Hearing God's Voice

[xAlisonx]

hi, everyone.

for a while now, i’ve been struggling with the idea of hearing God’s Voice and knowing exactly what His Will is for my life. i’m facing a lot of big decisions right now and in the near future, and it’s really important that i learn to hear His Voice clearly. when i was a nondenominational evangelical Christian, i tried soaking prayer and journaling, but still failed miserably. i do get urges sometimes that are from Him, but most of the time it’s very hard for me to hear His Voice, and most of the time He seems silent when i know that i’m supposed to constantly hear Him speaking to me. i’d really appreciate it if any of you could give me any advice as to how i could hear His Voice, and any resources you may know or have that would help me grow in hearing Him. thank you so much.

God bless all of you! please know that you are in my constant thoughts and prayers.

love,
in the peace and love of Christ,
alison

 

[pete_29]

hi, everyone.

for a while now, i’ve been struggling with the idea of hearing God’s Voice and knowing exactly what His Will is for my life. i’m facing a lot of big decisions right now and in the near future, and it’s really important that i learn to hear His Voice clearly. when i was a nondenominational evangelical Christian, i tried soaking prayer and journaling, but still failed miserably. i do get urges sometimes that are from Him, but most of the time it’s very hard for me to hear His Voice, and most of the time He seems silent when i know that i’m supposed to constantly hear Him speaking to me. i’d really appreciate it if any of you could give me any advice as to how i could hear His Voice, and any resources you may know or have that would help me grow in hearing Him. thank you so much.

God bless all of you! please know that you are in my constant thoughts and prayers.

love,
in the peace and love of Christ,
alison

My own experience of hearing God is kind of humorous. I heard a priest on EWTN say to sit quietly in Church and just listen. At a Eucharistic Adoration I tried it. I was really stressed about a house I was tearing down so I sat there and listened. A voice popped into my head and said, “Don’t worry about it. I’m a carpenter.” at that moment I realized it was stupid of me to worry. I remember I chuckled.

 

[justinkolo]

Here’s the thing: God’s voice isn’t just a voice per se. It isn’t limited to something in your head, but rather can be found in everything that happens all around you. If there’s something that has you saying, “Gee, I wonder why I keep hearing or seeing things about X”, that may just be God trying to tell you something.

 

[withwind]

About a year ago when I was in a parking lot, and I tried to avoid saying hi someone …although I should…I ended up bumping my head to my own car. It hurt! I should’ve said hi to the person.

That’s how God’s voice was to me at that instance - I learn to say hi to people more often ever since.

 

[Tom_Salaiz]

I just had this conversation with two recent high school graduates in my community after teaching my confirmation class. What has worked for me in the past is prayer and mediation. As Pete suggested, quiet meditation sometimes works wonders. I often forget to ‘listen’ when I pray, but find that when I find a quiet place to simply sit and think, I eventually find I realize what I need to do. I find that God talks to me by allowing me to realize in “my gut” the best decision.

Hope this helps.

 

[puzzleannie]

I have only had one experience of the discernable presence and voice of Jesus, and it also was during adoration, while on retreat. I simply heard him chuckle, and a hand on my shoulder briefly. That is all I need, the rest I take on faith. And no, I did not hear someone else or a noise outside.

 

[disciple_lori]

hi, everyone.

for a while now, i’ve been struggling with the idea of hearing God’s Voice and knowing exactly what His Will is for my life. i’m facing a lot of big decisions right now and in the near future, and it’s really important that i learn to hear His Voice clearly. when i was a nondenominational evangelical Christian, i tried soaking prayer and journaling, but still failed miserably. i do get urges sometimes that are from Him, but most of the time it’s very hard for me to hear His Voice, and most of the time He seems silent when i know that i’m supposed to constantly hear Him speaking to me. i’d really appreciate it if any of you could give me any advice as to how i could hear His Voice, and any resources you may know or have that would help me grow in hearing Him. thank you so much.

