Have you ever wished that Jesus would just talk to you audibly, clearly, without any vagueness or ambiguity at all? Jesus wants us to have a relationship with Him, to love Him with all of our hearts, minds, and souls, but it’s sometimes hard because our relationship with Him doesn’t work exactly the same way as it does with another human being, a friend, a spouse, a parent. We want to be able to sit down, share a cup of coffee with Him, and just have a conversation. When we reach a crucial crossroad in our lives and seek Him in prayer for direction it would be so nice to hear Him clearly and audibly say…”This is the way, walk ye in it”. We really need to hear the voice of God!
Why doesn’t God usually speak to us audibly? And if not, then how do we hear or recognize the voice of God? I say “usually” because God SOMETIMES will speak to His people audibly, but that is rare. Last night, I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ gave me what is known as a “Word of Wisdom” on this very issue. If you don’t know what a Word of Wisdom is, it’s listed 1st Corinthians 12 (New Testament) as one of the Spiritual gifts from the Holy Spirit. Distributed according to the Will of God, the Gifts of the Holy Spirit are for ALL PEOPLE who BELIEVE in JESUS CHRIST! Not all believers have been given the same gift, but ALL BELIEVERS will RECEIVE some (if not all) of these gifts! If you haven’t done so yet, ask the Father to reveal your Holy Spirit GIFTS!
1st Corinthians 12:4: Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. 6 There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. 7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
8 For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,
10 and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.
People receive words of wisdom and knowledge in different ways. We should pray for discernment when we receive a word of wisdom or knowledge. Biblical discernment is the ability to decide between truth and error, between what is from God and what is not. Any Word received that goes against the Word of God (Bible) or the character of God (love) is not from God! God’s presence brings peace, not fear. God’s voice is not a voice of condemnation, even when correcting.
This Word of knowledge came in a dream, and it wasn’t an audible word, but rather an understanding of a concept that I didn’t have previously. I hope that makes sense. In my sleep, the Lord basically gave a greater understanding as to why He doesn’t primarily speak to His people with an audible voice. First and foremost, the Lord wants us to chase after Him. He wants to take us to a deeper level of intimacy with Him. He wants us to experience Him with all of our senses, not just our ears. The example that was given to me is that of a blind man.
People who are physically blind really do have enhanced abilities in their other senses. There was a study published March 22, 2017 of people either born blind, or who became blind by age 3. The research used detailed brain scans to compare the brains of people who were blind to the brains of people who were not blind. The MRI scans showed that these individuals have heightened senses of hearing, smell and touch. In addition, the scans revealed that people who are blind also experienced enhancements in other areas, including in their memory and language abilities, according to the study, published today….https://www.livescience.com/58373-blindness-heightened-senses.html
LiveScience.com
Let’s take this study of the blind man’s heightened senses to a spiritual level. If a person is only using one of their senses to communicate with God, like their ears (hearing), then the other senses will not develop to their full potential. If we were to “hear” the Lord only with our physical ears, our spiritual senses would not develop to their full potential. The Lord desires that we diligently search for Him. He tells us in His Word that when we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us (James 4:8). He tells us that when we seek Him with all of our heart, then He will be found by us (Jeremiah 29:13).
Proverbs 25:2: It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.
When we earnestly long to hear God’s voice, we dive deep into His Word, we attentively embrace the wisdom of spiritual mentors and strong pillars of faith, we immerse ourselves in prayer, and we eagerly search for the signs encircling us in the wonders of Nature and our daily lives. At times, we may even encounter His presence through the enchanting fragrances of Lily of the Valley, Myrrh, Hyssop, Cassia, Sweet Cinnamon, Lilac, Rose, or Jasmine.
Song of Solomon 1:3: Because of the fragrance of your good ointments, Your name is ointment poured forth”
Eph. 5: 1-2: “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma”
Exodus 30:23-25 instructs, “Also take for yourself quality spices—five hundred shekels of liquid myrrh, half as much sweet-smelling cinnamon (two hundred and fifty shekels), two hundred and fifty shekels of sweet-smelling cane, five hundred shekels of cassia, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and a hin of olive oil. And you shall make from these a holy anointing oil, an ointment compounded according to the art of the perfumer. It shall be a holy anointing oil.”
