How can you know what God's voice is when you pray? I have an extremely hard time hearing Him even though I try. What is there that's hindering me from hearing Him when I pray?
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Help with prayer....
- Thread starter sbbqb7n16
- Start date
These are the things that can dull your ears to God's voice and leading:
Sin.
The Enemy.
Your Mind.
The first is the shortest spelled, but the greatest of importance. Sin. If you're walking in sin, in direct rebellion against God, you will not hear God very well if at all. There are places even in the bible where God gives people over to their reprobate minds because they sin all the time - sin which is offensive to Him, and it's impossible for these people to hear his voice unless they repent. Turn away and ask forgiveness for any unconfessed sin and immediately you will be forgiven, and your spirit cleansed! Sadly the enemy keeps us in bondage to a lie thinking we don't deserve forgiveness. What a stupid lie. Thankfully Jesus did all the work for us so that we have free access to the throne of God's grace - at anytime ... but... it's still our decision to go there and recieve it - and hence it is our responsibility to ask for the grace as we turn from our sin and back into love relationship with God.
The second is your mind. A mind has it's own will. Only when a mind is submitted to God will, will it ever get God's heart. Make the concious decision to submit your mind to the Lord's leading... trust Him. It is the lie of the enemy that says God will say something you don't like. Command the enemy to be silent and recieve the awesome word God has for you.
The third is the enemy. As the redeemed, we have authority in Jesus name over EVERY principality and puny power of darkness. Most often it is a "lie" that we confront as we seek to hear God. Rebuke the enemy in Jesus name and command the enemy to be silent. He must, and he will.
Now that we covered the bases, how can you know what God's voice is when you pray? When your heart is obedient to whatever love or praise it has to express in humility before God, and a willing obedience to the words it is given to pray. Often, when I pray with God's words, since He leads us in our prayers (isn't it awesome he knows the perfect prayers!) and usually it will be to pray for others, for specific things of His will - things which make total sense sometimes by some sudden revelation or understanding; or at times the meaning will be hidden, but God will still ask you to pray for something that you don't know quite sure what it means.
When all bases are covered, prayer is simply the expression of the trusted will of the Lord. Get God's heart for people, for situations, or ... hehe, just get God's heart. You'll be surprised and amazed at what He has to say about so many things - but most of all: how much he loves you.
Sin.
The Enemy.
Your Mind.
The first is the shortest spelled, but the greatest of importance. Sin. If you're walking in sin, in direct rebellion against God, you will not hear God very well if at all. There are places even in the bible where God gives people over to their reprobate minds because they sin all the time - sin which is offensive to Him, and it's impossible for these people to hear his voice unless they repent. Turn away and ask forgiveness for any unconfessed sin and immediately you will be forgiven, and your spirit cleansed! Sadly the enemy keeps us in bondage to a lie thinking we don't deserve forgiveness. What a stupid lie. Thankfully Jesus did all the work for us so that we have free access to the throne of God's grace - at anytime ... but... it's still our decision to go there and recieve it - and hence it is our responsibility to ask for the grace as we turn from our sin and back into love relationship with God.
The second is your mind. A mind has it's own will. Only when a mind is submitted to God will, will it ever get God's heart. Make the concious decision to submit your mind to the Lord's leading... trust Him. It is the lie of the enemy that says God will say something you don't like. Command the enemy to be silent and recieve the awesome word God has for you.
The third is the enemy. As the redeemed, we have authority in Jesus name over EVERY principality and puny power of darkness. Most often it is a "lie" that we confront as we seek to hear God. Rebuke the enemy in Jesus name and command the enemy to be silent. He must, and he will.
Now that we covered the bases, how can you know what God's voice is when you pray? When your heart is obedient to whatever love or praise it has to express in humility before God, and a willing obedience to the words it is given to pray. Often, when I pray with God's words, since He leads us in our prayers (isn't it awesome he knows the perfect prayers!) and usually it will be to pray for others, for specific things of His will - things which make total sense sometimes by some sudden revelation or understanding; or at times the meaning will be hidden, but God will still ask you to pray for something that you don't know quite sure what it means.
