If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, then God’s desire is for you to communicate with Him all the time, about everything in your life. This doesn’t mean that He expects you to spend every minute of the day on your knees in prayer, but He does want to have an ongoing conversation with you as you go about your day.
We can have this relationship with God because the Holy Spirit lives in us. In John 16:7, Jesus said the Holy Spirit comes “to be in close fellowship with you” (AMP). And John 14:26 says, “He will teach you all things” (AMP).
This means in Christ, we have the ability to hear God’s voice.
Getting the Right Atmosphere
If we really want to hear from God, we have to make lifestyle changes that create an atmosphere for Him to speak. Atmosphere is basically the climate, environment or the predominant mood around you. Have you ever noticed that you feel moods around you, like tension or strife? Atmospheres are created by our attitudes, and there are important attitudes we can choose that will make us sensitive to His voice.
An Attitude of Listening
When I can tell someone isn’t listening to me, I stop talking. In the same way, God speaks to those who listen to Him.
We have to guard ourselves against only listening for His voice when we’re desperate for a word of wisdom or need help in an emergency. Instead, we can learn to keep our spiritual ears continuously tuned to hear Him no matter what we’re doing.
Our relationship with God is based on faith in who He is, believing He loves and cares for us. Romans 10:17 (NKJV) says, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Take time on a regular basis to pray and study the Word to develop the habit of keeping our spiritual ear tuned in to God’s voice.
An Attitude That Honors God Above Everyone Else
When we’re struggling to make a decision or facing a problem we don’t know how to handle, it’s easy to go to people to get their opinion about what we should do before we take time to wait on God for direction. Or sometimes we may take time to pray first but still go to others to share what we think He said and ask them what they think about it.
When we do this we’re actually honoring the advice of people more than the wisdom of God. I’m not saying we should never ask anyone for godly counsel, and God can certainly lead us to do that.
If we constantly have to know what so-and-so thinks or what they would do, then we’re not trusting that we can hear from God ourselves.
First John 2:27 says that the anointing, the presence and power, of the Holy Spirit “remains [permanently] in you” and that He “teaches you…about all things” (AMP). God wants us to be individually led by the Holy Spirit, and that means we need to start stepping out in faith, following the promptings of the Holy Spirit that come to our heart.
Choose to trust the anointing of the Holy Spirit that abides in your spirit! As you do, you’ll gain confidence that you can hear from God, and if you make a mistake (which we all do at times), trust Him to help get you back on track and keep moving forward.
An Attitude of Obedience
First Samuel 15:22 says, “…To obey is better than sacrifice…” (NKJV). We honor God and show that we love and trust Him when we obey His commands.
The truth is it doesn’t do any good for God to talk to us if we aren’t going to listen and obey what He says, or if we only do the things we want to do. The way to experience God’s plan for our lives is simple: pray and obey.
I know it’s not always easy to obey, especially when He’s showing you to do something you don’t like or don’t feel like doing. For example, it’s not exciting to humble ourselves and apologize when we’ve hurt someone.
Whatever God puts in our hearts to do, it’s always for our good. And He will always be with us, giving us the wisdom and strength to obey when we hear His voice.
Joyce Meyer is a New York Times’ bestselling author and founder of Joyce Meyer Ministries Inc. She has authored 130 books, including Battlefield of the Mind and her newest devotional, Quiet Times With God (FaithWords). She hosts the Enjoying Everyday Life radio and TV programs, which air on hundreds of stations worldwide. For more information, visit joycemeyer.org.
