Hearing God's Voice

More and more, my heart beats faster with a conviction I can’t shake:
Jesus Christ still wants to transform the world—and He does it through people who hear His voice and respond.

That idea can sound like a tired Christian phrase. I believed it deeply in my early years of faith, but over time, reality set in. Distractions multiplied. The noise grew louder. Transformation began to feel more like a hopeful theory than a lived possibility.

Yet as I continue to walk with Jesus—learning, failing, and relearning how to listen—my confidence has returned. Not confidence in myself or in strategies, but in this simple truth: when God speak,s and His people listen, lives and cities change.

Scripture declares this, and life confirms it. History moves forward not through the loudest voices, but through those who have learned to recognize the Shepherd’s voice above all others.

Listening That Forms Us—and Sends Us
If we want to partner with Jesus in His work of transformation, we must recover something essential: both discipleship and influence flow from hearing God’s voice.

Micah 6:8 calls us to walk humbly with God—this is a listening posture. But Micah 6:9 continues, “Listen! The Lord is calling to the city.” Those who learn to hear God while walking with Him are then sent outward, into the world He loves.
Hearing God’s voice never leads to withdrawal. It always leads to faithful presence.

Four Ways Faith Shows Up
When I look at the Church, I often see one of four patterns:

1. No discipleship and no influence – a faith that has stopped listening altogether.
2. Influence without discipleship – dangerous, because God’s voice is replaced by our own.
3. Discipleship without influence – listening for comfort, but not for mission.
4. Growing discipleship and growing influence – the fruit of sustained attentiveness to Jesus.

The real question isn’t just where are you? It’s whose voice is shaping your life right now?

Acts 17: Listening in the City
Acts 17 shows us what happens when a follower of Jesus listens carefully and responds faithfully. Paul enters Athens attentive to God, to people, and to culture. His distress (v.16) flows from shared conviction; he sees the city as God sees it. Listening shapes his heart before it directs his actions. Paul engages real places—the synagogue, the marketplace, and the influencers of the city. He listens long enough to speak wisely, pointing both Epicureans (“enjoy life”) and Stoics (“endure life”) to resurrection life in Christ.

When given a platform, Paul is clear. He speaks of:

• The Greatness of God – our Creator
• The Goodness of God – our Sustainer
• The Governance of God – Lord over history
• The Grace of God – revealed through Jesus

The responses are mixed. Some mock. Some delay. Some believe. Paul leaves the results with God—and from that moment, the Church in Athens begins.

The World Changes When We Listen
Jesus still wants to transform the world. But transformation does not begin with better strategies or louder voices.

It begins when we learn to hear His voice above all others—and obey.
So let us be people who listen.

• Be Convicted.
• Be Involved.
• Be Clear.
• Be Bold.

And above all, let us follow the voice of our Shepherd—wherever He leads.