important thing we
can ever hear from God: “I love you. You’re
Mine.”

If we fail to hear the voice of love, we will fail

to hear the voice of God. There were many
other things that God spoke to Jesus and there
will be many other things that He will speak to
you, but none as important as “I love you.”
Furthermore, it will be incredibly difficult for you
to hear anything else from God, if you don’t first
hear “love.”

When God says “I love you,” He means three

things:

1. I will never leave you (Hebrews 13:5).

 2. I will never break my promises to you
(Deuteronomy 7:8-9, Judges 2:1).

3. I will never remember your sins

anymore. (Hebrews 8:12).

Upon this holy foundation of the voice of

God’s love, we can begin to accurately hear His
voice. Many people have a distorted view of
God’s love and therefore cannot hear His voice.

I strongly encourage you to meditate on the

verses I have listed above and embrace this
concept: that hearing the voice of God begins
with hearing the voice of love. This revelation
will open the door to everything else God wants
to speak to you and everything else God wants
to do in your life!
 Now that we see how powerful God’s voice
can be in our lives, let’s remove some of the
hindrances that are keeping us from hearing His
voice.

1. Hardness of heart. As we mentioned

earlier, when you don’t listen to God’s voice, you
begin to harden your heart. By hardening your
heart, you make it even more difficult to hear
what God is trying to say. It will also make it
more difficult for you to believe what He has
already said. Jesus rebuked His disciples in
Mark 16:14 for unbelief and hardness of heart.

“ AfterwardHe appeared unto the eleven

as they sat at meat, and upbraided them
 for their unbelief and hardness of heart,
because they believed not them which
had seen Him after he was risen.”

Unbelief and hardness of heart go hand in

hand and must be stopped from gaining further
access to your life. So repent! Ask God to
forgive you for hardening your heart. Forgive
those who have hurt you. Choose to believe
what God has said in His Word, whether it
makes sense to you or not; whether you “feel it”
or not. Then go back to the simple things that
you may have allowed to slip.

Go back to the last thing you know God told

you to do and do it. Go back to obeying Him in
the little things, and His voice will become
clearer and clearer. You will put yourself in
position to receive the supernatural benefits of
hearing from Him.

2. Limiting God and yourself. Mark 9:23

says, “All things are possible to him who
believes.” You need to believe whatever God
says. Jesus is saying “Go ahead and believe—
All things will be possible to you.” Don’t limit
God! Don’t limit yourself!
 Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now unto him that is
able to do exceeding abundantly above all that
we ask or think, according to the power that
worketh in us. . . . ” He can do exceeding
abundantly beyond all you can ask or think. For
example, if you think you could never pray for
someone and see them get healed, you’re
limiting God. “These signs will follow those who
believe . . .” (Mark 16:17-18). In Philippians
4:13, God promises that you can do all things
through Christ, which is in you and will
strengthen you. Take the limits off of what you
think God could say to you or ask you to do.
And when you do, you will take the limits off of
yourself as well.

3. Unfinished Business. Some people want

to hear from God, but they haven’t done what
God has already asked them to do. Historians
believe it took Noah up to 100 years to build the
ark. And what is interesting is, we don’t see any
record of God saying anything else to him from
the time he started to the time he finished
(Genesis 6:13; Genesis 7:1). So, finish the last
thing you know God has shown you to do and
then expect Him to tell you what to do next.
 What do you do when it seems as if God is
silent? The last thing He told you to do.

4. Not being faithful in money. Luke 16:10

says, “He who is faithful in what is least (money)
is also faithful in much.” If God can’t trust you
with “unimportant” things (such as money), how
can He trust you with the true riches? Material
things are our training ground. We must show
Him we can be faithful with material things and
then He will trust us with spiritual and
supernatural things. So the “unimportant things”
are important things because they demonstrate
our faithfulness to God!

When you remove these hindrances, and

begin to take some of the practical steps to
listen with a heart of expectation and obedience,
you will begin to experience the benefits of
hearing the voice of God. Begin today! You will
never be the same again!
 Pastor Gregory Dickow is the Founder and
Senior

Pastor of Life Changers International

Church, one of the largest congregations in the
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