How do I hear from God? How can I be sure that it is God who talked to me? Some people claimed that they heard from God and God asked them to do this and that. Is it legitimate? Does God really speak to us? Does He even want to talk to us? I had doubts in the past regarding this topic. I have been taught since young all the theories about God's purpose and will in my life and how I should seek God and listen to Him to know what He wants to fulfill in my life. However it is only until the last couple of years I really experience what it is like for God to talk to me and put something in my heart both for me to keep and to share with others. However even until now I am still learning how to really listen to Him. To be honest I still mess it up and mix up here and there between His voice, my voice, or voice from the enemy. Nevertheless I would love to share some pointers and learning points that could help anyone who really wants to get connected to God even more.
First of all God speaks. Yes He is still speaking until this moment. In the Old Testament He only spoke to the prophets and the people He chose to speak to. In the period between Malachi and Matthew He did stay silent for a while but Jesus really change the game. His sacrifice on the cross is the game changer!! Through His blood we could have access to His throne. In other words there is no hindrance between us and God anymore. Thus we have the privilege to listen to His voice. His Word is now accessible for all. We can receive His Word first hand and unlike in the Old Testament where ordinary people could only receive instructions from other people chosen by God. This is huge. We could interact with God ourselves. I would rather hear from God directly rather than hearing it from others to remove human's limitation and subjectivity from the message. One of the example is regarding prophecy. I believe in prophecy but after I receive it I will test it, prove it several times to make sure it is coming from God before taking the follow up actions. If God really spoke to the person sharing with me He could also speak the same thing to me personally.
Do we really want to hear from God? What is our motivation to listen to Him? These are the questions we need to ask ourselves before we embark on the journey of finding God and His voice. We know now that God can speak to us. Thus our availability will determine whether we can receive from Him. Sometimes I really don't know whether I really want to hear God. Everytime God reveals something it requires a response from us. Hearing from God is not the ultimate goal. There is another step follows, which is obedience. If that step of obedience is too steep (which normally it does) it will creates fear and worry in us because God's plan is above ourselves. As a matter of fact based on my experience when God speaks He has the intention to make us better, expand us, to bring us higher, to drag us out from comfort zone and stagnant life, and in the end to bring us closer to Him. Why else He wants to speak to us? If He wants us to stay right where we are now then there is no need for Him to speak as we will keep doing the same thing anyway. What we hear from God will not change our life, our response to what He says will. Having said that it is possible that someone have heard God speaking over and over again but never experiencing anything in his life. Thus listening to God should not be the main focus of our journey. We should instead do whatever we can to have a heart that is willing to obey God. I really believe if we have an obedient heart God will speak to us naturally as He is pleased with our obedience.
And now after we decide to develop an obedient heart let us getting closer look on hearing God. I learned that God's voice is stronger when we are closer to Him. It is like we are in a big stadium where someone is standing on the other side trying to speak to us. We know that he is speaking or even shouting but we could not catch a single word because he is too far away from us. As we are stepping closer and closer to him we realize that his voice getting clearer and clearer. When we are just beside him we can really communicate well even though he does not shout anymore. This situation is just like us and God. God is like the guy who is trying to get our attention. He often shout in our life without even we are realizing it because we are too far away from Him. We are making ourselves busy with other things that we could not hear what He is saying or even when we are hearing something we could not understand a single word He says. We become confused whether this is coming from God or myself or from the devil. The key here is our proximity to God. The closer we are to God, the more intimate we are to God, the more sensitive we are to His voice and the better position we have to distinguish that it is God who speaks. I have learned the more I seek God and give myself to Him the more confident I am to say that I know this is coming from God and this is His will in my life. On the contrary when I am far away from God I let myself takes over and my flesh becomes my guidance to make a decision. Even sometimes I could have the wrong image of God in my wandering. It is like saying bad things about the guy who is trying to speak to us from the other side of the stadium for not speaking loud enough.
God speaks. He will continue speaking. Get closer. Open our ears. Receive. Act on it. Life will not be the same anymore. So much better His way.
First of all God speaks. Yes He is still speaking until this moment. In the Old Testament He only spoke to the prophets and the people He chose to speak to. In the period between Malachi and Matthew He did stay silent for a while but Jesus really change the game. His sacrifice on the cross is the game changer!! Through His blood we could have access to His throne. In other words there is no hindrance between us and God anymore. Thus we have the privilege to listen to His voice. His Word is now accessible for all. We can receive His Word first hand and unlike in the Old Testament where ordinary people could only receive instructions from other people chosen by God. This is huge. We could interact with God ourselves. I would rather hear from God directly rather than hearing it from others to remove human's limitation and subjectivity from the message. One of the example is regarding prophecy. I believe in prophecy but after I receive it I will test it, prove it several times to make sure it is coming from God before taking the follow up actions. If God really spoke to the person sharing with me He could also speak the same thing to me personally.
Do we really want to hear from God? What is our motivation to listen to Him? These are the questions we need to ask ourselves before we embark on the journey of finding God and His voice. We know now that God can speak to us. Thus our availability will determine whether we can receive from Him. Sometimes I really don't know whether I really want to hear God. Everytime God reveals something it requires a response from us. Hearing from God is not the ultimate goal. There is another step follows, which is obedience. If that step of obedience is too steep (which normally it does) it will creates fear and worry in us because God's plan is above ourselves. As a matter of fact based on my experience when God speaks He has the intention to make us better, expand us, to bring us higher, to drag us out from comfort zone and stagnant life, and in the end to bring us closer to Him. Why else He wants to speak to us? If He wants us to stay right where we are now then there is no need for Him to speak as we will keep doing the same thing anyway. What we hear from God will not change our life, our response to what He says will. Having said that it is possible that someone have heard God speaking over and over again but never experiencing anything in his life. Thus listening to God should not be the main focus of our journey. We should instead do whatever we can to have a heart that is willing to obey God. I really believe if we have an obedient heart God will speak to us naturally as He is pleased with our obedience.
And now after we decide to develop an obedient heart let us getting closer look on hearing God. I learned that God's voice is stronger when we are closer to Him. It is like we are in a big stadium where someone is standing on the other side trying to speak to us. We know that he is speaking or even shouting but we could not catch a single word because he is too far away from us. As we are stepping closer and closer to him we realize that his voice getting clearer and clearer. When we are just beside him we can really communicate well even though he does not shout anymore. This situation is just like us and God. God is like the guy who is trying to get our attention. He often shout in our life without even we are realizing it because we are too far away from Him. We are making ourselves busy with other things that we could not hear what He is saying or even when we are hearing something we could not understand a single word He says. We become confused whether this is coming from God or myself or from the devil. The key here is our proximity to God. The closer we are to God, the more intimate we are to God, the more sensitive we are to His voice and the better position we have to distinguish that it is God who speaks. I have learned the more I seek God and give myself to Him the more confident I am to say that I know this is coming from God and this is His will in my life. On the contrary when I am far away from God I let myself takes over and my flesh becomes my guidance to make a decision. Even sometimes I could have the wrong image of God in my wandering. It is like saying bad things about the guy who is trying to speak to us from the other side of the stadium for not speaking loud enough.
God speaks. He will continue speaking. Get closer. Open our ears. Receive. Act on it. Life will not be the same anymore. So much better His way.
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