What is the Recipe for Hearing from God?

The first blessing Jesus mentioned in the beatitudes is realising your need for God; realising that you’re lost without Him and humbling yourself to bow at the cross and confessing your sins and making Jesus Lord of Your life. This is what makes you a child of God and the sheep of His pasture. He becomes Lord of Your Life and you’re tuned to the heavenly frequency. Unless you have come this way you cannot hear from God. He said.'My sheep hear My voice and the voice of a stranger they will not follow.' Are you His sheep? If so you qualify to hear from Him; otherwise take the first step to hearing from Him: repentance from your sin.
John 10:26-28 (King James Version)
26But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
27My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
John 3:3 (King James Version)
3Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

2. Come daily
It is not enough to come into the Kingdom to hear from Him. You and I must come dailyto God to hear Him for ourselves. ''My sheep hear my voice and the voice of a stranger they will not follow. ' We therefore need to acknowledge our need of Him daily if we are to hear from Him regularly.

3. Concentrate
Without focus a driver is not only dangerous to himself but to others in the car or on the road. So it is in this journey if life. Unless we are focused we will lose our direction and not fulfil God’s agenda for our lives because we would not hear from Him.
Mary concentrated on hearing from Jesus so she sat at His feet and soaked up His words like sponge soaks up water whilst Mary was encumbered with ‘bussyness.’ You cannot hear God if you’re running around attracted and distracted by other things, no matter how legitimate they may be to your daily living, first things first. Many things demand our attention the moment we wake up until when we go to bed. You and I must put God first. He must be priority before you can hear Him. He should be the first person you hear from in the morning, not yr children, not your spouse, not your radio or television.

4. Cultivate
Hearing from God does not come naturally; you must form the habit and habits take time to form. You have to change the natural inclination to get up and go, get up and do, all by yourself and in your own strength. The first beatitude says blessed are those who realise their need for God, for the Kingdom of heaven is given to them. (Mat.5:3) As it is for entry into the Kingdom of Heaven, so it is for living in and living for the Kingdom of Heaven; you must daily cultivate the habit of coming to the Lord and acknowledging your need for strength for that day, wisdom for that day, provision for that day protection for that day, purity for that day, and so on and so forth.

David said,’ Psalm 5:3 (New International Version, ©2011)
3 In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you
and wait expectantly.

In another Psalm the Psalmist said, ‘My heart is fixed... I will awake early. I will praise You Lord.’ We can see focus here (concentration as earlier discussed). We can also see habit cultivated to hear from God.

Psalm 57:6-8 (King James Version)
6They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Selah.

7My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.
8Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.
Luke 21:38 (New King James Version)

38 Then early in the morning all the people came to Him in the temple to hear Him.
Mark 1:35 (New King James Version)

Preaching in Galilee

35 Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.

Apart from cultivating the habit of hearing from God early in the morning, we also see the need to learn to wait on God to hear from Him. This means learning to be silent before him and replacing the habit of just speaking to him and running of but giving Him time to speak back to you and you having the pen of a ready writer to jot down what He says to you. If you have not come to the place where God says things to you which you write down and review from time to time even pray over to encourage you to follow through then you have a long way to go. Those that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They will mount up with wings as the eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will wall and not faint or become tired. So cooperate with God by waiting.

3 In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you
and wait expectantly.

Jesus, the Son of God had the habit of waking up very early in the morning to seek His Father’s face, hear His voice before the voice of any other person. If He, the Son of God, who was equal with the Father, had the Spirit without measure, needed this badly, how much more you and I?

Seek Him early is like giving Him the first-fruits, your top hour, when you’re fresh, unencumbered, not clogged up, not tired or weary after the day’s work or cares of life. You hear better in that state.

5. Cooperate
You cannot hear from God unless you cooperate with Him. If you have already made up your mind about an issue, you have effectively closed the door on Him. You must humble yourself and acknowledge that you are limited and need His direction and guidance, It is written: trust in the Lord at all times. Lean not in your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path. Another way you cooperate with him is by reading the Word of God. God speaks to us by using the 66 broadcast channels.

