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6 Tips on How to Hear from God
by Josh Longanecker
02/15/16
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Hearing the voice of God is something that everyone, Christian or not, wants to experience. Although we all want to hear God, actually doing it, for most of us, is sort of a mysterious process. We often don’t know how to hear God consistently, if at all. Yet hearing and understanding what God is saying is critical for our spiritual development.
…hearing and understanding what God is saying is critical for our spiritual development.
As we look at people in the Bible who heard from God, Samuel was one of the best. The story of Samuel is found in 1 Samuel 3:1-10.
Samuel, who was just a boy, was living and serving the priest in the temple. We are told that, “the word of the LORD was rare in those days” (v.1 ESV). Not many people were hearing the voice of God, yet this young man was about to experience something many people in the land of Israel had not seen or heard for quite some time; Samuel was about to hear from the LORD.
As we look at this story about Samuel, there are six steps which can take some of the mystery out of hearing the voice of God:
1. Position yourself close to God
Samuel set his bed up in the temple, “where the ark of God was” (v.3 ESV). Samuel had never heard God speak before, he did not know what to expect, but what he did know was that if he hung around the temple, God would eventually show up. Through personal devotions and regular church attendance, are you putting yourself in a place where God is?
2. Find a place of regular service to God
In v.1 it says, “Samuel was ministering to the LORD in the presence of Eli” (ESV). If you want to hear the voice of God, you have to be doing the things of God. If you’re not serving, don’t wonder why you’re not hearing the voice of God.
3. Listen for God’s voice
Eli was “lying down in his usual place” (v.2 NIV), too preoccupied with his own interests to hear God. When God began speaking, he was not listening. Many times to hear what God is saying we have to slow down and take time to get close to God. We have to put aside our interests and lean in to hear what God is saying.
4. When God calls, respond eagerly
When Samuel heard the voice of the Lord he was immediately up and moving (v.4). If you want to hear the voice of God, you need to be ready to put into action what He tells you!
He wants to give you wisdom to lead your family, at your job, in your church, and in every area of life.
5. When God speaks, obey Him
Starting in this passage and throughout the rest of his life, Samuel consistently obeyed the Lord. No matter what God told him, Samuel did it. From that point on, “the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground” (1 Samuel 3:19 ESV). For us, the quickest way to turn off God’s voice is to disobey him.
6. Read and study the Word of God
After God spoke to him in this passage, the Bible tells us, “The LORD continued to appear at Shiloh, and there He revealed Himself to Samuel through His Word” (1 Samuel 3:21 NIV). If you want to hear from God, you have to know what the Bible says.
God is speaking. He wants to give you wisdom to lead your family, at your job, in your church, and in every area of life. The question we have to ask ourselves is not is God speaking, but are we listening?
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Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light. John 12:36, NIV
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According to His riches in glory refers to a biblical promise found in Philippians 4:19, which states that God will supply all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus. This verse emphasizes God's provision and generosity towards believers.
https://jamesriver.church/blog/hearing-god-speak
Listen while you sleep. Our ears are always open. God's word is transforming. "be transformed by the renewing of your mind then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, His good pleasing and perfect will" If we live in the word of God, eating and drinking in the word, the word will live in us, we will think the word, eat the word, breath the word, and if we listen to it often enough we can hear it even when we are not listening to it playing. (just like all those songs you can hear and know all the words to)
We do not need mens teachings about how to HEAR God, we have HIs word, Scripture is the word of our God to us for us. Jesus is the embodiment of that word. "in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God, He was with God in the beginning, through HIm all things were made"
certainly we should listen to teachers or church leaders but like the Berean Jews we should test everything we hear against the word, (listen eagerly but test it all against the word) We can not test anything against God's word if we do not know it, and we are not going to know it without listening to it.
Sure, i am a bit of a fan of God's word, it happens to be pure and perfect and also our salvation and our path to our salvation, and everything we need to know about God and how to live and why. I am thankful to God for the precious pricless gift of His word, which is what we call scripture, through which the fullness of our God's love for us is revealed to us. It is all we need and everything we need.
