Does it take years to hear God's voice after being saved?

[Far Side Of the Moon]

Is there a set time limit?

It seems for alot of Christian's they hear him instantly. Or it just doesn't take as long.

I have God's spirit, I've been baptized ...the whole 9

And I try to seek God...

But as I was studying today I just wondered... What is the point of doing all of this if Gods spirit doesn't move on what I'm learning or help me become a new person...?

And with that I stopped studying because it's like it's just me trying to reach up to God...and that's never going to work.

I'm just frustrated I never hear him or feel him leading me. It makes me question if I am his sheep because I can't hear him
And it's really annoying.

It makes me feel like what's the point of doing anything ? Because I need his help

But I can't feel or hear him.

So I wonder what's wrong with me?

Or is every relationship with God different?
I feel something is wrong becaueb my dry season has been too long

And I feel bored with the Bible ...

Yet I have so much zeal and passion and want to be used by God..

I just don't know what's wrong.

I see other people I admire who hear him very well and are lead. And just lead a spirit filled abundant Life.

I feel I've been blessed by God enough and I'd rather/want to seek God himself now.

But I feel I'm going nowhere.

I've been saved since 2010

Is this normal?

 

[Far Side Of the Moon]

I also think maybe this is just my personal walk with God?

 

[A_Thinker]

Is there a set time limit?

It seems for alot of Christian's they hear him instantly. Or it just doesn't take as long.

I have God's spirit, I've been baptized ...the whole 9

And I try to seek God...

But as I was studying today I just wondered... What is the point of doing all of this if Gods spirit doesn't move on what I'm learning or help me become a new person...?

And with that I stopped studying because it's like it's just me trying to reach up to God...and that's never going to work.

I'm just frustrated I never hear him or feel him leading me. It makes me question if I am his sheep because I can't hear him
And it's really annoying.

It makes me feel like what's the point of doing anything ? Because I need his help

But I can't feel or hear him.

So I wonder what's wrong with me?

Or is every relationship with God different?
I feel something is wrong becaueb my dry season has been too long

And I feel bored with the Bible ...

Yet I have so much zeal and passion and want to be used by God..

I just don't know what's wrong.

I see other people I admire who hear him very well and are lead. And just lead a spirit filled abundant Life.

I feel I've been blessed by God enough and I'd rather/want to seek God himself now.

But I feel I'm going nowhere.

I've been saved since 2010

Is this normal?

Continue to study ... store up His word in your heart.

He will used that store to speak to you.

Also, expect to hear from God ... and look for His answers in the world around you ...

 

[~Anastasia~]

Every relationship with God is different.

However it's somewhat common to have grace poured out (in whatever form/s that takes - it will vary) when one is a babe in Christ. God grants this special time almost always.

After that at some point begins the time of maturing when it is our faithfulness that must grow, and most feel a lessening of God's presence in various ways. Eight years in it is not at all unusual to feel like you're struggling for such things.

The length and nature of struggle is different for everyone. We all need different things to grow in Him. It is usually our faithfulness and our faith in Him and our cooperation in living a truly Christian life that get us through that part.

But what we receive from Him may or may not look like what we expect or wish for. It's best not to have exact expectations of God, because He will do what is best for us - and it might not be what we want.

 

[Darkhorse]

He will speak to you in His own time, and in His own way.

There is no "time requirement" after becoming a Christian; I suspect some people hear Him even before they make the commitment.

Don't expect to hear a big voice from the sky. More likely, you will get a gentle suggestion. Or maybe a firm reprimand. Or a friendly piece of advice.

The main thing to cultivate is listening...

 

[Far Side Of the Moon]

He will speak to you in His own time, and in His own way.

There is no "time requirement" after becoming a Christian; I suspect some people hear Him even before they make the commitment.

Don't expect to hear a big voice from the sky. More likely, you will get a gentle suggestion. Or maybe a firm reprimand. Or a friendly piece of advice.

The main thing to cultivate is listening...

