Hearing God - Pastor Tim

September 27, 2026 | Tim Spirk

You were made for more than information about God. You were made for relationship with Him.

When we receive Jesus, we are adopted into God's family. He becomes our Father — not a distant authority figure, not a theological concept, but a Father who interacts, speaks, and communicates with His children. Second Corinthians 6:18 makes this plain: "I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me." First John 3:1 adds something almost breathtaking to it: "See what an incredible quality of love the Father has given us, that we should be permitted to be named and called and counted the children of God!"

He's not hiding. And He's not silent.

From the very beginning, there has been an attack designed to make us question whether we're capable of hearing God at all. That doubt is not from Him. The first key to hearing God is simply this: believe that you can. Because if you don't believe it, you won't hear Him.

The Shepherd's Voice

In John 10, Jesus draws a picture that says everything about how this works. Sheep listen to one voice. Their hearts, their ears, their obedience — it all belongs to the shepherd. And the way they learn to recognize him is not through a class or a checklist. It's through relationship. He calls, they hear, they recognize, they follow.

"I know My sheep and My sheep know Me." That word know isn't about facts. It's personal and relational — the kind of knowing that only comes from time spent together.

Shepherds in that day would often mingle their flocks with other shepherds' sheep at a watering hole or overnight. And yet when it was time to move, each shepherd simply called — and his own sheep separated themselves from the rest. They didn't follow the voices they didn't recognize. They followed the familiar.

That's the invitation for us. The more time we spend with Him, the more familiar His voice becomes. And when something comes to us, we can ask the right question: Does this sound like the Shepherd I know?

John 20 gives us a beautiful picture of this. Mary was standing outside the empty tomb, overwhelmed with grief, when someone spoke her name. His appearance had changed — she didn't recognize His face. But the moment she heard her name in His voice, she knew exactly who it was. His voice was the same. That's what intimacy with God produces in us: a recognition that goes deeper than what we can see.

How God Speaks

One of the most freeing things to understand is that God speaks in more ways than we often expect. He speaks through Scripture — and that is always the foundation, always the standard. But He also speaks through an audible voice, through a word or phrase that surfaces internally, through a picture, through a dream. Job 33:14–15 says it plainly: "God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it. He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they lie in their beds."

He speaks through discernment — that God-given ability to judge rightly, to distinguish truth from error, to sense when something is or isn't from Him. He speaks through prophetic words, through visions, even through physical objects. God is remarkably creative in how He reaches us, and He meets us where we are.

How Do You Know When You're Hearing Him?

Start by not dismissing the first thing that comes to you. We often talk ourselves out of what God is saying before we even give it a chance.

Then ask two questions. Does it line up with Scripture? And does it support or contradict God's character? God will never speak something that contradicts His Word or misrepresents who He is. If it doesn't pass those two tests, let it go. If it does, hold it with open hands and keep seeking Him.

Isaiah 30:21 holds a promise worth sitting with: "Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, 'This is the way you should go,' whether to the right or to the left."

He is not far off. He is right behind you, speaking. The question is whether we've learned to recognize the voice of the One we belong to.

📖 2 Corinthians 6:18 | 1 John 3:1 | John 10:1–16 | John 20:11–16 | Job 33:14–15 | Isaiah 30:21