God created everything by His words, and one word from God can totally change your life. The Lord never created anyone to fail. It is God’s will for us all to prosper and fulfill a Divine plan for our lives. But it’s impossible to do that without hearing from God. The reason so many people are frustrated and discouraged is because they have been trying to do their own thing. We have to have a word from God.

And the good news is that the Lord wants to speak to us more than we want to hear from Him. It’s not God who isn’t speaking. It’s us who aren’t listening properly.

In this book, Barry shares many times that he has heard from God with miraculous results, and he teaches you how to do the same. I see this working in Barry’s life, and I know it will work for you too.

It is my pleasure to recommend Barry Bennett and his book, Hearing God. Barry is not a novice. He has been a missionary in Mexico and Chile for over twelve years. He directed a Spanish-speaking Bible school in Carrolton, Texas, before he and his wife, Betty Kay, came to work for me at Andrew Wommack Ministries.

Barry spent years answering all the doctrinal questions our ministry received, and he did it with excellence. We were constantly getting compliments on his answers and the spirit in which he gave them. Then one day he was a guest speaker in our Charis chapel hour. The students gave him a standing ovation, and they bought more of his CD’s of that teaching than we had ever produced before. That’s the first I knew of Barry as a speaker.

But what impressed me the most was his humility. He never promoted himself. As you will read in this book, he had a word from God that he would one day teach in our Charis Bible College, but he never tried to make that happen. He waited on God. That selflessness and confidence in a word from God is rare today. I was immediately drawn to that.

And Barry has proven to be a favorite instructor at Charis and an invaluable asset to the school precisely because of what he teaches in this book. Barry hears from God.

Do you feel like God has more for you than what you are experiencing? Are you ready to quit doing your own thing and follow God wherever He may lead you? Are you willing to leave mediocrity and boredom behind and embrace an abundant life? Then I know you are going to love this book.

Get ready for the greatest adventure you’ve ever had. The Lord’s plans for you are greater than your plans for yourself. And as you learn how to hear and follow His voice, you are going to have the time of your life!

Andrew Wommack

Many years ago, it became apparent to me that my faith in Jesus was not meant to be only a belief system or doctrinal statement. Many religions come complete with their beliefs and doctrines. Surely our faith and an understanding of God’s love should include something more than a memorized set of rules.

I can remember the very first time I was aware of an answered prayer. I was in college and had missed a class in which an assignment was explained. I had no clue what was expected. I went to the campus library and sat in a study cubicle with no idea what to do next. I decided to talk to God. “Father, please send someone to me that is in my class and can explain the assignment to me.”

This may not sound like much, but from a class of about 50 students in a school of 14,000 students, it seemed like a long shot. But in my simplistic way, I prayed. Less than one minute later a classmate walked by my cubicle, and I stopped him and asked about the assignment. I was so excited! I’m sure he thought something was wrong with me. I got the information I needed, but I learned a lot more. God was real, He heard me and He cared enough to help me. That small incident revealed to me that my new faith was all about a relationship with God—one in which He would actually listen to me and communicate with me.

I wrote this book to encourage you to know that God wants to communicate with you. I am not talking about an audible voice but rather what I call “revelation knowledge.” Everything about our faith in Jesus points to a loving relationship with the Father in which we can grow through this “revelation knowledge.” Revelation knowledge is simply the communication of truth from God’s Spirit to yours through various means. It is “hearing God.”

As you read, you will become aware of three main points that I make repeatedly: 1) You were created with the ability to hear God, 2) Hearing God is the key to the abundant life in Christ, and 3) You should expect to hear God in your daily life.

I have tried to make it simple while hopefully stimulating you to expect your own relationship with the Father to grow and deepen.

I was lying face down on the living room floor of our small apartment in Corsicana, Texas. It was sometime in 1979, not long after returning from a four-month attempt at being missionaries in Mexico. My wife, Betty Kay, and I had only lasted four months for many reasons, the most important being that I had misunderstood God’s leading. We had returned with almost nothing and needed some financial help from my parents to get on our feet again. I had a new job at a bank as the collections agent. My responsibilities included collecting on past due loans and repossessing cars. It was hardly what I had envisioned when we first set out to Mexico in August of 1978. What had happened?

