Building Confidence in Hearing God's Voice

In this episode of the Confidence in God podcast, host Julie McGhghy shares personal experiences and biblical insights on how to build confidence in hearing God's voice. She recounts a recent conversation with friends about the common struggle of discerning whether God is truly speaking to us. Julie emphasizes the importance of turning to scripture for assurance, citing passages that affirm believers can know and follow God's voice.

She discusses the role of prayer—especially praying God’s Word—in strengthening trust and confidence in divine guidance. Julie encourages listeners to take small steps of faith, trust that God will correct their path if needed, and to acknowledge Him in all decisions. She shares practical examples from her own life and invites listeners to reflect on their own experiences of hearing God’s guidance. The episode concludes with a reminder to access additional resources and an encouragement to remain confident in God’s faithfulness.

https://confidenceingod.com/resources/

Timeline

• 0:00 — Introduction: Welcome and episode goal (Julie McGhghy)
• 0:11 — Personal context: Motorcycle ministry event and ladies’ breakfast
• 2:00 — Discussion: Fear and doubt about hearing God’s call; encouragement from friends
• 2:40 — Julie’s struggle: Lacking confidence in hearing God’s voice
• 3:20 — Invitation: Resource on confidence in prayer (https://confidenceingod.com/resources/)
• 3:32 — “Is that you, God?” and learning to discern God’s voice
• 3:50 — Turning to scripture for assurance
• 4:16 — Key scriptures: Psalm 95:7, John 10:14, John 10:27
• 4:40 — Reflection: Knowing and obeying God’s voice
• 5:04 — The real struggle: Trusting God's Word
• 5:18 — More scriptures for trust: Proverbs 3:5-6, Psalm 32:8, Psalm 63:8, Psalm 73:23
• 6:17 — Building trust by praying scripture
• 6:52 — No longer paralyzed: Moving forward with confidence
• 7:22 — Sample prayer for guidance
• 7:53 — Trusting God to correct your path
• 8:13 — Summary: Steps to build confidence in hearing God’s voice
• 9:05 — Starting small: Everyday examples of seeking God’s guidance
• 10:05 — Listener invitation: Share your experiences
• 10:19 — Resource reminder: How to Have Confidence in Your Prayer Life
• 10:40 — Closing: Subscribe, rate, and review
• 10:54 — Final encouragement: God will complete His work in you

