Know - "ginosko" in the Greek - it means "to be sure and understand."

Voice - "phone" in the Greek - it means "a communication or a saying."

The Living Bible paraphrase by Kenneth Taylor translates John 10:27 this way:

Everyone can hear God speak to them! It's not just for the ministry! The question is not whether or not God is trying to speak to you, but whether or not you can recognize it when He speaks to you!

1. Being close to God is essential to hearing and knowing God's voice. Lukewarmness, carnality, and worldliness develop a distance between us and God.

2. All of us have two wills in our life: our human will and God's will. We must work to conquer our will so that we can be submissive to God's will.

3. God does not need to speak to us directly concerning anything already written in His Word. Even though the Holy Ghost may bring back to remembrance what we have learned, God is not obligated to speak to us something that He has already written in Scripture.

4. One-time calls can impact an individual for a lifetime! When God speaks directly, He usually makes it count!

5. We are to try the spirits because there are many spirits in this world trying to speak to us! Paul said that there are "many voices" in this world (I Corinthians 14:10).

6. Our own mind generates voices. A voice in our mind can be God speaking, Satan speaking, our flesh responding to something that we have read or seen in this world, or our conscience speaking to us because of what we know is truth. Figuring out who is talking can sometimes be a difficult task!

7. God leaves many things to common sense. God should not have to speak to you to tell you where to sit, park, whether we should walk on the sidewalk, etc... Insignificant decisions do not need clarification by God. In the same vein, we should not have to have a direct, audible voice of God to tell us to worship, pray, fast, praise, sing, give in the offering, come to church, listen to preaching, study God's Word, love one another, forgive, or treat others kindly as those things are spelled out clearly in God's Word.

8. God will give us specific instructions if we need them. He is our Shepherd to guide us. If God does not speak in a time of decision, then often we are either not listening, or He has already spoken.

1. God's Written Word - It is the final authority on any and all matters!

2. People of God - People whom you know have a close walk with God, especially pastors and ministers.

3. God Speaks directly to Us - Examples are Abraham (Acts 7:1-4), Moses through the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-18), Balaam through a donkey (Numbers 22:22-35), and many times in the New Testament church (Acts 8:26-29; 10:19; 13:1-2; 16:6). We must realize that God speaks directly to us only when definite direction is needed and usually the message is of the type that is life changing.

4. Gifts of the Spirit - Prophecy and tongues with interpretation is God speaking to us. We are commanded by scripture to judge what is said to us in prophecy and tongues and interpretation and make sure that what is said is of God and does not contradict God's Word (I Corinthians 14:29, 37).

5. Dreams and Visions - Everybody dreams and most dreams do not have any spiritual significance. However, occasionally God will speak to people through dreams and visions. Scriptural examples include Solomon (I Kings 3:5-15), Joseph (Matthew 1:18-25; 2:13; 19; 22-23), Pilate's wife (Matthew 27:19), Peter (Acts 10:9-18), and Paul (Acts 18:9-10).

6. Angels - One primary duty of angels are to give messages of God. Scriptural examples include Hagar (Genesis 16:7-11), Abraham (Genesis 22:11-19), Zacharias (Luke 1:5-22), Cornelius (Acts 10:1-8), and Philip (Acts 8:26-27). The key here if an angel appears to you is to make sure it is an angel of God and not of Satan. Remember that the devil is a fallen angel and the demons of this world are fallen angels.

7. By impression - that is, by a feeling of what you know you should do or by an overwhelming impression of an idea or action in your mind. As we have already discussed, this is the hardest area to discern the voice of God because so many voices talk to us through our mind. Incidentally, God usually will speak to you most often through this method because hearing His voice this way requires spiritual sensitivity and a day out and day in commitment to His will. Before we go on, let's talk about how to distinguish the voice of God from the other voices that try to speak to you through impressions.

Voice of Satan - This is usually fairly easy to recognize as Satan will never tell you to do something that would cause you to grow closer to God, go against your fleshly desires, witness to someone about Jesus, or be more committed to God.

Voice of Flesh - If you will think about what it is telling you to do instead of mindlessly obeying your first impulse, this voice is fairly easy to discern also. Typically whatever you feed the flesh by seeing and hearing will dictate it's appetite and what it says. For example, if you have just looked at a woman walk by who is not very modestly dressed, then an impression of lustful desire is most certainly the voice of flesh. It can also be more subtle though, such as a desire for praise or glory.

Voice of other Human Spirits - There are three basic spirits in this world: God's, Satan's and the human spirit. Sometimes, you can feel someone's human spirit crying out something even if they are not physically acting upon it. For example, a spirit of lust is usually easily discerned. A person who is bitter or who has confusion in their life can easily be identified by a child of God who is sensitive to God. A spirit of rebellion is usually easy to identify. Where we must be careful is not to confuse a human spirit with an impression from the Spirit of God. For example, I have known preachers to feel the spirit of barren mothers and take that impression as a sign that they needed to prophesy that they would have a baby. God may speak to a preacher to prophesy such a thing, but in these cases, a baby never came. The minister had mistook the desire of the human spirit for the voice of God. Just because you can discern something about someone does not mean that God wants you to deal with it!

