Do you struggle with hearing God’s voice?
Maybe you’ve prayed and asked God for direction but weren’t sure if the thought that came to you was really Him.
Maybe you believed God told you to do something, acted on it, and things didn’t work out the way you expected.
Now you’re wondering:
Was that really God? Was that just me? How can I tell the difference?
These are questions Christians have wrestled with for generations.
There are even believers today who question whether God still speaks personally to His people at all. Some believe that because we have the written Word of God, we should no longer expect God to lead or speak to us personally through His Spirit.
But I think we need to ask a simple question:
When did God stop speaking?
The Bible presents a God who speaks.
He spoke creation into existence. He spoke to men and women throughout Scripture. He directed them, warned them, encouraged them, corrected them, and comforted them.
Hebrews 13:8 tells us:
“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”
I believe God is still speaking today.
And more importantly, I believe you can learn to recognize His voice.
Does God Still Speak to Us Today?
One of the most important things I’ve learned in my walk with God is that hearing Him isn’t reserved for a special class of Christians.
It isn’t only for pastors, missionaries, prophets, or people who have been Christians for decades.
Romans 8:14 says:
“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”
Being led by the Spirit isn’t presented as an unusual experience for a handful of extraordinary Christians. It is part of our relationship with God.
The problem many of us experience isn’t necessarily that God isn’t speaking.
We haven’t learned to recognize how He speaks.
For several years, I attended the Family Prayer Center under Pastor Dave Roberson. One of the things I learned during those years was how to fellowship with the Holy Spirit, recognize His leadership, and become more sensitive to His voice.
Over time, I began recognizing patterns in how God communicated with me.
And one of the most important was what I call the inner witness.
1. Learn to Recognize the Inner Witness of the Holy Spirit
Romans 8:16 says:
“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.”
Think about the word witness.
In a courtroom, a witness testifies about something he has seen or heard. His testimony provides evidence concerning what happened.
In a similar way, the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit.
There is an internal knowing.
Sometimes I’ve described it as a green light or a red light.
You may be considering a decision and suddenly there is something inside you that says:
Yes. This is right. Go this direction.
It may not be an audible voice.
You simply know.
At other times, the exact opposite happens.
Everything may look right naturally, but something inside you hesitates.
Something doesn’t seem right.
That’s when you need to stop.
Instead of immediately moving forward, take some time and ask:
“Holy Spirit, is that You? Or am I simply afraid or insecure about this?”
Then become quiet enough to listen.
2. Don’t Judge God’s Direction Only by the Outcome
This is extremely important.
Sometimes Christians believe that if they obey God, everything should immediately work out perfectly.
I’ve learned that isn’t always true.
There was a time when I was pastoring a church in Guthrie, Oklahoma. I had been there about four years when I believed the Lord was leading me to leave.
So I left.
I didn’t have another job waiting for me.
I simply believed I was obeying the direction of the Holy Spirit.
And afterward, we experienced some difficult times.
Someone looking only at the circumstances might have said:
“Maybe you missed God.”
But you cannot always determine whether you heard God correctly simply by examining the immediate results.
Why?
Because our definition of success may not always be God’s definition of success.
Sometimes God is accomplishing something inside of us that we don’t recognize yet.
He may be teaching us.
He may be preparing us.
He may be developing our faith.
He may be teaching us to recognize His voice.
And what feels like a detour today may be preparing us for something we will need years from now.
3. The Holy Spirit Knows What You Don’t Know
This is why learning to recognize the inner witness matters so much when making decisions.
We often make decisions based entirely on the information available to us.
But the Holy Spirit has information we don’t have.
He sees the entire picture.
We don’t.
You may look at a job opportunity, relationship, ministry opportunity, financial decision, or major life change and conclude that it makes perfect sense.
But there may be something inside saying:
Wait.
Don’t ignore that simply because everything looks good on paper.
Invite the Holy Spirit into the decision.
Ask Him:
“Help me see what I don’t see. Help me know what is right. Show me the direction You want me to take.”
God wants us to learn to walk with Him.
4. Learn to Recognize the Inner Voice
The inner witness and the inner voice can sometimes be closely connected.
As you become more familiar with the Holy Spirit, that internal witness can become so clear that it almost seems to have words attached to it.
