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God Speaks in Different Ways

A critical requirement to understanding and experiencing God is clearly knowing when He is speaking. God speaks through the Holy Spirit to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways. God also speaks through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church or other believers.

God Spoke in the Old Testament

According to Hebrews 1:1, “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets at different times and in different ways.” He spoke through:

• Angels (Genesis 16);
• Visions (Genesis 15);
• Dreams (Genesis 28:10-19);
• The use of the Urim and Thummim (Exodus 28:30);
• Symbolic actions (Jeremiah 18:1-10);
• A gentle whisper (1 Kings 19:12);
• Miraculous signs (Exodus 8:20-25); and
• Other ways.

That God spoke to people is far more important than how He spoke.

Four important truths characterize each instance when God spoke in the Old Testament:

1. When God spoke, the experiencer was usually unique to the individual. He wants our experience with Him and His voice to be personal to us. He wants us to look to Him in a relationship rather than depend on a method or a technique. If Moses had been around today, he would have been tempted to write a book entitled My Burning Bush Experience. Then, people would search all over the countryside for their burning bush. God spoke to Moses in a way that was unique to him. That has not changed. He still speaks to people in unique ways today.
2. When God spoke, the person was sure God was speaking. Because God communicated to Moses in a unique way, Moses had to be certain it was God. Scripture testifies that Moses had no question that his encounter was with God—the “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14).
3. When God spoke, the person knew what God said. Moses knew what God was telling him to do. He knew how God wanted to work through him. That is why Moses raised so many objections. He understood exactly what God wanted him to do.
4. When God spoke, that was an encounter with God. Moses would have been foolish to say, “This has been a wonderful experience with this burning bush. I hope this leads me to an encounter with God!” His experience was the encounter with God! When God reveals truth to you, by whatever means, that is a divine encounter.

If you want to know the will and voice of God, you must devote time and effort to cultivate a love relationship with Him.

Does God Give Specific Directions?

God always gives you enough specific directions to do what He wants you to do now. When you need more directions, He gives you more in His timing.

The Holy Spirit gives clear directions today. Because God is personal, He wants to be intimately involved in your life. Therefore, He will give you clear guidance for living.

If you do not have instructions from God in a matter, pray and wait. Learn patience. Depend on God’s timing, which is always best. Don’t get in a hurry. He may withhold directions to cause you to seek Him more intently. If God is having you wait, He may want to develop a deeper relationship with you before He gives you your next assignment.

God Speaks by the Holy Spirit

In the gospels, God spoke through His Son, Jesus. God was in Christ Jesus and spoke by Jesus. When the disciples heard Jesus, they heard God. When Jesus spoke, that was an encounter with God.

When we move from the Gospels to Acts and to the present, we often change our mind-set. We live as if God quit speaking personally to His people. We fail to realize that an encounter with the Holy Spirit, who lives within us, is an encounter with God. From Acts to the present, God has been speaking to His people by the Holy Spirit.

Now that the Holy Spirit has been given to believers, He is the One who guides you into all truth and teaches you all things. In fact, Jesus said the Holy Spirit would “teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you” (John 14:26).

When God spoke to Moses and others in the Old Testament, those events were encounters with God. In the same way, your encounter with the Holy Spirit is an encounter with God for you.

You cannot understand God’s Word unless the Spirit of God teaches you. Truth is never discovered; truth is revealed.

When God spoke to Moses, what Moses did next was vital. What you do immediately after the Spirit of God speaks to you through His Word is critical. Our problem is that when the Holy Spirit speaks to us, we tend to debate.

Too often when God speaks to us, we launch into a protracted discussion with Him, questioning the correctness of His directions.

Review on a regular basis what you sense God has been saying to you. If God speaks to you and you hear but do not respond, a time could come when you will not hear His voice. Disobedience can lead to a “famine…of hearing the words of the Lord” (Amos 8:11).

If you hear the Word of God and do not apply it to produce fruit in your life, your disobedience will cost you. Make up your mind now that when the Spirit of God speaks, you are going to do what He says.

God Reveals Himself

If you want the God of the universe to communicate with you, you need to be ready for Him to reveal what He is doing and where you are. In Scripture, God is not often seen speaking to people just for conversation’s sake. He’s always preparing to do something. When God speaks to you, He has a purpose in mind for your life.

When God speaks by the Holy Spirit, He often reveals something about Himself. He reveals His name, His nature, and His character.

The Holy Spirit will also help believers to pray. God intended for the Holy Spirit to be extremely active in believers’ lives, communicating His will and purposes to them.

Human reasoning will not give you God’s perspective. If you can’t be faithful in a little, God will not give you the larger assignment. He may want to adjust your character through small assignments in order to prepare you for larger ones. He may want to lead you into an entirely new experience so He can develop a particular dimension of your character.

God Speaks at the Right Time

Some of us assume we have the next few months to think about what God said and to consider whether this is the best timing, to see when we can best fit His instructions into our crowded schedules. But God speaks in His timing.

God speaks when He has a purpose in mind for your life. Two things are crucial as you respond:

1. Immediately begin to adjust your life to what He says.
2. Be prepared to remain obedient as long as it takes for God to fulfill His purposes.

God speaks when He wants to involve a person in His work. He reveals His character to help the person respond in faith. God reveals Himself to increase faith that leads to action.

When God speaks with the purpose of revealing an assignment to you, you need to trust what He says. He knows exactly what He is doing in and through your life. Don’t rule out what god may be saying just because it doesn’t match what you want to hear or what you think is possible.