Voice of our own conscience - Everyone of us have a conscience, a part of our mind that God placed within us so that we could know the difference between right and wrong. When we get the Holy Ghost, God often uses our conscience to remind of us of things that we have learned in His Word or from our spiritual leaders. That is, after you get the Holy Ghost and begin to develop our relationship with God, our conscience becomes even more vocal than it was before. There is a difference between God using the voice of our conscience and speaking to us directly, but the two are the hardest to distinguish. Here are some guidelines:

1. Typically our first reaction to a situation is our conscience and not God.

2. God does not "chatter" endlessly all day long, but our conscience tends to do so.

3. God's direct voice is usually short and direct while our conscience tends to logically bring point after point.

4. God will simply repeat His direct command until we answer Him and will only give more information after we respond. Our conscience will jump from thought to thought endlessly and quickly whether we respond or not. (Remember the story of Samuel in I Samuel 3)

Voice of God - This is how God most often wants to speak to us day by day. God speaking through an impression can range from gently directing us to talk to someone as we pass by, or telling us to pray for something. When we read God's Word, God will often gently speak to us and apply what we are reading to our personal life. You should be able to communicate with God daily in this way. Here are some reasons why some people do not easily hear God speaking this way:

1. Blatant, unrepented sin

2. A lack of prayer and fasting

3. A lack of separation from the world

4. Focusing on too many other voices such as having to have the radio, television, music, etc... blaring continually.

5. A lack of time spent alone with God or lack of sensitivity to His presence.

Here are some guidelines to help learn when it is God speaking to you.

1. Compare what you are hearing to the Word of God and what you have been taught by the man of God in your life.

2. Compare what you are hearing to past experiences. If you know that God spoke to you definitely in the past, then God will probably speak to you by that same means in the future. Conversely, if you have listened to the wrong voice in the past, then guard against making the same mistake twice!

3. Compare what you are hearing with someone else's experience. Satan specializes in separation and trying to get people to act without counsel.

4. If what you are hearing contradicts God's Word, then immediately stop listening! God will not contradict Himself!

5. Do not act impulsively and hastily when there is indecision. If in doubt don't. If you are not sure that God is giving you clear direction, then stop and wait. If it was God, the impression will return, or God will use others to confirm it. If it was not, then the voice will change. God's will for your life does not change from the effects of situations, storms, or emotions.

1. By ministers - Preachers and pastors are not infallible and will occasionally miss judge a voice or impression. A minister should have the same privilege to receive forgiveness as the saints. The key here is to remember that if the minister misses something and they are sincere and sensitive, then God will speak to them and correct them. It is NEVER the saint's place to discipline an elder or minister in the church. If they are sensitive to God's Spirit, then God will ALWAYS speak to them. If your minister or pastor is not sensitive to God's will, then why are you trusting your soul to them? If they are, then allow God to work on them! Notice that we are not talking about when a minister sins but when they make a mistake in hearing the voice of God.

2. By Churches - Occasionally churches and church boards will miss the will of God or mistake another voice and make a bad decision such as removal of a pastor against the will of God. When such a thing happens, the church should ask for forgiveness, and learn from the experience the danger when saints try to dictate the pulpit. Often, the minister who was wronged will not be able to be restored to his position, so if this were to happen, they are to forgive the church and move on without malice or bitterness.

3. By Gifts of the Spirit - Someone may come to you with a prophecy or a word from God that is errant. When someone prophecies over me, I take it with a grain of salt. If it is true, then it will come to pass. If it is not, then I refuse to lose sleep over it. For 26 years, this approach as kept me from following some wild and errant prophecies. If such a mistake is made in front of the whole church, then let the ministers and pastor deal with it. Keep in mind that we are commanded by scripture to judge whether or not a prophecy is true. Also remember that the way to deal with a situation depends upon the spiritual maturity of the one who missed it. People who are new to the Apostolic experience should be given more leeway than someone who has had the Holy Ghost for 30 years. If someone comes to me with a prophecy that commands me to do something, then I only obey it if God had already been dealing with me to do it. God will ALWAYS try to speak to the individual first before resorting to send someone else to tell them. Of course, this means that I must walk every day sensitive to God and His Spirit so I can first hear His voice!

4. By yourself - There will be times that you will miss it. Remember that some moves are reversible and some are not and the circumstances of the situation dictate to what extent restitution can be made. The important key here is to remember that you are not infallible and that you will occasionally make mistakes. We must have an attitude of humility and be quick to repent and make things right as much as we can. When people get the attitude that they "can't miss it" they are setting themselves up to do so!

This Apostolic lifestyle is about developing a relationship with God! What a privilege it is that the God of the Universe would want to communicate with us day by day! Our Shepherd wants to lead us and guide us and direct our everyday paths! We must be willing to become sensitive to His voice and respond.

God wants to become your best friend, but we must learn to hear His voice! Those who are His sheep will know His voice and will obey it!