As we walk with God in these final days before Jesus’ return, it is essential that we learn to hear the voice of God. There are two things that are absolutely necessary. We must hear what God is saying and we must obey.

However, in talking about hearing the voice of God, we do so with some trepidation, knowing that many people have been led astray by false impressions and leadings, caused division, and brought forth various perversions of the Gospel, because they thought they were hearing from God and were not. Therefore, we must put special emphasis not only on hearing, but “accurately” hearing the voice of God.

This is going to become more and more important in these last days, as deception in the world will increase. His guidance will also become increasingly important in order for us to receive God’s protection, provision, and proper placement in challenging times.

There has always been a tendency in the church to “throw the baby out with the bath water” when it comes to spiritual gifts and revelations from God. In other words, people may begin to receive divine revelation or begin to move in a miracle or healing ministry, then someone goes off into error and brings a reproach upon the supernatural work of God. Such things can bring great confusion in to people’s lives and division in the church. So, the tendency is then to shut down the supernatural and close oneself off from all direct guidance from God.

Now understand this, whatever God is saying to you will never contradict the Bible. For example, He will never lead you to leave your wife and marry your neighbor’s wife, because it’s against the Word of God. He will never lead you to hurt someone. He will never lead you to sit around and do nothing while the world is going to hell, because He already said, “Go into the world and preach the Gospel.” No, God’s guidance will never contradict the Bible. God, however, does lead His people by the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said that His sheep will hear His voice, and voice of a stranger they will not follow. (John 10:4) He said that the Holy Spirit would lead and guide us into all truth and show us things to come. (John 16.13) And the Apostle Paul tells us, “As many as are led by the Spirit, they are the Sons of God.” (Rom 8:14) One of the great privileges we have as children of God is direct communion with God. That includes hearing His voice and being led by His Spirit.

I’ll never forget when I was a young believer, a friend of ours testified of being divinely protected through God’s guidance system. Our friend was driving down the highway outside of town and was about to turn left into the gravel driveway to her home. Just then she said that she had an “unction” (in other words, a prompting or leading). She just felt in her heart to wait a moment before turning. Just then a young man came roaring around the curve in the road behind her and blazed around her in his vehicle, apparently going well over 100 miles an hour. That “unction” saved her life.” It’s incidents like that that make us realize that it pays to live close to God.

Guidance is especially important also in ministry work. Notice the account of Paul’s ministry in Acts 16:

“Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not. And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.” Acts 16:6-10, KJV.

Now Paul and Silas weren’t playing with Ouija boards or Tarot cards, or even necessarily straining to hear a voice. They were just out obeying God, taking the Gospel to the world. However, they were sensitive enough to the Lord to know that they were not being led to preach in Asia Minor, because “the spirit suffered them not.” In other words, they had a witness in their hearts that Asia was not God’s plan at that time. However, they just kept moving with God, doing what they knew to do, trusting God to guide them. Then as he slept one night, Paul had a dream. A man said, “Come over into Macedonia, and help us.” This is when the Gospel first was taken into Europe.

If you took divine guidance and people hearing the voice of God out of the Bible, you would have no Bible, no Abrahamic covenant, no Israel, no Moses or his ministry, no prophets, no Jesus, no apostles, no church. The entire thing is built on supernatural divine revelation. And God intended that supernatural revelation and guidance would continue up to today and until Jesus returns.

There are many things that we could say about hearing the voice of God, but for today I would like to share three basic keys the Lord showed me to obtaining guidance in your life and in hearing the voice of God. These three are intimacy, truth, and prevailing prayer.

1. Intimacy (closeness with God). It is very difficult to hear from God when you are living far from Him. By spending time in His presence, you begin to sense what He likes and what He doesn’t like. You begin to know His ways. The Bible says, “He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.” (Psalms 103:7, KJV) It’s one thing to know God’s acts, but another to know His ways. Moses lived close to God. He spent time in His presence.

Cultivate a love relationship with the Lord. Don’t get hung up on guidance, get to know the Guide. Trust Him! Love Him! Enjoy Him! “How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.” (Psalms 84:1, 2, KJV)  Through the cross of Calvary, we have been given access to the tabernacle of God. Begin to cultivate a relationship in the tabernacle.

2. Truth. To walk in God’s way, we must be full of the Spirit of Truth. The Holy Spirit will never disagree with the truth of God’s Word. The Psalmist said, “Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.” (Psalms 86:11, KJV) Our hearts must be in unity with truth. If we live in deception, we cannot hear God’s voice. There will be perversion in our thoughts and our guidance will be corrupted. Ask God to unite your heart to truth. Be converted in the spirit of your mind. Walk in the light of the written Word of God. Don’t be just a hearer, but a doer of the Word.

Terry Law tells the story about how when he was ministering in the former Soviet Union years ago, he and his group would travel for hours on trains and buses. He would spend those hours meditating on the truths of God’s Word. It was then, he said, that the supernatural “word of knowledge” according to 1 Cor. 12 began to operate in his ministry. He received amazing revelations about people’s lives. One time he received a revelation about a fist fight which had occurred in a Bible School earlier that same day. The students had been fighting over. . . guess what. . . the gifts of the Spirit. After Terry described the events of day, everyone quickly became believers that 1 Cor. 12 is for today.

3. Prevailing Prayer. Ascertaining the will of God also requires prevailing prayer. You see, many times we have to press through spiritual forces to obtain guidance from the Lord. We may need to fight demon influences, family pressures, or even our own emotions if we are really going to walk in the will of God.

That’s why it is best to not get in a hurry about receiving guidance concerning major decisions for your life and ministry. No, you need to wait upon the Lord. Listen to Him. Check out what you are receiving. Get it confirmed deep in your heart. Before I entered into the phase of my ministry that I am in today, I sought God for an entire year. I wanted to be sure I had it right. I didn’t want to get out there trying to do something for God and then wonder, “Is this right?”

There are some things in God that you do not obtain by praying one time. Daniel had to pray and fast for three weeks to receive a message from heaven. I realize that we are living under a better covenant, but there is still opposition, and sometimes that opposition is our own will. We may want to stay in our own comfortable little cave and do nothing. Or we may want to rush out ahead of God and do something in our own strength. No, you need to wait on the Lord. Press through the opposition in your mind , in the realm of the spirit, and in your circumstance. Get it clear from God and then GO!