Book summary “How to Hear from God”: summary

Introduction

You may often wonder why God seems silent when you need His direction the most. You pray for clear answers, yet heaven often feels like a closed door.

Joyce Meyer argues that God desires to communicate with you on a daily basis. He uses multiple avenues, including the Holy Spirit, Scripture, common sense, and internal peace.

You can learn to tune out the static of modern life and hear His voice clearly. This book explains how to create a listening atmosphere, recognize supernatural revelation, and remove spiritual hindrances.

You will find answers to several vital questions as you read:

• How can you distinguish God's voice from your own thoughts?
• What role does internal peace play in decision-making?
• Which everyday habits block your spiritual receiver?
• How does obedience train your ear to catch divine guidance?

1. Learning to Listen and Obey

Many believers go through life without realizing that God wants to talk to them directly. Through the indwelling Holy Spirit, who acts as a Counselor, Helper, and Guide, God provides personal direction, reveals truth, and gives warnings about the future.

God desires daily communication with every believer through the indwelling Holy Spirit, but hearing His guidance requires creating an atmosphere of stillness and maintaining immediate obedience.

The Holy Spirit as Counselor

Unlike Jesus, who was confined to a physical body during His earthly ministry, the Holy Spirit dwells inside every believer. He teaches truth, brings God's Word to remembrance, and declares future events to act as a shock absorber against upcoming challenges. This relationship developed after the three years Jesus spent teaching His disciples directly before pointing them to the coming Holy Spirit.

Joyce Meyer sensed in her spirit that one of her children was struggling with a major issue. This prepared her for discouraging news that arrived days later.

In February 1976, Joyce Meyer heard the audible voice of God while crying out in her car. God said that He had been teaching her patience, which marked a major turning point in her spiritual walk.

Creating an Atmosphere of Listening

Human flesh is naturally full of energy and prefers to stay busy rather than be still. Developing a listening attitude means pausing regularly throughout daily tasks to wait on God.

While sitting down to work on her computer, Joyce Meyer was told by the Lord to wait on Him instead of immediately making phone calls. This led to an unexpected lesson on angels.

Impulsive emotional reactions block true divine direction, making patience and waiting on God essential. Acting in the heat of fleshly emotions leads to poor decisions and mistakes. Allowing strong urges to settle for a period of time helps separate temporary excitement from true determination.

When a magazine arrived listing many moral Christian movies, Joyce Meyer initially wanted to order fifteen videos. She laid the list aside for a few days and ultimately ordered only two.

When you want to hear from God, you can follow these practical steps:

• Ask God if there is anyone He wants you to encourage or bless.
• Be still and listen for His response.
• Follow through on the specific names and actions He brings to your heart.
• Let things settle for at least twenty-four hours when you feel anxiety or urgency to handle a situation.
• Wait for sound wisdom before acting on an impulse.

The Simple Recipe of Prayer and Obedience

God does not require complex sacrifices or burnt offerings; He delights in obedience. Attempting to negotiate or make excuses when God gives a direct instruction breaks the flow of His anointing and creates personal misery.

At a conference featuring a world-renowned pastor of a massive church, the speaker summarized the secret of his ministry's growth over three hours by repeatedly stating that he prays and obeys.

Selective hearing and unaddressed disobedience in one area block a person from hearing God in other areas. When you refuse to act on the last instruction God gave you, you often grow spiritually deaf. God consistently brings you back to that unresolved issue before offering new guidance.

A woman went through a two-year period without new spiritual guidance because she refused to forgive her sister. Once she finally obeyed and prayed for power to forgive, her relationship was healed.

True spiritual growth requires honoring God's voice above the opinions and advice of frail human beings. When you hear from God and immediately run to consult others, you elevate human philosophy above divine direction. You possess an internal anointing that allows you to trust the wisdom deposited in your heart.

When the apostle Paul received his calling on the road to Damascus, he did not immediately confer with flesh and blood. He spent three years away before going to Jerusalem to personally become acquainted with Peter.

Not every internal thought or voice comes from God. Because God is faithful, loving, kind, and completely honest, you must test the voices you hear against His character. Any message prompting dishonesty or premature surrender comes from the flesh or the enemy.

After accidentally receiving an extra pair of shoes and a purse from a clerk who only charged for one, Joyce Meyer spent time and gas money to return the extra purse.

