Christian Living

Hearing God Speak—What is Correct to Expect?

by J.W. Phillips
05/15/25
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Hearing God Speak—What is Correct to Expect?

The very image of God in humanity, especially redeemed humanity, predicts that the primary medium of exchange would not be a buzzer, a siren, a drum, or a trumpet, but a human voice.

It also predicts that what would be uttered by that voice would not be squeals, sighs, or stuttering, staccato sounds, but words that have definition.

Indeed, so elevated is the Word in Christian theology that Jesus himself personifies it! There should be nothing strange, therefore, about hearing the voice of him who created voices and calls himself the Word.

There are those who scorn the belief in a currently communicating God by saying that God transcends language and logic, and that the very word Logos is an accommodation to finite thinking, particularly the Greeks.

From the very beginning of Scripture, where God spoke the universe into existence, to the beginning of the Gospels, where Jesus is said to be the Word, words are accorded a place of extreme importance.

This being the case, we must not minimize God’s Word, whether written or spoken, but instead open ears and hearts to receive and respond to what he says. Indeed, not to do so is one of the core definitions of sin.

In his book, Created in God’s Image, Professor Anthony Hoekema pointed out that one of the Greek words for “sin,” parakoe, literally means “disobedience to a voice, failing to listen when God is speaking ….”¹

The good news embedded in that insight is this: If man can be charged with sin for not listening to God, then hearing his voice must be a capacity possessed by every believer and not just a few mystics.

When people speak of hearing from God, they use a term of wide latitude that doesn’t necessarily mean hearing a voice. So do people today hear an actual voice?

Actual Voice
The short answer is, yes. It is a voice and not just a thought—a voice seemingly heard by our ears, much like it would be if we were wearing an FM headset: We would hear it; others in the room would not.

Apparently, when God spoke to Saul of Tarsus, he understood the voice clearly, those nearby did not (Acts 22:7-10).

Did he ever understand it! That voice commanded full attention! He who opposed by all the church stood for was stopped in his tracks by a voice … and then a vision. The result being that neither Saul nor the church were ever the same again!

The words Saul heard that day are reported in Scripture. And upon examining them, we discover these words were grammatical, having the normal syntax of language and the clarity of definition vocabulary provides.

These words were also personal, as if one person were addressing another, and not oratorical, as if profound platitudes for the ages were thundered from the sky.

In his book, Love Abounding, G.D. Watson said, “When God spoke to Samuel, it was to the inner organ of the soul, and not to outward physical ear, for in that case Eli would have heard it as well as Samuel.”²

Yet what Samuel heard was distinct, clear, and understandable. Puzzling to the boy, yes, but not because the words spoken were unintelligible. They were not (I Samuel 3:4f.).

As reported by others, the voice of the Lord is natural—not like the rich, resonant, reverberating voice booming from the echo chambers of Hollywood.

This very normal voice gives very specific information. In his book, The Hearing Ear, Larry Lea observed:

In order to comprehend why, when, and how to build the ark and carry out God’s unusual commands, Noah needed specific details, not vague impressions. And God spoke to Noah, giving him the necessary instructions.³

The length and width of the door and window were specified; there was nothing mystical about what was said.

I personally have heard the voice of God three times, and each was definitely a voice and not a transmission of thought. For me, the message each time was brief and not the start-up of a chatty conversation.

I know, there are some preachers today who report Jesus showing up in their room and talking to them for hours. That taxes my faith—not in the Lord but in these preachers.

A theophany, I don’t doubt. Jesus physically and suddenly manifesting may occur. It happened more than once in the New Testament; and reliable reports, though rare, are known in more modern times. But don’t ask for or expect these visits, and don’t accord them as trophy testimonies that elevate you. Of course, should a visitation occur, an audible voice will be heard.

There are also those stories of people taken up to Heaven. There is biblical underpinning for that, so we can't immediately discount these stories, but we shouldn't too readily believe them either. Especially when it comes from an inner circle of televangelists, each getting to go, each rivaling the other in the number of airplanes they buy.

Credibility breaks down for me when I hear their stories. Too much of their stories sounds like a tourist's travelog adventure and scarcely mentions the realities Scripture identified.

