Online Bible Study Reader’s Request: How To Hear God’s Voice

I had this word ringing in my heart when I was at the conference I attended before I released my book.
And then recently, I was speaking to someone (*kiss kiss bebe, you know yourself), when she said something that reminded me of what I wanted to write about.
I answered her then asked for permission to share on the blog.

 

We were talking about something’s and I asked her to hear from God before she moves and she said:

My dear my challenge is I don’t hear God….I’ve not found the special way he speaks to me…

 

Now, that hit me because God speaks to us everyday. Every minute. Every hour. Every. Single. Day.
I love that she said I don’t hear Him because the fact that we don’t hear Him, doesn’t mean that He doesn’t speak.
I have had some pretty “strong” experiences with God on hearing Him speak and some “simple” experiences. All in all, I hope to use my experience by God’s grace to provide clarity on this to everyone who feels the same way our amazing sister up there does.

So let’s begin…

 

I first gave my life to Christ for real in 2011.
I had an experience with God where He pulled out of a terrible relationship (I talked about this in detail in my book) and that period of my life was one where I literally felt God hugging me.
After wards, some things started happening to me.
I would be walking in school (I was in Uni then) and would just be hearing this voice in my heart. It wasn’t in my head, it was just this little voice that spoke to me in my heart.
And then one day, there was this prompt to pray/preach in a bus I was seated in which I didn’t obey because I was a young believer then and was really ashamed/scared.
The years have passed by  and I have come to understand that God speaks to me in diverse ways. And what I have to do is to recognize these ways and set myself up to hear Him speak.
I was reading Joyce Meyer’s “how to hear from God” recently and I noted three ways by which God mostly speaks to me.
I would be sharing them here along with some tips on how we can hear Him, in hopes that everyone who struggles with hearing God speak to them can identify same(and more) in their lives and learn to watch out for them.

 

(1) God speaks to us by His Word.
Every blog reader here should know how the #OnlineBibleStudy we have here are birthed.
I simply have a Bible passage ringing in my heart, I get obedient, open up the passage and the Holy Spirit begins to teach me on it.
Every day I am mega grateful for God’s way of speaking by His Word.
There are days when the Word comes alive in awesome ways for me.
Days like before I published my book and was so scared of everything.
His Word to me was 2Timothy 1:7
I especially love days when I wake up with a Bible Passage in my heart, I almost feel like He taps me on those days and says “wake up my daughter, dig into my Word”.
And that’s what He is actually saying.
Do you have Bible passages ringing in your heart too? I say heart because it’s not really your brain thinking it.
How do I explain this?
Some times, it’s your conscience whispering it to you.
It’s the reason why we have to be still to be able to hear.
Even when I go through my day, I more than once take out time to just talk to God, say hi, thank Him, keep our connection alive.
That way, if He’s saying something, I don’t miss it because I am wrapped up with something else.

 

So the first way we can hear God speak is in His Word.
Remember that the Word is God. And the Word speaking to you is God speaking.
Now, I must add this. Sometimes, we ask for answers from God when the truth is that the answer is already in His word.
The more time we take out to study God’s Word, the more we will be filled with the knowledge of His will for every area of our lives.
God has spoken to me with Colossians 3 before as regards relationships.
So I can’t be asking God about a relationship that pulls me away from Him. He has already stated to me in His word that He was my relationship/marriage to be done in heaven’s way, not in the world’s way.
So as we seek God, let’s endeavor to know that the Word is a great place to start in hearing from God.
It’s not just God speaking to us from His Word, it also sharpens our spirit man to hear God more clearly.

 

(2) Confirmations.
Now Joyce Meyer says in her book I mentioned up there that we shouldn’t seek confirmation from others on what God has told us to do.
Sometimes God graciously does them and sometimes He doesn’t.
Ultimately, we should learn to trust God at His Word.
What I want to bring out here is the fact that I had had surreal experiences where someone else heard what I heard from God and at such times, I am reassured that this voice I hear in my head isn’t just me, it’s God.
Last year at Law School, I talked about my testimony on my externship, and that day in Church, God convicted me so much on not knowing the name of Jesus. I gave a testimony in Church the next sunday and mentioned it and my Pastor, Nathaniel Bassey said that was on his heart too, Infact, that was our sermon for that day that he had prepared.
Another experience struck me last month at the conference.
Remember that we had a study here on knowing Jesus but my own personal study didn’t end there.
I had a dream and just a “knowing” that God wanted me to draw close to Jesus. In fact, it was in the air. Every where I went to, it was all about Jesus.
So imagine the pastor saying in his session at the conference that for the last two weeks, it’s been Jesus more than ever.
When I heard him, I cried and repented because I didn’t really do what the Spirit was saying to me.
But that experience made me know something: the voices I hear in my heart aren’t crazy voices. What I sense in the spirit isn’t nothing, it’s God speaking.
And sometimes, God might just give you a confirmation on what he has told you, maybe in a devotion that day, from the lips of a friend that day, etc, etc.

