Sometimes when we listen for an answer or a word from God, we expect a booming voice or a random sign or coincidence of divine intervention to occur. We get caught up using God as a magic 8 ball and less like a relational father.
Some people go as far to open the bible to a random page, flip a coin, or other various forcing of the hand. I’m not saying God can’t use these but I am asking a rhetorical, “Is this really the main way God speaks to his children?”
Often we forget God isn’t some great mystery.
He wants to communicate and teach you. He wants you to know you’re loved and special and He wants to pursue your heart like an unrelenting lover.
I used to get so frustrated when waiting on an answer from the Lord. I pray and ask and seek and expect God to speak to me like He did when I was looking for a university to go to. It was so unbelievably overwhelming. A feeling I can’t describe in words. I have yet to feel anything like that since then but I knew it would take a huge sum of faith to follow God through that time in my life.
People told me left and right, you’re selfish, it’s too expensive, this is crazy, and you don’t really know God’s voice plus more life killing words. Without that incredible moment of God speaking to me, I would have given up and sought to please those around me.
I think this is the similar to the situation in John 12:28 when God’s voice was heard audibly for the benefit of the people. Hard times were coming where Jesus was about to stand against the religious system, be persecuted, and even killed. The disciples needed great faith in their lack of maturity to stand firm and carry on. In 2 Peter 1:16-19, we then read Peter expressing the importance of that audible voice.
God knows how to speak to his children and each of us and our situations are unique. I can’t deny that some people get visions and others get prophetic words. Some see God through nature and creation while others get words through brothers and sisters or just reading the Bible. It’s all different.
I realized mine in particular is through wisdom and every day situations. I was reading through Jeremiah in Bulgaria and saw the situations in everyday life that God used to speak to the people through the prophet. That’s how God speaks to me! It was an exciting discovery on the mountaintop. Discerning the voices in my head has gotten easier through trial and error. Every day I feel I’m growing more and more in learning and discerning the voice of God.
Questions to ask when discerning God’s voice:
1. Does it glorify God?
2. Is it biblically in line?
3. Do others confirm it?
4. Does it produce fruit?
5. Does it come to pass?
So let me ask, how do YOU hear God?
