How to Hear God When You Pray

There are many ways that God speaks to His people today. We can hear from God through His Word, through confirmation, through leading from the Holy Spirit, and more, but did you know that we can also hear from God through prayer? Often if we’re not aware, we could miss it. Remember, prayer is simply our conversation with God, and conversation is a two-way street. This means prayer is our talking to God and Him talking back to us. In today’s video, I will share with you 3 powerful ways God speaks to us when we pray.

I was chatting with a friend the other day about the character of God, and one thing she said about His character that really stuck with me was that God is a gentleman. He’s not going to deal with us harshly, but gently and with kindness. If we apply that truth to prayer, it means that if we speak to Him, He is not going to be rude and give us the cold shoulder. He will not ignore us or give us the silent treatment. 

If you feel that God has been silent to you, be sure to subscribe because I’m planning a video about how to keep praying when you feel God is silent. My ultimate goal is to encourage you to keep praying because it’s in prayer that we hear from God. As I said, God is not one who will ignore the prayers of His people. All throughout the Psalms, we hear the writers talk about praying to God and God responding back to them. Psalm 120:1 says:

Psalm 34:4 says:

Psalm 3:4 says:

So the question that I want to answer in this episode is what does it look like to hear God speak to you in prayer? How can you recognize His voice now that you know when we pray, He does answer?

God is speaking. The question is do we have the spiritual ears to hear Him and recognize His voice?

So here are a few ways God speaks to us when we pray.

 1. God speaks through answered prayers.

First, He answers your prayer. It might not be a vocal voice we hear like you hear me right now, but when we receive the answer to our requests to God through an answered prayer, that is God speaking to us and Him saying “yes,” He is saying I hear you, and I see you and I will provide your needs. Too often, we pray about something, receive what we prayed for, and then forget that God is the One who provided it. We must remain watchful of our answered prayers because that is God speaking to us and responding to our prayers.

 2. God speaks through thoughts and inspiration.

The second way God speaks to us is through a thought or idea inspiring us. There have been times when I’ve been in prayer or taking a prayer walk and I ask God to help me solve a problem or resolve an issue. Then, right there in prayer, an idea comes to mind that I didn’t think of before or an inspiration is sparked that makes my problem so much easier. I have a good friend, Kim Cash Tate and fellow Christian YouTuber who calls these downloads. Divine ideas and inspiration that God gives to us when we are close to Him in prayer. It’s no accident that these thoughts or ideas come right when we need them, and we know they are not thoughts we would think of on our own. They are divine downloads and a common way God speaks to us when we pray.

3. God speaks through His peace.  

The next way God speaks to us when we pray is through the unexplainable and comforting sense of peace we experience when we talk to Him. Have you ever been praying to God, or more like crying out to Him about something that distressed your soul? You were hurt, in pain, and wondered if you’d ever get over what happened to you. But after your prayer or while you were praying, this sense of calm came over you? Your situation didn’t change, but it was as if God placed His hand on your shoulder to steady your shaken emotions and your soul quieted. That’s God speaking to you. That’s Him answering your prayer with His peace that surpasses understanding. Philippians 4:6-7 says:

This scripture is saying that when we pray, God answers with His peace. And not just any peace, but peace that surpasses our understanding.

Other versions say that God’s peace:

“transcends all understanding,” “exceeds anything we can understand,” or is “far beyond human understanding.”

Our human understanding thinks that peace is when everything is well in our lives. But God’s peace goes beyond that and says even if everything is falling apart, I can remain calm because God’s peace is not based on our circumstance. 

Hannah, in 1 Samuel, cried out to the Lord for a son. She prayed so fervently that the prophet Eli thought she was drunk when he saw her praying in the temple. She explained to him that she was not drunk but that she was crying out to God and after that prayer, the Bible tells us she went her way and “her face was no longer sad.” (1 Samuel 1:18)

She didn’t yet have what she prayed for, but she did have peace. God speaks to us through this same sense of peace as well. 

Unfortunately, we often think that if our lives aren’t perfect and all together, we can’t experience peace, or even worse, that God does not hear or will respond to our prayers. But Jesus already told us in John 16:33 that we would have trouble in this world. We hold no promise to perfection but we do hold the promise of God’s peace.  He often answers our cries with His overflowing peace when we come to Him in prayer.

James 5:16 tells us that the prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective and we most experience that power when we realize that God speaks back to us when we pray.

The truth is, God is constantly speaking to us; we just don’t often recognize it’s Him. We expect God to speak to us in this loud thunderous voice when it’s more like His character to speak to us by moving on our behalf and answering our requests, by gently placing a thought or idea on our hearts or to give us His peace that surpasses understanding. These are some ways He speaks to us when we pray, and we’ll hear Him if we take the time to open our spiritual ears and listen.

Did you know God made us all beautifully different even in the way we pray? That’s right. Your prayer personality is the unique way you are most likely to communicate with God and knowing which of the 3  prayer personality types you have can equip you to hear from God more clearly and overcome any obstacles to your communication with Him. I invite you to take my Prayer Personality Quiz to learn how you best hear from God, how you most likely connect with Him in prayer, and to just have a little fun. Take the quiz now at prayquiz.com or find the link in the description of today’s video. Then be sure to come back and comment to let me know your results.

If you enjoyed today’s videos, will you do me a favor and share it with a friend because you just never know who might need some Beloved encouragement today. 

And for more Beloved encouragement, be sure to download the Beloved Women app available in the Apple and Google play stores for unlimited access to Beloved Bible studies, daily devotions, inspiring interviews, and videos to fill your soul. I look forward to connecting with you there. 

As always, thank you so much for watching, and until next time, be beautiful, be blessed, and be loved.