 

 

(3) PEACE.
Now this one, I have heard crazy experiences with, so much so that no one can tell me that God doesn’t speak through peace in us.
Most times He uses this to speak to me in my relationships with people.
Probably because He knows with feelings involved, I need something stronger than the quiet voice of the Spirit.lol.
I have written about my experience with my friend Henry on lessons from when I almost dated an engaged man here.
Those were days when God had told me to leave him but the silly feelings were proving stubborn, so much so that God just took my peace away.
There were days I couldn’t pray.
The Spirit would shut me down. Obey me there first before you can call me your all.
This year again on another relationship I was praying about, I had no peace about it.
Something kept bugging me.
I didn’t know what it was but even after praying and thinking I got a yes, I still had this itch in my soul. Thinking if this was right or not. It wasn’t long before I knew that the itch in my soul wasn’t unfounded.
When God is speaking/ have given us go -ahead on something, we have peace about it.
We aren’t shaken.
Outer circumstances maybe rough but inside, we know what He has said to us so we are calm.
What to know if God is involved in what you are doing?
Check your peace.

 

 

(4) God speaks through Circumstances.
The first time I experienced this was when I gave my life to Christ.
I was a wreck.
A low self-esteemed wreck because of a boy.
I was asking God on one night if this is what He had for me when my “high boyfriend” exploded in another quarrel.
Normally I would run after him and beg him but that night I smiled and said thank you Lord for my answer.
And this has been a normal thing since then.
I remember praying for God’s will on wednesday and on sunday, a silly quarrel broke up between red lips and I.
Now, it’s not all circumstances that are orchestrated by God but how I know them is that I listen to the Spirit in me. Something just clicks within that says this is it.
I cannot explain it and won’t even try, what I would say is sharpen your spiritual antenna by spending time in God’s Word and spending time with Him.
As you do so, your spirit will recognize things your natural mind cannot explain.

 

 

(5) God speaks through promptings in our heart/the still small voice.
Now this one is so quiet, you have to be still to hear it. I don’t mean just still in body alone, still in your mind.
Sometimes after having your quiet time, take a moment to just be quiet and let God say whatever He wants to into your heart.
This was the way my conversation with God that I relayed to us on monday’s post went.
And it’s the way I mostly heard God aside from His word that comes alive in me.
It’s a voice that’s just in our hearts. Not every voice can be trusted though and we must know that everything the Spirit speaks to us aligns with the Word.
You can’t be hearing yes to a guy who doesn’t cut it with what the Word says.
You can’t be hearing yes to stealing.
You can’t be hearing yes to fornication.
So test every spirit with the Word, if you already have the Word in you then this becomes easier. You sift it with the Word before you accept it.

 

 

(7) God speaks with an audible voice.
Now this one I have never experienced.
Some who have experienced it says that it’s just as real as though a person is standing next to you.
It’s an authoritative voice that simply fills you up.
Again, even in this, test it with the Word to make sure that it aligns with God.

 

 

(8) God speaks through dreams and visions.
I don’t experience this much, but there are those who this is a regular in their lives.
There are dreams that stick on your spirit, not those that arises from eating over feeding oh.lol.
But there are dreams where really God says something to you, makes something clearer, or gives you an inkling so you pray and get more clarity.

 

 

 

Ok.

That’s about everything in my heart to share on this.

Now, I didn’t intend to write this much, I only had 3 ways in mind when I started writing.
Like I told our beautiful sister who asked me this question, God speaks to us in various ways.
I am sure that there are more than these, this isn’t limited or exhaustive at all.

 

She also asked me:
So should I be looking out for a voice or just believe his very word…the one that strikes me most.

 

Now, you don’t go out looking for a voice to speak to you, the Bible says that “There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification. – 1Corinthians 14:10″

 

So you go out looking for voices then any kind of voice can speak to you.
The first place to start hearing God speak is to get filled up with the Word.
The Word familiarizes you with how God speaks, with His character and ways, with His attitude and the way He thinks.
So you can easily spot out when it isn’t God speaking.
If you read my conversation with God on monday’s post, I wrote that you can perhaps distinguish my voice from God’s own.
My voice is filled with doubts and skepticism.
God’s voice is filled with possibilities and faith.
His voice is also gentle, calm, peaceful, patient with you.
Because that’s who He is.
God cannot tell you you can’t do what He has placed in you, His very Word says you can do all things through Him.
So knowing Him from His Word makes it easier for you to spot the difference.

 

 

Ultimately, don’t be so concerned about whether He will speak or not. He always speaks.
Get in the Word and start from there.
Then trust the Spirit in you.
I’m still learning to trust God’s Spirit in me because most times we get so skeptical about it but the truth is, we must have faith even in this.
Trust that God’s Spirit is in you, He always speaks and as you do your part to sharpen your spiritual man in His word, you will hear Him.
God won’t leave you adrift. He will surely direct your paths.
You read His word. Let His Word come alive in you and whatever instruction He has given you in His word, obey.

 

 

I recommend your getting Joyce Meyer’s “how to hear from God”
And Kenneth Hagin’s “How you can be led by the Spirit of God”.
My darling sister Princess also wrote on hearing God speak and you can read it here.

 

And I would love to hear from you, what ways does God speak to you?
What do you do to ensure that your spiritual antenna is tuned to hear Him speak?
Please comment below, let’s glean wisdom from the family of believers.

 

 

You can download the PDF of this study by clicking here
And go to the page where we have other free downloads of PDF Bible studies here.

 

 

Till Next time on #OnlineBibleStudy,
Love,
Frances.

 

 

P.S: Ololade, yes, I am working on your question.
Bear with me biko, ko easy.
Thank you 🙂

Join our blog family
[mc4wp_form]