I remember experiencing this years ago while working at a manufacturing job in Tulsa.
My job involved measuring and cutting wires. It wasn’t complicated work, so I often spent that time praying in tongues and fellowshipping with God.
At the time, I had been praying about another job opportunity.
Taking it would require extensive travel throughout the United States, and I wasn’t certain whether it was the right direction.
One day, while measuring a piece of wire, I heard these words on the inside:
“Follow My lead and you’ll succeed.”
Along with those words came an internal knowing.
Suddenly I knew:
I’m supposed to take this job.
There was peace and excitement attached to it.
I accepted the position.
That experience helped me understand that sometimes God’s direction comes not through an audible voice but through that internal place where His Spirit communicates with ours.
5. God’s Direction Will Agree With His Written Word
This is an essential safeguard when learning how to hear God’s voice.
If you believe God has spoken something to you, it should never contradict Scripture.
There may not be a Bible verse describing your exact situation.
The Bible probably isn’t going to tell you the name of the company you should work for or which city you should move to.
But God’s direction will be consistent with His revealed character and His written Word.
If someone tells me, “God told me…” and what follows directly contradicts Scripture, then we already have a problem.
God isn’t going to contradict Himself.
The Holy Spirit inspired the written Word, so His present leadership will not oppose what He has already revealed.
Mature Christians can also help us discern what we’re hearing.
There have been times when I’ve shared something I believed God was saying, and another believer immediately recognized the witness of the Holy Spirit.
That doesn’t replace Scripture or your own relationship with God.
But it can provide valuable confirmation.
6. Don’t Make an Idol Out of What God Told You Yesterday
This was one of the hardest lessons I had to learn.
There was a time when I believed God directed me to start my own business.
So I did.
I worked at that business for several years.
It never became as financially successful as I had hoped, but I remained convinced:
God told me to start this business.
Eventually, I began sensing that I was supposed to leave the business and go work for someone else.
I rejected the thought.
Why?
Because God told me to start the business!
I became so committed to what God had previously said that I wasn’t willing to hear anything different.
Months passed.
The business was barely producing anything for my family.
I was praying, rebuking the devil, taking authority over lack, and believing for the situation to turn around.
Then the Lord confronted me:
“Why won’t you do what I told you?”
I was shocked.
What did He mean?
I was doing what He told me!
Then I understood:
Yes, He had told me to start the business.
But now He was telling me to leave it.
That experience taught me something I’ve never forgotten:
Don’t become so committed to yesterday’s direction that you stop listening to God today.
If God hasn’t given you new direction, continue doing what He last told you.
But remain sensitive to His leadership.
Seasons change.
Assignments change.
And sometimes the Holy Spirit says:
Now I want you to go this way.
7. God’s Route May Not Be a Straight Line
We learn in school that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.
That’s mathematically true.
But I’ve discovered that God’s path for our lives doesn’t always look like a straight line.
Imagine God tells you He’s taking you from point A to point B.
Naturally, you expect this:
A → B
But instead, God takes you over here.
Then over there.
Then somewhere else.
You may start wondering:
“God, where are You taking me?”
But perhaps there is something you need to learn over here.
There is someone you need to meet over there.
There is something that needs to develop inside you somewhere else.
Then, when you finally arrive at point B, you’re equipped to do what God called you to do there.
The fastest route isn’t necessarily the route that prepares you for your destination.
That’s another reason we need to learn to recognize the Holy Spirit’s leadership.
8. Praying in the Spirit Can Help You Recognize Your Spirit
One of the most practical things I’ve learned about recognizing spiritual direction is spending time praying in the Spirit.
First Corinthians 14:14 says:
“For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.”
Notice what Paul says:
My spirit prays.
When you’re praying in other tongues, those words aren’t originating from your natural understanding.
As you consistently spend time praying in the Spirit, you can begin recognizing that place inside you from which those words originate.
That helps you become more familiar with your human spirit.
And that’s important because we have thoughts coming from many places.
We experience thoughts connected to:
- fear,
- stress,
- excitement,
- circumstances,
- emotions,
- natural reasoning.
But there are also things that arise from our spirit.
We need to learn to distinguish between them.