Even a heart-felt hug at just the right moment🤗, a powerful thunderstorm, a cooling rain, a crackling fire in the fireplace, the sound of birds, so many things! God speaks to many people through music. The Psalms are one example of this, made into hymns and worship music.
God often speaks to us through our inner voice that some people call a “conscious” or the voice of the Holy Spirit directing us in the paths that we should go. Again, usually the Holy Spirit generally does NOT speak with an audible voice, but kind of like a “feeling” and yet more than just a feeling.
Pay attention to the spontaneous or random thoughts that come into your mind. Not all of our “thoughts” are our own. A thought can come from three different sources. A thought can come from our own mind. It can come from the Holy Spirit, or a thought can come from the enemy. We need to pay attention to our thoughts and use our Biblical discernment to understand the origin of a particular thought. Again, does this thought bring confusion or clarity? Does it bring fear or peace? Was it something we were thinking about previously, or was it completely spontaneous and out of the blue? Does it bring conviction of sin resulting in a heart-felt desire to repent and go a different direction, or does it bring guilt and shame? These are all questions we need to ask ourselves about any random thought that pops into our mind.
Additionally, God can and does still speak to His people in dreams and visions, but these definitely require discernment because dreams and visions can also come from our own heads or even from the enemy!
God’s voice can even come to us in the form of corrections and consequences. Although painful, God’s corrections are always for our good. God also arranges circumstances for those who have “eyes to see”. What some people see as “luck”, or “coincidence” the believer in Jesus sees as God’s hand working behind the scenes, bringing events and people together at just the right time and just the right place for just the right result. We call this the Providence of God. As we grow in Christ, we begin to look for God’s hand in everything.
God will also WARN us of impending danger for ourselves or others. This is not to create fear, but to create a space for us to pray in order to change, avoid, or mitigate the situation. God’s Spirit also warns us when something is not right about a person or situation. I’ve had this happen a few times where the Lord gives me a “check in my spirit”. This often comes as a “feeling” of uneasiness that is hard to put your finger on, but is there, nonetheless. This can also happen in times of temptation. God gives us a check in our spirit to warn us against temptation. There have been times that I have ignored this warning to my own detriment. I’m beginning to recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit and how He works in me to warn me of situations, circumstances, or people.
If Jesus were to only speak to us with our ears, we would have no need to diligently search, we would have no need to seek Him with all of our senses, and our experience of Him would be at a much shallower level. Our Father loves us way too much for that! Jesus wants to take us deeper into relationship with Him. He loves each of us more than we can possibly know or imagine!
As a young woman, the Lord Jesus Christ granted me a small foretaste of what His love actually feels like. In the dream, I was in the middle of a dark circle. There were these tiny candles all around me in a circle, and I felt the presence of evil surrounding me.
I was scared and even in my lukewarm Christian state (I was a very worldly Christian at this time in my life) I cried out to Jesus to SAVE ME! Although not able to visually SEE Him, I KNEW He was there. The instant I cried out for Him, He showed up! I “felt” His presence. HE came in like a flood and blew out those candles with a great wind. Then, the evil presence left and I woke up feeling this unexplainable feeling of love. It wrapped around me like a thick warm blanket for maybe 30 seconds to a minute before it left. It was really, really good! The only way that I can physically explain it is to say that it felt WARM and comforting. It was a supernatural warmth, a deep love that cannot be explained or described. I wanted more of it, but I have never experienced it again since that day, which was probably 25 years ago. However, I know that it is there, in Heaven, waiting for each of God’s people when we complete our race and go to be with the Lord.
God wants us to seek Him with our whole heart. When we do this He has promised that we will find Him.
