How to Hear God’s Voice: A Practical Guide for Everyday Believers

Curated insights from Biblical Prophecy by Jack Deere and When God Speaks by Joshua Giles 

To hear God’s voice, test what you sense against four things: Scripture, the character of the voice, the fruit it produces, and whether it carries the kind of meaning only God would give. Most people assume hearing God is reserved for prophets and spiritual elites. Both Jack Deere and Joshua Giles, the authors behind this article, say the opposite: it is the ordinary inheritance of every Christian. 

What Jesus Meant by “My Sheep Hear My Voice” 

These words are the clearest biblical ground for understanding that hearing God belongs to all believers, not a gifted few. In his book Biblical Prophecy, Deere points to John 10:27 (NIV), where Jesus says, “My sheep listen to my voice.” In the shepherd image Jesus uses, sheep recognize their shepherd not by training but by relationship and familiarity. Deere reads this plainly: according to Jesus, all Christians can hear His voice. The capacity is built into belonging to Him. This is why Deere and Giles both treat hearing God as a normal part of following Jesus rather than an advanced skill.  

The question the New Testament raises is not whether God speaks to His people, but whether His people have learned to recognize the voice they were already made to know. 

Can Ordinary Believers Really Hear God? 

The first obstacle to hearing God is usually the suspicion that you are imagining it. In When God Speaks, prophetic leader Joshua Giles names that doubt directly, recalling his own early uncertainty about whether God was truly speaking or whether he was inventing it in his head. His answer is a settled conviction:  

“I am totally convinced that God still speaks today”. (pg. 20) 

More than that, Giles insists that the capacity is not limited to a spiritual class. As he puts it, “you don’t have to be a prophet to perceive and know His voice”. Scripture describes God’s voice in many forms, from the thunder of Psalm 29 to the gentle whisper Elijah heard in 1 Kings 19:12. The variety matters, because it means God may be speaking in a register you have not learned to listen for yet. 

The Ways God Speaks 

Hearing God begins with knowing the forms His voice can take. In Biblical Prophecy, Deere devotes a full chapter to what he calls “the means of revelation,” the channels through which God communicates. The written Word always comes first and outranks every other means, because its authority extends to all people, everywhere, always. The others supplement Scripture; they never override it. Deere’s list includes: 

• The Bible, the primary and highest way God speaks to every believer 

• An audible voice, whether heard with the ears or as an internal, unmistakable voice within 

• Impressions, the quiet inner sense or knowing that settles on the heart 

• Dreams and visions, which Scripture repeatedly records as a channel of revelation 

• Other means, including appearances, angels, and physical or sensory impressions 

Recognizing these forms keeps believers from missing God simply because His voice did not arrive the way they expected. 

Four Tests for Discerning God’s Voice 

Recognizing a voice is one thing; confirming it is God is another. Deere offers the four-tests below—not as a formula — but as a set of questions to run any impression through before acting on it. 

Test	The question to ask	The principle
The Bible	Does this contradict Scripture?	God’s voice may correct your interpretation, but it never contradicts His written Word
The voice’s character	How does this voice make you feel?	God’s voice is calm and authoritative, and even His rebukes bring hope; condemnation and confusion are marks of the accuser
The voice’s fruit	What results when you follow it?	Following God’s voice produces the fruit of the Spirit, especially peace
The voice’s difference	Does it sound like God or like me?	God’s thoughts are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8–9), so true revelation may surprise us or seem wrong at first

These tests work together rather than in isolation. A single one can mislead, but a voice that passes all four, weighed honestly, can be trusted with growing confidence. Deere is candid that the tests are a starting point, not a guarantee, and that discernment itself is a gift to be asked for. 

Why Humility Matters More Than Technique 

The deepest requirement for hearing God is not skill but a posture of the heart. After laying out the four tests, Deere makes a striking turn:  

“The key to hearing God lies not in our intelligence, but in our humility” (Biblical Prophecy, pg. 47).  

He points to Moses, who heard God like no other prophet and was also the humblest man on earth, and to the repeated biblical pattern that God draws near to the lowly and keeps the proud at a distance. Growth comes through practice, what Deere calls “constant use,” the daily back-and-forth of talking to God and listening for Him. But practice without humility hardens wrong ideas into permanent ones. As Deere writes, “Knowing about God’s voice is not the same as knowing God’s voice”. The difference is relationship, cultivated over time in a humble heart. 

Frequently Asked Questions 

How do I know if it’s God speaking or just my own thoughts? 

Run the impression through four tests: does it agree with Scripture, does its character match God’s, does it produce good fruit, and does it carry meaning beyond your own thinking. Jack Deere teaches that a voice passing all four, weighed with humility, can be trusted, while one that brings condemnation or contradicts the Bible is not from God. 

Can every Christian hear God’s voice, or only prophets? 

Every Christian can hear God’s voice. Jesus said His sheep know His voice (John 10:27), and as Joshua Giles writes, you do not have to be a prophet to perceive and know it; the capacity comes with belonging to Christ. 

What are the ways God speaks to us today? 

God speaks first and foremost through the Bible, and also through an inner or audible voice, impressions on the heart, dreams, and visions. Deere stresses that Scripture is always the highest and primary means, and every other form must agree with it. 

What does the Bible say about hearing God’s voice? 

John 10:27 records Jesus saying, “My sheep listen to my voice,” establishing that hearing God belongs to all who follow Him. Scripture also shows God’s voice can come as a gentle whisper, as it did for Elijah in 1 Kings 19:12, not only in dramatic ways. 

This article was drafted with an AI research tool and reviewed and verified against the source manuscript by Joyce Perez, Marketing Manager.