How to Discern the voice of God in your daily life

When in your life, are you needing to hear God speak?

Many of us go about our days either having conversations with ourselves or with others to gain insight into our circumstances.

Maybe you had a conversation with your significant other that didn’t go as you had hoped? Maybe, you find yourself often overwhelmed by all the duties in the home? Or maybe, you have a child that’s struggling in school, and you’re feeling burdened by not knowing how to support them?

Whatever those circumstances are that you’re faced with daily, how often are you going to the Lord to hear what He wants to tell you and be lifted up in His truth?

It’s so easy not to call upon God when we have a problem we are facing and instead go to those around us, whose face we can see and whose presence we can immediately feel. But the problem is that we often trust what we are told by someone else without considering it with God, even though we live different lives with different callings than those around us.

It’s also easy to turn inward and start talking to ourselves, feeding ourselves messages to decipher what is best for us. But, the messages we speak into ourselves are often influenced by our negative experiences of our past, causing us to see the world through a protective lens.

The danger in all of this is that when we don’t seek God’s voice first, we can be lead away from the truth.

By allowing God to remove the lenses that we see the world through, and to give us new eyes, we can better walk in His truth and respond to our circumstances with the guidance of the Holy Spirit so that we can honour God in the choices we make.

^“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Matthew 6:31-33

So, what does it look like to discern the voice of God, and how do we make it a habit to go to Him first?

Recognizing that Jesus is our friend

When we picture Jesus, sometimes we can get stuck in the thinking of Him as no more than the radiant Lamb of God, who is way up in heaven and has already done His piece in our lives by saving us from our sins.

Though this is an important and true vision of our saviour, we can forget that He is actually walking daily with us through the Holy Spirit. And just as we lean into those deep friendships in our lives, He wants us to lean into Him.

Jesus came to earth not only to save us but also to be our friend. To love us, walk with us and speak truth into us. Though He has risen, He is still present in our daily lives, and the friendship is still active.

As conversations are an important piece to grow in our friendships, the Lord is inviting us to deepen our friendship with Him through conversation also.

He wants to answer those sometimes silly-sounding questions that we might be embarrassed to ask others but wrestle with inside ourselves. He wants to speak life into those circumstances that burden us and bring us pain. He wants to tell us that we are loved when we feel less than.

And sometimes, He simply wants to remind us that He is there and we are not alone.

“It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

Deuteronomy 31:8

Unlike other people in our lives, there is nothing we can say to God that would ruin the friendship and take it away. Our friendship with Him is a completely safe space to open up and share all that is in our hearts.

Pressing pause and going to prayer

Prayer is a vital piece in our relationship with God.

Unlike many in the old testament before Jesus came, who could only go through Priests to speak with God, we get to go to Him directly. We get to have that deep and personal conversation with Him through prayer.

Perhaps you have been modelled one form of prayer in your life? Something a little bit like this…

“Dear God, thank you for … help me to … In Jesus name, Amen.”

Maybe prayer looks like simply reciting The Lord’s Prayer before bed and then you’re off to sleep?

But just as we ask questions to those around us and listen for a response, we can also ask the Lord direct questions, quiet our minds and listen for His response.

The Lord speaks through prayer when we give Him an opportunity. But it’s up to us to press pause on whatever we are doing and go to Him in prayer to seek His voice.

This is where the opportunity to create a great habit comes forward.

What might it look like for you to create a habit and check in with God throughout your day to seek His voice?

Here are some great ideas to consider:

• Setting periodical alarms through your day to pause and check-in with God
• Asking a friend to check in and see if you’ve taken time to pray that day
• Sticky notes around your house
• Notes in your car
• Utilizing the “downtime” screen time on your phone to schedule time away from devices and remind yourself to fill that time with Him

I encourage you to give God the opportunity to speak to you each day. Trust and expect to hear from Him, because He has promised to walk with you in this way as it is His desire to lead your life.

How to discern the voice of God against other voices

It’s important to recognize all the voices that are calling to us each day as we can easily forget all that is influencing our thoughts and actions.

By being aware of these voices, we can better tune in to God’s voice and learn to block out the rest so that the more we lean into Him, the louder His voice will be in our lives.

There are 4 voices that we can experience hearing:

• God – the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
• World – voices of others
• Self – our own internal thinking, desires and rationalizing
• Evil one – Satan

In order to effectively block out all the voices apart from God’s, we need to pray and ask for help as we cannot do this on our own.

Here is an example prayer to allow God to be the filter:

“Lord Jesus Christ, in this moment, I surrender myself to You the best that I know how, especially my own thoughts and voice. Please silence the voices of other people and the enemy on my behalf. Please bind up and remove all that is not of You, from me and this place. I ask for Your complete protection now, especially the full Armor of God to be placed upon me and the blood of Jesus Christ to wash over this time. Please cleanse me of all sin and align me to Your Holy Spirit. Guide me in truth I pray, in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.”

When we pray and receive an answer, to properly discern whose voice we are hearing, we need to then test it by asking ourselves some questions.

How to discern if it’s God’s voice:

• Does what you sense align with Scripture? God will never contradict His word, which is why it’s imperative to be reading scripture daily and have it placed firmly in our hearts. We can test all things against scripture in the right context and trust that God will lead us through His truth.
• Does what you sense align with God’s Character and His Purposes? What do you know about who God is? His character? Take a look at the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 which tells us about God’s character.

How to discern if it’s the World/Others:

• Does it contradict God’s Word and His character?
• Does this align with your societal or cultural mindset(s) or practice(s)?
• Is this something you’ve heard or seen recently through ungodly media?

How to discern if it’s Yourself:

• Does it contradict God’s Word and His character?
• Is this your desire from a human level?
• Does it sound fearful, conflicting, condemning or self-centered?
• Is this something that is based on your emotional feelings?
• Is this being influenced based on experiences in your past (positive or negative)?

How to discern if it’s the Evil One:

• Is it deceiving, condemning, judgmental, confusing, nagging, tormenting?
• Does it contradict God’s Word and His character?

Here are some clear distinctions between God’s voice verses the evil one’s voice:

When you’ve made the distinction of whose voice you are listening to, you can respond by setting aside anything that is not from God. Once you have heard from God, you can pray for the Holy Spirits’ guidance for what steps you are being called to take.

Seeking guidance and wise counsel

God did not intend for us to walk our journey alone.

Although we should always seek to hear from God first and as the ultimate guide, there are times when we need insight, encouragement and truth from someone we can trust.

Even though it would be easy to go to our best friends or closest family members who know us well, it is wise to seek guidance from someone that has a deep relationship with God and a greater understanding of the Word to affirm the truth.

If you haven’t already, I encourage you to seek out support from someone that God is calling you to receive wise counsel.

Some people to consider might be:

• Pastor
• Lay Leader
• Counsellor
• Life Coach
• Bible Study Leader
• Seasoned Prayer Leader
• Mentor (someone older or more experienced in life)

I pray that as you grow deeper in your relationship with God and seek to discern the voice of God more clearly, that you will witness His great working power guiding you in all areas of your journey and that by leaning into Him, you will experience transformation in your heart and the life you are living.