God talks to his people through the Holy Spirit, whom all believers receive when they receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It is important to learn to listen. It takes growth and patience to learn his voice. The Holy Spirit, and the written Word of God are an important part of that process. The more you pray, and read your Bible, the more you learn to hear God.
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27 ESV
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. “ John 16:13 ESVGod often talks to us subtly, the Holy Spirit is a gentleman, but if we don’t listen, he will turn up the volume by bringing circumstances into our life to get our attention. There have been times when I unquestionably heard from God, because he had to hit me with a 2x4 to get my attention. As I sought to hear him, he revealed to me that a problem I had, which is very common, is self-talk. Self-talk can be ok when you are building yourself up like “I’m ok,” “I’m a good person.” This becomes problematic when you are living in sin, and just lying to yourself. Some people use self-talk to make their God be like themselves, and this is the opposite of hearing from God, because he wants to teach you to be like Jesus.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.Something that I learned about identifying God’s voice was hearing in my spirit, “come to me.” Your flesh is probably not going to tell you to go to God. If you are unsure if it is God you are hearing, pray about it. What is your intuition about what you hear? Let it percolate for a while. As you pray and look for answers in God’s word, does that intuition grow stronger, or weaker? Is it contrary to God’s word? If it is, then there’s your answer. Take your time, because self-talk is probably going to tell you what you want to hear. Share your question with others. God can use your pastor, or brothers and sisters to direct you. They may actually receive a word of Knowledge from the Holy Spirit to give to you, without even being asked.
Romans 8:29 ESV
For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,I have a tendency to say things that I shouldn’t. I have learned to listen to the Holy Spirit when he say’s STOP. Do you remember being a kid, and putting that candy bar in your pocket , then looking up and seeing the clerk looking right at you? You feel a lump in your chest. It’s like that. At first I didn’t pay attention to it, then, I recognized it, but was already half way through the sentence, so I just kept going. Now I will stop in mid-sentence, if necessary. After many bad outcomes, I learned it is better to listen.
1 Corinthians 12:8 ESV
“One who guards his mouth and his tongue, Guards his soul from troubles.”God can give you a message that is for both you and others. I have experienced this in small groups. Sometimes something can come out of your mouth, that didn’t come from your brain. After one of the pastor’s messages about being lukewarm, I wanted to share with him an observation that I had. The first thing that came out of my mouth did not come from my brain. “No one thinks they are lukewarm.” I didn’t know that, but God did. I have kept my ministry to myself until the appropriate time. One of my friends knew something was up, and asked me, “are you going to write a book?” I said no, more like a booklet. I had never considered that, yet God used that question and answer to lead me in a direction that I hadn’t considered.
Proverbs 21:23 NASB
“But as for you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”I do not believe that it is biblical to pray in tongues, and make a spectacle of yourself. I pray in tongues frequently, yet my wife of sixteen years, has never heard me. I pray, and worship in tongues during church service, yet no one hears me. My lips move, but I don’t put breath behind it. Sometimes I know what I am praying, and become aware of a need, other times not. If you have not received the gift of the Spirit, I strongly encourage you to seek it. God talks to us in many ways. The more you learn to listen, the stronger your faith will become in what you hear.
Matthew 6:6 NASB