How to “Hear” God (with a Practical Example)

This blog post is part of a series called “How To’s”. Check out all the other How To articles here.

I 100% believe that everybody can “hear” God. I believe this so much that I’m willing to die on my sword for this truth!

When people don’t think they can “hear” God, it’s usually because they don’t know that they are wired to “hear” from the spiritual realm, and they don’t know how to discern which spiritual concepts they’re already “hearing” are from God.

In this article, I summarize the more common ways I know of human beings “hearing” from spiritual beings, as well as how to discern which of your “hearing” experiences are from God. Note that I am using quotations around the word “hear” because—as you will see—most spiritual “hearing” is not actually hearing with physical ears at all.

The Basis of “Hearing” God

Human beings have a human spirit, a human soul, and a human body. Just as our human body has physical senses, so does our human spirit have spiritual senses. Most people are born with one or two ways of “hearing” spiritual beings through their spiritual senses, and can develop others over time. The work of our human soul is then to interpret and apply what we “hear” into a physical context, so that our human body can act upon it.

Thus, the basis of our ability to “hear” God is that we are spiritual beings as well as natural beings. You cannot come to Yeshua unless you “hear” God invite you. You cannot figure out your destiny unless you “hear” God call you. Every godly thought in us initially comes from our “hearing” God.

“Hearing” God with Your Spiritual Senses

Now, let’s get down to business! Because all human beings have human spirits, we can “hear” God with our spiritual senses, including our:

Spiritual “hearing”. Spontaneous thoughts, poetry, lyrics, audio memories, or scripture that seem to run across your mind can be from the spiritual realm. If they meet the discernment criteria below, they are from God. These people are sometimes called “hearers” like Jonah.
Spiritual “heart”. Spontaneous knowing, understanding, emotions, or urges in your core (heart, chest, gut) that weren’t there before can be from the spiritual realm. If they meet the discernment criteria below, they are from God. These people are sometimes called “knowers” like Elijah.
Spiritual “sight” when awake. Spontaneous visions when awake—including pictures, images, memories, and movie scenes—can be from the spiritual realm. If they meet the discernment criteria below, they are from God. These people are sometimes called “seers” like Isaiah, a seer of the Lord.
Spiritual “sight” when asleep. Highly vivid dreams are often from the spiritual realm. If they meet the discernment criteria below, they are from God. These people are sometimes called “dreamers” like Joseph.
Spiritual “touch”. Spontaneous bodily sensations like feeling heat, cold, heaviness, lightness, pain, release, and wind can be from the spiritual realm. If they meet the discernment criteria below, they are from God. These people are sometimes called “feelers” like Hannah, who felt drunk when the Spirit of God was upon her.
Spiritual “taste”. Spontaneous tastes in your mouth like a sweet or a yucky flavor can be from the spiritual realm. If they meet the discernment criteria below, they are from God. These people could be called “tasters”, but I don’t think there are enough of them to give them a label like that. 😂
Spiritual “smell”. Spontaneous smells like a flowery fragrance or stinky odor can be from the spiritual realm. If they meet the discernment criteria below, they are from God. These people are sometimes called “smellers” and very few people want this gift. 😂

It is possible to also hear, see, touch, taste, and smell with your physical body, like how Paul heard an audible voice of God on the road the Damascus. However, this is more rare, so I won’t elaborate on that here.

Spiritual Discernment Criteria

No matter which spiritual sense you are using to “hear” God, a few principles will help you discern that what you’re “hearing” is actually from God:

It will be spontaneous. It will not feel like you “making it up” by “trying” to decide what you will hear. In fact, some people receive an answer to a question they are asking God before they get a chance to even speak out the whole question.
It will give you peace. Yeshua is the Prince of Peace, so God’s guidance is defined by a sense of peace (unless you are afraid of God or the guidance you are receiving). As you listen for God, pursue the peace, as much as you can.
It will bring clarity. God speaks in a way that helps us understand our world, using concepts already familiar to us. Although some of God’s words may require some meditation and further questioning, it will eventually make sense to you even if you can’t explain it to anyone else.
It will feel like forever. When God speaks, it feels like everything God says always applies to every area of your life. Although this isn’t factual for us creatures bound by time, it is factual for God, who is outside of time. Figuring out when a certain word applies to you is an important skill to develop to assist in interpreting your hearing.
It will fit with other words God has spoken to you. It’s important to write down what you believe God spoke to you through various means so that you can build a coherent picture of who you are in God’s eyes and follow it. If a word does not seem to fit, ask God if you heard incorrectly, and be willing to adjust. No worries—we all grow by making mistakes.
It will fit with how God revealed him/herself through the Jewish Bible and New Testament. The scriptures are a big deal because they are meant to serve as a ruler by which we measure what we “hear” so that we can discern if it’s from God. Thus, how the scriptures are translated, interpreted, and applied are also a big deal! Consider that the understanding of scripture you received from faulty human beings up until this point may also be faulty, so be willing for God to re-teach scripture to you personally.
It will often need interpretation. Because God’s ways are not our ways, yet God is restricted to “speaking” to us within the limited vocabulary of our language, our thoughts, and our experiences, God often uses metaphors to tell us things. Metaphors require interpretation, so it is wise to ask God for an interpretation before acting on any word, unless it’s a now-command like, “Turn right here and tell that homeless lady she’s beautiful.” In that case, you can probably just act on it now. 😆
It will be confirmed. Since God knows learning how to hear and discern is a lifelong process, God graciously confirms their words to us through multiple hearing modes or other people hearing God for us. The scripture sometimes calls these “signs”. However, other people’s words are usually only a confirmation of a word you have already heard directly from God, almost never an initial word.

Got that? Easy, right? Ha! I’m still learning and still practicing discernment. It’s a lifelong journey, so just start at the place you feel is most important to you, and do your best, friend.

A Practical Example

Since it’s usually easier to understand these ideas by seeing them in action, I’m going to share how I most recently helped someone realize they can already “hear” God.

Just last week, I dropped by a neighbor’s house to visit. I had baptized her in the spirit three months ago but hadn’t had much chance to hear how her walk with Yeshua had been progressing since then. When she shared with me about a difficulty she was having, I asked her what—if anything—God had told her about it. She replied, “I think I’m almost at the point where I can hear God, but not yet.”

“Oh, really?” I said. “Let’s do an experiment. Close your eyes and imagine you’re in the most beautiful place in the world, real or imagined. Now, invite God to meet you there. Now, ask God how he feels about you.” Immediately, her eyes watered up and she took a big breath in to stop herself from crying! “What did you hear?” I asked. “I felt love, so much love, we’ll up in my heart!” she replied. “Congrats, you can hear God,” I said.

How did she “hear” him? She felt his love in heart spiritual heart. If she had been a hearer, she would have perceived the words “I love you” flow through her mind in the part of her brain that processes sound. If she had been a seer, she would have seen his loving eyes gazing deep into hers in the movie-screen-of-her-mind. If she had been a taster, she would have perceived the sensation of tasting something like honey in the part of her brain that processed taste. If she had been a smeller, she would have felt the sensation of smelling a sweet fragrance like flowers on the part of her brain that processes smell. But she—like most people I know—“heard” that God loved her because she felt his love in her heart.

How did she know it was God? Because the word touched her, led her to cry tears of appreciation, agreed with the good nature of God shown in the scriptures (“God is love…” “God loved the world so much…”), was spontaneous, felt like forever and infinity, gave her peace and clarity, and so on.

How about you? How have you been hearing God all this time?