Today we often set about to dream up what we want to do for God. Then we make long-range plans based on priorities of our choosing. What is important is what God plans to do where we are and how He wants to accomplish it through us.

As Psalm 33:10-11 puts it:

The Lord frustrates the counsel of the nations;

            He thwarts the plans of the peoples.

The counsel of the Lord stands forever,

            The plans of his heart from generation to generation.

Planning is a good thing to do if it is inspired and guided by God. But often our plans reflect our own priorities and understanding. We tend to trust more in our plans and in our reasoning abilities than in God. We may be able to achieve all of our goals and yet be far from God’s will.

God wants us to follow Him daily, not just follow a plan. It isn’t wrong to plan. Just be careful not to plan more than God intends for you to do. Let God interrupt or redirect your plans anytime He wants. Remain in a close relationship with Him so you can hear His voice when He seeks to adjust your plans.

God’s ways are not our ways! In fact, if a method makes perfect sense, it probably didn’t come from God!

God Speaks Through the Bible

God speaks through a variety of means. Today God primarily speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church. These four ways are difficult to separate. God uses prayer and the Bible together. Often circumstances and the church, or other believers, will help confirm what God is saying.

Consider this sequence of an encounter with God:

1. You read God’s Word—the Bible.
2. The Spirit of truth takes God’s Word and reveals truth.
3. You adjust your life to God’s truth.
4. You obey God.
5. God works in and through you to accomplish His purposes.

In order to receive the whole counsel of God for your life, be sure you are reading from the Old and New Testaments. Meditate upon the Psalms. Gain wisdom from the Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. Read from the prophets and hear their concerns for justice and righteous living. Read the Gospels so you will always have Jesus in view. Each book of the Bible has a particular focus and makes a unique contribution.

Once God has spoken to you through His Word, your response is crucial. You must adjust your life to the truth.

God Speaks Through Prayer

If you are not keeping a spiritual journal, you need to. When the Creator of the universe tells you something in your quiet time, it’s worth writing down!

Blackaby records the verse of Scripture through which God spoke to him and what He has said about Himself from that verse.

When the Holy Spirit reveals truth, He is not teaching you a concept to consider. He is leading you to a relationship with a Person.

Prayer is two-way fellowship and communication with God. You speak to God, and He speaks to you. Prayer is not a monologue in which you merely list everything you want God to do.

Prayer includes listening. In fact, what God says in prayer is far more important than what you say. God already knows what you are going to say. You, however, do not know what God is thinking.

Prayer is a relationship, not just a religious activity. Its purpose is to adjust you to God, not to align God with your thinking. God doesn’t need your prayers, but He wants you to pray because of what God wants to do in and through your life as you pray. God speaks to His people by the Holy Spirit through prayer.

When the Holy Spirit reveals a spiritual truth to you in prayer, He is present and actively working in your life. Genuine prayer does not lead to an encounter with God—it is an encounter with God!

How do you know what the Holy Spirit is saying? There is not a formula, but you will know His voice when He speaks (John 10:4). You must decide, however, that you only want His will. You must dismiss any selfish or fleshly desires of your own. Then as you start to pray, the Spirit of God touches your heart and leads you to pray God’s will. When you pray, anticipate that the Holy Spirit already knows what God has for your life. He does not guide you on His own initiative; He tells you what He hears from the Father (John 16:13).

Here’s what George Mueller does in seeking God’s direction. First, deny self. In all honesty with yourself before God, come to the place where you are certain your only desire is to know God’s will. Then check to see what the Holy Spirit is saying in other ways:

• What is He saying to me through His Word and in prayer?
• Is He confirming it through circumstances?
• Is He confirming it through the counsel of other believers?

Watch for God to use the written Word to confirm or correct what you sense in prayer.

The Key to Knowing God’s Voice: A Love Relationship

Here are some ways well-meaning people try to discern God’s voice:

1. Asking for a miraculous sign. When the scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus for a miraculous sign, He condemned them as “an evil and adulterous generation” (Matthew 12:38-39). They were so self-centered and sinful they could not recognize that God was present in their midst (Luke 19:41-44).
2. Seeking a method. God does not want us to become experts at using a formula to hear Him speak. He wants an intimate love relationship with us, so we’ll depend on Him alone.
3. “Name it and claim it” method. Some people like to open their Bibles, pick out a verse they want to use, and claim it as a word from God for their situation. This is a misguided and self-centered approach to determining God’s will. You also need to be careful about publicly claiming you have received a word from God.
4. Open and closed doors. Some folks try to hear God’s voice and know His will only through circumstances. In each situation, they pray: “Stop me if I’m wrong, and bless me if I am right.” Another version of this is: “Lord, I will proceed in this direction. Close the door if it is not Your will.” The only problem is, this is not the pattern in Scripture for knowing God’s will. God does use circumstances to speak to us. But we will often be led astray if that is our only means of determining God’s directions.

Do you want to experience God working mightily in and through you? Then adjust your life to God in the kind of relationship where you follow Him wherever He leads you—even if the assignment seems small or insignificant.

God has a right to interrupt your life. He is Lord. When you surrendered to Him, you acknowledged His right to help Himself to your life at His prerogative. If you are God-centered, you will adjust your plans to what God wants to do.

Blackaby reflects, “When God asked us to leave our familiar setting to go with Him to Saskatoon, He had far more in mind than we could ever have imagined! I am so glad I did not base the decisions for my life on what I considered to be my strengths or interests. There is no more rewarding or exciting way to live than in obedience to what the Lord asks you to do!”