10 WAYS TO HEAR FROM GOD

As people of God, you would think that hearing from God would be the heart of our existence.  Yet it seems hearing from God is one of the main things we struggle with the most.   Hearing from God is essential to living.  Hearing from God determines our destiny.  Hearing from God protects and covers us from ungodly spiritual elements that seek to destroy our walk of faith and ultimately our lives.  It seemed Jesus felt very confident that we would be masters at hearing from God when he said: “My sheep know my voice” (John 10:27).  So, what happened?  Why do we struggle so?  Could it be that it is not necessarily a problem with God speaking as it is a problem with our hearing, following and obeying?

The first step to hearing from God is to realize that God IS speaking!  Imagine what it’s like trying to talk to someone from the other side of a glass window… you see their mouth moving but you can’t hear a thing and there you are straining to hear, squinting to read their lips, gesturing sign language, yelling as you talk to them followed by “I can’t hear you!”  Yes, this is quite frustrating yet isn’t this kind of what we do with God?  This is why it is so important to first, trust in the fact that God is speaking and that alone should compel us to make the proper adjustments (in our heart and lives) so we can hear him better.

Secondly, recognize prayer is not so much something we do as it is something we USE.  Prayer is the tool to tap into the spirit realm.  Wow! That sounds pretty mystical, but it’s the truth.   The Bible says: “God is a Spirit and they that worship me must worship me in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24).  Jesus said:  “That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit” (John 3:6).  So, to communicate with God (who is spirit) and to hear from him we must utilize our spirit to do so.  Prayer is the tool, established by God so he could have relationship with us (in the spirit) on the earth…Now that’s Pretty Awesome!

Third, prayer has many different forms.  While we understand prayer is having a conversation with God, realize that this wonderful creative God we serve also gave us a number of ways to do that.  Yes! I believe we all can agree, to talk to a God we cannot see, in an empty room is awkward and foreign to our socialized nature.  However, realize that this is only one way and what you do in that time with him makes all the difference.  To make this even plainer, consider that God created mankind in a very specific and unique way.  God created man with the purpose of having a relationship with him.  God made us with six senses to communicate with the world around us and the sixth one, to communicate with him.  What are these senses: They are, sight, sound, touch, taste, smell and spirit (conscious).  All these are tools that communicate.  However, the most powerful tool used to communicate through our spirit are WORDS.

When a variety of tools are used during prayer and our spirit is moved into a place of communion with God, he will speak and we will recognize his voice.  We may also use words to speak to God but unfortunately, our conversation is often a dialog spewing out of our flesh (worry, fear, self-centered agendas). This will most certainly put up that glass window I made reference to earlier and as a result, we will likely experience a prayer time where we do all the talking and hear nothing back.  I believe God knew this tendency about us when he formed us.  I believe this is why God, through Jesus Christ, not only put His spirit in us but also gave us His language through the Holy Spirit so that we could converse directly with Him…spirit to spirit.

Now whether you pray with a heavenly language or of your native tongue, realize hearing from God was not limited to language alone, it is a tool designed for all creation and everything that exist in the universe will ultimately respond to his commands.

Finally, just as prayer is a tool for communicating with God and our senses are resources to support the usage of this tool, we can conclude that God is able to speak to us from a variety of different platforms.  I have taken the liberty to identify at least ten (10) that will unquestionably enable you to hear from God when you utilize them during prayer.  They are:

1. The Word of God ( Holy Bible)
2. Inward Voice (still small voice/conscious)
3. Outward Voice (preaching, teaching, prophesy)
4. Journaling
5. Conviction
6. Visions and Dreams
7. Common Sense (wisdom)
8. Praying in the Spirit (use of your heavenly language)
9. Meditation (holy quietness)
10. Art, Music, and Dance

While many of us may be familiar with each of these platforms, challenges may still remain in the area of understanding and skill.  Understanding and skill in the usage of these divine instruments are critical because a lack of understanding can produce error.  “My people perish for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6).  Therefore, spiritual skillfulness must be an ongoing pursuit for the people of God. Learning can come from exposure to prayer and worship events, mentoring, books and best of all by personal experience.  Yes! Just jump in starting with the little bit that you know, taking nothing from the doctrines of the world but approach God with a pure heart in spirit and in truth.  Sometimes this is the best experience because when God moves and speaks, you will have no doubt you have encountered his presence