Hearing God (Part 1) – Essential Communication

Essential Communication is Key

The Art of Essential Communication is The Language Of A Great Relationship

Sheep Can Hear!

How do you know you hear God’s voice clearly if you don’t spend time with Him? Doesn’t it say in Scripture that His sheep hear His voice? (John10:27). When a shepherd spends time looking after, nurturing, and feeding his sheep, his flock learns to trust and know him. This principle holds true for us as the spiritual sheep of Jesus.

Do You Know God Likes You?

Do you know what He truly thinks about you? Have you spent enough time with Him to know that He not only loves you, but likes you, and likes being with you? This is true of any relationship you can think of. If you don’t spend time with someone speaking and listening to them, how can you get to know them, or how can they get to know who you truly are? Trust is developed, and being intimate is not about being emotional; it’s about getting to know someone for who they are and how they respond to you. This is equally true in our relationship with God.

Time Management To For Growth

By spending time with God, you start to realize your true identity and your incredible worth through His value and care of you. Then almost effortlessly, you’ll learn how He communicates to you personally.  To learn His unique language with you, you have to set aside specific time and find a place where you can think, study, read, write and talk to God out loud. Just as all relationships need privacy to grow naturally, out of the observing eyes of others, you need a private space for your relationship with God. There are times when you may even need to cry. Find a place and a time to savor His every Word to you. Didn’t David say in Psalms, taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8a). Take time to know His character and nature.

Grow in Knowledge

As you start to give Him personal time and space, you can then receive what He says. Sometimes it will come in the form of nourishment, medicine, treasure, or even like a personal love letter to you. This communication can take on many forms. It can happen in prayer, when you’re reading the Bible, when someone is teaching or preaching at church, or even when another believer is sharing something. Although they may not even know it, the Spirit can be speaking right to you. Remember, however you are communicating back and forth with Him, the purpose is for you to grow in your knowledge of Him.

No, You Are Not Going Mad

And just so you know, a lot of this dialogue goes on in your mind—it often even sounds like your own voice. Remember, you are not going mad when it happens!! It’s not some booming sound or voice that speaks to you from the outside (even though this could happen occasionally where God needs to get your attention), it is most often in the form of that small, still voice that speaks to you quietly and directly, just look at Elijah in 1 Kings 19 to see this for yourself.

Communication is a Journey of Discovery

Your goal in learning how to communicate with Him is not to just gain information, it’s to know a Person intimately. Just stopping and pondering what you’ve read is a form of communication. Communing with Him can even happen when you write something down about a Scripture or a picture, take a walk in nature, find an answer to a question, or even discover a solution to a problem. He speaks to us in so many ways.

The important thing when learning to communicate with Him is to let it go down into the core of your being. Expect Him to interact with you. He is just longing to.  God can speak to you through so many situations. I have found on a number of occasions He will speak about something I have been asking Him when I am least expecting it! Just as you are working on something, cooking a meal or taking a shower, He will capture your thoughts. All you have to do is listen as He speaks to you on that subject or situation. Do not worry if you don’t get an answer or hear from Him immediately. This is all part of an ongoing relationship and learning how He communicates with you.

Friend Versus Invisible Force

I encourage you to take that step of faith and look at it this way—Just talk normally with Him and then listen for Him as you would any other person. He’s not a thing or some invisible force! Sometimes we treat God as if He were some mystical being or weird force “out there.” No, this is not the case; He wants you to talk to Him like you would a close friend. He wants to hear your requests and worries, as well as your love and thanks.

Take A Risk

Now go ahead, take that risk; be honest and expect His thoughts and insight in return. Take time to be still before Him (Psalm 46:10), and then stay there until you “connect” with Him.

Write down your thoughts and impressions and let it be not just a diary of your day, or an attempt to write perfect literature, but a record of your personal walk and conversations with God. Your dialogue with Him could even take on the form of a painting or a poem. Everything is determined by how you want to communicate with Him too.

Share What’s In Your Heart & Write it Down

Remember, you’re allowed to share your disappointments with Him, and ask for His wisdom. So write it down and leave your requests on a page and date it. Then wait, and you will receive His guidance. Keep track of His answers. All of this will create an intimate relationship with a God who wants to be intimate with you. Let’s face it, He created you in the first place and so He is well aware of how you “tick”!

Prophecy Starts From Intimacy

When you can create space and private time for yourself to know His voice and what He wants to say, you can then start to move with confidence when He wants you to share His thoughts, wisdom, and His heart for the people around you.

Prophetic words are always be born out of love, (1 Corinthians 13:1-2). To be used this way by the Spirit, you will need the confidence and trust that you hear Him. Being able to hear Him, comes as you cultivate your communication with Him, which you will know as you grow in the knowledge of how much you are intimately loved by a Heavenly Father.

Next week we will explore further how true prophecy comes from intimacy.

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