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If you’ve read the blog for any amount of time, you’ve probably heard me say that God wants relationship. That relationship is the reason why he made us and why he sent his son to save us. You have also certainly read that God wants to speak with us. After all, what’s a relationship without talking?
There are many ways that God likes to do that. In fact, he’s God, and doesn’t really have a limit of how he can talk with us. In this article, you’ll learn about a few of the ways that God often speaks to us and the ways I’ve personally see him speak.
How I Often Hear God
Relationship with God is something that is so important to me, so much so, that I talk to God throughout my whole day. In the car, on my walks, at work, whenever and wherever. To some, you can surely relate, as there are so many people that love God! However, I believe that most wouldn’t relate, and for many years, I definitely didn’t.
This was because I didn’t hear God nearly as much as I do now, or at least I didn’t think I did.
It wasn’t until I fell in love with the Bible that I really started to know and hear the voice of the Lord like I do now. Since then, he has spoken to me in a few different ways. Some more common than others but here they are!
- The Bible
- Through the Holy Spirit
- Dreams & Visions
- Other People
God has spoken to me many times and each of those four ways and I believe those are the most common ways for us to hear him speak.
Hear Him Speak Through the Bible
The Bible is referred to as the Word of God, therefore it makes sense that this is the most common way to hear from God.
I used to not love the Bible. It was boring and I just didn’t care about it. But thinking of it as God’s spoken word changed everything. He showed me that the Bible is true, that it can be an anchor in our lives. This allowed the scriptures to get into my heart and through that, God spoke to me.
Not only did he speak when it was in my heart, but he spoke as I read.
God will continually speak to us as we read scripture. He points things out, highlights it, and can even interpret something for you when you don’t understand what scripture is saying.
In case you are not hearing the Lord speak to you through the Bible, follow these steps.
- Make sure your view is right. Don’t just read it to read it. Read it to hear the lord, to learn about him, and to understand that it is the truth.
- Don’t just skim but pay close attention. You wouldn’t want to talk to someone that wasn’t paying much attention, would you? No, you wouldn’t, so give God your full attention.
- Allow for room for him to speak. Mediate on scripture and think on it. Give him time and room to speak from the word.
Hear Him Speak Through the Holy Spirit
Another very common way for us to hear the Lord speak is through the Holy Spirit.
We all have the Holy Spirit living inside of us, that is, if we’re saved. That means that it is a part of who you are, and the Lord will certainly use the Holy Spirit to speak with you. Luckily, it’s something we are pretty familiar with.
That is, because the Holy Spirit speaks to us in a similar way that our “conscience” speaks to us.
A conscience is something we are all familiar with and all have. It’s hard to put a grasp on what it really is or where it comes from but it’s definitely there. Most could guess that it has to do with our morals and such, but it goes deeper than that.
Wonderopolis says that “Your conscience helps you choose behaviors based on your morals.”
This means that our conscience is in direct relation to our morals. If our morals are bad, the conscience of many will be too. They help us to live out of those morals.
What the Holy Spirit does is far different. It helps us choose behaviors based on Jesus’ morals, not our own. That is why when new believers come to Christ, they often feel convicted about something they would’ve never felt bad about before. They are starting to hear the Holy Spirit guide them in their life.
So, how do you start to hear the Holy Spirit? Ask him to speak to you. Oftentimes, he’s already speaking, it’s just up to us to listen.
Look at Isaiah 55 with me for a second.
“Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;” (Isaiah 55:2-3)
Three times within that passage, we are told to listen. To hear. That is the way to live, is to incline your ear, and listen. You’ll know once you hear it.
Hear Him Speak Through Dreams
This is perhaps one of the most obscure ways that the Lord speaks to us. Dreams can often be crazy, scary, confusing, and always very weird. Sometimes they mean something and sometimes they don’t. It can be difficult to find your way towards understanding them, but that is where the Holy Spirit comes into play.
I’ve had some crazy dreams and God definitely was trying to speak to me through these dreams. Through various dreams the Lord has revealed to me many things that I would not have known before. Whether they were warning dreams or dreams to reveal a major truth, I got the interpretation through two ways. The Holy Spirit and a very helpful book. Let’s look into them both.
- The Holy Spirit
When we look at Joseph, he interpreted dreams with no training in dream interpretation. He clearly had the Lord to thank for his ability to interpret the dreams.
We know that the Holy Spirit talks to us and we have to listen to hear him, but when it comes to dream interpretation, it’s a little different.
It takes patience and persistence to really hear from God. So, when you are wanting dream interpretation, remember to be patient and persistent with the Holy Spirit. Then, he will speak.
- The Divinity Code
The Divinity Code is a super helpful resource to help with dreams and visions. It’s sort of a dictionary that will give the common interpretations of various things in dreams. However, it does explain quite a bit about dreams and visions in the beginning of the book. The best thing about this book is that it gives biblical references to each interpretation which isn’t common when it comes to dream interpretation.
It’s been super helpful for me and my family when it comes to dreams and I’m certain it’ll be helpful for you too! You can buy it here!
Hear Him Speak Through Visions
I separated dreams and visions on purpose. Although they are very similar, and I could definitely suggest the Divinity Code for visions as well, they are different.
Dreams are something that we all have and are all very familiar with, but visions we have not all had. I personally have not had much experience with visions, but I have had a couple.
In these visions, the Lord revealed to me a few images while I was still awake. They were very vivid, and it was to put it bluntly, awesome. Something that I observed through visions is that it is almost always something for the future. Therefore, it is crucial that we keep an eye out for the interpretation and listen for the Lord to speak.
We can also look at the encounters with visions that those in scripture had. The most important thing is to be attentive and patient with the Lord for interpretation.
Hear Him Speak Through People
People are great and as believers, we need to be around other people in order for us to truly grow.
When we surround ourselves with other believers, the Lord will use them to speak with us. For instance, in a small group setting, someone can give you advice that they learned from the Lord. Someone can also pray for you in a group or elsewhere about something that God spoke to them.
It’s important to join a church and small group as believers, especially now. These days, Christians tend to feel isolated and end up falling into the crowd of everyone else. When we get into community with other believers, we not only get to hear from God better, but we also get to be surrounded by like-minded people!
Practical Application
It’s very easy to receive some practical application on this topic, simply because the Lord wants to talk to us. How great is that!
Here are a few easy, but great tips!
- Read scripture. Take it slow, pay attention, and leave room for the Lord to speak. When you read, pay close attention to what the scripture is saying, then pray about it and mediate on it. That is where the magic happens.
- Incline your ear. Listen to what he wants to say. The Lord is always talking, but he’s not going to yell., We need to take a step forward and listen closely to his voice. Whether its during prayer, reading your bible, or studying your dreams, we need to listen close.
- Steward the revelation well. Take what the Lord is trying to show you and do well with it. If he warns you through a dream, pray about that warning and do what you can with it. Don’t listen and read his word for it to go in vain but obey his command and adhere to his voice.
- Bonus Tip! Be around other believers. The Lord will truly speak to you in a variety of different ways when we get out of our comfort zone and join other believers.
There are so many ways to hear from the Lord and I’m confident that if you apply what we discussed in this article that you can grow in your faith and your relationship with Christ so much!
Final Thoughts
The Lord can speak in so many ways and I hope that this article will help you start to hear them!
It’s so incredible when the Lord really speaks into our lives and personally, I don’t know what I would do if he didn’t.
An important thing to remember is that while we can’t earn God speaking, we can miss a lot of what he has to say. Therefore, it is crucial that we focus our thoughts and our attention on him, allowing him to speak over everything.