My experience was more common. On one occasion, I was closeted in prayer when the Lord told me, “Check the footnotes.” That’s it. That’s all he said. But I knew what he meant.

I had just read two polemical books attacking both neo-orthodoxy and charismatic theology. The books seemed fine to me. I was already well informed about the errors of neo-orthodoxy. I was less informed about charismatic belief.

When the Lord spoke those words, I was surprised, yes, but not too excited by that assignment! This is because I knew there were hundreds of footnotes in each book, and therefore it would take me months to get all the source material and read it.

So, no, God doesn’t always say what we want to hear. Ask Jeremiah. Ask Isaiah, ask Hosea, or other Old Testament prophets. But the point I’m focusing on here, without extending this anecdote and explaining how much this communication from the Lord benefited me, is that what the Lord says is clearly understood.

No surprise there, really, because from his first days in the galaxy to his first days in the garden, God’s voice could be distinguished from all others. Seldom was there any confusion in those who heard the voice, about where the voice originated and what it meant.

The fact that God spoke with Cain after he committed murder has to mean that hearing the voice of God isn’t reserved for super saints. Again, when God decides to speak, he speaks! And those to whom he speaks, hear him.

Spontaneous Thoughts
In addition to this way of hearing God speak, God can also speak though a flow of spontaneous thoughts that aren’t the product of reflection or research.

The Holy Spirit will simply function as a conduit to our spirit with a transmission of thought that didn’t originate with our brain and wasn’t the product of any prior thinking.

Inasmuch as Scripture tells us that Jesus has already been made wisdom unto us (I Corinthians 1:30), more than likely it is that wisdom, deposited in the recesses of our spirit, that is now being made persuasively intelligible to our “knower.”

Though there is no actual voice speaking during this type of communication, it is clearly cognitive, easily understood, and every bit as trustworthy as if it had been an actual voice.

There are no eerie, other-worldly phenomenon accompanying such communications. Just a spontaneous thought you knew didn’t come from you.

For me, this sometimes happens during the twilight of early morning and not long after a time of praying in tongues. Often, I’m given thoughts about a scripture I haven’t studied or meditated. The thought is clear, yet new to me, and suddenly in need of further scriptural study—a study I hadn’t planned to undertake.

Word of Knowledge
Occasionally, the Lord will also speak in a supernatural way through what some would call “a word of knowledge.” Jesus certainly did this to Nathaniel (John 1:48, 49), to the woman at the well (John 4:16-19), and to others (Mark 2:8; Luke 5:22) when he revealed information about them that was not gained through intellectual means.

Likewise, Peter communicated God’s word to Ananias in a supernatural way when Peter charged him with deceit (Acts 5:3, 4). There had been no human investigation uncovering that fact. It was God who told Peter what had occurred, just as he did to Samuel about what King Saul had done (I Samuel 15:10f.).

So is this phenomenon confined to New Testament days? No, and neither is it confined to charismatics! More than once the great Baptist preacher, Charles Spurgeon, interrupted his sermon to deliver a “word of knowledge.”

On one occasion, Spurgeon announced there was a young man in attendance who had stolen the gloves he was wearing from his employer.

On another occasion Spurgeon announced, “There is a man sitting here who is a shoemaker; he keeps his shop open on Sundays, it was open last Sunday morning. He took in nine pence and there was a four pence profit; he sold his soul to Satan for four pence.”⁴

At the conclusion of each service the person for whom that word was intended came forth and confessed.

I won’t focus on dreams, visions, and photographic snapshots that God gives, nor on prophecy given to us by others ostensibly from God, though they do relate to this topic. But at least now you have some idea of what to expect is correct when it comes to hearing the voice of God.

Notes:
1. Anthony A. Hoekema, Created in God’s Image, (Grand Rapids, MI., and Cambridge, UK, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1986), p.176.
2. G.D. Watson, Love Abounding, (Cincinnati, Ohio, God’s Revivalist Press, n.d.), p.7.
3. Larry Lea, The Hearing Ear, (Altamonte Springs, FL., Creation House, 1988), p.14.
4. Paul L. King, Moving Mountains, (Grand Rapids, MI., Chosen, 2004), p.53.