He Speaks

I learned I could hear the voice of God my freshmen year when God healed me of my depression. Great testimony of God but I think what has followed afterward speaks more to the character of God and how he interacts with us in every season. Once I learned to distinguish God’s voice from that of the enemy, I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t interacting with God. I always drew from the verse John 10:10 when it says “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they may have life and have it abundantly.” That became my litmus test of if something was from God or from the enemy. If it spoke life into me, or someone else, it was from God. If it didn’t and the voice I heard was condemning and shameful, that was from the enemy.

That test makes it sound easy, right? Far from it. While I knew what God’s voice sounded like to me, I didn’t always trust the voice on the opposite end that was talking to me. It was easy to believe God was saying all of these good things about the people in front of me, but when it came to me, that was a lot harder to believe. Saying God is a father is great, but for someone that doesn’t have an example of a good father, that can be hard to conceptualize or trust.
 
The biggest lesson I’ve learned when listening for the voice of God is to rely on the character of God. God will never say something that is outside of his character. The Bible has, also, been a great resource. If I know what God has said, I know what he is likely to say. We may change, our cultures may change, etc., but God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. God’s character is timeless. God is good. God is loving. God is kind. God is a Father. There are still elements of his character that I have yet to experience, but God is consistent. He is faithful.

God is incredibly kind in the ways that he speaks. I think God has spoken in different ways through seasons of my life, because I have needed to hear him in different ways. He has spoken through images, other people, scripture, etc. God enjoys the process with us, because he takes great delight in who we are. Sometimes, it’s been really hard to connect with God. There have been conversations where I walked away screaming or crying or some mixture of both. God has been incredibly gentle in the process.
 
Over the past three years, I have gotten this impression from God to really pursue healing in the relationship I have with my dad. It was something that started out as a distant thought, but the more I prayed about it, the more I knew that this was the right direction to go. I knew this was God, because I knew that I would have never thought about this had it not been by his prompting. Long story short, I never had a dad to compare God to which has been a great benefit and disadvantage. I prayed a lot about this, and I can say with 100% assurance that God has spoken in so many ways through this process. I think I have heard more from God about this relationship than anything else the past few years. It always seems that when we truly become desperate to hear something from God, he responds. He cannot resist a desperate heart for him.

God talks to me a lot through songs. Whether it is a deep impression of God’s heart as I listen, a song popping up out of nowhere, hearing bits of the song as I’m talking to someone, I just ask God what he wants to speak through it. I have heard God speak through worship songs and a Post Malone song, so I am convinced that he can speak through anything. There have been specific songs that have carried great significance for me during this season such as “I Have a Seat” by Kingdom Culture Worship, “I Am – Because You Are” by Amanda Cook, and “I Am Loved” by Maverick City just to name a few. I have long believed that worship can act like a spiritual reset button. When my emotions can get the better of me, worship can re-center my heart and soul to receive what God is saying.
 
Truly, hearing God’s voice through the emotional heights has just required space and time. God always speaks, I might not always like what he says but he does speak. When I have been going through a hard time, I have literally had to schedule time to process with God and allow him an opportunity to speak. I usually get all my emotions out which probably means crying or yelling first and allowing everything bad that is in me to get out. When I have exhausted myself, I just get quiet before God. God can’t talk if I don’t stop trying to interject every five seconds. More so, God wants to talk to you. His voice cuts through the lies and can heal deep places in you. Give him the space to speak, and he will work miracles in your heart every time.

Author | Cristina Rosiles