Hearing God
Updated: Feb 16
It can be difficult to understand how someone can "hear" God. Have you ever had someone say to you, "God told me..." and then continue with some declaration?
Have you wondered, "What does God sound like? Why haven't I heard Him talk? Does He have a loud booming voice? Is His voice a he or a she?"
As a child when my mom told me God told her something I assumed she heard an audible voice. I often wondered, if she can hear the voice of God why doesn't anyone else hear this voice at the same time? To add to the confusion she would sometimes tell me that God told her I was thinking something that I wasn't thinking at all. Don't get me wrong many times she was right, but when she wasn't it made me doubt that she was actually hearing God.
I'm not sure why I never asked her what God sounded like. Perhaps I let my assumption become truth.
Several years ago, while reading a lovely book called The Magnolia Story, Joanna Gaines described how while on a date with her now husband Chip, a thought popped in her mind that wasn't her own. She wrote how she knew it was God who gave her the whisper of a thought ... You're going to marry this man, because she definitely wasn't thinking that about the person sitting across from her.
When I read that, I had one of those "ah-ha" moments. I realized I've had the same thing, a thought like a whisper that isn't my own, I just didn't realize that was how God "talked."
The more I've sought understanding I've learned that there are many ways God will communicate with us, but for me at least, I have never heard an audible voice.
Have you ever done something and later told a friend,
"I knew I shouldn't have done that. I had a feeling this was going to happen."
That feeling is God's spirit inside you. Some people call it intuition or their conscience ... but I want you to understand that feeling is God's Spirit inside you. His Spirit gives every living thing life, Yes, EVERYONE has it. But, if you want MORE than just a feeling, there is a way to have a relationship with God which helps you not only recognize Him, but also understand what is not from Him; the negative, impulsive, or destructive things that end up hurting you.
The enemy of the Lord doesn't want you to know God. He uses tactics to hide the truth, he doesn't want you to share your testimony. He knows when you provide proof through your experiences, lives will be won for the living God who loves all humans.
When you believe, you become a bond servant to the one and only living Christ who gave his life as the last sacrifice for sin. You are bound to God through Him. His gift cannot be bought, it cannot be earned, it is a true gift. The gift of His Spirit, a helper to pave your way to a new life, one with freedom from sin's power over you.
Trials will still come, but with you living in Him and His spirit in you, you have access to His authority over the powers of darkness in the seemingly physical world.
You, like everyone are living in a world of things both seen and unseen. Just because you can't see something doesn't mean it isn't there. Thoughts can't be seen, feelings can't be seen, sounds as you speak cannot be seen, yet you know that they are real. These things are part of the unseen realm - the spiritual kingdom.
Your thoughts are a gateway to heaven when you live in HIM. When you trust, when you search, when you have a heart of kindness, gentleness, love for others, and humility, His Spirit will speak to you. You have no reason to hide from Him who knows everything about you. He wants to help you and heal you, not for control but out of His pure gracefilled love.
He will never give up on you. He will never stop loving you, He will not stop reaching for you. He wants you to come to Him, bring your burdens, bring your fears, bring your questions, bring your doubts, lay them down at His feet and He will help you. He doesn't want you to navigate your life alone. He wants to provide for you, He wants to know you and for you to know him. He wants you to shine!
When you believe in Him, when you ask for forgiveness for your wrongs and ask Him to fill you with his priceless gift He will help you.
Transformation takes time, but the freedom from sin, that happens instantly because when you believe that Christ died for your sins and then was risen the covenant of sin is broken.
If you want to know him, hear him, and have power over sin through Him .... if you can feel that pull, that tug on your heart, or that feeling that something has always been missing and you believe that this is it, then pray this prayer out loud, He will hear you and you will learn how to hear from Him...
Abba, my Father in Heaven, thank you for sending your son to die on the cross for my sins. Thank you for rising him from the dead and breaking the covenant of sin for my life. Please forgive me of all of my sins, renew me, transform me, fill me with your Holy Spirit. Amen.
If you prayed that prayer, congratulations! You are a new creation, created In Christ Jesus (Yeshua), and you are starting your journey to a whole and new life! You were designed to hear from God, and how you hear him may be different than what you expect. It could be a feeling, it could be a whisper of a thought, it could be in a dream, it may even be a spoken word from someone that confirms what you have been thinking. Trust and ask Him, He is not afraid of your questions.
If you do not have access to a Bible, I highly recommend that you download this free app.
YouVersion, You can study God’s Word, read and watch daily devotionals, pray with friends, and more! Get it here:
Todays verse:
“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,”
Acts 3:19 NIV