Joyce Meyer - How to Hear From God: Learn to Know His Voice and Make the Right Decisions

2003 by Joyce Meyer.

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Unless otherwise noted Scriptures are taken from the Amplified Bible. Copyright 1954, 1962, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scriptures noted NIV are taken from the HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scriptures noted KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

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First eBook Edition: March 2004

ISBN: 978-0-7595-1031-9

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L earning to hear from God and be led by the Holy Spirit is very exciting. God wants to speak to us about the plan He has for our lives. His plan is a good plan, but we are in danger of missing it if we dont learn how to listen to and obey Gods voice.

We talk to our children all the timewhy wouldnt our heavenly Father talk to His children? We would not expect our children to know what we wanted them to do if we did not talk to them, so why would God feel any different?

God wants to speak to us about the good plan He has for our lives. He sent His Holy Spirit to dwell in us and be our Counselor and Helper in life as well as other things. John 14:26 says that He will teach us all things and will bring to our remembrance things God has taught us. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth; therefore, He will lead us into truth, not error.

God speaks to us in many ways; they include but are not limited to: His Word, nature, people, circumstances, peace, wisdom, supernatural intervention, dreams, visions, and what we call the inner witness. The inner witness is best described as a knowing deep inside. He also speaks in what the Bible calls a still, small voice, which I believe refers to this inner witness.

God also speaks through our conscience, our desires, and an audible voice. Hearing the audible voice of God is rare for most people and nonexistent for many. I have heard the audible voice of God three or four times in my life. Two of those times were at night when I was awakened by His voice simply calling my name. All I heard was, Joyce, but I knew it was God calling me. He did not say what He wanted, but I knew instinctively it had something to do with a ministry call on my life, although clarity did not come in that area for several more years.

I heard the audible voice of God the day I was filled with the Holy Spirit in February 1976. That morning I cried out to God about how awful my life was, telling Him something was missing in my relationship with Him. I felt I was at the end of my rope, so to speak.

His voice seemed to fill my entire car, and He simply said, Joyce, I have been teaching you patience. Since that was my first time to hear anything of that magnitude, it both thrilled and shocked me. I instinctively knew what He meant. Several months prior to that time I had asked God to teach me patience, not realizing the lesson would include a lengthy period of feeling my life was on hold. The frustration of that feeling peaked that morning in February when I cried out to God in desperation, asking Him to do something and give me whatever it was I was missing.

When I heard Gods voice, I was suddenly filled with faith that He was going to do something wonderful in my life. Although I did not know what it would be, I spent the day in expectation and thanksgiving. That evening in my car, while returning home from my job, Gods Spirit touched me in a special way and filled me with His presence. That event was the beginning of a new level in my relationship with God. I think it is safe to say that every new level in God is preceded by His speaking to us in some way.

Ask God to open your ears and sanctify them so you can be sensitive to His voice. He wants to talk to you, to develop a closer relationship with you. It is your privilege and right as a born-again believer in Jesus Christ to fellowship daily with God the Father, Jesus Christ His Son, and the Holy Spirit.

We should ask God to circumcise our ears so that we are not distracted by fleshly desires that keep us from hearing His still, small voice. We must learn to listen, for it is impossible to hear without listening. We should learn to love solitude and be sure we enjoy it regularly. We dont hear God very well when our lives are noisy and overly busy. This book will help you learn to create an atmosphere in your life that is conducive to hearing from God.

The Bible tells us that our steps are ordered by the Lord (see Psalm 37:23), and we can trust Him not to let us lose our way. In this book I will share with you how to overcome some of the hindrances to hearing God speak and how to develop a tender conscience that is tuned to the sound of Gods voice.

This book will help you enjoy the pleasure of living a Spirit-led life. It will show you how to hear from God and not let Satan, the deceiver, lead you astray.

Learning to Listen

Be careful therefore how you listen. For to him who has [spiritual knowledge] will more be given; and from him who does not have [spiritual knowledge], even what he thinks and guesses and supposes that he has will be taken away.

JESUS IN LUKE 8:18

T he world makes it easy for us to fill our ears with all kinds of things that drown out the voice of God and push Him far, far into the background of our lives. However, the day comes for every person when only God remains. Everything else in life eventually passes away; when it does, God will still be there.

The Word of God teaches that what is known about God is evident to all because He has made Himself known in the inner consciousness of mankind (see Romans 1:19-21). Each person will someday stand before Him and give an account of his or her life (see Romans 14:12). When people dont want to serve God with their lives, when they want to go their own way, they find ways to hide from and ignore this instinctive inner knowledge of their Creator who wants to talk to them and guide them in the way they should go.

Nothing can satisfy our longing for God, except communion and fellowship with Him. Isaiah expressed well our own hunger for God when he wrote, My soul yearns for You [O Lord] in the night, yes, my spirit within me seeks You earnestly (Isaiah 26:9). The apostle John wrote, And the world passes away and disappears, and with it the forbidden cravings (the passionate desires, the lust) of it; but he who does the will of God and carries out His purposes in his life abides (remains) forever (1 John 2:17).

Hearing from God is vital to enjoying Gods eternal plan for our lives. Listening to God is our decision; no one else can make it for us. God wont force us to choose His will, but He will do everything He can to encourage