Are you the loud on in the family?
Every family has an attention-getter—a sound or a saying that only your family recognizes. You could be in the most crowded, chaotic place imaginable, but the second you hear it, you know your family is looking for you.
In one of our pastor's families, it was his dad's whistle. Distinct, unmistakable—and here's the funny part: it sounded nothing like a whistle. But sounding like a whistle was never the point. The point was to get the attention of the kids who knew the sound. When they heard it, it meant one of three things: Dad's close by. Dad's telling me where he is. Dad's showing me where to go.
That's a picture of our heavenly Father. He loves us so much that He's always wanting to get our attention, show us where He is, and direct us where to go. Most of us would love that kind of direction. But here's the honest snag: I've never heard the audible voice of God—have you? So if I've never heard Him out loud, how am I supposed to follow Him? How am I supposed to know where to go?
That's the question this week of the series tackles head-on: How do we hear God's voice? And the encouraging news is that hearing from God takes practice, and it's far less complicated than we tend to make it.
We overcomplicate hearing from God. When you want to hear what He says, start with what He already said.
God Speaks Through His Spirit
In John 14, we're sitting in on Jesus' farewell to His disciples the night before the cross. They're anxious and confused—the Messiah they followed is talking about leaving—and Jesus is calm, purposeful, and comforting. The one thing He wants them to know is that He isn't abandoning them; He's simply going to be present in a new way.
"If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth." (John 14:15–17, NIV)
This is the most important way God speaks to us: through the Holy Spirit. And notice—the Spirit is not an it. The Spirit is He, because He is fully God. We believe in one God who eternally exists in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—each unique in role, together occupying the same divine space. Jesus is essentially saying: I spoke to you and guided you while I was here. Now the Holy Spirit will speak and guide you going forward. We see exactly that happen at Pentecost in Acts 2, when the disciples are filled with the Spirit and the church is born.
So how do you know if the Holy Spirit lives in you? If you've put your trust in Jesus—fully God and fully human, who lived a perfect life, died in your place, and rose again—and made Him your Lord and Savior, then you've been given the gift of the Spirit. And His role is to empower you to live like Jesus, love like Jesus, and look like Jesus. He does that by speaking to us—through prayer, through promptings (that still, small nudge to go pray for someone, pay for a stranger's meal, or offer a word of encouragement), and through people (when something in a Sunday message hits you like a ton of bricks, that's not the preacher—that's the Spirit). The daily questions worth asking are simple: Holy Spirit, what do You want to say? What do You want me to do?
Here's why asking those questions matters more than ever. We live in a world where you can get an answer faster than you can finish the question—AI has made sure of that. It's a remarkable tool, but it carries a real danger for our faith. Hebrews 11:1 says faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance of what we can't see—which means faith involves trusting a God we can't always see, and waiting on His timing while He builds character in us. In an AI world, you don't need faith for answers, because an instant answer is always a tap away. So the question becomes: When I want to hear from God, who or what do I go to first? One of those answers builds faith. The other quietly replaces it. If we're not careful, AI will replace the Holy Spirit—because a predictable, on-demand god isn't a God at all. It's a product.
God Speaks Through His Word
The second way God speaks is through Scripture. And here's a line worth memorizing: if you want to hear what God says, start with what He already said.
"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16–17, NIV)
The Bible is a collection of 66 books, written over 1,500 years by 40 authors, carrying one unified message: God created us for relationship with Him, sin broke that relationship, and through Jesus, God is rescuing us and restoring His creation. It's not a rule book. It's a love story from the Creator to His creation—and it's the easiest, most accessible way to hear God's voice.
Here's the gentle challenge: many of us want to hear from God but aren't willing to open His Word. And sometimes God doesn't answer a prayer because He's already answered the question in Scripture—we just keep praying because we're secretly hoping He'll say something different. God, reveal Your plan for my life. He already said: go make disciples. God, tell me how to handle the person who hurt me. He already said: forgive them. Start with what He already said.
Of course, Scripture isn't always easy to understand—if you're breathing, you've wrestled with it. Good tools help here: Through the Word, The Bible Recap, The Bible Project, Enduring Word, Blue Letter Bible, and GotQuestions.org, among others. But Jesus names the ultimate resource: "the Holy Spirit… will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you" (John 14:26). Notice—He reminds you. It's hard to be reminded of Scripture you've never read. So read it, pray through it, and rely on the Spirit to bring it back to you when you need it.
