Hearing God’s voice #blog #blogging

It seems that the way God, my Daddy speaks, is a subject of much consideration and debate in the christian world.

I think it could be really easy… God is talking all the time. You may have experienced a time when the name of someone comes to your mind out of the blue (maybe after years of being in contact with them) then suddenly you get a phone call or text from them? That’s God speaking to let you know what is to happen. 😍

My sheep 🐑 hear my voice and the voice of a stranger they will not follow.

I was opportuned to hear a seminar on the subject when the speaker pointed out that a baby did not need to go learn how to distinguish his mother’s voice. They just know. They are so used to hearing the rise and falls in volume, pitch, tone, delivery of mum’s voice they can single it out amongst other voices.

Why then are we obsessed with methods and steps that teach us to hear God’s voice? The bible tells us that people who have exercised their senses are able to distinguish between good and evil. So if we have been practicing hearing/sensing His voice we get better I guess.

“But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

Hebrews 5:14 NKJV

http://bible.us/114/heb.5.14.nkjv

How does God speak?

There are so many examples of ways God has spoken to His people, friends and servants because there were varieties of relationships they had with Him.

Do I know how God speaks? Yes and No. The former, because I have become more accustomed to how I hear Him or how He speaks to me. The latter because He is such an individual and personal God and relates with us as such.

It was difficult to accept that it was God speaking to me for a long time because I would dismiss it. The thoughts would come and I would rationalise them away. So faith and disbelief in God’s speaking does not help things!

Thoughts that condemn, humiliate, accuse, diminish you or make you feel uncomfortable are not of God. God is so kind, loving, peaceful so His words and thoughts have that effect. So gentle. And He has an abundantly generous sense of humour too. 😂 People often say He speaks through a still small voice.

(Maybe you would like to read my blog, “does God laugh?” https://wp.me/p12xC0-qo)

The righteous live by faith, remember? Those led by the Spirit of God are children of God. Romans 8:14

I would like to share some of the things I have learned about the way He speaks to me!

– His word (bible)

⁃ A sense

⁃ Ideas and words rising within me that generate excitement, especially during or after a time of meditation (worship)

⁃ Circumstances lining up / events

⁃ Dreams

⁃ Peace (no tightness in the “belly” or uneasiness

⁃ Promptings

⁃ Journaling

⁃ Audible voice (very rare for me)

⁃ Others! Because we can’t box Him and He can speak in any way He wants. One prophet called for a harp to play music so He could hear God.

His Word

The simplest most uncomplicated method of hearing Daddy. You may remember that there are times when whilst you are thinking about a solution to a situation, words of scripture suddenly come to your mind – out of the blue! That’s God. He’s sending His word to encourage you. 😁

I have a habit of playing the audio bible and was “stressing” about making a decision. This problem kept me awake, until one day I heard the playing bible repeat itself with these words “I will not put you to shame!” It seemed that as I woke up the whole room was bellowing the sound of these words. What a kind and loving God to take the trouble and time to speak to me in this way. Both audible and through His word.

A Sense

His word to me is like me getting a sense or whiff of ideas, thoughts and sometimes images within. The former feel like the floating of words in me from somewhere (belly) going to my thinking. Sometimes it gets to the head level and I dismiss it if not paying attention. At other times it feels like a tap, flutter the way the words are delivered , very softly. Usually in the kitchen or shower I would get a thought/s or when I’m lying down ideas would pop in my head. At times I see a picture and then it goes away. Best thing to say, try and focus on the picture of Jesus in your mind and write down what thoughts come to mind. Then you can decide what lines up with His word and what doesn’t. The God ideas usually bring me excitement, joy or fill me with the words of a song!

Once I had been singing and meditating and felt words were given me to tell someone. I actually, promptly said, “Lord, do you mind, I am worshipping you!” I was dictating when He could speak to me – how funny. I look back on that experience and laugh so much because it is a good thing to hear from God and it does not have to follow a particular format.