I find he usually speaks to me through other people. However , it can be a bit problematic because if you can't hear him for yourself you can be easily lead astray.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Do you believe you are supposed to hear God's voice? If so, why? If the reason is because there are some Christians out there who say they have, why do you believe you are supposed to?

Define hearing God's voice.

In all frankness when I hear people claim that God spoke to them, that usually raises an alarm for me. We know where God is speaking--He speaks through His Word and Sacraments. When you hear the Gospel preached, that is God's word, you can be confident that this is God's word to you and for you. When you receive the Lord's Supper, you can be confident that, just as Christ said, this is His body broken for you, and His blood shed for you.

But at no point has God promised that we would hear a voice, or feel some particular feeling, or that we would have any specific kind of experience aside from the public, revealed works He already established through His Church.

If you have never "heard" God, that doesn't make you strange, that places you in the overwhelming and vast majority of Christians who have ever lived. And you shouldn't feel like you are missing out on something, because you aren't. God's word and promises are yours because He said so. You belong to Him because of His promises, because of His word, because Christ died for you, because the waters of Baptism, because the bread and wine of the Eucharist. Look to God's revealed and given means, these are how you know you belong to Jesus.

I am likewise confident that the vast majority of people who claim to have heard God speak to them haven't. Not that it is impossible for God to speak to someone should He will it to be, but there is no reason to put our faith in the feelings and subjective experiences of other people, but instead to put our faith in the objective truth of the Gospel, of the crucified and risen Jesus, of the external and objective reality of Word and Sacrament.

There are many people who think God has spoken to them, but there is no objective way to know whether it was God, themselves, or even worse, the devil. For even the devil would seek to appear as an angel of light. The devil is crafty enough to intersperse enough truth in his lies to sound good, but in reality leads away from the confidence and hope we have in Jesus. Leave it to the father of lies to manipulate the truth just enough so that our faith is taken off of Christ and upon something else--our selves, an experience, feelings, thoughts, anything other than Jesus Himself. Therefore, do not seek to find God in the empty silence of human emotion and experience; instead rest assured that God is always present in His Word and Sacraments for you.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[~Anastasia~]

I find he usually speaks to me through other people. However , it can be a bit problematic because if you can't hear him for yourself you can be easily lead astray.

Some people are also led astray thinking they are hearing God.

Discernment is key.

And sometimes God helps us and teaches us and discernment is fairly easy. "His sheep know His voice." But sometimes God lets people be tested and very fine discernment is needed - which people at various levels spiritually can fail. I don't know His reason in each case for allowing testing. But we must always be very careful with what we "hear". Delusion and deception are actually quite rampant.

 

[Darkhorse]

There are many people who think God has spoken to them, but there is no objective way to know whether it was God, themselves, or even worse, the devil. For even the devil would seek to appear as an angel of light. The devil is crafty enough to intersperse enough truth in his lies to sound good, but in reality leads away from the confidence and hope we have in Jesus. Leave it to the father of lies to manipulate the truth just enough so that our faith is taken off of Christ and upon something else--our selves, an experience, feelings, thoughts, anything other than Jesus Himself. Therefore, do not seek to find God in the empty silence of human emotion and experience; instead rest assured that God is always present in His Word and Sacraments for you.

-CryptoLutheran

Interesting that you would mention this...

I was about to say that a time may come when you have difficulty discerning God's voice from Satan's. That's when your study of the Scriptures comes in. God will never lead you in a direction contrary to the mainstream of Scripture, but He may very well surprise you by overturning social expectations.

 

[GTW27]

Is there a set time limit?

It seems for alot of Christian's they hear him instantly. Or it just doesn't take as long.

I have God's spirit, I've been baptized ...the whole 9

And I try to seek God...

But as I was studying today I just wondered... What is the point of doing all of this if Gods spirit doesn't move on what I'm learning or help me become a new person...?

And with that I stopped studying because it's like it's just me trying to reach up to God...and that's never going to work.

