Tag Archives: joyce meyer

How to Hear the Voice of God

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One of my favorite posts I wrote in 2021 was about hearing the voice of God. Looking back at it now, I realize how much my understanding has grown.

For many people, especially those who aren’t Christians, the idea of “hearing the voice of God” sounds strange—maybe even a little crazy. They picture an audible voice from heaven or someone claiming God told them something dramatic.

But that’s not what I mean.

I believe God is speaking far more often than we realize. The real question isn’t whether He is speaking. The question is whether our hearts and minds are positioned to hear Him.

When I was first learning to discern God’s voice from my own thoughts, I relied heavily on a checklist I learned from Joyce Meyer’s book How to Hear the Voice of God. It was incredibly helpful because it taught me to ask questions like:

  • Does this line up with Scripture?
  • Have I received confirmation from trusted believers or unexpected circumstances?
  • Does this reflect God’s character?

Those questions are still valuable. They can protect us from confusing our own desires with God’s leading.

But over time, I’ve realized that hearing God isn’t about mastering a checklist.

It’s about maintaining a relationship.

Think about someone you love deeply. You don’t have to wonder if it’s their voice every time they call. After enough conversations, you recognize it because you’ve spent time with them.

The same is true with God.

The more time you spend with Him, the more familiar His voice becomes.

That doesn’t happen overnight. It happens through consistency.

Reading His Word. Praying. Sitting quietly. Obeying what He’s already shown you. Paying attention throughout your day. None of those things have to take hours, but they do need to become a regular part of your life.

That’s how you build the muscle of discernment.

Little by little, God’s voice becomes easier to recognize, and the other voices become easier to filter out.

The voice of fear.

The voice of your inner critic.

The voice of social media.

The voice of culture telling you who you should be.

The voice of comparison.

Paul writes in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Renewing our minds isn’t just about thinking more positively. It’s about replacing the world’s messages with God’s truth until His voice becomes the one we naturally recognize.

I’ve also learned that God often speaks in ordinary ways. Through His Word. Through conviction from the Holy Spirit. Through wise counsel. Through recurring lessons that keep showing up until we finally pay attention. Sometimes we spend months asking God for a new answer when He’s waiting for us to obey the last thing He already showed us.

God isn’t trying to hide from us.

He wants to be known.

But He also won’t force a relationship.

He’s a filler, not a forcer. He fills the space we intentionally make for Him, but He won’t compete with every distraction we choose instead.

That makes me think of Pharaoh. The Bible repeatedly talks about his hardened heart. God gave him opportunity after opportunity to respond, but he kept resisting. I wonder how often we do the same. Not because we don’t believe God can speak, but because we’ve allowed our hearts to become distracted, busy, fearful, or simply unwilling to listen.

If you’re struggling to hear God’s voice today, maybe don’t start by asking Him to say something new.

Instead, ask yourself:

Have I created space to hear Him?

Am I spending enough time with Him to recognize His voice?

Is there something He’s already been trying to show me that I’ve overlooked?

The beautiful thing is that God isn’t waiting for us to get everything right before He speaks. He’s inviting us into a relationship where, over time, His voice becomes more familiar than all the others.

Reflection Question

What voice has been the loudest in your life lately, and what is one practical way you can make more room to hear God’s voice this week?

Until next time,

Dominique

Is God tired of my prayer?

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Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. Isaiah 40:28 NLT

God will never get tired of your prayers. He isn’t like us. He is slow to anger. Time to God is not like time to us. He wants us to be persistent. You can ask the same thing as much as you want. Continuously praying keeps you focused on him.

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Is this how you think God is listening to your prayer? Shaq might be irritated but God isn’t.

As you continue to pray your prayers will shift because you can’t be in constant communication with God and not be changed. Its not possible.

If you are going to have peace, you have to stay focused on God. When you stop praying the discouragement sets in. That’s why we are told to pray without ceasing.

Does God say stop praying if we don’t get what we want? From my research I don’t think he does. Maybe you need to change the question. But staying in constant communication with the Lord about your troubles, fears, desires is never a bad thing.

So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 11 If a son asks for [a]bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” Luke 11:9-13

Somebody once said to me when I was praying for a baby, “maybe God wants you to pray for something else or he is tired of that prayer”. At the time I followed that advice but looking back, I don’t think that was true.

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There are no examples in the bible of God telling people to stop praying. Or pray about something else. Joyce Meyer says get yourself off your mind. I don’t think that is a bad idea. Getting myself off my mind definitely helped me stop feeling sorry for myself. But I wouldn’t say stop asking God for that thing but make sure you add in other peoples prayer requests as well.

Here is a story of in the bible a persistent widow. Jesus told this story in Luke to remind us to be persistent. If that terrible judge didn’t care about anyone gave that woman what she wanted, what would our father in heaven do?

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

1Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:1-8

Remember to not put human characteristics on God. Keep talking to him, keep persisting, just remember to pray for other people in your situation as well.

Until next time,

Dominique

Resources

https://bible.com/bible/116/isa.40.28.NLT https://www.gotquestions.org/pray-repeat.html

3 Reasons to Keep Praying About the Same Thing

How to hear the voice of God

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I talked before about asking God to take my desire for having a baby away if he didn’t want me to have one. He never did. I also talked about doing a lot of research and study just to make sure that the hope that I was clinging to made sense. I know this is a hard thing to do, but if you are wrestling with something for a long time, you made need to ask to make sure you are your desires match up with what God wants for your life.

I studied on the character of God. One of my favorite verses is God is not like man, he does not lie, he does not change his mind. Numbers 23:19

I read a book by Joyce Meyer (of course, lol) called How to hear the Voice of God. It was huge for me because it helps you figure out if God said something to you or if you came up with it yourself.

There are so many gems in that book but these are ones I still use today.

Does it back up biblically? This isn’t a peck and find situation. Can you find several scriptures that address your situation? Other scriptures that say God doesn’t lie Titus 1:2, Hebrews 6:18

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Did you receive outside confirmation? God can use anything or anybody to speak to you. When I was thinking about starting this blog and was super nervous about, several different just randomly told me I should start a blog. Out of the blue! I didn’t mention that I was thinking about it, they just felt compelled to tell me. That’s God.

Have you created an atmosphere that shows your willingness to listen? We talked about this some in Do you feel like God left you on read? 10 reasons he might not be answering…

Do you know him? Not you heard of him, or you see him on Sunday, but are you in personal relationship? Is God your friend?

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I also watched this video from Priscilla Shirer where she discusses her book, Discerning the Voice of God. Check it out, its only 8 minutes. https://youtu.be/FaZ8SlAcCVk I always try to find multiple sources of anything I am researching.

Highlights in her video

You have to read your bible to hear the voice of God. Its the number one way he speaks to us, its his word. That’s why I keep trying the bible in a year plan.

Random coincidences, aren’t random that was God. I don’t personally believe in coincidence, I feel that everything happens for a reason. That was God working something out for your good.

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She also said sometimes you won’t know until later that it was God speaking to you. You just have to step out on faith and believe his grace and mercy will catch you if you mess up. That’s the awesome thing about God you don’t have to get it all right.

Hearing the voice of God can be so difficult. There are so many things in the world that can distract us or make us doubt what God told us. Circumstances can make us doubt the promises of God but we don’t have to. The more we know him, the more we can hear him. We just need to remember to feed our faith and starve our doubts.

Until next time,

Dominique