tuning into God's voice
Do you know how to hear God’s voice? After over 20 years of attending bible studies, going to church services, and reading the Bible; I thought I knew the one way God really spoke. I had been taught that the only legitimate way to know God has spoken is if, when reading the Bible, a particular verse “stood out” to me. So, I dutifully read my bible regularly and God did speak to me through specific verses. I know now that there were also many other ways He tried to communicate with me, but I was too afraid to believe anything not directly from scripture was from Him.
Then one cloudy day when I went for a run in the hills behind our house, I was praying to God for direction about a difficulty in my life. Suddenly I noticed that the sky was black with thick clouds as far as I could see EXCEPT for where I was running. The dirt path ahead of me was brightly lit with direct sunlight. In my mind, I heard a voice say, “I am the Light, and I AM showing you the path to take.” I felt like God was speaking to me, but because there is not a specific bible verse saying exactly those words, I was afraid to trust that I had really heard His voice.
A few days later when I went to bible study, the speaker taught on how God is Light and directs our path! I STILL wondered if I really heard God on my run. I told Kim McManus the whole story and asked her if she thought it was really God speaking to me. She replied with confidence, “Of course!” I then asked her, “Do you think God has spoken to me like this often and I’ve just missed it all these years?” She nodded. I wept. I knew I had let fear prevent me from hearing everything that God wanted to tell me.
Now I hear from God regularly. Just recently as I cried out to God about a decision I needed to make and concerns about my brother-in-law’s pancreatic cancer, I looked up from my Bible and saw the perfect shadow of a cross directly over a picture of my family with my sister’s family. I know God was saying “I am with you, your family, and your sister’s family.” God even gave me a visual image to comfort me!
I’ve now learned to believe God when He speaks. God is very creative and definitely NOT limited to one form of communication. Once I started asking Him to help me to hear from Him and to be able to discern His voice, He has spoken to me through many things: song lyrics, creation, movies, friends, books, poems, flyers on telephone poles, bumper stickers, AND the Bible.
When I’m not sure if what I’ve heard is from Him, I ask Him to make it clear and check to make sure what I think He has said is consistent with the teachings of the Bible. He is faithful to answer that prayer. Much like a radio has to be tuned in so we can hear the radio waves all around us, I had to learn to tune my heart to hear His MANY ways of communicating.
Sharyl is passionate about helping women discover an intimate relationship with God. She is also a mother of two and a licensed clinical social worker.
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