I'm just frustrated I never hear him or feel him leading me. It makes me question if I am his sheep because I can't hear him
And it's really annoying.

It makes me feel like what's the point of doing anything ? Because I need his help

But I can't feel or hear him.

So I wonder what's wrong with me?

Or is every relationship with God different?
I feel something is wrong becaueb my dry season has been too long

And I feel bored with the Bible ...

Yet I have so much zeal and passion and want to be used by God..

I just don't know what's wrong.

I see other people I admire who hear him very well and are lead. And just lead a spirit filled abundant Life.

I feel I've been blessed by God enough and I'd rather/want to seek God himself now.

But I feel I'm going nowhere.

I've been saved since 2010

Is this normal?

Blessings to you in Christ Jesus. I know you believe in the spiritual Gifts for today, because you stood with me against the naysayers. In your next prayer ask Him and say, Lord(or Father) I know that you are with me and I would ask you to open my ears and still my mind to hear you clearly. This I ask in Jesus Holy Name. Thank you for granting my petition. Amen.

 

[Jeshu]

The main source Jesus uses to speak to me is The Bible. He uses the the truth of the word to guide us most of all. Getting bored with Scripture may mean that you have not yet found His voice in The Word and have some growing to do with that regard.

The best thing to do is to take the word as a personal address from God to you and all the forces that live in your heart both good and bad. The bible as the living word to know. Basically this means that you internalise the bible and seek His guidance from within through the word and in His Spirit of love and truth. When The Word guides and keeps you then you know you hear the voice of God in your life.

The second source God uses to speak to use is through nature. Nature tells us lots of things about our Creator that are good to know. God is The Truth that is not only some truth set apart from us but rather everything that is truthfully true has its origin in Him and is from Him.

And thirdly God works through people and the truth of their lives. Good and faithful are the ones to listen to and follow, bad and dysfunctional, or evil and untrustworthy, are the people to be warned about.

All the best getting to know The Word in your life. He turned out to be my very best Friend.



The Living Word Saves
Meeting Jesus down in my deepest Pit
brought an end to all my inner pain
For lovingly The Word made me fit
to have my Good Life back again.

First The Farmer pulled up my weeds
digging up the dirt and rocks within me
then lovingly sowing His Good Seeds
in time harvesting me most abundantly!

Yes The Word's Voice in Spirit of Love
The Living Word brought me under His care
His love dwelling within me from up above
His everlasting Good Life with me to share.

So please do from your pit walk away
also farming His Good Life in your soul
finding New Life in God's Truth today
The LIVING WORD your constant goal.

 

[Serving Zion]

I find he usually speaks to me through other people. However , it can be a bit problematic because if you can't hear him for yourself you can be easily lead astray.

God is spirit, and He is not the only spirit that can speak to us! .. so first of all a person needs to develop an understanding of what a spirit is before they can be confident to say that God doesn't speak to them .. remember, Jesus said "have I been with you so long, Philip, and you say to me "show me The Father"? .. anyone who has seen me has seen The Father!" .. so even Philip, after having been with Jesus for so long and had in fact seen The Father speaking through Him, still had not recognised Him.

So for this reason, I think you should relax a lot more about it, and trust Him to guide you into that place of knowledge where your discernment of the spiritual will give you the confidence to testify of what you know.

"Let no one disqualify you by insisting on false humility and worship of angels—going into detail about what he has seen, puffed up without cause by his fleshly mind."

 

[bekkilyn]

It might help you to read a book called Celebration of Discipline, by Richard Foster.

 

[Far Side Of the Moon]

Some people are also led astray thinking they are hearing God.

Discernment is key.

And sometimes God helps us and teaches us and discernment is fairly easy. "His sheep know His voice." But sometimes God lets people be tested and very fine discernment is needed - which people at various levels spiritually can fail. I don't know His reason in each case for allowing testing. But we must always be very careful with what we "hear". Delusion and deception are actually quite rampant.