God bless all of you! please know that you are in my constant thoughts and prayers.

love,
in the peace and love of Christ,
alison

It has been my experience that when I am reading His Word, He puts thoughts into my head about a certain verse, and then will bring other verses from other parts of the bible or a belief / tradition which we practice to better connect the dots so to speak and explain to me what it means. Other times, He speaks by pointing out to me in my daily routine things I need to take note of…the voice is in my thoughts and my own voice…not a mysterious one or a male one. Twice in my life it was very audible and personal. God speaks thru nature, analogies and stories, and even music.

 

[Eucharisted]

Recollection is how you hear God, for only a recollected soul can hear His Voice.

 

[Trishie]

And if He is silent, in that He’s speaking too. Sometimes He just wants us quietly with Him. We want to hear, to see, but sometimes that isn’t what He wishes as He doesn’t want us to be too attached to tangible gifts and resonses.

I think you know that. But it can be hard to bear. If He is silent sometimes it’s because He’s leading us into deeper union

I hope and pray He will always comfort and guide you who seek Him so ardently
:harp:

 

[T.A.Stobie_SFO]

Read Listening to God.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Discernment in understanding God’s will for us, has always been a difficult thing, not only for lay people, but religious as well.

A few things I learned when I was discerning the Diaconate, and was going through the discernment process with a wonderful priest, gave me a valuable lesson

First, trust in God. God’s will for us, is always good, even when we don’t see the entire picture and things don’t look good from our perspective.

Second, obedience to God is the first path in allowing God’s will to be done with the most efficiency. When we disobey God, we remove ourselves from His grace and protection, and will usually make our own decisions which more often than not, are the wrong ones. Humility is a must.

Third which actually encompasses everything, is prayer.

When you’re trying to discern God’s will, when making a decision in your life, if it is God’s will, you will have a peace about the decision. The doors will also fly open, allowing you to follow the decision more easily. This doesn’t mean there won’t be trials, for the evil one will be there to try and block your path, but you’ll hurdle these obstacles with amazement.

If the decision you are making is not God’s will. The doors will slam shut. You can force them open, but they will be disastrous.

However, even then, God will be there to pick you up.

Again, prayer is the key.

A good book that the priest who was guiding me through discernment recommended is; “Weeds Among the Wheat,” by Fr. Thomas Green.

God Bless
Jim

 

[Monica4316]

Hi,
in my experience, (and I admit my experience is limited so take this with a grain of salt ) …sometimes it happens that God speaks to us and it’s obvious, but if that doesn’t happen, it might be wrong to actively SEEK it. Because if we seek a feeling of any sort, we can fall into deception either from our own minds or from the enemy.

Here is what I personally do…

I go to Adoration and tell the Lord everything that’s on my mind. I ask Him that His will would be done and that He would lead me according to His will. YES, sometimes I ‘hear’ something and He lets me know His will right then and there =) BUT… if that doesn’t happen… don’t try to examine your feelings or seek it… if you don’t get it, that means God wants to speak to you in another way, that’s all =)
so what’s good to do in that case, when His will is really unclear, is just pray that He would lead you and then - leave it up to Him. Be patient. There would come a time when you’ll just know the answer =)

remember, sometimes God doesn’t tell us His will right away cause we’re simply not ready for it. He has to prepare us first so He prepares us, and then we receive the answer! you’ll when when it’s the right time for you to know.

maybe this is the time God wants you to build your trust in Him. Maybe it seems that time is running out. Trust Him and pray that He will show you His will before you have to make these big decisions.

I know it’s kind of scary… I struggle a lot with waiting myself, and I’m always afraid of being deceived and not doing God’s will!! but… I think it’s important to just come to Him with trust and not to worry too much. Anyway, doing this really helps us advance in holiness.