25 plus years ago, god humbled me, because i was so arrogant and angry and full of myself and all forms of evil, and i became desparate and in my desperation i turned to the word, Began listening as i drove. (I drove a truck) But when i got home? the quiet was overwhelming me, (again thanks to God) so i began listening at home, for 3.5 years i listened nearly 24/7 and since then, i have listened somewhere between 80 to 100 hours a week. I have heard the word entirely more than five hundred times, and many of the new testament books twice or three times that amount. Along with meditating in the word, and speaking it, and sharing it with fellow believers who actually WANT to hear it and find value in the amazing treasures God has given me and shown me from HIs WORD.
Honestly now i listen because i delight in it, but still, i listen because i am desparate for God. I know i am pitiful wretched poor blind and naked. I need the word as much as i need breath and my own heart to keep beating.
I would write this differently. You want to hear from God? Take these steps. Listen to His word. Meditate upon His word. Speak HIs word. Practice HIs word. Eat His word. Drink His word. Abide in His word. Talk about it while you walk along the road, when you lay down and when you get up. Impress it upon your children. And do you know where each of these steps is written? Oh, by God, These are all written in His word. Go figure.
for references
James 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (listen and practice)
John 15:4 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. (live in the word and the word will live in you)
John 6:54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. (Jesus is the word, Scripture is alive and His flesh and blood) eat and drink the word. Chew it with your mind, drink it with your ears
Psalm 1:1-3 ...but His delight is on the law of the lord and on this Law He meditates... (meditating on the word, is like eating it, chewing it with our minds when you eat it and drink it enough you become full of the word, and it will flow from you as it flows from me)
Deut 6:6 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (talk about the word, when you sit and walk and rest, impress the word on our children) and if you dont yet understand, tying the word on our hands means Practice the word, Bind the word on your forehead, means let the word transform your mind. (hmm sounds just like romans 12:2, be transformed by the renewing of your mind and also James 1:22 listen and practice.) write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates, is saying "abide in the word and the word will abide in you"
so you tell me, who am i preaching? who am i glorifying? I didnt write God's word. I didnt give it to the world. God gave it to all of us. It tells us clearly how to hear Him, and I hear Him continually. because I NEED HIM.
In my past experiences of how to get confirmations from God about what to do in some issues, sometimes God brought other people to give me advice. Sometimes He closed doors or opened doors. God's words are like general guides in our decisions making. If we are so angry at someone and feel the urge to hurt them, we know God's words say vengeance is His, meaning He does not want us to pay back the person the evil he did to us or whatever he did that went against our personal interest. The turning the other cheek instruction goes with the "do not get revenge" instruction. I do seek advice from other people in my decisions making if I feel I need it.
It is kind of like if I plan to go out of state and am not sure I should or not and I am asking God to show me what He thinks I should do or wants me to do, He most likely will not tell me to go to look for the answer in the Bible. He will give me His answer in various ways which include speaking directly to me in my thoughts or closing or opening the door. After I am sure God says I should go (out of state), one of the things that helps me not to get in trouble on the road is obeying the traffic rules. We obey the Bible's general instructions of conduct so we don't hurt ourselves or anyone.
I hope I stated my view clearly (not confusing).
You and everyone have a good day today.
This post reminded me of some Bible verses
Jer 29:13 -- 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
and
James 4:8 --8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded
I've been thinking a lot lately about hearing God. I know some people have different opinions, but the more I read the Bible, the better I'm able to distinguish things that God would say from other ideas or thoughts.
Peace and blessings.
There was a time when we bought an Ouija board with the intention for it to be something fun to play with. Not quite sure why it appeared very real to us the way the thing moved to form words and sentences as answers to our questions. Many people told me we should not mess with this thing because there is something evil in it that can cause harm. So far no harm ever occurred so I didn't feel any danger of just playing with an innocent fun piece of game. But because of advice from others, I felt I wanted to ask God what I should do. I prayed a serious prayer on this and asked God to give me His answer as to whether I should stay away from this game. I randomly opened the Bible to read and the words about "not messing with witchcraft and so on" pretty much jumped out in my random reading. I had no doubt at that moment that God used His words to answer me. In my past experiences before that incident, this type of answer from God happened to me often. It had nothing to do with me remembering what the Bible says but rather was God leading me to the physical words on the page. I am aware that taking random Bible words that we happen to read as God's answer to our question is not recommended but God works that way too sometimes. By the way, I quit playing with that Ouija immediately and threw away the game. What to keep in mind when we are listening to God's answer is God's Holy Spirit does not lead us to do things against the Bible.