Hi there,
If a new convert was to to say to you, that they cant hear God's voice, what advice would you give?
I love these kind of questions!
1) My parents growing up would have been thrown for the loop on this one. (Cessianism etc. seemed to be the norm in the church's and parochial schools I attended).
But I believe you should have some sense of God in your life, especially when it comes to life decisions and general direction in life as far as "What is God's will for your life" etc. And that we at different times can experience God speaking to us, leading us etc.
I do however worry about some Charismatics who seem to read spiritual significance to almost everything especially dreams. That can lead to lots of problems of people being weird, erratic, etc. moreover if it seems to actually go beyond a lot of the Biblical norms and examples of Divine guidance and revelation.
There are two Coptic sermons that cover this issue really well
2) Advice from "Finding the Strength to Go On"
My favorite Coptic sermon, is one that I listen to a lot and I really seem to recommend a lot for people going through tough times.
\ There are lots of good pieces of advice for life in general. For the OP the priest strongly recommends having a quiet time each day. Which is kind of standard advice in this area, he of course mentions it more in terms of people experiencing problems in life that they have not spiritually prepared for, being like a person that has the power go out and they do not know where the flash lights, candles and other emergency preparation materials are in their house.
\ But we are strongly encouraged to have a quiet time of devotion, prayer reading the Bible etc. to gain a sense of God in our lives, as a general everyday practice and discipline.
\ Fasting also is a discipline that is done and can aid this, but getting away from the things that distract us, even more than food. (The sermon doesn't mention this but comes from my other experience and study).
3) Finding God's Will for your life
There is another sermon series where the same Coptic presbyter teaches on Spiritual direction etc. "Finding God's Will for your life". According to him, 95% of God's will for your life is easy to find, and it comes from 2 sources.
The 95% of God's will for your life
A) The Bible lays out the majority of God's will for your life when it comes to how we should behave, and generally live our lives.
B) Providence. There are some problems and issues that seem to resist prayer and all our best efforts at prayer. These issues can often be the work of Providence, aka the hand or will of God. Like the apostle Paul speaking of "thorns in the flesh". Rather than kicking against the goads etc. it is generally advised to accept these things and move on. At some time, we may find their is some kind of hidden benefit or reason for the thing in question.
The last time 5%
We get the last 5% from our devotion time with God. The more we pray, read the Bible, meditate on the things of God etc. that is kind of like shaking a can full of soda, where the foam rises to the top, but in this case the foam is inspiration, illumination, revelation etc. from the Holy Spirit on God's will for our life, how to handle a particular problem, God pulling us to go in a certain direction etc.
4) Besides this I would give the advice to the person to look for "The Still Small Voice" inside them when they pray. Like the famous story, God often speaks to us more in subtle ways than in very flashy and dramatic ways. It's is for this reason we should do things like guard our conscience from sin to not be insensitive to these kind of subtle messages. Besides that we should prayerfully consider the advice and counsel of our friends, family, church members and other folks that love us and care about us because God often can speak through them to us. And the same can be true of rebukes from other people who are less fond of us.