When all bases are covered, prayer is simply the expression of the trusted will of the Lord. Get God's heart for people, for situations, or ... hehe, just get God's heart. You'll be surprised and amazed at what He has to say about so many things - but most of all: how much he loves you.
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Hear audibly? Not necessarily, though I suppose it's possible. There are several people in the bible God spoke audibly too.
Can you hear His voice in your heart? Yes. Of course.
After all, His Word is written on our hearts... and whatever He shares through that Word is Himself speaking to us.
There are several ways to hear God speak (at least from my own experience):
the still quiet voice - your mind's voice is most often used by God to communicate to you if your heart is in the right place, because the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts.
a "leading" or "urging" in your heart - sometimes you just "know" what you need to do.
day-dreams, pictures in your mind, visions - some require interpretation by hearing him through the other means.
dreams - some require interpretation by hearing in through other means.
The Bible - God will illuminate the right scripture at the right time.
other people - God will use other people to share His Word with you right when you need it.
For further reading, may I suggest an article I found that might help. It goes a lot more in-depth to what I shared, and I found it on the internet one day (following the Lord's leading) as a confirmation of this same answer I gave to someone else a long time ago. I realized then that all that I wrote to him, and now you above, is confirmed by others too - and this article very nearly addresses everything I just mentioned!
http://www.layhands.com/HowToHearGodsVoice.htm
Can you hear His voice in your heart? Yes. Of course.
After all, His Word is written on our hearts... and whatever He shares through that Word is Himself speaking to us.
There are several ways to hear God speak (at least from my own experience):
the still quiet voice - your mind's voice is most often used by God to communicate to you if your heart is in the right place, because the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts.
a "leading" or "urging" in your heart - sometimes you just "know" what you need to do.
day-dreams, pictures in your mind, visions - some require interpretation by hearing him through the other means.
dreams - some require interpretation by hearing in through other means.
The Bible - God will illuminate the right scripture at the right time.
other people - God will use other people to share His Word with you right when you need it.
For further reading, may I suggest an article I found that might help. It goes a lot more in-depth to what I shared, and I found it on the internet one day (following the Lord's leading) as a confirmation of this same answer I gave to someone else a long time ago. I realized then that all that I wrote to him, and now you above, is confirmed by others too - and this article very nearly addresses everything I just mentioned!
http://www.layhands.com/HowToHearGodsVoice.htm
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Originally posted by Josephus
...Sin. If you're walking in sin, in direct rebellion against God, you will not hear God very well if at all... Turn away and ask forgiveness for any unconfessed sin and immediately you will be forgiven, and your spirit cleansed!
...
...Only when a mind is submitted to God will, will it ever get God's heart. Make the concious decision to submit your mind to the Lord's leading... trust Him...
...When your heart is obedient to whatever love or praise it has to express in humility before God, and a willing obedience to the words it is given to pray. Often, when I pray with God's words, since He leads us in our prayers (isn't it awesome he knows the perfect prayers!) and usually it will be to pray for others, for specific things of His will - things which make total sense sometimes by some sudden revelation or understanding; or at times the meaning will be hidden, but God will still ask you to pray for something that you don't know quite sure what it means...
... just get God's heart. You'll be surprised and amazed at what He has to say about so many things - but most of all: how much he loves you.
In response to the sin thing, how can I know if I'm sinning? If when I ask God to reveal it, I don't hear anything or feel anything, how do I know what to change?
I am trying to be submitted to God's will, but I don't know what that is, that's the problem!
I want to get it like Moses where it says He talked to him as a man "face to face." I want to know little things/ big things He wants me to do throughout the day, but I can't hear Him. And that frustrates me 
Do you know of anything that can help with these questions? Thanks for your help already, but please let me know if you have anything else I could learn. I'm checking out that article right now.
