John 10:10
Are you trying to hear the voice of God, but for some reason you just can’t? Do you want God to answer your question about a relationship, but for some reason he just isn’t? Or maybe you feel distant from the Lord and no matter what you try, it feels like there is a spiritual wall blocking you from God’s leading.
Is it possible Satan is the reason you can’t hear God’s voice? While Satan can never overpower God, when we fall for Satan’s lies, this can affect our ability to hear what God is saying to us.
Therefore, here are 3 signs Satan is preventing you from hearing the voice of God.
1. If You Are Falling for Satan’s Lie that God Will Only Tell You What You Want to Hear, This Can Result in You Being Unable to Hear God’s True Words to You
While Satan would love for you to worship him, rarely does he tempt Christians with such overt attacks. Satan knows the real goal is not for you to worship him but for you to not worship God. Thus, rather than seeking to make you a Satanist, he will spend the majority of his time tempting you to worship yourself. As humans, we consistently have to fight against the sin of self-centeredness.
One way this plays out in our prayer life is by subtly coming to believe that God is there to tell us what we want to hear. After you hear enough “feel good sermons” about how much God loves you, you can subconsciously start to expect God to always do what you want and say what you want. Rather than submitting to God and worshiping him, we can begin to believe God is there to serve us and make all of our wildest wishes come true, like a genie.
While God certainly does love us and wants what is best for us (John 3:16), he will never submit to our will and put us above his own glory (Isaiah 42:8). He knows he is the best for us, and he knows our best life will occur when we worship him and not ourselves (Jeremiah 32:39).
If you are falling for this lie from Satan, it can cause you to be unable to hear God because you will only be listening for what you want to hear. If you are only listening for a certain answer, you will not hear God speaking if he is saying something else to you.
Only when you submit to God fully will you be able to hear what he is really saying.
2. If Satan Has Tempted You Into a Besetting Sin, This Will Prevent You from Hearing the Voice of God
A “besetting sin” is a sin that you consistently fall into and you repeatedly do. This is the most dangerous type of sin for a Christian. Of course we should avoid all sin, but besetting sin has the power to chip away at our connection with God because it hardens our hearts like nothing else.
This is why Satan will not just tempt you to sin, but he will work to get you to sin in the same way over and over again. Notice how deadly besetting sin was to the rich young ruler. In Luke 18:22-23 it states:
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, ‘One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’ But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.”
Jesus knew what this man’s besetting sin was. He loved his money. And when Jesus touched on that one topic, the man left Jesus and couldn’t follow him.
If you have fallen to Satan’s temptation and are stuck in a besetting sin, you will struggle to hear the loving conviction of God the more you ignore him. The more you sin in that one area, the further it will take you away from the presence of God.
3. If Satan Has Trained You to Accept Your Own Voice for the Voice of God, This Will Prevent You from Hearing What God Is Truly Saying
When you pray, if you only ever hear God say exactly what you wanted him to say, this is a strong sign you are not really hearing God. Of course you should not assume God will always say the opposite of what you want him to say.
For example, if you really like someone and you want God to give you the green light to date this person, you should not assume he will say no. But if you always hear God say yes every time you ever pray about a relationship, even when the relationship facts are not biblical, this means you are hearing your own desires and not the voice of God.
Even Jesus didn’t always get the answer he wanted from his Father, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39).
If the words you hear during prayer don’t resemble God’s words written in the pages of Scripture, this is not truly God speaking to you. While God will speak to you personally, he will do so by helping you apply biblical truth to your life.
If you want more help deciphering when God is truly speaking or when it’s your own voice, here’s a related article: How to Know if a Thought Is from God, You, or Satan.