I agree...that's why I feel like a lame sheep. I can't hear or feel. So I could go anywhere... Or anyone could tell me anything.....

I really don't know.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

I agree...that's why I feel like a lame sheep. I can't hear or feel. So I could go anywhere... Or anyone could tell me anything.....

I really don't know.

John 10:27,Revelation 14:4 KJV - My sheep hear my voice, and I know ...
www . biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+10:27,Revelation...

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

John 10:27-29 TLB - My sheep recognize my voice, and I know - Bible ...
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+10:27-29&version...
My sheep recognize my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish.


www . biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel+34&version=MSG

Ezekiel 34 The Message (MSG)
When the Sheep Get Scattered

34 1-6 God’s Message came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherd-leaders of Israel. Yes, prophesy! Tell those shepherds, ‘God, the Master, says: Doom to you shepherds of Israel, feeding your own mouths! Aren’t shepherds supposed to feed sheep? You drink the milk, you make clothes from the wool, you roast the lambs, but you don’t feed the sheep. You don’t build up the weak ones, don’t heal the sick, don’t doctor the injured, don’t go after the strays, don’t look for the lost. You bully and badger them. And now they’re scattered every which way because there was no shepherd—scattered and easy pickings for wolves and coyotes. Scattered—my sheep!—exposed and vulnerable across mountains and hills. My sheep scattered all over the world, and no one out looking for them!

7-9 “‘Therefore, shepherds, listen to the Message of God: As sure as I am the living God—Decree of God, the Master—because my sheep have been turned into mere prey, into easy meals for wolves because you shepherds ignored them and only fed yourselves, listen to what God has to say:

10 “‘Watch out! I’m coming down on the shepherds and taking my sheep back. They’re fired as shepherds of my sheep. No more shepherds who just feed themselves! I’ll rescue my sheep from their greed. They’re not going to feed off my sheep any longer!

11-16 “‘God, the Master, says: From now on, I myself am the shepherd. I’m going looking for them. As shepherds go after their flocks when they get scattered, I’m going after my sheep. I’ll rescue them from all the places they’ve been scattered to in the storms. I’ll bring them back from foreign peoples, gather them from foreign countries, and bring them back to their home country. I’ll feed them on the mountains of Israel, along the streams, among their own people. I’ll lead them into lush pasture so they can roam the mountain pastures of Israel, graze at leisure, feed in the rich pastures on the mountains of Israel. And I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep. I myself will make sure they get plenty of rest. I’ll go after the lost, I’ll collect the strays, I’ll doctor the injured, I’ll build up the weak ones and oversee the strong ones so they’re not exploited.

 

[bcbsr]

Is there a set time limit?

It seems for alot of Christian's they hear him instantly. Or it just doesn't take as long.

I have God's spirit, I've been baptized ...the whole 9

And I try to seek God...

But as I was studying today I just wondered... What is the point of doing all of this if Gods spirit doesn't move on what I'm learning or help me become a new person...?

And with that I stopped studying because it's like it's just me trying to reach up to God...and that's never going to work.

I'm just frustrated I never hear him or feel him leading me. It makes me question if I am his sheep because I can't hear him
And it's really annoying.

It makes me feel like what's the point of doing anything ? Because I need his help

But I can't feel or hear him.

So I wonder what's wrong with me?

Or is every relationship with God different?
I feel something is wrong becaueb my dry season has been too long

And I feel bored with the Bible ...

Yet I have so much zeal and passion and want to be used by God..

I just don't know what's wrong.

I see other people I admire who hear him very well and are lead. And just lead a spirit filled abundant Life.

I feel I've been blessed by God enough and I'd rather/want to seek God himself now.

But I feel I'm going nowhere.

I've been saved since 2010

Is this normal?

My guess is that you're not applying what you already know, so He's not revealing more. Jesus said, "Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." John 14:21 Revelation, and love, is a function of application. So get to it. Identify commands, like in the New Testament letters to Christians, and start applying them.

