#13: You Must Hear God For Yourself

You don’t need another voice to follow.
You need to recognize His.

In this first episode of our Core Values series, we’re returning to a foundational truth that shapes everything we build at NovaCo:

You must hear God’s voice for yourself.

If you’ve been second-guessing your decisions, feeling unclear, or relying on others to confirm what God is saying—this conversation will bring you back to center.

Faith was never meant to be borrowed.
It was meant to be built through personal relationship.

In this episode, I talk through:

•  Why borrowed faith creates instability 
•  How God speaks to His people personally 
•  Why hearing God is a discipline, not just a moment 

This is about learning to live with clarity, confidence, and peace—because you are led by God, not noise.

Key Scriptures:
John 10:27
Jeremiah 33:3
James 1:6–8
Romans 10:17
Isaiah 30:21
Psalm 46:10

Faith First. Rhythm Always.

✨ Next Step:

If you’re ready to continue this journey with support and community, join the Nova Community—a faith-filled space for women learning to live with clarity, peace, and faith-first rhythms

👉 Learn more at https://thenovacompany.org

✨ Private Mentorship Community:

If you are interested in applying to join my private mentorship community, email me: april@thenovacompany.org

✨ novaRetreat: 3rd Annual Dream with God Retreat

A Spirit-led weekend for women ready to abide deeply, align intentionally, & courageously advance as God reveals what’s next.

👉 Learn more at https://www.thenovacompany.org/novaretreat 

Subscribe to The NovaCo Podcast and share this episode with a friend who’s stepping into a new season.

