Hearing The Voice Of God
Study The Word
2 Samuel 23:2
The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His word was on my tongue.
Let’s delve into what David actually said here: “The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His word was on my tongue!” Wow. I remember discovering this portion of scripture many years ago. As I was growing in my faith, one of the things that mattered most to me was being able to hear God speak and distinguish between my own thoughts, my conscience, and the voice of God. This dilemma troubled me for years until the Holy Spirit directed me to this passage. Oh, how my life changed!
I’d always heard spiritual leaders say, “If you want to learn how to hear the voice of God for yourself, then you need to study the Word of God more.” I was already studying the Word extensively, but I still struggled to discern God speaking to me. You can imagine the frustration; “study the Word more” sounded good, but practically speaking, how did it work? I needed to hear God “now-now, man of God” because I couldn’t tell if it was God or just my own mind.
דּבר (dabar) – to speak, declare, converse, command
That was until I found David’s revelation, which delivered the secret to practically hearing God’s voice for myself and experiencing a prophetic life. It changed my life forever. I didn’t waste any time; my journey of many years, which felt so long, had finally come to an end, glory to God! I immediately started putting it into practice. This was King David’s secret, what made him who he was, and now I had it.
So, what is it? Let me share it with you, so you don’t have to go through the long journey of frustration I did. You see, David knew that because he was anointed, every time he wanted to hear God, all he had to do was take the revealed Word—the scriptures—and start speaking them. When he had the revealed Word on his tongue long enough, the Spirit would speak through him and reveal an unrevealed Word. It’s called working from the known, stirring up the known, in order to stir up inspiration to hear the unknown. Do you get it? Oh, I pray you do!
So, what is the known? The known is the Word of God that has already been revealed, the one that is in the scriptures; the revealed, known Word of God that is in your Bible. You take that and then you put it in your mouth, on your tongue. That’s why God said to Joshua, “This book of the law shall not depart from out of your mouth, but you shall meditate (hagar: roar)” (Joshua 1:8). Joshua, you must roar this revealed Word out of your mouth, day and night. Why? Because God was teaching him the principle, the secret: as long as Joshua had the revealed Word in his mouth, on his tongue, that revealed Word would generate the atmosphere and sensitize his spirit to hear the Voice of God! From there, he would know what to do; he would make his way prosperous because he would be consistently positioned and tuned into the frequency to hear the Voice of God. Aha!
Now, that’s King David and Joshua. Can I show you the Lord Jesus Christ operating in the same way? When you go to Luke chapter 4, from verse 3, the devil is speaking his nonsense to Jesus, remember? And all the while, Jesus Christ, who is the Word made flesh, is responding by saying, “It is written… it is written… it is written…” And then suddenly, in verse 12, “…Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.”
Do you see it? Jesus Christ Himself had the written Word on His tongue until the Spirit of God “said“. That’s because the Spirit of God had now “said”, and was now “speaking by him and his word was on his tongue”. This what the Spirit of God is saying NOW! And what was the result? The Bible says the devil left him. Go and check it out in your Bible.
Are you at a place in your life where you’re saying, “I haven’t heard the Voice of God in a long time”? Or are you struggling to hear the leading of God’s Voice or to get direction? Listen, the problem might be that you have too much of men’s words on your tongue. What you need, child of God, is to have the Word of God on your tongue!
מלּה מלּה (millah milleh) – word, speech, utterance
Are you always finding yourself stranded, not knowing or not being sure as to what God is saying to you? Which job to choose from five options? Which way to go, or whether you should go or stay? Turn left or turn right? The blue one or the pink one? Or the tall one or the short one? And you’re searching for the leading of God’s Voice. What you need is to take the written Word and put it in your mouth.
David, whose life was incredibly prophetic, tells us the secret: “The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His word was on my tongue.” He was a speaker of the scriptures, a talker of the scriptures. This isn’t just about reading; it’s about speaking, declaring out loud to yourself the written Word of God day and night. When you do this, you have tuned into the frequency to hear the Voice of God. And if you do this long enough—sometimes immediately, sometimes God will speak a short while later, maybe even a day or so—it doesn’t matter; you keep coming back to do it until you hear God speak.
Another thing you need to understand is that God is always speaking, but you need to learn how to listen. Secondly, you need to learn the language and ways in which He speaks. What I’m teaching you here will develop you in both of these areas. When we talk about the ways He speaks, I’m talking about how at times the Spirit of God will take over your tongue and put His answer or His direction for you in your mouth (what you’re accustomed to as a prophetic word). Sometimes, while you’re busy speaking the Word, He’ll show you a picture. Sometimes you’ll just have a strong, inaudible prompting directing you in a particular direction (and it’s usually beyond what you’d do of yourself). At other times, if you’re being very stubborn about hearing what He’s been telling you, or you need some encouragement with it but you won’t listen, He’d send someone to confirm the message prophetically, and there are several ways He does that. There are various other multifaceted ways that the Holy Spirit will communicate with you; there’s no one way, but one thing is sure: He’s always speaking. And the other thing that is also sure is that you need to put this teaching into practice if you’re going to hear Him.
That’s how I always know what God wants me to do, when, and how. I am never caught by surprise regarding anything that pertains to me, my life, or the people around me who are connected to me because I’m always in the atmosphere. My wife will tell you, maybe we are praying or studying the Word, or I’m teaching the Word about random stuff, and the Spirit of God will interrupt and communicate. And I’ll say to her, “The Spirit of God has just shown me or said this, that, and the other.” This is happening frequently, if not daily; the Voice of God is continuously speaking to me and speaking through me. This is also now working in her life and relationship with the Spirit of God too, as I’ve been able to teach and transfer this knowledge to her as well. And she’s growing in it, and you can begin that journey too because I have shared with you the practical keys that you can begin to put to work and start this exciting journey of hearing the Voice of the Spirit of God for yourself. This is the life that we’ve been called to. But it was not always that way for me, just as it might be that way for you too, but for me, that was only until, like King David, I learned how to put the written Word on my tongue, and everything changed. Start practicing the same and stick with it, and see what will start happening in your life.
Pray The Word
Heavenly Father, I thank You Word spoken by King David: that as Your Word is on my tongue, Your Spirit speaks by me. Father I thank You for Your increased grace and capacity today, to have Your scriptures constantly on my tongue, cultivating in and around me an atmosphere for Your Voice where my heart is conditioned and tuned in to hear Your Voice, receive Your instruction, and walk in Your divine direction, in Jesus’ name, amen.
Speak The Word
The Spirit of the Lord speaks by me because His Word is on my tongue! I am a talker of the scriptures. I hear the voice of God from within my spirit, guiding me into all truth, all reality and direction. The Word of God on my tongue imparts divinity, life, and power into every aspect of my life and every fiber of my being!