…I've learned to hear the voice of God.
Now before you call the loony bin or brush this off as a bunch of churchy mumbo jumbo…hear me out.
Growing up I heard a hundred times over that prayer isn’t only about me talking to God, but that I also needed to be quiet and let Him talk back to me. So naturally I expected to be asleep in bed, like Samuel, and wake up to God’s booming voice calling my name in my room. Or maybe I would hang out in a garden somewhere and hear God’s voice right around the corner, like Adam and Eve. Or MAYBE, He could just tell me His exact plan for my life, nice and clear, like He did for Jonah. I promise I’ll obey the first time…just could you please give me direct quotes Lord?
I remember sitting on my bed a few times, completely silent, thinking that if I was just quiet enough I would hear God saying something to me. Then, when all I heard was dogs barking outside or the toilet running in the next room, I would chalk all of it up to a bunch of crazy church talk. Logically, I figured that people like Samuel and Jonah and Adam didn’t have the Bible back then like we do now, so that’s why they got to hear God speaking directly to them. I mean, it wouldn’t be fair for us to have His written words AND His voice speaking directly to us would it? So, I let the whole thing go…until recently.
It started out small. On the race, when our whole squad is together for debriefs or something we’re often challenged to practice listening prayer with each other. The idea is to close your eyes and ask God to give you a word or a picture for the person in front of you. Honestly, I hated this exercise the first few times we did it. Hated it. But eventually God started putting images in my mind that made absolutely no sense to me but when I spoke them out loud to the person, right away they knew exactly what God wanted to tell them through that! The more times this happens, the better I am at discerning what is coming to me from God and what is not, and the more confident I am in that.
There’s more. My heart loves anything creative or involving art. So of course God, who knows me and loves me and CREATED me this way, would choose to speak to me through pictures. It only makes sense! I’ve always had spurts of really vivid dreams at night, and I almost always remember them the next morning. I’ve only recently accepted that God isn’t confined to words on a page or an audible voice in my room. Maybe just maybe, my dreams can be a way for God to intimately speak things into my heart.
God’s voice is literally all around me,
but it looks and sounds nothing like I expected.
His voice is more something that I can feel than something that I hear. It works pretty much the same way as a conscience. We always say, “I could feel my conscience telling me not to do that”. Your conscience didn’t speak out loud to you. But you knew exactly what you weren’t supposed to be doing…didn’t you?
The Holy Spirit is my God conscience.
Ah. So cheesy, but so true.
The thing is, you have to be careful not to block the flow. Not only did I have NO idea what I was looking for when I was listening for God’s voice, but I also had a lot of crap clogging my flow. This flow from Heaven to earth is another one of those ideas I thought was crazy when I first heard it, but now I’m obsessed with the reality of it. It’s basically this idea that there is a flow straight from Heaven into me. A constant pouring out of His thoughts, His plans and direction, words to encourage others, truth I tend to forget, strength, love, etc, directly from God’s heart to mine. God hasn’t stopped speaking to you ever since your relationship began. I really believe that now. Sometimes it just can’t make it all the way down to your heart because the flow is clogged up.
My discovery of God’s voice happened
the moment I started cleaning up my heart.
If there’s someone you need to forgive, forgive them.
If its hidden sin, bring it to light. Tell someone.
An addiction, get help.
A broken relationship, seek restoration.
Anger.
Bitterness.
Laziness.
Selfishness.
GET IT ALL OUT.
If you’re like me and you’ve written off the whole idea of hearing God speak to you as too crazy to be real anymore, I challenge you to try again. Don’t wait for a loud voice to echo through your walls. Don’t expect the floor to start shaking. Better yet…don’t expect at all. Clear out the flow and get your junk out…big stuff and small petty things. Then let God and the Holy Spirit do their thing.
Learn to recognize your own God conscious inside you. Maybe it will be dreams. Or maybe you’ll hear words deep in your spirit. Maybe you’ll see crazy pictures. Or maybe it will be something totally different and unique to you.
I hope that whatever it is, it leaves you wanting more.
…I KNOW I DO.
So dream on dreamer. Speak out. Be bold.
The Kingdom is coming to earth.
