How to Start Hearing God’s Voice Today

Some people view hearing God’s voice only as a mystical, ultra-spiritual, unreachable experience. However, Scripture tells a different story. In fact, you can start hearing the voice of God today.

Jesus says in John 16:13,

“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.”


Because the Holy Spirit is a person (not simply a force), He speaks personally. Better yet, because He knows how He designed us, He speaks in ways we can understand.

I’m often asked, “I know God can speak, but how do I specifically hear from Him about what I’m going through right now?” I want to briefly answer this question with five simple guidelines.

1. Silence competing voices.

In 1 Kings 19, Elijah experiences the power of God through a wind, earthquake and fire, but the Word says the Lord was not found in those wonders. After all that, God personally interacted with Elijah through His still, small voice.

Have you ever conversed with a soft-spoken child in a loud room? It’s nearly impossible. Their soft whisper gets lost in the noise. Often times, the Holy Spirit is like that. Being a gentleman, He speaks to our hearts in a gentle way.

To consistently hear God clearly, we must silence competing voices. Some of those voices may be our own hearts, our religious preferences, media and entertainment, and even the voices of people from our past.

Not all competing voices are intrinsically bad, but we should raise the question: which voice is most important to us? Are we doing what Jesus talks about in John 5:19? Are we prioritizing God’s opinion over all the other opinions in our lives?


2. Really wait upon the Lord.

“While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’”

Acts 13:2

In this account, the New Testament apostles and believers heard specifically from the Holy Spirit while fasting and gathering together to worship. While prioritizing the pursuit of Jesus, they heard His voice.

The reason I say you can start hearing the voice of God today is because the Lord responds to those who wait upon Him–those who seek Him whole-heartedly. If you said to yourself, “I’m not going to do anything else today until I hear God speak,” and you followed through with it, I believe He would make His voice known.

Psalm 145:18 says, “The LORD is near to all who call on him.”

I’m not saying you must spend all day waiting. I’m simply making a point: when is the last time you prioritized waiting upon the Lord?

Psalm 34:4 says, “I sought the LORD and He answered me, And rescued me from all my fears.”

3. Simply believe.

What I hope you don’t hear is this: you must do all these things to hear God. The things I’ve mentioned are simply principles. They are not the basis for our relationship with God. Our personal connection with the Father is based purely on what Jesus did for us at the cross.

Hebrews 4:16 says, “Therefore let’s approach the throne of grace with confidence…”

We can hear God’s voice, not by doing enough for Him, but by believing that we are justified by grace and through faith. Like a fully loved child, we can walk right into our Father’s presence and receive from Him. If you have a hard time hearing God’s voice, I encourage you to meditate on the gospel and let the Holy Spirit begin to remind you of how loved and accepted you truly are in Jesus.

The first time I heard from Holy Spirit, He spoke two basic truths to me: that God loves me, and that Jesus died for me. That was the moment I truly accepted Jesus. Hearing God’s voice radically changed my life as the Holy Spirit helped me to believe the simple truth of the gospel.

It’s because of those same truths that we can confidently draw near to Him and hear from Him personally.



4. Ask for the Holy Spirit.

Jesus says in Luke 11:9-13,

“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

When we meet Jesus, the Spirit of God comes to live inside us, but there’s more. Like in any relationship, we can grow in our knowledge and experience of God. We can get to know Him better, and one of the things Jesus encourages us to do during this journey of drawing near to Him is to ask.

One day while listening to a sermon by Brian Guerin, I was reminded of the importance of asking for the things of the Spirit. He encouraged listeners who have never received dreams and visions from the Lord to simply ask in faith. In that moment, I realized that I had never asked for those things.

I knew Acts 2:17, which says,

“‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, and your old men will have dreams.’”

Yet, though I knew this verse, I had never thought to ask for dreams and visions. So, I said, “Lord, if this is something You want to give me, I’m down for it.” The next morning, I woke up out of a prophetic dream feeling the close presence of Jesus. The next night, I received a simple vision from the Lord.

My simple point is, sometimes if you don’t ask, you don’t receive. If you’ve never asked to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, ask and receive. If it’s been a while since you’ve heard God’s voice, ask for a fresh filling of the Spirit. Jesus promises that the Father gives us good gifts when we ask.

5. Learn to hear God’s voice in Scripture.

We should always judge what we hear by the written word. Everything the Holy Spirit says will line up with what He has already said through Scripture. Now, God can get more specific than what’s written in the Bible, but He will never disagree with Himself.

On top of using Scripture to confirm God’s voice, we can also use it to practice hearing Him. Reading the Bible is one of the safest places to learn how to hear God personally because we have an immediate check in front of us while hearing.

2 Thessalonians 2:15 says, “So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold on to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us.”

As you wait upon the Lord, keep the truths of Scripture in mind.

“And so we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture becomes a matter of someone’s own interpretation.”

1 Peter 1:19-20

The prophecy mentioned here is the truth of Jesus’ divinity and purpose. Peter challenges us to pay close attention to what God has already said about Jesus, but he also reminds us of the importance of the voice of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. As we read the written word, we must allow the Holy Spirit to interpret it for us through His spoken word. The more we do this, the easier it is for us to recognize His voice.

Lord Jesus, I pray that every person reading this will begin to hear You more clearly than ever before. I ask for the supernatural filling of your Holy Spirit in a fresh way. Thank you for speaking to your children as we draw near to you in faith.