2. Supernatural Revelation and Natural Guidance

God speaks through supernatural means like the written Word and rhema revelation, as well as through natural channels such as common sense, circumstances, and trusted people.

Logos and Rhema

The written Bible serves as the permanent logos, while a rhema is a specific, illuminated portion brought to mind that is always supported by biblical principles.

When considering buying a car that would cause deep debt bondage, common sense and the written Word on wisdom reveal that the purchase is not from God.

Sanctified Common Sense

Conventional wisdom and common sense act as vital filters to guide decisions when no specific supernatural word is given. God does not dictate every minor choice, expecting believers to use sanctified common sense and wisdom, which is defined as choosing today what satisfies tomorrow.

Joyce Meyer shares that she does not pray about every retail purchase, but instead relies on affordability and peace.

Dreams, Visions, and Prophecy

Most dreams are natural brain activity or the result of food, but genuine prophetic dreams carry immediate interpretation or persistent memory. You should avoid over-analyzing every pizza or taco dream to prevent deception. True messages from God either bring immediate understanding upon waking or refuse to fade from memory.

Joyce Meyer dreamed of a bridge submerged in water while driving in traffic. God interpreted this as a warning that her new ministry journey would have uncertain and difficult paths.

Personal prophecies from others must align with the Bible and bear internal agreement in the heart rather than dictating life decisions. You should not run your lives based solely on what others claim is a prophetic message, because running after external direction without internal peace leads to confusion.

The author recalls seeing people struggle and get into horrendous messes by blindly trying to follow prophetic advice to go to the mission field or Bible college. When receiving a prophetic word, you must follow specific steps:

• Write down the words that are spoken over you.
• Wait for the Lord to reveal whether the words are from Him.
• Let God fulfill His promises in His own time without trying to manipulate their manifestation.

Natural Abilities and People

The natural creation around us continuously declares the existence and power of God, leaving humanity without excuse. Observing trees that appear totally dead in the winter and come back to life in the spring reminds believers that God can restore hopeless circumstances.

God guides individuals toward their life purpose through their innate talents, natural skills, and personal enjoyment. You easily perform God-given gifts without formal training, and attempting to force yourself into roles lacking personal grace results in misery.

The author tried unsuccessfully to sew, can tomatoes, and grow a garden before realizing she was not gifted or called to those tasks. While you should seek God primarily, He frequently chooses to speak and offer correction through other people. Constant dependence on human advice over God is an insult to Him, but wise counsel serves to confirm what is already felt in the spirit.

Joyce Meyer's husband Dave told her that her preaching struggles stemmed from her judgmental words about another preacher, which God used to correct her.

3. Internal Peace and Conscience

Internal peace acts as a divine umpire to confirm God's will, while a tender conscience and sanctified desires guide daily decisions away from deception.

Internal Peace as an Umpire

God gives a deep sense of internal peace to confirm His message. Joyce Meyer compares peace to an athletic umpire that decides whether something is safe or out. When true peace is absent, you should not proceed with a plan, regardless of logical reasoning or external pressures.

Strong personal desires and excitement can produce a false peace that masks God's true will. Rushing into decisions without waiting allows false peace to guide you, which eventually fades when tested by time.

Joyce and Dave Meyer wanted to fulfill a long-time desire for a person in need. They committed to the plan, but Joyce progressively lost her peace. After weeks of prayer, she confessed to the individual that she lacked peace, and the other person admitted they felt the exact same way.

• Lay your decision on the scale with peace and do not proceed if peace cannot hold its weight.
• When losing peace in a conversation or situation, become quiet.
• Check for an inner state of true peace before making serious decisions or commitments.
• Never move too quickly on important decisions and allow a period of waiting.
• Do an inner check for true abiding peace before making commitments.

Sanctified Desires and Conscience

As you spiritually mature, God imparts sanctified desires that align with His heart and will. God uses holy desires to lead you into His plan, distinct from carnal fleshly desires that bring torment.

Joyce Meyer wore a small Hawaiian bangle bracelet meaning sweetheart for years as a reminder of God directing her attitude. She refused to replace it until she felt a sudden inner stir for a new bracelet, which her friend Roxane coincidentally gifted her. God also uses the conscience to prompt you regarding minor daily actions, such as picking up dropped paper or trash.

