How To Hear God Clearly About The Big Things In Your Life

TODAY'S TEACHING

Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

—Jeremiah 33:3

We usually want to hear God most when something big is sitting in front of us.

Should I take the job?

Is this the right person?

Do we move?

Do I start this?

Do I wait another year? 

Suddenly we want God’s voice to come through so clearly there couldn’t possibly be any confusion.

I understand that. But I’ve learned something about hearing God in those bigger moments. A lot of it gets practiced in much smaller ones. And I mean small.

One evening my wife and I were getting ready to watch a movie with family. Everybody was there, we had finally decided what to watch, and then came the familiar problem with an Apple TV remote.

It was missing.

Those little remotes seem almost designed to disappear. They’re small, slippery, and apparently capable of finding places nobody remembers putting them.

Everybody looked.

We checked around the couch. Under things. Beside things. The normal places first, then the places where the remote absolutely should not have been but somehow you check anyway because now you’re getting annoyed.

Nothing.

Eventually I prayed quietly, just inside myself. “God, please show me where the remote is.”

Almost immediately I had the thought to look between the couch cushions again. We had already looked there.

That’s probably why I could have brushed the thought off. Still, I checked. There it was.

Now, somebody could hear that story and say, “Daniel, it was a remote. You looked in a couch and found it.” Fair enough.

I’m not trying to build some giant theological doctrine around an Apple TV remote. I’m telling you what happened. There have been enough little moments like that in my life that I stopped automatically dismissing them.

Another time I couldn’t find the keys to my truck.

I looked where I normally left them. Checked pockets, looked around the house, went back over places I’d already checked because that is apparently what we do when something is missing, as though the keys might suddenly appear there out of pity.

Nothing.

So I prayed. “God, where are those keys?”

A thought came to me about an office shelf.

I went there.

Keys.

Sitting on the shelf.

I remember thinking how ordinary the whole thing was.

No dramatic music. No booming voice. Nobody else would have considered it an important moment. But I did. Because I had asked God for help, a thought came, I followed it, and there were the keys.

Little things.

I think we sometimes overlook those moments because we are waiting for God to speak about something important.

Maybe He is already teaching us how to recognize His leading before the important thing arrives.

John 10:27 says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

Jesus didn’t say His sheep only hear Him during major life decisions.

Relationship with God happens in regular life.

Monday afternoon life.

Can’t-find-my-keys life.

Sitting in traffic and thinking about somebody you suddenly feel prompted to pray for life.

That matters because learning someone’s voice takes familiarity.

Think about a person you know extremely well. They can call you from another room and say three words, and you know who it is. They don’t have to introduce themselves because you’ve heard that voice hundreds, maybe thousands, of times.

Our relationship with God grows familiar too. Not because God becomes predictable. He doesn’t. But over time we begin recognizing what agrees with His Spirit, what lines up with Scripture, what carries wisdom, and what is probably just our own mind running around making noise again.

There’s plenty of that too. We need to be honest about it.

Every thought that crosses our mind did not come from God.

Sometimes the thought telling you to eat another piece of cake is simply you wanting cake.

Sometimes fear talks.

Sometimes excitement talks.

Sometimes we are so desperate for one particular answer that almost anything can start sounding like confirmation.

That’s why Scripture and the Holy Spirit matter so much. God will not guide us in a way that contradicts what He has already said in His Word.

If some inner impression tells us to become dishonest, cruel, sexually immoral, unforgiving, greedy, or deliberately disobedient to Scripture, we don’t need three weeks of prayer trying to determine whether God said it. He didn’t. The Word gives us boundaries while we learn to recognize His leading within them.

I’ve also learned not to make hearing God into something strange. Sometimes Christians put so much pressure on themselves to “hear a word from God” that they become afraid to make a normal decision. God gave us wisdom too.

You can pray.

You can think.

You can investigate.

You can ask wise people questions.

You can look at the facts in front of you and make a decision without needing a supernatural sign taped to the refrigerator.

God can lead through His Spirit and wisdom just as certainly as He can bring a specific thought to mind.

Still, I don’t want to lose that expectancy.

God cares about our lives. The big stuff, obviously. I firmly believe He cares about the little stuff too.

Psalm 32:8 says, “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.”

That is personal.

There are decisions where I’ve wanted God to give me the entire plan and instead I’ve sensed one next step.

Annoying sometimes. I would prefer step seven too (LOL).

God seems perfectly comfortable letting us walk step one before explaining step seven. Maybe that’s part of why paying attention in ordinary life matters.

When a small prompting comes, follow it.

When someone unexpectedly comes to mind, pray for them.

When you feel that little check before sending the message you’re angry enough to send, maybe don’t hit send yet.

When you’re about to make a commitment and something inside you keeps saying, “Wait,” give yourself permission to wait.

You don’t have to turn every moment into a spiritual mystery. Just pay attention. There is a difference.

The more we walk with God, the more we learn through practice.

Hebrews 5:14 talks about those who “by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

By reason of use. I like that phrase.

Discernment gets exercised. You learn. You get things right.

Sometimes you think God is leading one way and later realize you probably got ahead of yourself. That has happened to me too.

We don’t need to become embarrassed and stop listening because we missed something. Children learning their father’s voice don’t quit the family when they misunderstand him. We keep growing.

Maybe you have a big decision in front of you right now and you’re asking God to make His direction clear.

Keep asking.

Search Scripture.

Pay attention to wisdom.

Don’t force an answer because waiting makes you uncomfortable (that can be tough). And while you’re doing all of that, don’t overlook the little moments.

Ask God for help with ordinary things. Talk to Him throughout the day.

Invite Him into decisions nobody else would think were spiritually significant.

I think sometimes we want a spectacular word from God while barely talking to Him about regular life.

Relationship usually doesn’t work like that. The closeness gets built Monday by Monday. Conversation by conversation.

A misplaced remote may seem ridiculous next to deciding whom to marry or whether to change careers. Of course it is. The stakes aren’t remotely comparable.

Still, something can happen in those little moments. You learn to ask. You learn to listen. You learn not to dismiss every quiet nudge before you’ve even considered it.

Then one day the question is bigger. Much bigger.

You still pray.

You still listen.

You still check what you sense against Scripture and wisdom.

Maybe you notice that God’s leading doesn’t feel completely foreign because you’ve been walking with Him in ordinary things for years. I’m grateful God cares enough to meet us there.

Keys on a shelf.

A remote wedged into a couch.

A person’s name suddenly coming to mind.

The thought to keep quiet when your mouth is already loading the ammunition.

Little things.

And if God cares about those parts of your life, you don’t have to wonder whether He cares about the decision keeping you awake tonight. He does.

You may not receive the whole answer tonight. You may not receive it in the dramatic way you hoped. Keep walking with Him anyway. Listen in the little things.

That’s where your ears are being trained for the bigger things.

If this resonates with you, here's a short prayer you can say today:

"Dear God, I want to recognize Your direction without making everything complicated. Some days my own thoughts are loud enough already, so teach me what Your leading looks like in ordinary life. Help me pay attention when something inside me says wait, pray, check again, stay quiet... whatever it is, and keep me anchored in Your Word so I don’t turn every passing thought into something spiritual. I want wisdom, discernment, and closeness with You more than some dramatic experience. Lord, make me better at listening and following You in the small things. Amen."

God bless you! 

Your brother in Christ,

Daniel
Daily Effective Prayer

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