Hearing God’s Voice – Tree of Life Ministries

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After receiving salvation, the most important thing we can do is to learn how to hear God’s voice. Two-way communication with God is like having a personal lighthouse to guide us safely in every area of life.

The 4 Keys to Hearing God’s Voice

Christianity is about having an intimate relationship with Jesus, about falling in love, deeper and deeper, with your heavenly bridegroom. It’s about being the bride of Christ and stepping into your new identity as Mrs. Jesus. But how do you have a personal relationship—intimate or otherwise—with a person that you cannot see, cannot touch, and cannot hear? Think about it: what kind of a relationship is that?

What would you say if I told you that you could have an authentic, intimate, two-way dialogue with Jesus daily? Well, I will teach you four simple keys to hearing God’s voice.

But first, let me give you a little background information:

MARK’S JOURNEY

There is a Christian man named Mark Virkler. He received salvation when he was 15-years-old, and then spent the next ten years trying to hear God’s voice but was unsuccessful.

During those ten years, Mark became frustrated and thought he must be doing something wrong. Have you ever felt frustrated about not hearing from God?

So naturally, Mark thought if he’d try harder, like reading more scriptures, then he’d hear God’s voice. But that didn’t work.
Or maybe if he fasted, then he’d hear God’s voice. But that didn’t work either.
Or perhaps, if he went to Bible college, then surely he’d hear God’s voice. So he got a four-year degree at a Bible college but still didn’t hear God’s voice?

What was Mark doing wrong? Can you relate to his frustration and confusion? Maybe you’ve had a similar experience.

At this point, Mark began to question his faith and backslid on and off. Then one day, an impression came to him: why not take one whole year of your life to learn how to hear God’s voice?

So for one year, every book he read, every sermon he preached, and every conference he attended was focused on hearing God’s voice.

And then it happened: God woke up Mark early one morning in 1979 with a loud voice in his head, saying, “Get up. I want to teach you how to hear My voice.” When Mark arrived at his office, the Lord led him to Habakkuk 2:1-3 (NLT):

I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guardpost.

There I will wait to see what the Lord says and how he will answer my complaint.

Then the Lord said to me, “Write my answer plainly on tablets,

so that a runner can carry the correct message to others.

This vision is for a future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed.”

Through these passages of scriptures, God taught Mark the major revelation that He speaks through the spontaneous flowing thoughts in a person’s mind. This revelation radically transformed Mark’s life, and he began a pioneering ministry, teaching this revelation worldwide. You can read more of Mark’s testimony in his book, 4 Keys to Hearing God’s Voice.

[Mark Virkler offers an online course on Hearing God’s Voice. It is available at his website School of the Spirit (Affiliate link).]

4 KEYS TO HEARING GOD’S VOICE

Habakkuk 2:1-2 reveals the 4 keys. You must perform them simultaneously. Not just 2 or 3 of the keys at the same time. It must be all four.

And remember that if you come to God to dialogue with Him through two-way journaling, you must come in faith:

Key #1 is STILLNESS, found in verse 1: “I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guardpost.” Be still. Quiet yourself down. Go someplace where you can be comfortable and alone. Take a deep breath, soak in inspiring music, or meditate. Do whatever effectively brings you inner quietness. I usually pray in the Spirit.
Key #2 is VISION, also found in verse 1: “There I will wait to see what the Lord says and how he will answer my complaint.” Use your imagination to see a vision of the Lord. See a picture of Jesus by your side speaking to you.
KEY #3 is SPONTANEITY, found in verse 2: “Then the Lord said to me.” This key means you have to tune in to the inner spontaneous thoughts and visions that flow through your mind.
- To help you understand what I mean by spontaneous flowing thoughts and visions, I am going to read a portion of one of Mark Virkler’s two-way journaling messages from the Lord, published in his book Naturally Supernatural (pg 129): “It is a Spirit flow, an inner quickening. It is sensed as a river of peace and power welling up within you . . . It feels like love, joy, peace, patience, faith, hope. One of the words for power is energies and it means active energy. It feels like a flow of active energy within you.”
KEY #4 is JOURNALING, also found in verse 2: “Write my answer plainly on tablets.” Start writing the spontaneous thoughts and visions that are flowing into your mind. Do not pause to evaluate whether they are from you or God. You will do that later. Pausing activates doubt, so keep moving with your spontaneous inner flow until you sense the flow has stopped.

It is really that simple. After the flow of spontaneous thoughts and visions in your mind stops, you can evaluate your journaling. Still, you need to hold onto the following five guardrails along this spiritual path of evaluation to confirm whether or not your journaling is the voice of God:

You are a born-again Christian, having accepted Jesus Christ into your heart as your Lord and Savior, and your faith is rooted in the finished work of Jesus Christ and God’s unmerited grace.
You accept the Bible as the inerrant Word of God. Bible scriptures will support everything God speaks to you in your two-way journaling. God will not give anyone the green light to sin through two-way journaling.
You are committed to maturing in your knowledge of God’s Word.
You desire to hear God’s voice personally and are striving to respond appropriately to what He says to you through two-way journaling.
You have two or three spiritual advisors to whom you go for input regularly. Sharing your two-way journaling with spiritual advisers is the most critical safeguard because two or three witnesses establish God’s truth, according to 2 Corinthians 13:1.

Spiritual advisors can be your spouse, parent, friend, pastor, or any person: