Does God really talk to us? We live in a world that encourages us to be busy. The busier we are, the more important we appear.
On our “days off” we are on the go. Many times I hear people say, “I run all day, but never accomplish anything. I have spent years on the go, working, volunteering, running around -until God showed me a better way. If we want to hear God’s voice, we need to slow down and give Hun our attention.
We need to actively listen. There are many times in life that we say we can’t hear God talking to us, or we don’t know the next step we are supposed to take because God hasn’t told us yet.
Sometimes this is true, God isn’t giving us an answer because we don’t need to know at that time. Other times, He may be waiting for us to slow down so He can talk to us. There are times I think I’m not hearing God talk to me, but He wakes me up speaking to me. How often do you hear God talk to you? My pastor always says, “If I ask you in the parking lot what the last thing you heard God say will you have an answer?”
Our conversations with God, are often one-sided. I can tell Him everything that’s going on with me -my concerns, my complaints, my needs, my desires, etc… but to hear what He answers I need to be quiet and actively listen.
God wants to have a relationship with us, and the only way we can have a genuine, deep relationship with Him is to allow Him to speak to us. Since we can’t see God, actively listening can be a challenge. Its important to know how we can actively listen to God?
Listening to His still small breath
We tend to work to hear Him, by our good works -our fruits. But God didn’t call us to hear Him when we bear fruit. He called us to “abide in Him.” “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in Me. I am the vibe. You are the branches. He who remains in Me and I in Him, the same bears much fruit for apart from Me you can do nothing” -John 15:4.
Staying silent
When we spend time with God daily and allow ourselves to slow down, we open the door for God to communicate with us through His Word. When we are reading His Word it’s important to remember to add some time to sit quietly and listen for God. When we do this, we will not only be able to hear God, but we will learn to recognize His nudges throughout the day.
“God is not a God of confusion but of peace” -1 Corinthians 14:33
Other Believers
There are times when God speaks to us through other like-minded people. When I was a new believer I went to a conference with another lady from church, and while I was there someone walked up to me and spoke to me telling me I was on a path of healing from trauma and I was going to help others and build bridges to save others. My first thought was that this lady was crazy. But it turned out to be true. I just had to trust that God was working through her. That being said, it’s essential to compare what they say to what the Bible says because they should not contradict each other. John 10:27 tells us, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”
God, Is that You?
Discerning the voice of God can be a challenge if we are not actively listening to His voice. It’s okay when we aren’t sure if we really heard God to ask Him if that was Him talking to us. An excellent example of this is in 1 Samual when God woke him up three times, calling his name. Samuel thought it was his mentor, Eli, calling him, but Eli told him he did not call him. When Eli realized what was happening, he told Samuel to lie down , and if the Lord called him again to answer God by saying, “Speak Lord, for Your servant hears” (1 Samuel 3:9).
Being able to discern the voice of God will help navigate our lives and guide us in our everyday conversations. Sometimes I get an uneasy feeling of no peace in my stomach when I speak or begin to make a decision telling me of my wrong choice. God can speak to everyone differently we need to learn the way God speaks to us.
We are called to be peacekeepers, and if we are called to be peacekeepers, who better to learn to listen to than the Prince of Peace Himself?
Here are a few steps that have helped along the way:
- Look for the message of the Holy Spirit
- Live in prayer mode. Keep your mind on God no matter what you do.
- Search out and learn to model scripture.
- Expect the mercy of confirmation. If you don’t know ask God.
- When you study God’s Word learn it well, you will learn to discern God’s voice when you do and the fake voices will not be able to distract you.
- You will be able to hear the message given to you through conversations with others.
It will take time before you feel confident that it’s the voice of God. Even when you get really good at discerning His voice. I still have some uncertainty sometimes. It’s because we are human and we live in a chaotic world that tends to keep us distracted. The more we can incorporate active listening into our daily lives, the more we will be able to hear God’s voice in our everyday lives.
From Pity to Praise 