Romans 8:14 “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God…”

John 16:13 “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”

Job 33:14 “God does speak, sometimes one way and sometimes another, even though people may not understand it.”

1.) How Does God Speak To Us?

God’s Word makes it clear that God does speak but explains the problem, saying the problem is not that God isn’t talking, the problem is our perception, or if you will our reception! Sometimes we’re just not tuned in. God wants to communicate with us because you can’t have a relationship without communication.

When we talk about people listening to God and God talking to people, many people think this is something very mystical, like it’s something unusual or extraordinary that God talks to people.

Sometimes His communication is spectacular, sometimes veiled, sometimes gentle, sometimes clear, sometimes-audible etc. God spoke once through a burning bush. God spoke one time through a cloud. He often spoke through angels. One time He spoke through a pillar of fire. Another He even spoke to Balaam through a donkey. The key is, are you listening, are you hearing, are you in tune?

i.) GOD SPEAKS TO US THROUGH THE BIBLE

2 Timothy 3:16 “The whole Bible was given to us by inspiration from God and is useful to teach us what is true and make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It is God’s way of making us well prepared at every point.”

ii.) GOD SPEAKS TO US THROUGH INSPIRED PREACHERS AND TEACHERS

I Thessalonians 2:13 “When we preached to you, you didn’t think of the words as being just our own, but you accepted it as the very Word of God — which, of course, it was — and it changed your lives.”

iii.) GOD SPEAKS THROUGH IMPRESSIONS

John 16:13 “…He will guide you into all truth…. He will tell you of things to come”

iv.) GOD SPEAKS THROUGH THE LANGUAGE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: VISIONS, DREAMS, TRANCES AND AUDIBLE VOICE OF GOD

Joel 2:28-29 28 “ And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. 29 And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.

2.) How Do I Hear God Speak?

In the book of Habakkuk, chapter 1, Habakkuk asks God six specific questions. Then in chapter 2, he waits and listens to God answer and he writes down what he “hears”.

Out of this book we see five steps to receiving an impression from the Holy Spirit. 1) Withdraw; 2) Wait; 3) Watch; 4) Write; 5. Worship — which is expressing my love to God

Habakkuk 2:1-2 “I will climb my watchtower and wait to see what the Lord will tell me to say and what answer He will give to my complaint. The Lord gave me this answer: `Write down clearly on tablets what I reveal to you, so that it can be read at a glance.’” (TEV)

1.) WITHDRAW

Habakkuk 2:1-2 “I will climb my watchtower …

The very first thing if you’re going to hear God speak to you is you need to withdraw. That means get alone in a quiet place. Habakkuk says, “I will climb my watchtower”, “I will stand my watch”. That’s a Hebrew expression that means I’m going to get alone, get off by myself, eliminate external distractions so I can hear God speak. Find a quiet place alone.

In today’s world that can be difficult at times, especially those of you who are mothers of preschoolers. I recently read this about Susanna Wesley who was the mother of 18 children. Two of her sons, Charles and John, shaped England in their day. Charles Wesley wrote several hundred songs and hymns which churches still sing today. John Wesley was the founder of the Methodist denomination. With 18 kids, how did Susanna Wesley ever find a quiet place to pray? This was her solution. Every afternoon she would sit in her living room and throw her apron up over her head. The children knew that when mother was in her rocking chair with her apron up over her head she was not to be disturbed. Where there’s a will there’s a way!

A.A Allen would lock himself in his closet with just water for weeks until he found the power of God and until he heard God speak to him. A.A Allen walked out of that closet and exploded into an international ministry!

John Wesley Would go into his room and pray for hours and his assistant said that when he would leave that room that the light of Christ would shine through his face!

God is hiding and we must find Him!

Luke 5:16 “Jesus withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”

If Jesus needed to do it, certainly we do too. If that were all that was needed for us to hear God it’d be real easy. Just get off by ourselves and we’d hear God every time. But AFTER we get in a quiet spot then we need to quiet our own minds, our own emotions and ourselves. That leads us to the second step.

2.) WAIT

Habakkuk 2:1-2 “I will climb my watchtower and wait …

What does it mean to station yourself? It means don’t move, stay put, don’t run around, be still. When I station myself it means I’m going to stay there for a while until something happens.

God speaks to the person who takes the time to listen.

Never get distracted. When you make a decision to wait in silence for the Lord every thought will come into your head to stop you.

Most people never get past that mental chaos stage. Often times, when we do, then we come up with the second enemy before we hear God, and that is negative emotions. Satan loves to play on your conscious. He is the accuser of Christians. You start thinking of all the things that you’re not doing, that you’re guilty of, your sins, your faults, and your weaknesses. Satan is screaming, “Guilty!” To get past this you have got to decide, am I going to focus on what’s wrong with me or am I going to focus on God’s love?

3.) WATCH / LISTEN

Habakkuk 2:1-2 “I will climb my watchtower and wait to see what the Lord will tell me to say and what answer He will give…

There is an unseen realm a spiritual realm, where we can see what God is saying and hear what God is saying.

Our spiritual senses must be exercised!

We have the ability to train our spiritual eyes. So many times when I pray I simply ask:

“Holy Spirit, please speak to me about this one…”

Then He speaks…

4.) WRITE

Habakkuk 2:1-2 “I will climb my watchtower and wait to see what the Lord will tell me to say and what answer He will give to my complaint. The Lord gave me this answer: `Write down clearly on tablets what I reveal to you, so that it can be read at a glance.’” (TEV)

In Chapter two, he writes down God’s answers back to him. This is called the spiritual habit of journaling. Almost every great Christian in history has journalised.

They wrote down their prayers, what they wanted to say to God and then they’d wait and then what they felt impressed of God they’d write that down, what God said back to them. There are many benefits to doing this. How we got the Bible is godly men and women were praying and talking to God and when God talked back to them, they wrote it down. If you want an example of journalising, there’s a whole book on it. It’s called Psalms. In Psalms, in almost every one, David starts with a question. God, how come my enemies are prospering when I’m trying to live for You, and I’m not making it? And then he waits and watches and he writes down God’s answer. We call those the Psalms.

5.) WORSHIP

Habakkuk 3:2 “Oh, Lord, now I’ve heard your report and I worship you in awe.”

You thank God for speaking to you. He says, now that You’ve spoken to me, I love You and I want to express my love to You. When you have received God’s loving response, you’ve asked a question and you’ve heard an answer in your mind and you write it down, it’s going to make you want to love the Lord more and draw you closer. This turns prayer from a monologue into a dialogue, a conversation.

There are really three kinds of relationships you can have:

1.) You can believe in God. That’s the lowest form of relationship.

2.) Or you can be acquainted with God. That’s a little bit deeper relationship.

3.) Or you can be the friend of God. Jesus wants that kind of relationship to you. He says, I want to call you My friends, where we commune and discuss and dialogue and converse and know each other. God wants you to be His friend.

This post was very much inspired by the teachings of Marc Bredenkamp and Kim Clement including their quotes as well.

In His Love,

Leon