Hearing God’s Voice
by Charmain Hibberd
Marketing Assistant (Writer), CBN Europe
Featured Articles
One of the greatest delights and privileges of knowing God is hearing from Him. God is not a far–off distant Father who has no interest in the lives of His children, He is intimately acquainted with us and all of our ways. He longs to relate to and commune with us and His presence is delicately weaved within all of our own personal stories.
The Bible
God can speak to us through His written word. Every word in the Bible is God-inspired and there is no error in it. It is truth and a reliable way of seeking Him. Perhaps you are prayerfully reading your Bible with a burning question on your heart for one of your life circumstances then, all of a sudden, the scripture that you happen to read almost jumps off of the page and grabs your attention. This is often how God can use His word to speak to us, as we read it. There is almost a knowing that God is speaking to us through His word. It is a beautiful and mysterious way that God communicates with us.
Other People
God can use other people as a means of communicating with us. We could receive a word of knowledge – a Holy Spirit inspired message of profound understanding about us and our situation. A word of encouragement might be given to us that speaks deeply to our spirit’s and into our circumstances. It’s worth noting that, however God chooses to use others to speak to us, it is wise to weigh and measure what we have heard against the word of God. Anything that doesn’t quite seem to align with His character and words may need further confirmation.
Prayer
When we spend time with God in prayer, we are essentially having a conversation with Him. Rather than attempting to rattle through our own list of requests and needs, if we listen out for the voice of God in our hearts, we may find that He is speaking to us in those moments. Prayer can always be a 2-way conversation. If we only ever talk ‘at’ God, we short-change ourselves and miss out on the joy of hearing from our Creator.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of how we can hear from God, He is God and can speak to us through any means He chooses.
Becoming familiar with the voice of God is a wonderful way to spend our time and by actively desiring to hear from God we experience a richer relationship with the One who made us.
Further reading: John 10:27, Deuteronomy 18:21-22, 1 Kings 19:11-12.
Father God,
What a privilege it is to be able to know You, to hear your voice and have a close relationship with You. I pray that as I take time out to seek and pursue You, that you will speak to me loud and clear.
Keep me from misunderstanding You or misinterpreting what You say. I want to hear Your voice and not the voice of the world or my enemy.
Thank you that You are the God who speaks.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