Circumstances

Have you ever prayed for something and found that events were pointing towards what you prayed for? I needed to make a decision about moving office base and I started getting people around me talking about it, emails arrived on the subject, phone calls out of the blue on same subject ce. Other times I have had text messages which gave the answer to a prayer.

I was going to launch a project and it appeared the odds were stacked against me. As I considered cancelling, someone text me out of the blue to say it was easier to pull out of something but I had best stick with it to stay the course to learn the lesson of trusting God to come through. I had planned on giving up a business idea and like a petulant child, I asked God to send a sign or else, I would call it quits. Within half an hour, I was given the opportunity to meet an investor with an interest in the project.

Dreams

Jacob had a business idea about speckled and spotted sheep. Joseph dreamed Sun, moon and stars bowed down to him. The famous “come over to Macedonia and help us” story.

This is one of my most favourite ways to hear God because it is less open to confusion. Some people call it seeing the voice of God. This way, without interference from the mind and reasoning, pictures, moving images are presented to us in literal or metaphorical fashion. Asking God for interpretation or confirmation is good practice. We all dream so if you would like to experience this, ask Daddy God to reactivate your dream life.

Peace

There is nothing like having the peace of God which passes ALL understanding – our default position.

Whenever a thought or idea to do something robs us of peace it’s better to go back on that decision to where the peace was! I was going to confront a person about something that made me feel cheated. It was going to involve three different groups of people. Each time I thought about it, I would feel tightness in my belly area and get anxious (agitated). I decided against this confrontation to maintain my peace and asked Daddy to fight the battle.

Promptings

Philip felt led to speak to an Ethiopian eunuch.

There are times when I go from one task to the next as I finish one I get a new instruction concerning next thing to do. These are my best days! I get focused and have less distraction at such times, getting more work done. It’s like ideas just flow in my head one after the other. Bliss.

Have you ever like me, ignored a thought that suggested you take an umbrella ☔️ with you as you leave home, even when the weather looked anything like wet, rainy, only to regret not following that instruction? Well, that was God speaking!

Journaling

There is something so powerful about putting pen to paper in a noiseless environment. People who sit by the beach, take time off to meditate, write a book, may appreciate what I’m saying here. You know what it’s like when you start writing ✍️ and words and thoughts seem to just increase as the pen forms on the paper. It happens to me when I write these blogs. I begin to type and the words to write seem to come, and increase in speed. Then some other thoughts come to tell me to add more. So I have updated this blog about three times now! 😊

Audible voice

God spoke to Moses like this. Maybe Abraham too.

I rarely ever get this! And I can count the number of times this has happened. In some of these instances God has permitted me to hear a voice when my attention was crucially needed.

Once I was going through a very rough season, unsure what course of action to take and I heard a voice saying “it’s not about you”

Again I heard, “this is your last chance, I won’t ask you again” I turned round and said “Who said that?” but heard nothing, I knew it was God as there was no one else in the room with me.

In the bible the people were so scared when they heard God’s voice they pleaded with the prophet to hear God for them and then communicate His plans to the people.

Other ways

God once spoke to a prophet called Balaam through an ass! He likes using the most unexpected, foolish things too: car number plates, billboards, news, newspaper headlines, paintings, conversations, everything is His. He could use anyone, anything, anytime. 😁

Reading:

Prayer to hear from God

Col 1:26

“In the past God hid this mystery, but now he has revealed it to his people.”

Colossians 1:26 GW

http://bible.com/70/col.1.26.gw

John 16:13

“When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into the full truth. He won’t speak on his own. He will speak what he hears and will tell you about things to come.”

John 16:13 GW

http://bible.com/70/jhn.16.13.gw

1cor 2:10

“God has revealed those things to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches everything, especially the deep things of God.”

1 Corinthians 2:10 GW

http://bible.com/70/1co.2.10.gw

Daniel 2:22

“He reveals deeply hidden things. He knows what is in the dark, and light lives with him.”

Daniel 2:22 GW

http://bible.com/70/dan.2.22.gw

Jet 42:3

“Let the LORD your God tell us where we should go and what we should do.””