They know and hear his voice

Jesus is the Good Shepherd.  His sheep know and follow his voice.  But what if you don't feel like you hear God’s voice?  How do you know what you do hear is from God?  First, it takes time.  Both time you invest in spending with God in prayer (listening!) and time to learn His voice. 

When I’m sitting in the fireplace room of my home, I can tell which of my 7 children is coming down the stairs by the time in the morning that I hear them and what their feet sound like as they’re coming down.  With confidence I can anticipate who will round the corner. If you were to come over to my house for morning coffee, you would hear that someone is coming down, and you might be able to guess whether it’s a small child or a teenager, but you wouldn’t know which one…because you don’t know my children like I do.  You don’t spend each day with them and grow to learn their patterns and behaviors.  You don’t know them just by their steps like I do.  That’s a bit what it’s like with God.  It takes time to learn how He sounds when he talks to you.  Another example is in the “good old days” when you would pick up the phone (before caller ID) and your best friend would just start talking and you’d know instantly who it was.  

But unlike learning the sound of the children coming down, or a friend on the phone, God gives us some ways of learning His voice that don’t take much time.  If you read Sacred Scripture and you see how God speaks, you can hear those same things when He speaks to you.  We know that Sacred Scripture is the Spirit-inspired word of God.  If it’s in Scripture, we can trust that it’s true.  When you’re praying, you can compare what you’re hearing to the way God talks in Scripture. 

At the end of the day, while there are amazing studies on Discernment of Spirits and worthwhile guidance from Spiritual Directors, look at the fruit of what you’re hearing.  Is what you’re hearing drawing you closer to the heart of God?  Yes, the evil one puts thoughts into our heads and tricks us to doubt….but I’ve never heard of him tricking someone into a closer relationship with God. I’ve never heard of him tricking someone into holiness.  Draw close to God.  Listen for His voice.  Look at the fruit of what the answers you hear are bringing forth.  Have faith that God is calling to you, His beloved, and answer him.