A Practical Exercise for Recognizing Your Spirit
Here’s something you can practice.
Spend several minutes praying in other tongues.
Don’t rush.
Allow yourself to get into a steady flow of prayer.
Then stop speaking.
You may still recognize those words or syllables forming inside you even though you’re no longer speaking them aloud.
Pay attention to where they’re originating.
Then begin praying again.
After a while, stop again.
Become familiar with that internal place.
Over time, this can help you recognize what I was taught to call the channel through which you communicate with God—the human spirit.
9. God Can Confirm His Direction
I’ve seen this happen repeatedly concerning my calling to Africa.
When I first began talking about what I believed God had spoken to me concerning Africa, the magnitude of it intimidated me.
It seemed far beyond anything I could accomplish.
On one occasion, I told someone:
“The Lord said to me, ‘I’ve given you the continent of Africa.’”
He responded that when I said it, his spirit laughed.
There was a witness.
Another time, I shared the same calling with a friend.
As I spoke, the presence of God filled the room.
My friend recognized something happening spiritually and told me how deeply it had blessed him.
Those experiences didn’t create the calling.
But they helped confirm what I already believed God had spoken.
And over the years, that calling has continued to unfold.
10. Sometimes God’s Direction Begins as a Desire
Not everything God has led me to do began with a dramatic voice.
Our decision concerning Africa in 2027 is an example.
My wife and I made a commitment to spend an extended period in Kenya and Africa.
Initially, it didn’t come as a loud internal voice saying exactly what to do.
It began more like an inner desire and commitment.
But once I said yes, more began to unfold.
The Holy Spirit began showing me things about the work ahead.
The vision began expanding.
And I had to remember something God had already spoken to me:
The calling wasn’t merely Kenya. It was Africa.
As I allowed myself to consider the possibilities across the continent, I began seeing pictures internally—things concerning people, ministry, training, projects, and the work ahead.
This is another way I’ve experienced God’s leadership.
Sometimes He gives us pictures or visions in our spirit.
And often those pictures come together with the inner witness, Scripture, peace, and other forms of confirmation.
How Can I Know if It’s Really God?
There isn’t one mechanical formula that eliminates the need for relationship.
That’s important.
Hearing God isn’t supposed to become a technique disconnected from knowing Him.
We learn someone’s voice by spending time with them.
Jesus said:
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” — John 10:27
The more time you spend fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit, praying, reading Scripture, and responding to His leadership, the more familiar His voice becomes.
You learn His character.
You recognize His gentleness.
You recognize His correction.
You begin noticing His inner witness.
And when something doesn’t sound like your Shepherd, you learn not to follow it.
What If I’ve Missed God Before?
You probably have.
I have too.
Don’t allow past mistakes to convince you that you can’t hear God.
Learning involves growth.
There were people who came to the prayer center saying:
“I can’t hear God. I don’t know what He wants from me.”
The instruction was simple:
Spend time praying in the Spirit.
And after consistently doing that, many of those same people eventually had a different problem.
Instead of saying:
“I can’t hear God,”
they were saying:
“I heard God—and you won’t believe what He said!”
They hadn’t convinced God to finally start talking.
They had become more familiar with His voice.
God Wants to Lead You
I want to leave you with this:
God isn’t trying to hide His will from you.
He wants you to know Him.
He wants you to walk with Him.
He wants you to recognize His leadership.
You may not hear an audible voice.
You may experience an inner witness.
You may recognize an inner voice.
He may illuminate something in Scripture.
He may confirm something through another mature believer.
He may place a picture or vision inside your spirit.
But as you spend time with Him, you’ll become increasingly familiar with how He leads you.
So if you’re asking:
“How do I hear God’s voice?”
Start with relationship.
Spend time in His Word.
Spend time praying.
Spend time praying in the Spirit.
Become familiar with that inner witness.
And when He leads you, follow.
Then keep listening.
Because the God who spoke in the beginning…
is still speaking today.
Ready to Go Deeper?
If this teaching helped you, I invite you to watch the full video where I share more of my personal experiences learning to recognize God’s voice and the leadership of the Holy Spirit.
And if you’d like to receive more biblical teachings, prayer encouragement, and stories of what God is doing across Africa, join the Burning Truth Africa family.
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