Hearing the voice of God - better

You know, when it comes to my ability to hear from God, one of the most debilitating things that came up for me was getting and staying present. 

Being plugged in is now the norm.

It was like I hit a wall of some kind of spiritual ADD…or like when you drive into an area and all of a sudden your cell service gets weak? Yeah - was a lot like that.

Now it took me a while to actually find words for what was happening, to begin to understand  the root of the problem.

Because being present isn’t something I can say I’ve ever really given a lot of thought to…I mean yes - there was always that one kid in school who would say they were “present” when the teacher took attendance…

But what does that  really mean now - on a daily basis? And what does being present have to do with hearing God?

As it turns out, just about everything.

I am has sent you

You know in the Bible, in Exodus, 3 there’s the story of the encounter that Moses has with God… This is when God tells Moses to return to Egypt to deliver the Israelites out of bondage. And when Moses asks God what he should say when asked who sent him, and God says, 

“I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” Exodus 3:14

 I find this interesting because God didn’t say, tell him Elohim sent you, or Jehovah Jireh, or any of the other scores of names He could have used to refer to himself.

God is the self-existent one - Always has been always will be, the Alpha and the Omega…and yes He’s omniscient and omnipresent -but for us to connect with Him we have to come into the moment. With our hearts and minds, with our focus. I heard a preacher once say that God is not the great I was or the great I will be - but the great I AM. He’s right here, right now.

So we can’t be stuck, focusing on the past, letting our mind keep skip on some broken record of disappointment, or distracted by a future we’re afraid of facing when we come to God. 

To hear the voice of God, to hear Holy Spirit requires that our minds are not stuck or distracted; that we’re fully present and engaged in the moment.

Sounds simple, but it’s not easy. 

A Noisy World

Here in the US,  we live in a culture, in a society that feeds distraction, impatience and fear…it teaches us from a young age to repress emotions, to focus on what other people might be thinking about us, and has us constantly steers us into comparing ourselves to others.

And beyond those unseen aspects of the culture we live in, there are the very real distractions of relationships, work, money and of course technology; which is always there to pull us out of the moment via screens… The cell phone, the laptop, the tv…

And as of June 2025,  The average American  spends 4 hours and 37 minutes on their phone every day. That's the equivalent of over 1 day per week or 6 days per month… and over the course of a year that’s 72 days— more than 2 months of your life!

I’m not going to bog down here - but you get the point.

Being present is not something that is going to come naturally to any of us anymore. Being present is something we have to choose, to become intentional about, if we want any chance of hearing from God.

And unlike a spouse or a child or a pet, God is not in physical form, I mean, His is a Spirit…and as powerful as He is, His voice is still and small - 

So how are we supposed to connect? How can His voice actually break through all of the noise and distraction in our Souls?

From there I got to wondering where I lost the basic ability to focus…when did I lose the fundamental ability to choose where I place my attention?

Because we grow up hearing from teachers or from our parents- “now pay attention”…and in school I would focus when I was learning.

But in general, outside of an academic pursuit, in just walking out life…I can’t say I was ever really intentional about focus. I mean I was focused enough to drive a car, get groceries or fold laundry…but my thought life didn’t have any real parameters.

Attention is Currency

And as I continue in my Faith journey, I’ve come to realize that my focus is a type of currency… that I’m actually paying with my attention. 

So what am I getting for it? What am I actually getting in exchange for my attention?

I had to really stop and think about that one. I thought about my stress level…my eating habits…my cravings and desires for things that weren’t good for me. I thought about how I’d been sleeping and what my bedtime habits had become.

I realized that I hadn’t really taken my attention seriously. I had to admit that even as a an adult, I’m still influenced by what I look at and listen to -

And the fact is, whenever you get in front of a screen, a suggestion is going to be planted in your mind; whether it’s through the content or an actual ad…and if seen enough and not edited, it will be become a desire, and the desire will become a behavior. (Hello - it’s called advertising…)

That’s just how humans work…it’s like the advertisers know more about the soul than we do! (Just watch enough people eating pizza and you will find yourself craving pizza!)

Once I really got this - once I saw the negative impact on my stress and eating habits based on where I was focusing my attention, it was kind of scary. But scary in a good way. 

The Power of Focus

Because it let me know that if my focus was inadvertently creating results I didn’t want, I could intentionally change my focus and start getting results that I did want.

So I started out simple…I created new time boundaries around all the screens: phone, tv, iPad, desktop… I created a bedtime routine. I created cut offs for eating so that I could sleep better…I got picky about what I would look at and listen to.

Now this didn’t happen all at one time, it was definitely layered, but I started to track my attitudes, my stress, and my overall sense of well-being. And as the inner noise started to decrease, clarity and peace increased, and I could hear God better. 

Interestingly, He never shouted or yelled or raised His voice. But in hindsight I can see His guidance through all of the changes I made, simply because I wanted to be closer to Him.

And that required me to be present, not just scrolling through life and ordering in…

Living in a culture that makes distraction the norm can keep you in a weird place of agitation, dissatisfaction and constantly looking. And it’s in that constantly looking, that constant distraction, that you miss out. 

You miss what’s right in front of you; the friend, the flower, the child that needs you to listen. You miss your life. 

But the great thing is, you can take your focus back and start paying -with your attention - for what you really want: peace, satisfaction and a deeper connection to God.

So the takeaway -

In an attempt to be closer to God He blessed every area of my life because of that one desire…my relationships, fitness, work…all of it. Because I was not only present for Him, but for every area of my life. Fully engaged and present; I’m not missing it anymore.

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