Maybe what you can do also is pray a novena. =) those are good cause then you’re not just praying once, but repeatedly… God hears us the first time, but novenas exist for our sake not for His sake. If you have time and especially if you pray the Rosary every day, maybe you can try praying the Irresistible Novena to Mary. It’s just the Rosary… 27 days in petition, and 27 days in thanksgiving, (whether it’s been granted or not.) It was actually given by Mary to a Saint I believe… if not a Saint than a nun…
I’ll try to find you a website

catholictradition.org/Mary/rosary6.htm

there you go! so maybe you can try asking Mary to help you always do God’s will in your life and in your decisions. Mary is a great person to ask cause she is fully obedient to His will.

Of course, pray to Jesus too…
I used this novena over the summer when I had to make a big decision:
ewtn.com/devotionals/heart/sh_novena.htm

you might find that over time you’ll just “know” the answer. if not right away. Don’t try to analyze your feelings. When God will answer, you’ll just know, or believe, it’s the truth. Ask Him to not let you be deceived and to keep you safe from anything that’s not of Him. Discernment is a pretty difficult process, I know it can be hard…

Also, I suggest asking a Saint to pray for you too.

Go to Adoration as much as you can… wait on God… keep on praying… eventually, He does make His will known. Keep in mind: even if you won’t know it in your mind, you might still be lead according to it! Sometimes God doesn’t give us knowledge, but arranges our circumstances in such a way that His will is done.

I hope this helps… basically, just pray lots that’s always the right thing to do. You can also try fasting.

and lastly, try to be open to anything He might say and try to surrender your own preferences.

God bless you.

 

[Monica4316]

Also I wanted to say that although we DO sometimes hear God’s voice and I’m sure you have in the past too, - there are other times when He chooses to be silent. This is to accomplish His will in us. He wants us to learn faith and waiting too. Sometimes it’s blind, dark faith. The Saints all went through this too. Don’t worry and **don’t blame yourself **if you can’t hear His voice

 

[AveSantaMaria]

I think that you have received some excellent advice in this thread, particularly from Monica4316. Even St. Maria Faustina in her Diary did not always know the will of God. One useful advice that I have received about knowing Christ’s will is that if you do not know, wait and do nothing at times. Once I had that perspective - and I waited a long time on some things that I had to do because I didn’t know Christ’s will - and then I had a dream that involved deeply spiritual issues and I prayed about it with my sister and finally acted though I was still unsure about whether I should - sit on what I wanted to do or act. I’m pretty sure now, in retrospect, that this action was worthwile.

So, discerning the will of God is a challenging lifelong process. In fact, I think that maybe Christ wants it that way One reason why he rewards us is based on merit and there is merit earned in the difficult struggle to discern the will of Christ. There is an “unwritten” law in our hearts as this Bible says. In the Bible also exists the parable of the talents. One was given five, used five. One was given two, used two. One was given one, hid it in the ground. The master left, came back and punished the one who hid the talent in the ground. I am not sure the interpretation of this parable - the Magisterium would do better than I - but I think that sometimes Christ just wants us to do what we can with what we’ve got even if we don’t know exactly what he wants us to do.

In fact, coming out of Protestantism and returning to the Catholic church, I especially fell in love with St. Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort because he didn’t know God’s will and he recognized this. So - since he encountered so much opposition to this evangelization and charity work during life - he walked for miles, on bare foot, to the Pope himself in order to seek the Pope’s opinion. (I think) He, at one time wanted to be a missionary (I think to India), the Pope told him to evangelize France - he submitted. I thoroughly believe that Christ blessed this work. It was a welcome change for me from my previously misguided belief that I would know Christ’s will because I would confuse Christ talking to me with my own thoughts. Of course Christ used all of my mistakes in discerning his will for my own benefit as I saw in the long run, but I prefer to admit - I don’t know, or I’m not sure, than to defiantly claim that I do know.

Perhaps think about studying the saints to figure out how they discerned Christ’s will in their own lifes.

P.S. Monica4316, I think the novena that you mentioned goes by many names but one version of it at least is named after St. Therese of Liseux.

