Hearing the Voice of Our Father: Leaving the Old for the New

One of the most vital aspects of the Christian life is learning to hear and follow the voice of our Father and King. Jesus made this clear when He said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27, NKJV). In Christ, we are no longer orphans left to figure out life on our own. We are children of God, welcomed into His family, and invited to know His heart, hear His voice, and walk in His ways.

Before we knew Christ, we had another father—the devil. Jesus didn’t sugarcoat this reality when He confronted the religious leaders, saying, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do” (John 8:44, NKJV). All of us, apart from Christ, were born into a fallen system where the voice of our old father shaped our thoughts, desires, and responses. It was the only voice we knew. It taught us to be selfish, fearful, proud, and rebellious. This old voice felt normal because it was all we ever heard.

But now, in Christ, we have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son (Colossians 1:13). This transfer demands a learning process. We must now reject the familiar voice of our old father and tune our hearts to hear the new voice—the voice of love, truth, and peace. Romans 12:2 (NLT) urges us, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.”

Learning the Father’s voice requires surrender and humility. The old voice constantly tries to pull us back into fear, anger, and pride. But the Spirit of God invites us to a new way of thinking, a new way of responding. Ephesians 4:22-24 (ESV) urges us to “put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life… and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God.”

Submission to the Father’s voice is not passive. It takes intentional listening, reading His Word, praying, and practicing obedience. James 4:7 (NIV) reminds us to “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” We must actively reject the old and intentionally embrace the new.

Thankfully, it’s not complicated to know God’s will and hear His voice. We can ask ourselves: Does this thought or action reflect the beauty, love, and peace of heaven? Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10, NIV). Heaven is our standard. If it looks like heaven, it is God. If it looks like hell, it is not. When we run every voice and thought through the vision of heaven—where righteousness, peace, and joy reign (Romans 14:17)—the will of God becomes clear.

Let us be a people who no longer live by the familiar, broken voice of our past but by the living, loving voice of our present and eternal Father. His voice is life itself. And as we learn to hear Him, we will walk in the fullness of the Kingdom we were born again to inherit.