How to Hear God Like Your Radio

Hearing God in your life is a lot like listening to the radio. In order listen to your radio, you’ve got to 3 things. You’ve got to turn it on. Then you’ve got to tune it in to the station you want. Then you’ve got to set your volume—turn it up! Listening to God in your life regularly is a lot like that. Here’s how it works.

Turn It On with Faith

Faith turns your radio on. Without faith that God actually can, will, and wants to speak to us, we’re not going to hear anything.

Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Hebrews 11:6

I hear non-Christians say all the time, “Yeah, right, Christian, I’d believe in God too if he talked to me. But I’ve never heard him.” It doesn’t work that way. Of course they’ve never heard him. Their radio’s off! They have no faith.

The station can be broadcasting at full power, but if you’re radio’s off, you’re not hearing it. The exciting adventure of hearing God in your life all starts with faith.

Tune It In with Consistency

Personally, I listen to 91.9 FM, WGTS, one of our local Christian music stations here in the Washington, DC, area. I also listen to 107.7 FM, WWWT, for news. Say my radio is set on 107.7, and I want to listen to some Christian music, not news. So I turn on my radio, and all I get is news. Then I get mad at WGTS. “Why don’t they broadcast? Why can’t I hear Christian music like everyone else can? I’ve been listening all day!”

You’d probably say to me, “You goof! You’ve got your radio set to the wrong station. Tune-in to 91.9.” And you’d be right. There’s nothing wrong with WGTS; they’ve been broadcasting just fine. The problem’s with me. I’ve got my radio set to the wrong station.

I’m not going to hear the Christian music station if my radio is set to the news station. Duh! That’s pretty obvious. None of us would really do that with radio stations, webinars, or Pandora. But we do it all the time with God. We think he’s not speaking to us when in fact he’s speaking all the time. We’re just not tuned-in to his frequency. So how do we tune-in to God’s frequency?

Consistency. We are listening to whatever spiritual radio station we consistently spend our time at.

If we consistently watch secular TV shows or movies, where godless behavior (like sex outside of marriage) and lifestyles (like LGBTQ) are portrayed as good and acceptable, we’ve tuned into the world’s frequency. We’ll have no discernment when it comes to elections or other important things in life. We’re deceived by the spirit of the age because that’s the frequency we’ve tuned our spirits in to.

But if we consistently spend our time with God, in worship, reading his word (the Bible), listening to teachings, meditating on him, we’re tuned in to his spirit.

I’m not saying don’t watch TV or movies or listen to secular music. I am saying filter what you watch and listen to through the Holy Spirit. I don’t care how funny or hip it is, if it’s portraying godless behavior and lifestyles as good, desirable, and acceptable, then watching it is harming your relationship with Jesus. And hence it degrades your ability to hear God.

If you want to hear God, tune into Heaven’s station, not Hell’s. You are tuned into the station you spend the most consistent time with. Simple.

Turn It Up with Focus

Now that your radio is turned on and tuned in, we just need to turn it up. The volume on your spiritual radio is focus. Here are 3 specific things you can do to focus your life on Jesus so you can hear God better. I’m sure you can think of many more.

1) Baptism. If you haven’t been baptized since making Jesus your Lord and Savior, then it’s a great thing to do. It’s a public declaration of dedicating your life to Jesus. Going under the water and coming back up again is symbolic of dying to the world and being alive to God.

2) Communion. This has different names in different denominations, like the Lord’s supper or the Eucharist. It’s like coming over to your parent’s house for dinner. You don’t do it to check a box (hopefully), but to spend time with them. Communion is dinner at God’s house. It’s a special activity with a community of other believers where the veil between Heaven and Earth is thinner. Taking communion regularly with the community of God’s people is a great way to turn up your spiritual radio.

3) Fasting is taking the time you would have spent doing something, and instead spending that time with God. Fasting food is the most common, taking the time you would’ve spent preparing, cooking, and eating and giving that time to the Lord. But if you’re diabetic, pregnant, or have some other medical condition where your doctor advises against it, do not fast food.

There are lots of other things you can fast besides food. Fasting TV or media is excellent. Again, it’s not just not watching. It’s taking the time you would’ve spent watching and spending that time with the Lord. You can fast sports. You can fast video games. You can fast just about anything.

Pro Tip: It’s usually best to set a well-defined timeframe at the beginning, like “I’m going to fast sports for 2 weeks.” It’ll be easier if you’re clear about the duration up front.

Don’t you feel special when your spouse or special someone sets aside time just for you? God loves fasting, and will often meet you at a deeper level in that place.

So There You Have It

You turn your spiritual radio on with faith that God will actually talk to you. You tune in to his frequency with consistently spending time with him more than spending time on things of the world that detract from him. And you turn your volume up by focusing your life on God. Three great ways to do that are baptism, communion, and fasting.

Your Turn

Where are you at in your spiritual journey? Do you hear God regularly? Are you hungry for more? Do you identify with what we’ve talked about in this post? Tell us your story and thoughts in the comments, and please share if this would bless someone else.