Colossians 3:16 (New King James Version)
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Psalm 1:1-3 (New King James Version)
Psalm 1
The Way of the Righteous and the End of the Ungodly
1 Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
3 He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

Joshua 1:8 (New King James Version)
8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

He will not violate His word so we need to be conversant with His word as to know when He speaks to us and to distinguish His voice from the voice of the flesh or the devil. Yet another way to cooperate with God to hear Him speak is to pray about everything and worry about not your heart and your mind, you can hear Him speak. Also in this passage of scripture applied (

Phil. 4:6-7) it says ‘ pray...with thanksgiving’. This tells us that if you want to hear from God you have to have an attitude of gratitude. Thank Him for what you have; what He has done for you in times past instead of always coming with a wish list.

Philippians 4:6-7 (New King James Version)
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Furthermore, pray with an attitude of faith if you want to hear Him. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that those who come to Him must believe that He exists. Besides, you must also come to Him in prayer, believing that He is Who He says He is – the all-knowing, all-powerful, ever-present, owner of Heaven and earth, able to do as occasion demands. You cannot hear from Him if you make Him small or do not believe His word about Himself or you as a believer.

3 In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you
and wait expectantly.

6. Caring for His word. God’s word is serious and should be treated as such. He does not speak what He does not mean and He means what He says. Therefore we need to treat His word with care. We need to cherish it (treasure it as more than gold, treat it like one who has won billions), rejoice at it, respect it; treat it with awe; never come to a place where you trivialise it.

Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Job23:12

7.Carrying His word-taking it everywhere you go; let it speak to you on the road, on the job, in your leisure, not just on a Sunday but Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday etc. Etc seven days a week. See seven as without his word as making you weak.
John 15:1-7 (New King James Version)

The True Vine
1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away;[a] and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will[b] ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

Hebrews 4:12 (New King James Version)
12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Isaiah 55:10-11 (New King James Version)
10 “ For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
And do not return there,
But water the earth,
And make it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower
And bread to the eater,
11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
Jeremiah 1:12 (New King James Version)

12 Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well, for I am ready to perform My word.”
Hebrews 6:18 (New King James Version)
18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might[a] have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.

Numbers 23:19 (New King James Version)
19 “God is not a man, that He should lie,
Nor a son of man, that He should repent.
Has He said, and will He not do?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

34 My covenant I will not break,
Nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.Ps89:34

8. Keeping His words, or carry it out- obedience is the key to kingdom dominion and success. One way you help yourself to keep God’s word or to ensure you carry out your part of the bargain with God is to keep a diary of what He has told you before and doing His biddings. God does not just want to speak to us, He want obedience. Jesus said, ‘If you love me keep My commandments.’ (John14:15) James enjoins us not just to be’ hearers (deceiving yourselves) but also doers of the word. ‘ ( James1:22) One way to clog or bar or silence the voice of is disobeying what He has said to you before. And as human beings we often forget what we have been told just like children forget what their parents have told them. This is why we need a journal and as we keep this journal we will keep track of what the Lord has told us and ensure that we are not quenching the spirit of God by our disobedience or carelessness.
Unless you are willing to obey, there is no point wanting to hear. Jesus said it is not those who say, ‘Lord, Lord,’ that will enter the Kingdom of heaven but those who carry out His commands.

Matthew 7:21 (New King James Version)
I Never Knew You

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

So do you want to hear from God?

Simply
1. Come(1) acknowledging that you’re a sinner
2. Come daily to Him realising that YOU NEED Him in all your endeavours.
3. Concentrate on Him when you come daily;
4. Cultivate the habit of hearing from Him; doing all that it takes;
5. Cooperate with Him by doing your part
6. Care for His Word;
7. Carrying out( or keep) the word you have heard; and
8. Carry the word wherever you go and in whatever you do.

So if you're not hearing from God you need to ask yourself:
Am I His sheep? Is He my Shepherd?
Am I concentrating on Him when I come to Him?
Do I daily, as a habit, come to Him realising my need for Him, or do I just go about my business without acknowledging Him?
Do I cooperate with God to keep the channel of communication free from worldly encumbrance?
Do I care for His word?
Do I obey what I have heard?
Do I carry His word wherever I go in all I do?