How To Hear When God Speaks

Main Scripture: 1 Samuel 3:1-20

Don’t stop here; keep the conversation going on The Breakdown. Each week, we take this message further, talk through real-life applications, and wrestle with the questions you’re already asking. Just search “Journey Church with James Hilton” wherever you listen to podcasts or on YouTube.

  1. Think about a time you recognized someone’s voice instantly. How did you know it was them without even looking? What made their voice so recognizable to you?
  2. Pastor James talks about how God speaks to us and how we can train ourselves to hear Him. What part of that idea stood out to you most, and why?
  3. Read 1 Samuel 3:1. Why do you believe the word of the Lord was rare? What do you think that says about the relationship between God’s voice and our willingness to listen?
  4. Samuel’s name in Hebrew sounds like “heard by God.” Yet the first time God actually speaks to him, Samuel doesn’t realize who is speaking. What does it tell us about God’s patience and persistence that He called Samuel not once, not twice, but three times?
  5. Read 1 Samuel 3:7. Samuel was doing all the right religious motions, but he still didn’t know God. Why do you think religious activity alone doesn’t automatically lead to knowing God’s voice?
  6. When Eli finally realizes it’s God calling Samuel, he doesn’t tell the boy to chase God down or do something dramatic. He simply says, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening'”(1 Samuel 3:9). What does the simplicity of that instruction tell us about what it actually takes to hear from God?
  7. Sometimes we can walk around with one earbud in, hearing but not truly listening because we’re distracted. What’s competing most with God’s voice in your daily life?
  8. Pastor James asks a pointed question: “What’s the last thing God clearly said to you out of (the Bible), and what did you do about it?”Is there something God has already spoken to you — through Scripture, through conviction, through a clear prompting — that you’ve nodded at but haven’t actually acted on? What’s kept you from taking that step?
  9. What is one step you can take to spend time hearing from the Lord this week?

Prayer

God, I’ve spent a lot of time around You without actually knowing Your voice. I’ve been in the building. I’ve known the songs. But somewhere along the way I stopped really expecting You to say anything to me personally. I’m sorry for that. I don’t want to just know about You. I want to know You. So speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. Whatever You want to say, I want to hear it — even if it’s hard, even if it costs me something. And God, thank you that you called again. You didn’t give up on Samuel, and I believe You haven’t given up on me. Not one word You’ve spoken over my life is lying forgotten in the dirt somewhere. You are faithful. Help me trust that — not just in my head, but deep enough that it changes how I live. Amen.