🎸 Intro music produced by Cory Valjien. https://spotify.link/Ot87eEITRDb

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You know, when people ask me, you know, how do I hear God's voice so clearly? You know, my number one thing is you got to get in the word because God is never going to say something outside of his word. But then also, secondly, is you have to be willing to hear. Sometimes we ask God for direction, and in our minds, we already have it figured out how we want it to go. But we have to be willing to say whatever God says, even if it's different than what I thought, I trust his voice. I trust his leading. I am so excited to be here with you today. My name is April Novisipio, and I am the founder of Novico. I am on a mission to help you hear God for yourself and live it out every single day. Live out what he tells you. And that's just what this episode is about today. All month long, we are going to unpack just the core values of Novico. When I founded this lifestyle, this faith-filled lifestyle brand. It was founded on the principles that I have learned over the years, things that God has taught me. And so I want to unpack just the four core values, the four truths that shape my life, that shape this brand over the next several, several weeks. And so you want to make sure you subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss an episode. Go ahead and share this episode out with a friend. We're going to get in God's word. We are going to be helped today, and it's going to be awesome. So let's jump into this. Today we are talking about the first core value of Novico, and that is simply this. You must hear God for yourself. I cannot tell you how many times in my life listening to God's voice has helped me so much. I've learned along the way that faith, it was never meant to be borrowed, right? I can't borrow faith from my parents or grandparents. I grew up with both of my grandfathers being church planners and bishops and just really grew up in church. But the faith of my grandparents and the faith of my parents, that did not mean that I had faith. I had to know who God was for myself and learn that I had to build my own faith, especially, you know, in my life, as I've had the opportunity to be in different forms of leadership and having to make decisions, parenting, marriage, community, community leader, church leader, all the things. If I want to lead and make decisions with clarity, I cannot do that off of someone else's relationship with God. And so clarity begins when you learn to hear God for yourself. Write that down in your journal. Clarity begins when you learn to hear God for yourself. And so I want to unpack three thoughts today. The first one is this that God speaks to his people personally. I need you to catch this. I want you to know that God speaks to you personally. You are not excluded from hearing God. In fact, God invites us into this relationship with him, this intimate relationship with him, where we are having constant communication with him. I want to read John chapter 10, verse 27, and all the scriptures today will be in the New Living Translation. So John 10, 27, it says, My sheep listen to my voice. I know them, and they follow me. What I love about this verse is the fact that God tells me that as his sheep, I have the capacity to listen to him. But I love how he says, I know them. That means God knows us, he knows exactly how to talk to us. I know for me, God has to be just very direct. I don't want any fluff. The Lord knows, just shoot it to me straight. And there will be times when he just gives it to me straight and my toes will be stepped on, or I'll have to repent. Or I'm like, okay, Lord, I hear you. I will be obedient to that, even if it stretches me, right? I don't want the fluff. I love that about God. But some of you, God knows he has to be a little bit softer, a little bit gentler. And guess what? He does that because he wants to make sure that we are in position to hear him. He's so intentional to speak to us personally. Let's look at Jeremiah chapter 33, verse 3. It says, Ask me, and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come. God isn't hiding anything from us. He wants to lead us, he wants to guide us. Now, does that mean that we will get the 10-year download? No, I wish. Sometimes I'm like, Lord, give me a little glimpse. Five year, 10 year. And he's like, April, you got to walk by faith. And so he'll give me the direction that I need. And as I get that one direction, as I'm going, he'll give me the little details that I need. He'll tell me things to come. He'll say, All right, watch this step. All right, coming up, you're gonna take a right turn here. All right, speed bump coming up, girl. Slow, slow it down, right? He wants to talk to us. God wants to talk to you personally. The second thought today is this that borrowed faith creates instability. If you rely on other people to hear for yourself, then you will always second guess yourself. You have to hear from God and get this personal conviction from him. What is he telling you to do? Because the personal conviction that is gonna create the spiritual stability. It's like, man, when God said it, I'm gonna follow that regardless of what other people say, regardless of what the circumstances say. My personal conviction is gonna create a spiritual stability. Let's look at James chapter one. I'm gonna read verses one through actually verses six. James chapter one, verses six through eight. It says, But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver. For a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do. Man, I don't want that to be our narrative today. I want us to be confident when we're praying, confident when we're asking the Lord, confidence when we're seeking his guidance, and that that confidence comes from the personal convictions, the things that he's speaking to us. Romans chapter 10, verse 17. It says, so faith comes from hearing. That is hearing the good news about Christ. When we get in God's word and we hear what God has to say to us, faith is built. We can stand on what God said. When God said it, we can count on it. There are countless times in my life, countless times, countless times, when I knew that God told me something and it didn't make sense. People had an opinion about it, people had something to say. Maybe logically it didn't necessarily make sense. But over the years, what I've learned is I have to trust God. And the more that I lean into his word, the more that I obey what he tells me, the more he can trust me with things that he, you know, has for me to do in this earth. He can give me more vision, more dreams, more direction as I trust him. You know, when people ask me, you know, how do I hear God's voice so clearly? You know, my number one thing is you got to get in the word because God is never going to say something outside of his word. But then also, secondly, is you have to be willing to hear. Sometimes we ask God for direction, and in our minds, we already have it figured out how we want it to go. But we have to be willing to say whatever God says, even if it's different than what I thought, I trust his voice, I trust his leading. And that brings me to the third thought today. Listening is a discipline, it's not just a moment in time. Hearing God is not just some occasional thing that we might get to do. No, listening is cultivated, and as we have a constant connection and communication with God, our clarity continues to grow, and we can continue to be led by Him. Isaiah chapter 30. Let's look at verse 21. Isaiah chapter 30, verse 21, it says, Your own ears will hear him. Write that down in your journal today. My own ears, your own ears will hear him. Right behind you, a voice will say, This is the way you should go, whether to the right or to the to the left. I'm so thankful that my own ears can be disciplined to hear God. So that means I have to get still. That is discipline. To get still, especially in today's culture, everything is moving so fast. We're going from here to there. We've got this, we have this going on. I have kiddos and their schedules with sports. I feel like sometimes we are going a hundred miles per hour. So I have to discipline discipline myself to be still. We have to be still. How will we get to know God if we never stop and pause and spend time with him? It's a discipline. I want to leave you with some final thoughts today. You don't need to follow any other voice than the voice of the Holy Spirit. I want you to recognize this. Yes, there are people that will speak into our lives, but every time someone speaks into your life, you have to go to God for yourself, including me. You guys, as I share on this podcast, as I share in my mentorship groups and in my community, I always encourage everyone, write the scriptures down. Go back. God has more to say to you. It's not limited by my words. And if I'm saying something to you, guess what? God can confirm that. God can say the same thing. Right? Everything changes when you stop outsourcing your clarity. You gotta get clear for yourself. I want us to declare something over our lives today. And then I want to pray for us. I believe that God is helping us. I believe he's helping us to hear his voice more clearly. If you are a part of my mentorship community, we're gonna be unpacking this very topic this week about hearing God's voice because more than ever before, we have to make sure that we are clear on what God is saying to us. If you have not joined the mentorship community and you want to apply to be a part of it, definitely just send me a message on Instagram or send me an email. I'd love to connect with you and see if my mentorship community is a good fit for you. But I'm excited, you guys. We are going to be able to hear God's voice with clarity. So repeat after me. I hear God's voice clearly. I am led by Him, not by noise. My faith is personal, rooted, and steady. I trust what God speaks to me. I move in clarity and confidence. Yes, that is our declaration today. We trust what God says, and we are moving in full clarity today. Let's pray. God, thank you. Thank you for this day. Thank you for this reminder, Lord, that we have the opportunity to personally hear from you. Father, we are so grateful for that. Thank you, Lord, that as we continue to lean in, Father, we're leaning in and you're you're allowing us to be led by you and not by the noise that's around us. Father, today, as we get in your word, I'm asking that you make your voice more and more clear to us. Thank you that we are your sheep, you know us, and we follow you. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. Amen, guys. I am excited about this month. We're going to be digging into the core values of Novico, the truths that shape Novako. Say it was just the first one, hearing God's voice. I want you to know this. You must, this is a non-negotiable thing. You must hear God's voice for yourself. And I'm excited to be on this journey with you and helping you to do just that. Do me a favor. If you haven't subscribed to the podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave me a review. It helps me spread this message of hope and encouragement. I'll see you on the next episode. This is April Nova Scipio. And this is how we live faith first rhythm always. Be blessed.