And the difference that makes is measurable. One study of more than 100,000 people found that engaging God's Word one or two days a week made little difference, and three days brought slight improvement—but at four days a week, something transformational happened. Feeling lonely dropped 30%. Bitterness in relationships dropped 40%. Feeling spiritually stagnant dropped 60%. Meanwhile, sharing your faith jumped 200%, discipling others 230%, and biblical generosity 416%. Engaging Scripture—reading it, praying through it, and responding to it—is how the Spirit reshapes a life.
Respond in Obedience and Receive His Peace
"How do I hear from God?" is a great question. But it isn't the last question. The next one is harder: when God does speak, will I respond? How often have we felt a nudge from the Spirit and talked ourselves out of it—that can't be what You want, because it's uncomfortable? But every genuine move of God will confront those who want to stay comfortable. So don't stop at hearing His voice. Hear it, then obey it.
And obedience comes with a promise. Watch what Jesus gives His anxious disciples:
"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." (John 14:27, NIV)
The word is eirene—the Greek behind the Hebrew shalom—and it means something richer than the world's version of peace. Worldly peace is the absence of conflict. Godly peace is the process of taking something broken and restoring it to be better than before. It isn't the promise that the storm disappears; it's the anchor that holds you in the storm. Jesus is telling His distraught friends: I know you're hurting and afraid, but even through the pain, what I'm doing will bring you peace. Trust Me through it.
So if Jesus gives peace, why don't we always feel it? Usually because our eyes and hearts are fixed on the wrong thing. Paul shows us the way back:
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6–7, NIV)
Peace is a gift we receive, not a feeling we achieve. And then Paul adds the part we often skip: "Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you" (Philippians 4:9). Hearing, then obeying, then receiving peace—that's the rhythm.
A Simple Way to Stay in P.R.A.Y.E.R.
Last week we walked through a simple way to pray using the word PRAY. This week it grows into the full word—PRAYER—because hearing from God is more than what we say:
P — Praise
Start by telling God how good He is.
R — Repent:
Confess honestly and specifically, and receive His grace.
A — Ask
Bring your needs and intercede for others.
Y — Yield
Slow down and sit in silence; make room to listen.
E — Expect God to Speak
Come genuinely expecting to hear from Him.
R — Respond and Receive His Peace
Do what He says, and let His peace guard your heart.
The Bigger Story
We tend to make hearing from God complicated—waiting for an audible voice, a dramatic sign, or a pastor to tell us what to do, as though they're somehow closer to God than we are. So we wait and wait, and it feels like silence. But God has already spoken, clearly and abundantly, through His Word and through His Spirit. The invitation isn't to strain for a mysterious signal. It's to open the Book He already wrote, quiet the noise, ask the Spirit to speak, and then actually do what He says.
Because the real test was never whether we can hear God. It's whether we'll respond when we do. Hear His voice, obey it even when it's uncomfortable, and receive the peace that anchors you through anything—the settled confidence of a heart anchored in the Father, even when the storm is still raging.
Share this with someone this week.
Almost everyone has wondered why God feels silent—and quietly concluded they're just not one of the people who hears from Him. Send this to a friend stuck in that place, and remind them that God has already spoken through His Word and His Spirit, and that hearing Him is less complicated than they fear. Or share it with someone drifting toward letting AI or a favorite online voice do their thinking for them, and gently point them back to the God who builds faith precisely because He isn't always fast. Sometimes the most helpful thing you can hand a person is the reminder to start with what God already said.
What are you going to do about it?
Read John 14:15–31 slowly this week — once a day if you can. Watch how Jesus comforts His anxious disciples: not by removing the hard thing, but by promising His Spirit and His peace. Then get honest: When I want an answer, who or what do I go to first—the Spirit and the Word, or the fastest source I can find? And the harder question: When God has already spoken, am I willing to respond, even when obedience is uncomfortable? This week, try engaging Scripture four days—read it, pray through it, and do what it says—and when you sense the Spirit nudging you toward something, don't talk yourself out of it. Take the next right step and watch for the peace that follows.
About Our Current Series
Prayer can be powerful, personal, confusing, and sometimes even frustrating. In “God, Are You Listening?”, we’re having an honest conversation about the questions many of us have when it comes to prayer. Over 6-weeks, we’ll explore how to talk with God, how to hear His voice, what happens when we pray, and how to trust Him when His answers aren’t what we hoped for or when He seems silent. Because prayer isn’t about having all the right words or all the answers; it’s about growing in relationship with a God who knows us, loves us, and invites us to keep talking with Him.