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Have you been baptised in the Holy Spirit? Have you recieved Him? Ask for the gift of the Holy Spirit, and for His presence to be with you... and He will.
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Are you talking about "pentacostally" or let's just say what do you mean? I'm baptist, so I've kinda been taught that that happens the moment you accept Christ. (which I have) and I have been baptised with water as a symbolic thing. I know that doesn't do any Holy Spirit baptism, but I have. SO what did you mean?
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The bible speaks in many places about people being filled with the Holy Spirit, or given the gift of the Holy Spirit, or baptized in the Holy Spirit.
A better question I should have asked is this: have you ever asked to recieve the Holy Spirit?
The Spirit of God dwells in every believer, yes, but there is a distinction between being indwelt with the Holy Spirit in that sense, and being "filled" with the Holy Spirit as see on countless occasions in the New Testament. If these conditions were one and the same, then the Disciples would have had no reason at all to "wait" for the Holy Spirit to "come" on the Feast of Weeks because they 'would already' have had it, because they were already believers. Jesus encourages to ask for the Holy Spirit when he tells us God won't give us a rock if we ask for a fish. God will give us the desires of our hearts.
From my, and the Apostle Paul's understanding, the "infilling" of the Holy Spirit is a necessary part of a believer's life. If you read in Acts, every time someone became a believer, they were baptised, and then recieved the Holy Spirit; or they recieved the Holy Spirit, and then were baptised - but all of them are believers before that process begins! Believers simply have access to the Holy Spirit by their relationship to Him as adopted children of God. But by being "filled" with Him, they are literally inviting Him to equip them as He sees fit for His work. This indwelling places the Lord as the center of your heart, and thus hearing Him becomes as simple as discerning what God has put on your heart.
With the indwelling of the Spirit, you've only allowed the Spirit to help give you understanding of truth by indirect revelation - like a teacher, or by reading the bible itself. With the infilling of the Holy Spirit, you are inviting Him to share whatever He wants with you, and equip you for His will in your life.
So that is why I ask, have you ever asked to recieve the Holy Spirit - to be filled with His presence, and to recieve the gifts He has to give you to do the work of His Kingdom - as the disciples encouraged new believers to seek after and "be filled with the Spirit"? God is an amazing God and He will give you all the desires of your heart when it lines up with His will, and it is certainly God's promised will to EVERY believer to have the gifts of the Holy Spirit (which is why Paul encouarged congregants to seek earnestly the gifts of the Holy Spirit).
A better question I should have asked is this: have you ever asked to recieve the Holy Spirit?
The Spirit of God dwells in every believer, yes, but there is a distinction between being indwelt with the Holy Spirit in that sense, and being "filled" with the Holy Spirit as see on countless occasions in the New Testament. If these conditions were one and the same, then the Disciples would have had no reason at all to "wait" for the Holy Spirit to "come" on the Feast of Weeks because they 'would already' have had it, because they were already believers. Jesus encourages to ask for the Holy Spirit when he tells us God won't give us a rock if we ask for a fish. God will give us the desires of our hearts.
From my, and the Apostle Paul's understanding, the "infilling" of the Holy Spirit is a necessary part of a believer's life. If you read in Acts, every time someone became a believer, they were baptised, and then recieved the Holy Spirit; or they recieved the Holy Spirit, and then were baptised - but all of them are believers before that process begins! Believers simply have access to the Holy Spirit by their relationship to Him as adopted children of God. But by being "filled" with Him, they are literally inviting Him to equip them as He sees fit for His work. This indwelling places the Lord as the center of your heart, and thus hearing Him becomes as simple as discerning what God has put on your heart.