• Ask God to give you sanctified, or holy, desires.
• Pray over new desires by stating you want God's will above your own preferences.
• Turn around immediately to pick up a piece of paper or trash dropped in the street.
• Leave a place better than it was found as an act of sowing seeds.
• Listen to your inner man or conscience with expectancy.
• Test everything you hear against internal peace.

Conviction Versus Condemnation

The Holy Spirit convicts the conscience to guide you toward repentance, never attaching condemning shame. Condemnation crushes the spirit and paralyzes prayer, whereas true conviction coincides with the anointing necessary to break addictions and change behavior.

Jesus refused to condemn the woman caught in adultery, instead inviting her accusers to examine their own sin and telling the woman to go and sin no more. Instead of waiting for dramatic supernatural manifestations, you should recognize that God often speaks through your inner voice or reminds you of familiar spiritual teachings.

A woman facing an intense marital situation heard the recorded voice of Joyce Meyer internally quoting a teaching tape, which provided the exact due-season word she needed from the Holy Spirit.

• Pray for God to show you your sin and keep your conscience tender without accepting shame.
• Immediately pray and release your faith for deliverance when convicted of a habit or addiction.

4. Developing a Reining Ear

Spiritual maturity requires cultivating a reining ear to catch the still, small voice of God, keeping the conscience tender through obedience and overcoming the flesh.

God does not typically communicate through flashy manifestations like strong winds, earthquakes, or fires. He speaks through a still, small voice deep within the spirit of born-again believers. This direct communion operates through intuition and conscience. Elijah heard God through a still, small voice on the mountain after fleeing Queen Jezebel. Joyce Meyer avoided misquoting a scripture on a master tape sent out for ten thousand copies because a persistent prompting urged her to re-listen to it.

The Reining Ear Concept

Believers must cultivate a reining ear, modeled after horses that listen to their master's voice rather than just external bits, to catch God's gentle promptings.

• Acknowledge God in all your daily ways and decisions.
• Stop and seek God's direction the moment you feel a lack of peace or a check in your spirit.
• Obey immediately to keep your conscience tender and responsive.

Spiritual Maturity and Leadership

Spiritual maturity is directly demonstrated by a willingness to be led by the Spirit of God rather than by carnal appetites or worldly reasoning. Unregenerate individuals are limited to natural reasoning and emotions because their spirit is disconnected from God. Mature sons and daughters of God freely surrender the government of their lives to the Holy Spirit instead of relying solely on human qualifications. In February 1976, Joyce Meyer made a full commitment of her life to the Lord as her daily leader with only a high school education and previous experience as a bookkeeper.

The human flesh and the born-again heart are not in natural agreement. Choosing to follow the Spirit of God over carnal impulses results in temporary fleshly suffering, but the resulting glory and spiritual freedom vastly outweigh the temporary cost.

• Choose the right thing over the wrong thing continuously throughout the day.
• Say no to self and yes to God when facing interpersonal strife.
• Choose to forgive rather than throwing a screaming fit or engaging in partisan strife.

Freedom from False Guilt

Believers must distinguish between true godly conviction from the Holy Spirit and false guilt stemming from past trauma, abuse, or legalistic upbringing. Childhood abuse or past trauma can saddle individuals with persistent guilt, causing them to feel wrong about resting, enjoying life, or treating themselves. Joyce Meyer felt immense guilt simply for watching a Disney movie, eating popcorn, or taking time off due to her abusive childhood background where play was forbidden.

• Ask God to reveal the truth when feelings of accusation arise instead of relying purely on logic or past emotional conditioning.
• Study the love of God and biblical passages affirming your right to freedom and enjoyment.
• Resist false condemnation through targeted prayer for balance and joy.

Consistent obedience keeps the conscience tender and sensitive to God's guidance, while disobedience dulls it into a cauterized state. Just as a physical wound forms scar tissue without feeling when cauterized, a human conscience becomes numb and unresponsive if a person repeatedly ignores God's leading.

• Pray for God to break hardness and soften your heart and the hearts of loved ones.
• Check your conscience regarding intentions and actions before proceeding with plans.
• Stop immediately and address the issue whenever your conscience causes unease or lacks peace.

Surrounding yourself with people who actively listen to and obey God sharpens a believer's spiritual hearing. Iron sharpens iron, meaning that spending time with givers and individuals sensitive to the Holy Spirit helps cultivate one's own spiritual responsiveness.

