I'm reading a book on listening prayer. It's not a new concept. Sarah Young has published many volumes of what she has heard from God in her quiet times. Jesus Calling is, I think, the first and most well known of her books. Here is an Amazon search link where you can find all of her books.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=sarah+young+devotional+books&crid=262AAMZJNE6DP&sprefix=Sarha+Young%2Caps%2C283&ref=nb_sb_ss_sc_1_11
And this is a practice I have used in past times of devotion. The danger is real of being duped by hearing your own thoughts or worse yet, thoughts the enemy suggests to you. But once you come to know God's voice, you can learn to distinguish it from the myriad of noises and voices in your head. And if you get yourself quiet enough internally and externally, so that the Spirit doesn't have to scream at you, you will find that when you listen for Him, He is there and He is speaking.
So the book I am reading, ("The Art of Listening Prayer" by Seth Barnes) gives you guidelines, like questions you can broach to God and then when you hear Him respond, you write it in a journal. You use 2 different colored pens to distinguish in your journal, your words and God's words. And the author encourages you to branch out and ask God your own questions once you are comfortable with knowing His voice.
With the different voices and outright noise in your head, how do you know that what you hear is from God? I will list some ways that this may be learned.
1) God's voice is not strident or loud. It does not crowd itself into your consciousness.
2) God will never tell you anything that opposes Scripture. Your life with God is a whole...it involves knowing His word well enough so that you can know when you are being duped. Memorization is the Golden Standard method of learning to test the spirits. And if not learning verses to quote, then you need to be familiar enough with Scripture to know when something you are hearing is not of God. If you are not sure about something you heard, drag out your concordance or go to BibleGateway.com or BlueletterBible.com
Both of these sites have more than adequate resources to help you unearth truth. (Look at concordances for words in the Scriptures you are thinking of or need help in researching. Topical Bibles also are good for general categories). Or just do a search for one key word and see what turns up.
3) This is not an ideal method but if you mistakenly believe something you heard, and it blows up in your face, well it's a pretty good guess that you were fooled. Jesus never fails. And His words are always true. If this happens to you, then learn from your error.
4) Hearing God's voice is like a soft sigh. It is like relaxing into your arm chair after running a marathon. There is deep rest there.
5) This may not move you to want to hear God's voice but sometimes God will tell you to do something that is just HARD to do. It might be to give some money to a ministry or person in need that you know. Or it may be to eat your words and apologize to someone you have wronged.
6) Also a word of caution: When God tells you to do something, He generally doesn't mean next year...or even next week. Do it as soon as you can. But too, you must be certain that what you are hearing is God's voice.
7) If you are not sure it is God speaking and He is telling you to do something, it is fine to ask Him to confirm His words...Ask Him to verify what it is He wants you to do. It could happen through something you read, or through the words of another person, inadvertently being used by God to affirm to you that it was indeed Him. Or sometimes it just weighs on you until you obey. If you can't get it off your mind in moments of quiet...I would urge caution. I would urge you to seek Scriptural affirmation. You could speak to your pastor or to another mature Christian. But do not automatically assume that what another Christian tells you is Gospel truth either. They can be badly mistaken. Your best bet is to ask yourself if this action God seems to be urging is anything that contradicts Scripture. God will never contradict His word.
8) Also start small. For example I have learned by repeatedly losing my glasses, that if I cease panic and striving...and sit and ask God for His help and direction. 98 times out of 100, God will bring to my mind a picture or a phrase, or an impulse to look somewhere, telling me where the lost item is. But you must be certain to go with a heart of belief and trust. God will not help if you are doubting Him (James 1:6-7). But I found that the greatest benefit of these occasions was that I learned to hear God's voice and to become familiar with how He works. This has given me greater confidence in times when the help I need is more critical.
Following, Worshiping, Knowing and Obeying God is a great adventure. It's like cliff diving into a deep, blue body of water. It can be terrifying or difficult but it is never without reward and life will never again be dull.
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