With the indwelling of the Spirit, you've only allowed the Spirit to help give you understanding of truth by indirect revelation - like a teacher, or by reading the bible itself. With the infilling of the Holy Spirit, you are inviting Him to share whatever He wants with you, and equip you for His will in your life.
So that is why I ask, have you ever asked to recieve the Holy Spirit - to be filled with His presence, and to recieve the gifts He has to give you to do the work of His Kingdom - as the disciples encouraged new believers to seek after and "be filled with the Spirit"? God is an amazing God and He will give you all the desires of your heart when it lines up with His will, and it is certainly God's promised will to EVERY believer to have the gifts of the Holy Spirit (which is why Paul encouarged congregants to seek earnestly the gifts of the Holy Spirit).
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Well in that case....I'd guess it was supposed to be a definite event, so I'd have to say no I haven't. It's something I have wanted before, but don't know if I have or not. What would I need to do to change that? I mean how could I get an "infilling" as you called it?
I do know of spiritual gifts however and I do have an incredible gift of exhortation, somehow I can just encourage and comfort people with incredible ease. I don't know what all that stuff means, I'm only 17, but I want to find out ASAP to get my Christian life jumpstarted ASAP. So I repeat my question again....what needs to happen so I can have an infilling of the Spirit?
I do know of spiritual gifts however and I do have an incredible gift of exhortation, somehow I can just encourage and comfort people with incredible ease. I don't know what all that stuff means, I'm only 17, but I want to find out ASAP to get my Christian life jumpstarted ASAP. So I repeat my question again....what needs to happen so I can have an infilling of the Spirit?
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Nothing needs happen other than a sincere asking for the Holy Spirit. Invite Him in. He's waiting. It really is that simple.
The hearing of his voice takes practice. I suggest a modest exercise: get in a quiet area, free from distractions.
Invite the Holy Spirit to say whatever He wants to say.
Then be quiet. God will speak to your heart.
Most often your inner mind's voice will say something. You may be quick to doubt it because it sounds just like you, but keep going...it isn't you. God may lead you to read a scripture, you may see a picture or vision, you may even just feel like you're loved. Altogether, this is a start. After you've covered all the bases: sin, the enemy, yourself; only God remains. Trust that. Write what He says down. Write whatever you think you hear down too. From my experience and others, about 80% of what we hear is God. Some more, others a little less. It all deals with how willing you are to allowing yourself to hear whatever it is God may want to talk about... and it's not always necessarily what you want to talk about.
Often times, the first words God will share with someone in a way like this is a word having to do with your relationship with Him and He with you: he just loves you so much - and it's true! He might even thank you for taking the time... LOL - who knows but God? Allow him to say whatever he wants to say, and He will! It is guaranteed; and a promise to every believer. For we are His sheep, and we must learn to hear his voice.
I will pray that you hear from Him too. I expect it. Expect it too.
The hearing of his voice takes practice. I suggest a modest exercise: get in a quiet area, free from distractions.
Invite the Holy Spirit to say whatever He wants to say.
Then be quiet. God will speak to your heart.
Most often your inner mind's voice will say something. You may be quick to doubt it because it sounds just like you, but keep going...it isn't you. God may lead you to read a scripture, you may see a picture or vision, you may even just feel like you're loved. Altogether, this is a start. After you've covered all the bases: sin, the enemy, yourself; only God remains. Trust that. Write what He says down. Write whatever you think you hear down too. From my experience and others, about 80% of what we hear is God. Some more, others a little less. It all deals with how willing you are to allowing yourself to hear whatever it is God may want to talk about... and it's not always necessarily what you want to talk about.
Often times, the first words God will share with someone in a way like this is a word having to do with your relationship with Him and He with you: he just loves you so much - and it's true! He might even thank you for taking the time... LOL - who knows but God? Allow him to say whatever he wants to say, and He will! It is guaranteed; and a promise to every believer. For we are His sheep, and we must learn to hear his voice.
I will pray that you hear from Him too. I expect it. Expect it too.
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