Amos 4:13 teaches that God "declares to man what His thought is..." We all want to know what God wants for us. Every Christian wonders from time to time whether or not he is fulfilling his purpose. But how can we know? How can we hear from a God whose audible voice we've never heard? We do have the Bible, and we can know what He wants for His people in general, but what about my individual gifts and calling?
First of all, we need to understand that He does not want to keep us in the dark. He does want to reveal His thoughts to us. In John 10:27, we can read Jesus saying to the Jews: "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow me..." So, the question becomes how we can know His will for us. Romans 12:2 teaches that we can "prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect" if we will "not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of [our] mind[s]..." To be transformed by the renewing of our minds, we have to devote ourselves to becoming more like our Father, by maintaining an intimate relationship with Him through knowing and understanding His Word, and perpetual prayer, learning to be sensitive to His Holy Spirit. One problem that holds many Christians back from that kind of relationship is our unwillingness to put in the work, so to speak. The Lord teaches us in 1 Corinthians 2:12-3:1 how he intends for us to "have the mind of Christ", through His Holy Spirit, "so that we may know the things freely given to us by God." He goes on to say though, that "a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised..." But, Paul was unable to speak to them "as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ." Because of their unwillingness to grow up and mature, learning to live according to the Spirit instead of the flesh, they were unable to "hear" from God.
If we want to know the good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them, then we have to learn to walk with Him, always acknowledging Him, "listening" for His direction, learning His voice. I believe that is what God means for us to do when He prescribes for us to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17). I don't pretend that there are no times when it feels like I don't "hear" from God. I don't pretend that I know everything that He wants from me. What I do know is that my God "declares to man what His thought is." Are we listening?