Transcript

0:00

Hello and welcome to the Confidence in God podcast. I am your host, Julie McGhghy, and our goal today is to help you walk with confidence in God. In today's episode, I'm just going to speak from the heart. Recently I was attending an event that was sponsored by the motorcycle ministry that my husband and I are members of. Although neither one of us are riding right now, we are still very active in that ministry and during the ministry a dear friend of mine hosted what we referred to as a ladies' breakfast. It is not that we don't have ladies who ride. We certainly do, and we have ladies who ride with their husbands. We also have ladies who prefer not to do either. And so we had a gathering in which those of us who were not riding, got together for breakfast. My friend had done a really good job with that event and I was chatting with her and another friend afterwards, and we were just encouraging her as to how good of a job she had done. She began sharing with us how fearful she had been to step out into that kind of a ministry because she sometimes wonders if God is really calling her to do this or that. This, second person we were chatting with is a dear friend who I consider to be one of my biggest encouragers. I wouldn't even be podcasting now if it weren't for her encouragement. And so certainly she was there encouraging, my other friend as well. As my friend began talking about being fearful and being doubtful when she gets thoughts in her head, whether that's God talking to her or not, it brought back such strong memories of when I really struggled with having confidence that I was hearing God lead me to certain things. So I started sharing with my friends how I had found my way to having more confidence in hearing God's voice. Now, I've talked to enough people to know that my friend and I are not the only people who have struggled with confidence that we are hearing the voice of God. If you are one of them, stay with me for a short time to hear how you can begin building your confidence in hearing God's voice. Now before we get into what I shared with my friends, I invite you to check out a resource titled How to Have Confidence in Your Prayer Life. You can get instant access to it by going to confidenceingod.com/resources. Prayer is certainly one of the things that has a great deal to do with how we build our confidence in hearing God's voice. I'll drop the link to the resource in the show notes for your convenience. Several years ago when I was just beginning to feel the call of God into ministry, I found myself doubting that I was really hearing His call. I had attended a conference where a very wise woman who had been in ministry for many years said something that really changed my life. And I paraphrase what she said because it's been so many years ago that I can't remember it word for word, but she said something like this,"Why is it when we feel God calling us to pray with somebody, we just stay in our seats or wherever it is that we are when we feel the calling, and then we start questioning God. God, is that you? God, are you really telling me to go pray with that person?" Now this woman continued by asking,"Who else would be calling you to pray for someone? Would Satan want you to pray with someone? Would your flesh want you to pray for someone? No." Starting that very day, I began praying about how to have confidence that I am hearing God's voice and God started showing me some things. As I normally do, the first place I go to to hear his voice is his written word. That's one reason he gave it to us is he speaks to us through His Word. So I found a number of scriptures that assured me that I hear God's voice. Psalm 95:7 says, For He is our God and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. Then in John 10:14, Jesus said, I am the good shepherd and I know my sheep, and am known of mine. Going on to John 10:27, He says, my sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me. Through these scriptures, I learned that if we are his sheep or we are his people, we are to hear his voice and listen to his voice. This infers that we know his voice. Listening as opposed to hearing is doing what he says, obeying him. We have the ability to know God's voice, to seek it and to obey it. It wasn't enough for me to know what the Word said about hearing God's voice. I wasn't stuck because I didn't hear His voice. I was stuck because I wasn't confident that it was His voice that I was hearing. Did I really trust God's word? So I found some more scriptures that helped me. Proverbs 3:5-6, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean that onto your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct your path. Psalm 32:8, I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will guide you with my eye. Psalm 63:8, My soul follows behind you. Your right hand upholds me. And Psalm 73:23, Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You hold me by my right hand. As I asked myself if I really trusted God's word, I began praying these scriptures. I recently read something someone posted on a social media feed that really downplayed, if not mocked, the idea of praying God's word. He basically said,"God doesn't need to be reminded of what He said." I agree with that statement. God doesn't need to be reminded of what He said in His Word. I am the one who needs to be reminded. As I pray God's Word, my trust in it builds. And I began trusting it more and more. I began putting all these scriptures together and praying them after I had been seeking God's will about a particular matter and began feeling God guiding me a specific way. I no longer waited, paralyzed until I heard almost an audible voice from God or until someone of spiritual authority spoke directly into my life about it. I could trust that God was directing me and I could start moving forward. So here's a sample prayer that I would pray based on these scriptures God had shown me while I searched for how to have more confidence that God was speaking to me. Dear Lord, I put my faith in you and your Word. I am your sheep. I know your voice. As I acknowledge you in this situation, I trust you are directing my path. You'll not let me take a misstep. Your right hand holds my right hand so that I am facing you and you are guiding me with your eyes. Thank you, Jesus, that I can trust the steps I am taking are ordered by you. Once I've sought the Lord about anything I needed his guidance on and I began sensing his guidance, I could pray a prayer like this and know that God would correct me if I was heading in the wrong direction. He would not just let me go outside of his will. My paralysis was over. My questioning God to ensure it was His voice was over. I trust Him. I trust His Word. All I need to do is acknowledge Him in everything I am doing. Seek His guidance and He will lead me. Now, we've covered a lot in a short period of time. Let me summarize this really quickly. We are God's sheep and we know His voice. We have the ability to know God's voice, seek it and obey. To build our confidence in that truth, in addition to acknowledging Him in all we do, we can pray His Word and start taking steps in the direction we feel Him guiding. He will correct us if we are wrong. I didn't start with huge things to begin with. I started with small things that some of you might even laugh at. I used to eat out every weekday evening because my husband traveled every week and I really disliked eating alone at home. I got into the habit of asking God where he would have me eat each evening. Once I felt his guidance, I would go that direction, always praying something similar to that sample prayer I shared a moment ago. And almost every time I would encounter someone who needed encouragement, whether it be someone I knew or someone who would strike up a conversation with me. The more that happened, the bolder I got in my prayers for guidance. After many years of trusting and praying God's Word, I'm pretty confident when I hear God's voice. And you can be, too. I would love to hear from you. Let me know how you have grown confidence in hearing God's voice. Share with me an example of how God has guided you in a way that became obvious to you and built your faith. Now, as I mentioned earlier, I invite you to check out a resource titled How to Have Confidence in Your Prayer Life. It'll give you more samples of praying God's Word to help you have confidence that you are praying effectively. Just click the link in the show notes and go to the resources tab. Now that's it for today. Please take a second to subscribe to our show so you'll be notified when future episodes come out. Also, it would be great if you would rate or review our show. That way more people can find out about it. Until next time, let's be confident in this that he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.