I was feeling like a failure. Some of my friends from Bible College were having success in their missionary endeavors. They were making it. We had come home with 20 dollars to our names. In my mind I had failed. I had stepped out in faith (or presumption) and been unceremoniously deposited back in Texas with almost nothing.

As I was wallowing in my misery, a scripture exploded in my spirit. I had experienced something like this at other moments of my young Christian life, but this time seemed different.

I knew that scripture, but reached for my Bible to look it up. Yes, it said that we were made the righteousness of God in Christ! Instantly, I knew that I was righteous—as righteous as Jesus, as righteous as I would ever be. Something happened inside of me. What had been doctrinal understanding was transformed into revelation knowledge. I knew in my spirit that in spite of my failings and doubts, I was clean and pure in God’s eyes. No matter what I had done to contribute to my own frustrations, I was loved. Nothing could change that!

From that moment on, I had a new understanding of redemption and of my identity in Christ. I can’t say I understood the depths of what had just been revealed to my spirit. I can’t say all of my doubts and fears left forever. But a fundamental truth had been revealed to me that would free me forever from guilt and self-condemnation. I might fail again, but nothing could ever change my true identity in Christ. I am righteous, free to stand in the presence of God as His child, free from guilt, condemnation and accusation. I could go on living with the spiritual understanding that regardless of my future ups and downs, I would always be who Jesus made me to be—a reflection of Himself.

That revelation has been the foundation for my many years of Christian growth and ministry. Time has only deepened the full understanding of what was revealed to my spirit that day in 1979. I had heard God, and hearing Him had transformed me. Though the knowledge of righteousness was not new to me, the spiritual revelation of it to my spirit man was new and powerful. What had been a doctrinal belief was now much more. Righteousness now meant something to me!

Righteousness is a gift that we receive by faith, and it also has very real benefits in this life. It empowers us to reign in life!

What does it mean to reign in life? Just as sin, doubt, guilt and fear had reigned over me in the past, I was now in a position to live above those feelings and draw my identity from Jesus. Revelation knowledge had made this real to me.

Fear and timidity had marked my life for years. A fear of people, a fear of public speaking and a fear based on my own feelings of inadequacy and failures had set boundaries on my present and my future. But the revelation of righteousness opened the door to my true identity and potential.

Righteousness gives us the right to stand in and live in the presence of God without guilt or condemnation. It also gives us the authority to stand in the presence of sickness, corruption, and the works of the devil without fear. To the degree we understand the power of righteousness, we can prevail in every situation. Just as the sin of Adam and Eve released the destruction of the enemy into the earth, the righteousness of Jesus binds him. The enemy is powerless against the reborn, sinless nature of Christ in us! And what Jesus revealed to my spirit was that He had made me righteous! How did that revelation take place?

We are spiritual beings. All men have a spirit. When the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit of the true reality of who we are in Christ, we become more than conquerors. We can begin to “reign in life.” The Spirit can bear witness with our spirit about anything that we have in Christ. That spiritual transaction can be called revelation knowledge or hearing God or seeing with our spiritual eyes.

Something equally as significant was revealed to me that day. Faith came by hearing! Doctrinal understanding became true revelation because the Spirit bore witness with my spirit. I suddenly had faith to see myself as never before. It wasn’t an issue of willing myself to act stronger. It was the realization of who I really was in Him. It would be as if you had discovered that someone had deposited millions of dollars in your bank account. That “revelation” would change the way most of us act and think. That is what revelation knowledge can do for you. Something has been deposited in you through the new birth. The Holy Spirit wants to help you discover what is there!

As I have reflected on my Christian life that began in 1972, I have remembered other significant moments of “hearing” God and moments when faith was born. I realized the key to victorious living was to be found in the Spirit. When the Spirit bears witness with our spirit, something happens. Knowledge is transformed into revelation. Hope is transformed into faith. The impossible becomes possible.

Many years have passed since that life-changing moment. I could never have imagined I would be where I am today. I could easily say, “I never saw it coming.” But one thing that has marked my journey for the past 40+ years is the reality of “revelation knowledge” or “hearing God.” When the Spirit bears witness with our spirit, we move into another dimension of life: healing comes, direction comes, deliverance comes, and provision comes. But most importantly, faith comes.