Hearing the call of God means tuning out the other voices that try to speak to us, and tuning into the frequency of the Spirit. Our ability to hear God’s voice affects all areas of our ministry. It is, therefore, necessary to know how to hear His voice.

1. Be capable of hearing God’s voice

God is not going to call anyone who does not have the capability to hear Him call.  We must be a genuine believer – a Spirit-filled Christian – because only true believers can hear His call.

Spiritual disciplines are also necessary for us to listen to the call of God. We should not expect to hear from Him about the particular call He has for us if we don’t know how to pray and how to read His Word. We must understand the universal will of God found in the Scriptures before we ever hear the specific call of God in our life.

2. Be mindful of other people’s perspective

David Reever warns us, “One of the easiest ways to miss God’s voice for our life is to remove trusted mentors from our life and replace them with people who have selfish personal agendas and just tell us what we want to hear.”  We must not be in a place where other people cannot speak to us. Even the wisest man of the Old Testament advised, “in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.” We need people who can tell us to our face what “thus, saith the Lord!”

3. Be patient

We need to wait as we try to listen to the voice of God. Samuel had to hear the call three times before he realized what was happening. Moses waited forty years in Egypt and forty years in the wilderness before he heard God’s call from the burning bush. It doesn’t mean that their call began when they first heard it; they were just as called of God the day they were conceived as they were at the moment that they heard God’s voice. Patience ushers us into the right time when we are ready to receive the call that God foreordained. Gene Wilkes tells us, “God’s timing may not be our timing, but God’s timing is always right.” Each call has its timing and plan. Our assignment is to wait with expectation like a mother who knows that birth will take place in the future, but doesn’t know when it will actually take place.

4. Be knowledgeable about how God speaks to you

David Reever remarked, “It is possible for you to misunderstand God’s call on your life because it wasn’t dramatic enough.”  There’s nothing wrong with desiring to hear the audible voice of God in the middle of the night, to witness a burning bush as God speaks to us, or to see a vision of an angel touching our lips with a burning coal of fire. The way God talks to us, however, is different from the way He speaks to other people. One of the keys to hearing God’s voice, therefore, is to know the method with which God usually uses to speak to us.

5. Be diligent

The law states, “in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established” (Matthew 18:16). We cannot confirm our calling by just a single dream, knowing that Satan can also use dreams to deceive many people. Many times the test proof of whether a particular impression is really from God is in its repetition. Gideon put his calling in a “fleece” test.  When Samuel anointed David to be the next king of Israel, he had to wait and behold how the circumstances brought him to the throne. “God is not the author of confusion, but of peace” (I Corinthians 14:33); He will not leave us bewildered if we diligently ask for confirmation.

Conclusion

Peter reminds us to “give diligence to make your calling and election sure” (II Peter 1:10). Hearing the call of God requires diligence – a constant and earnest effort. We can only find Him if we search for Him with all our heart.  If we are truly seeking God’s direction, assurance and confirmation will surely follow.

It is high time to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church!