Does God speak to us?
I know many people wonder why God doesn’t talk to them or if He ever talks to them. The answer is yes He does. You might not hear it or ignore it but God is forever talking to us. The God who spoke to Moses, David and Solomon is the same God who speaks to us. He might do it differently for each of us but He speaks to us.
It would be remiss of me to tell you the how without telling you the prerequisite first. To hear God, it takes having a relationship with God. I discuss that in detail in this post. Sometimes as Christians we think going to church is having a relationship with God. It’s not.
Having a relationship with God means spending time with God, getting to know more about God. This is primarily through reading the Bible. In addition to that it could be reading books or watching sermons that teach you what you want to learn more about. For example if you want to learn more about the Holy Spirit you could watch John Bevere sermons on YouTube where he preaches specifically about that. At least that’s what I did when I wanted to learn more about the Holy Spirit.
Having a relationship with God means finding out more about Him and His character and wanting to know what pleases God so you can make Him happy. Not just thinking about what God can do for you. It’s loving what God loves and staying away from what He hates.
How God speaks to us
Now how exactly does God speak to us? I’ve found God speaks to each of us differently. It could be through reading the Bible, something you hear from someone or from a sermon. It could be through a dream you have, an idea that comes to your mind, so called coincidences or just a feeling you have. It could be through nature, a beautiful flower that makes you cry or a painting that talks to you. It could be through a prophecy or a dream that someone has concerning you. These are just some of the ways. There are many others. God speaks to us in ways He knows we will each understand.
Let me give you examples from my life because I’ve found sometimes people or preachers will talk about something and I keep thinking “I need examples so I understand exactly what you mean.” This is not to say this is how God will speak to you, it’s to show you that it can be in many ways and sometimes we might not realize it’s God when it is.
Examples of how God has spoken to me
1. A message of love
There’s a day I’ll always remember clearly because of a message God sent to me. On that day, sometime during the day I briefly wondered if God could ever love me the way He loved David. I thought of this because I’ve always admired the relationship that David had with God. That same evening I opened my Bible to read Ephesians, because that’s the book of the Bible I was reading that week. For some reason my Bible opened to Isaiah 55 instead. I thought to myself, let me read that and then go to Ephesians. As I read Isaiah 55, I cried when I got to verse 3 because it said:
“Give ear and come to me; listen that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.”
I hadn’t even asked God a question, it’s something that just crossed my mind that day and God saw it necessary to answer me that same evening. I’ve never felt more loved than I did at that moment. Now I know God loves me and each of us, the way He loved David.
2. Being told to wait
In this instance I directly asked God if it was time for me to do something, if I should move forward with it. I believe He said wait. The reason I believe that is because in a space of a few days I saw the same verse about 4 or 5 times and the verse was about waiting on God. I didn’t like the answer but there was no doubt in my mind it was the answer from God.
3. An audible voice
In this example, God spoke to me in a way He had never done before. I wanted to go and visit someone who was gravely ill, in a different city. I was getting opposition from people close to me, with sound reasons why I shouldn’t go and I started doubting my decision. I was so torn and the morning I planned on going I was still not sure.
I prayed about it and when I was done I said “God should I go?” I distinctly heard a voice in my head saying “Yes.” I couldn’t believe it then I said “If I go will you go with me?” And the same voice very clearly said “Yes.” That was the first and only time God has spoken to me that way. I will never forget that experience because as I made the drive that morning I felt God’s presence. When I got to the person I was visiting she told me she dreamed about me visiting her and I had the opportunity to pray with her. She died a few days later but I will forever remember that experience.
4. An answer about purpose
Whilst reading the book In a pit with a lion on a snowy day by Mark Batterson, he suggested that we should ask God what we should do with our life. I had never thought to ask that. I asked God what I should do with my life. Within days of asking that I kept seeing this verse everywhere, Ephesians 2 verse 10 which says:
“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
I must have seen it 3 or 4 times in less than 48 hours. I knew God was telling me something but I wasn’t sure what exactly. Then the next morning even though I was reading a different book of the Bible I felt compelled to read a chapter from another book of the Bible. I read it. That day, I watched two separate sermons and they all preached about the part I had read that morning. I knew God was telling me something but I had an event to attend that evening so I didn’t get a chance to dwell on it too much.
The next day I watched a sermon where the preacher preached on this same part of the Bible. In less than 48 hours I had read this part of the Bible and watched 3 different preachers preach on it. I sat down and asked God to reveal to me what exactly He was saying. When He did I realized it was the answer to my question of what I should do with my life. When I saw how big a task it was, I freaked out. I started hyperventilating and crying. It felt like I was having a panic attack. And from nowhere Ephesians 2 verse 10 came to my mind, the verse I had kept seeing a few days before.
I said that verse to myself over and over until I calmed down because that verse made me see that God has already prepared it all, I just have to walk in it. This means God knew that when I found out what I was meant to do I would freak out and had me memorize that verse before I needed it. Because I asked God, now I know the purpose for my life. As a bonus God even told me the purpose for my marriage, within days of each other.
He is forever speaking
I hope my examples have shown you that God does speak to us, if we will listen. He is forever talking, we are the ones who happen to miss it sometimes because we’re too busy to listen or we think it’s just a coincidence or something like that. Get to know God better. Allow the Holy Spirit to lead you and stay open to hearing God. If you want to know something, ask. There is nothing too trivial for God. He cares about what you care about.