 

[~Anastasia~]

I agree...that's why I feel like a lame sheep. I can't hear or feel. So I could go anywhere... Or anyone could tell me anything.....

I really don't know.

It is safest in my opinion to never let anyone have the authority over you that you give to God's own voice. Anyone who comes to you desiring to have that kind of authority and saying they speak for God - I would run the other way.

If someone comes and simply offers you some encouragement or compassion, that is safe enough. God has told us to treat others with love.

And there can be a place when you are trying to make a decision, seek God prayerfully and also seek counsel from those you consider to be mature in the faith, Christlike and humble and seeking to follow God. Put together what you know of God's nature and Scriptural principles, the wisdom offered by your godly counselors, and so on, and make your decision.

But I would advise anyone to NOT go about seeking to "hear from God" either in their own experience or through others. It makes you too vulnerable to authority that might not be of God.

If God wants to make you to be aware of something, He can do that. In whatever way He might choose. But be careful of having particular expectations and be careful of people who claim to speak for Him. In my experience those who "hear" the best tend to talk about it the least.

 

[Serving Zion]

It is safest in my opinion to never let anyone have the authority over you that you give to God's own voice. Anyone who comes to you desiring to have that kind of authority and saying they speak for God - I would run the other way.

If someone comes and simply offers you some encouragement or compassion, that is safe enough. God has told us to treat others with love.

And there can be a place when you are trying to make a decision, seek God prayerfully and also seek counsel from those you consider to be mature in the faith, Christlike and humble and seeking to follow God. Put together what you know of God's nature and Scriptural principles, the wisdom offered by your godly counselors, and so on, and make your decision.

But I would advise anyone to NOT go about seeking to "hear from God" either in their own experience or through others. It makes you too vulnerable to authority that might not be of God.

If God wants to make you to be aware of something, He can do that. In whatever way He might choose. But be careful of having particular expectations and be careful of people who claim to speak for Him. In my experience those who "hear" the best tend to talk about it the least.

It is possible to go too far this way too, and to shut out the voice of God, to rely upon one's own understanding instead. Jesus said "if anyone comes telling you that Messiah is here or there, don't go after them, because just as the lightning flashes in the East and is seen in the West, so it is when the son of man comes". I have met people who, though Jesus is in our midst, they have allowed their eyes and ears to become dull so that they cannot see Him or hear Him, to turn and be healed.

This is good advice for you though OP, because "My sheep know my voice, and they will not follow a stranger but they will flee from the stranger's voice". Anastasia has mentioned that the voice of God is found in the spirit of love. Christ has control over His appearance, as we have control over our trust for Him.

 

[Hazelelponi]

I heard God's voice when i was saved (immediately following); He told me what He was, and what I was to HIM. This was VERY significant for me and it changed EVERYTHING - even everything I thought about Christianity. Perhaps somewhat of a course correction you could say.

Thing is, God speaks to us as individuals, and we are all different. What i needed to know you dont.. Certainly God doesn't speak all the time; worshipping God is about the doing, not about the feeling...

We don't need to feel, and many (if not most) times we won't. It's not about feeling - it's about following Christ because it's right, because God loves us, and chose us.. because he's our God.. not because he's some touchy feely lover. That's earthly.

If your faithful in little, then perhaps God will give you more.

 

[Far Side Of the Moon]

I heard God's voice when i was saved (immediately following); He told me what He was, and what I was to HIM. This was VERY significant for me and it changed EVERYTHING - even everything I thought about Christianity. Perhaps somewhat of a course correction you could say.

Thing is, God speaks to us as individuals, and we are all different. Certainly God doesn't speak to me all the time; worshipping God is about the doing, not about the feeling...

We don't need to feel, and many (if not most) times we won't. It's not about feeling - it's about following Christ because it's right, because God loves us, and chose us.. because he's our God.. not because he's some touchy feely lover. That's earthly.

If your faithful in little, then perhaps God will give you more.

I guess i'll keep doing what I know..and that's reading and praying ..ect