• Evaluate your friendships and business associations to ensure they align with God's plan.
• Be willing to sever relationships with people who tempt you away from spiritual obedience.
• Cultivate friendships with people who practice listening to God's voice.

5. Hindrances to Hearing God

Excessive busyness, hard-heartedness, unforgiveness, legalism, and worldly viewpoints create static in your spiritual receiver and block divine communication.

Busyness and Works of the Flesh

God attempts to speak through His Word, natural signs, supernatural revelation, and internal confirmation. However, individuals miss His voice due to obstacles such as excessive busyness, hard-heartedness, worldly viewpoints, unforgiveness, and legalistic religious activity. Engaging in excessive religious work without genuine intimacy with God leads to burnout and empty efforts. When you sign up for every available activity out of enthusiasm rather than divine anointing, you experience works of the flesh.

Joyce Meyer shares that early in her walk with the Lord she signed up for everything and quickly discovered she was not anointed for children's ministry or street ministry. These efforts are difficult, draining, and produce no joy or fulfillment because they substitute service for time spent sitting at God's feet.

Hard-Heartedness and Legalism

Hard-heartedness resulting from trauma, abuse, or repeated rebellion against one's conscience blocks spiritual sensitivity. While a hard heart serves as a survival tactic during prolonged abuse or disappointment, numbness to pain ultimately damages health and spiritual perception. Constant exposure to graphic media violence and negative world reports desensitizes the conscience and hardens empathy.

Joyce describes how her own hard-heartedness from childhood abuse made her bitter, and how her older son was also hard-hearted before God transformed him into someone tender and quick to apologize. Harboring unforgiveness, resentment, or bitterness grieves the Holy Spirit and renders you unable to hear God. Personal disappointments can cause deep bitterness, acting like taking poison while hoping the enemy will die. Legalism attempts to impose uniform man-made rules on everyone, stifling the unique and creative leadership of the Holy Spirit. By the time Jesus was born, religious leaders had turned the Ten Commandments into two thousand rules for people to follow.

Unforgiveness and Static

Many people fail to hear from God because their ears are jammed with messages from ungodly sources or because they harbor unconfessed disobedience. Complaining and whining act as static that quenches the Holy Spirit, whereas a life of daily obedience and thankfulness keeps your spiritual ears open.

Joyce mentions a female employee whose husband walked out after thirty-nine years of marriage, yet the woman consciously fought off temptation to get mad at God, stating He was her only friend. The author shares how she spent years grumbling and finding fault with everyone while remaining jealous that others were getting a word from God, until she learned that she had to quit complaining to hear Him.

• Pray sincerely to ask God to remove hard-heartedness and legalism.
• Ask for an alert conscience to recognize divine approval or disapproval.
• Ask for sensitivity to the touch and ways of God to give real encouragement to hurting people.

10 Key Ideas

1. God desires daily communication with every believer through the indwelling Holy Spirit, but hearing His guidance requires creating an atmosphere of stillness and maintaining immediate obedience.
2. The Holy Spirit acts as a personal Counselor, Helper, and Guide who dwells inside every believer to teach truth, bring God's Word to remembrance, and declare future events.
3. Attempting to negotiate or make excuses when God gives a direct instruction breaks the flow of His anointing and creates personal misery, whereas God delights in simple obedience.
4. God speaks through supernatural means like the written Word and rhema revelation, as well as through natural channels such as common sense, circumstances, and trusted people.
5. Internal peace acts as a divine umpire to confirm God's will, meaning that when true peace is absent, you should not proceed with a plan regardless of logical reasoning or external pressures.
6. The Holy Spirit convicts the conscience to guide you toward repentance without ever attaching condemning shame, because true conviction coincides with the anointing necessary to break addictions and change behavior.
7. Cultivating a reining ear helps believers catch the still, small voice of God deep within the spirit, keeping the conscience tender through obedience and overcoming the flesh.
8. Spiritual maturity requires a willingness to be led by the Spirit of God rather than by carnal appetites, worldly reasoning, or human qualifications.
9. Excessive busyness, hard-heartedness, unforgiveness, legalism, and worldly viewpoints create static in your spiritual receiver and block divine communication.
10. Surrounding yourself with people who actively listen to and obey God sharpens a believer's spiritual hearing and cultivates personal spiritual responsiveness.