 

[Monica4316]

This quote from St Faustina’s diary has helped me many times when I was going through confusion and not knowing God’s will

“When I see that the burden is beyond my strength, I do not consider or analyze it or probe into it, but I run like a child to the Heart of Jesus and say only one word to Him: “You can do all things.” And then I keep silent, because I know that Jesus Himself will intervene in the matter, and as for me, instead of tormenting myself, I use that time to love Him”. (St Faustina)

 

[Monica4316]

I think that you have received some excellent advice in this thread, particularly from Monica4316. Even St. Maria Faustina in her Diary did not always know the will of God. One useful advice that I have received about knowing Christ’s will is that if you do not know, wait and do nothing at times. Once I had that perspective - and I waited a long time on some things that I had to do because I didn’t know Christ’s will - and then I had a dream that involved deeply spiritual issues and I prayed about it with my sister and finally acted though I was still unsure about whether I should - sit on what I wanted to do or act. I’m pretty sure now, in retrospect, that this action was worthwile.

So, discerning the will of God is a challenging lifelong process. In fact, I think that maybe Christ wants it that way One reason why he rewards us is based on merit and there is merit earned in the difficult struggle to discern the will of Christ. There is an “unwritten” law in our hearts as this Bible says. In the Bible also exists the parable of the talents. One was given five, used five. One was given two, used two. One was given one, hid it in the ground. The master left, came back and punished the one who hid the talent in the ground. I am not sure the interpretation of this parable - the Magisterium would do better than I - but I think that sometimes Christ just wants us to do what we can with what we’ve got even if we don’t know exactly what he wants us to do.

In fact, coming out of Protestantism and returning to the Catholic church, I especially fell in love with St. Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort because he didn’t know God’s will and he recognized this. So - since he encountered so much opposition to this evangelization and charity work during life - he walked for miles, on bare foot, to the Pope himself in order to seek the Pope’s opinion. (I think) He, at one time wanted to be a missionary (I think to India), the Pope told him to evangelize France - he submitted. I thoroughly believe that Christ blessed this work. =) It was a welcome change for me from my previously misguided belief that I would know Christ’s will because I would confuse Christ talking to me with my own thoughts. Of course Christ used all of my mistakes in discerning his will for my own benefit as I saw in the long run, but I prefer to admit - I don’t know, or I’m not sure, than to defiantly claim that I do know.

Perhaps think about studying the saints to figure out how they discerned Christ’s will in their own lifes.

I agree!

btw, I love St Louis de Montfort!! He’s an awesome Saint and his books are wonderful too.

P.S. Monica4316, I think the novena that you mentioned goes by many names but one version of it at least is named after St. Therese of Liseux.

cool

God bless!!

 

[Monica4316]

btw, Alison, I’m going through sort of a similar time right now cause I really want to know God’s will about something and I’m being faced with a pretty big decision. Actually there are two things. One is what I should do after I graduate. But more immediately… I was told by my priest that I’ll be received into the Church on Easter which is awesome. My talk with the priest was on Saturday. But then on Monday and Tuesday (yesterday) I went through a terrible trial… I felt so confused and had no idea what God’s will is anymore!! I was doubting everything I experienced and read about… And that sort of messed me up, and now I’m still not sure. But here’s what I’m going to do. I’m just going to pray and trust Him, if it’s His will for me to be Catholic, He’ll make everything right for Easter. I just have to wait and see. He’ll do the rest. I’m just going to do what I’ve done before, when I was sure about my conversion, I’ll just keep on believing in the Church and going to Mass and praying the Rosary. I feel in my heart that this is just a trial I’m going through now, and it’s necessary for a reason that I don’t yet know.

So I’d say just try to not rely on your feelings too much, and above all try to trust God, because He is in charge and …remember, not one sparrow falls to the ground apart from His will, and we are worth more than many sparrows. He will take care of us.

God bless hugs