We all want to hear from God.

In his book, Echo Heaven: Secrets to Hearing God’s Voice and Receiving Words of Knowledge, my friend Marty Darracott (Marty D, as I know him) defines 10 ways God speaks to us.

And they’re not all what you might think.

Sometimes it’s audible, and sometimes your eyes do the listening. Sometimes it’s through that random thing you witnessed at the coffee shop.

So if God is talking, why don’t we hear Him?

Here are 4 ways to unstop your spiritual ears.

1. Get a relationship with Jesus

A real one.

One where, like King David, you get out of bed a little early in the morning so you can spend time with Him.

You sacrifice a little sleep at night for an extra moment with Him before your head hits the pillow.

Get to know Him. Be in a relationship with Him.

If your “relationship” with Jesus maxes out at a listen to that one Christian guy’s podcast or a skim through a morning devotional written by someone else, that’s not a relationship.

2. Ditch the distractions

God is always speaking.

Are we listening?

Or did He speak when we were scrolling, trying to cram in one more self-help book at 1.5x playback speed, or taking some “me time” binging an entire season of some new TV show?

What if He’s whispering while you’re in the checkout line, but your distractions are turned up too loud for you to hear?

Our brains are designed to only be able to take in so much stimulus at once; the static of the world can drown other things out.

Make sure you’re leaving room for God’s voice to come through.

3. Spend time with God

We would never listen to someone else talk about our significant other for an hour and call it “quality time.”

It’s ludicrous to think that we would only ever talk to our spouse when we were in need.

Those in healthy relationships seek out ways to prioritize the relationship. They make absolutely sure there is time to be spent with one another.

Make intentional time with Him a habit in your life.

Get alone and get quiet.

Spend some time with Jesus.

Make it quality.

4. Learn what His voice sounds like

When your spouse says something to you, do you sit and wonder if that was really them? Do you have to question if that was your wife’s voice?

No.

Because you know that voice. You’d recognize it anywhere.

Now that we’re in a relationship with Jesus, that’s how easy it should be to recognize His voice when He speaks.

Hearing from God

God is speaking to you; it’s time to start listening.

It may be dramatic, complete with angels on high and a bright, shining star showing you the way.

But more likely, it’ll be in the little moments of relationship – reading your Bible, talking with Him, fellowshipping with the rest of His body.

Keep your ear so in tune with Him that you hear His voice, no matter how loud or soft.