Opening our hearts to God opens up the floodgates for God’s voice to enter in. The Primary way that God speaks to His people is through His written Word, the Bible. The Bible is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. This means that when we pray and read a passage of the Bible, the words will “come alive” and jump off the page and into our circumstances. Through Prayerful discernment we can then understand what God is saying to us about OUR situation through His Timeless Word.
Opening the floodgates of our understanding also allows us to see God’s Providential Hand working in and through our situations. Trusting that God goes before us, walks beside us, and is our rear-guard gives us a new perspective on life. No longer do we look at OUR CIRCUMSTANCES and think “coincidence”. No, we now RECOGNIZE the Unseen Hand of God working all along, causing all things to work together for our good.
Through our five senses we can experience GOD more fully.
Taste and see that the Lord is good, how blessed are those who take refuge in Him. From sweet honey to a rich, flavorful coffee, to the fruit of the vine, our God is Good! 😋
Through our eyes we stand in AWE of God’s Beauty through His Creation! The Heavens declare the GLORY OF GOD; the sky proclaims HIS HANDIWORK! (Psalm 19:1). 😍
Our ears long for the beautiful encouragement we get from amazing WORSHIP MUSIC to an encouraging word from a precious friend or loved one. 🎵
How about experiencing a warm hug from someone when we need it most. 🤗
We can bask in the fragrance of Christ through the beautiful smells He has created, from vanilla, to lavender, the baking of fresh bread. The Lord compares the prayers of His people to fragrant incense, a pleasing aroma. Additionally, the fragrance of Christ is spread through the kindness and grace of God working through His people loving on each other.🌹
The still small voice of the Holy Spirit within our own bodies is always speaking to us through the spontaneous thoughts that enter our minds of encouragement, love, gentle correction, wisdom, peace and clarity. He can also speak to us through a sudden “understanding” or “knowing”, like a holy download of information that we did not or could not know on our own. He can even speak to us through our feelings or “gut reactions”, either through a sense of uneasiness, warning us of impending danger, or through “goose bumps”, chills, or a feeling of great peace and joy. The Holy Spirit speaks to us in many different ways; we just need to be aware of His voice, while praying for discernment so that we don’t confuse his voice with our own, or worse, with the enemy’s.
As we are drawn into a deeper and more intimate relationship with God (Father YHWH/Jesus/Holy Spirit) we will be more aware of Him speaking to us in so many ways…..
- Through His Word – look for times when a particular verse you are reading “jumps off the page” and grabs your attention.
- Through other people, a sermon, or even a video
- Through music, movies, or television
- Through nature and signs in the Heavens
- Through books, websites, devotionals and written materials
- Through that still, small voice inside of us
- Through dreams and visions
- Through unusual circumstances
- Even though our environment which could include a random license plate, a well-placed banner, or pretty much any way He wants to get our attention.
God wants to draw us DEEPER, DEEPER, DEEPER into Him. Our God is creative so we shouldn’t limit what He can do. Yes, He could just simply speak to us via our ears, but Jesus wants to take us DEEPER into love and relationship with Him. God can speak to us in many different ways! We just need to put up our spiritual antennas so we can be aware that He is speaking.
A final, extremely important point. Our sins can block God’s communication to us. If we want to hear from God, we need to REPENT of any known sins, I mean REALLY, REALLY REPENT, be sorry for what we have done (or thought), and truly DESIRE to change our ways. This change in heart/attitude💕, and DESIRE to SURRENDER our own ways to follow God will unstop our ears and remove the blockage that is keeping us from hearing God.
God WANTS a relationship with us! He WANTS to be with us. He has gone to great lengths so that He can dwell with His people. God WANTS to talk to us, and He WANTS us to talk to Him. I believe God speaks to us all the time, but we are the ones who block our communication with Him. We live in sin, we put up walls, we get distracted, we don’t spend time with Him. It is important for us to BELIEVE God wants to speak to us and then look for ways that He may be talking. This is like putting up our spiritual antenna so we can better hear His voice. We need to be intentional about listening for His voice. We need to have FAITH to believe that it is God speaking, and not a “coincidence” or our own thoughts.
Blessings to you! 🙂
