God Speaks to You

The past few weeks at Wesley we’ve been focusing on the Holy Spirit. What He’s like and how He speaks to us.  Something that I’m really passionate about is that people believe God speaks to them. When I started being discipled as a sophomore in college, I remember constantly telling my discipler that my goal for the semester was to hear God speak to me. That was what I wanted most, and it was at the top of my goals month after month. I wanted so desperately to hear God, but what I didn’t realize was that God was speaking to me all along. God was speaking to me all the time, but I didn’t recognize it was Him. I went on a journey from not believing that God speaks to me to firmly believing in the voice of God. I want to tell y’all about my process through that because I think there’s a lot of people in the same boat I was in, and I think it helps to hear someone who’s believed the same things and come out the other side.

As a sophomore, so desperate to hear the voice of God, I for sure had some misconceptions of what God’s voice sounds like. I was expecting not an audible voice, but close. I thought it would be SO CLEAR in my head when God was speaking. That there would be no question if every single thing He said was God or not. I was completely wrong with that. God speaks to every one of us all the time. Many of your thoughts are actually God. He drops little thoughts in your head and you have to be paying attention to notice it’s God. He’s so gentle in the way He speaks to us. He’s not loud, or in your face, though I sometimes wish He was. He’s so patient, and He waits for us to quiet our souls enough to pay attention to Him.
 
Once I came to understand that God actually does speak to me all the time, I got hung up on another thing. Whenever I quieted myself, and waited for God to speak to me, all I heard was silence. And it was frustrating. I would sit in my room with my journal in the silence, ask God a question, and wait. and wait. Silence. Why wasn’t God answering me. There are so many things I want to say to the person who thinks God doesn’t speak to them because of this.

Your trust in Him shouldn’t depend on if He shows up in the exact way that you want Him to. He is all powerful God, we can’t manipulate Him like that. Your trust in Him should come from a deep trust in His character and His goodness. I trust that He is good and that He loves me deeply even if He doesn’t reveal Himself in the exact way that I’m asking Him to. My trust is bigger than that.

What helps me when I can’t feel Him speaking, is to just start writing. I write my thoughts, things that I know are true, and eventually God starts weaving His words into mine on the page without me even realizing it. I go back and read what I’ve written and I see God’s words jumping off the page. They don’t sound like my own. I know that God is so near to me.

Remember the things that God has spoken to you in the past. Places where you saw Him show up.  Maybe He’s inviting you to revisit those things because they still remain true. I find with God, it’s so important to Him that you remember your history with Him. It gives you the foundation that you stand on.
 
God speaks to you.

I firmly believe that. Even if you don’t believe it for yourself. Be willing to stay faithful to the process of learning how God speaks to you. Because it is a process. As much as I thought it would be a switch that turned on, and I would hear God’s voice come flooding in, it was not. Although it absolutely can be. For me it was a process of pressing into God. Letting myself be still and wait for God. Patiently expecting His gentle voice to cut through the silence
 
Now, don’t get me wrong. I am by no means an expert at hearing God. I question all the time, wait was that God or just me. I get it wrong all the time. But God knows we’ll get it wrong sometimes. He expects it. We’re human. We’ll make mistakes. Yet He still chooses to love us and speak to us. Sometimes you have to be willing to take a risk when you think God is telling you to do something but you’re not 100% positive. You’re taking a step out in faith, and God is honored by that, even if you got it completely wrong or you mess up. You’re choosing to trust God. Choosing to trust that He will be with you in the risks. And He has so much grace for you when you get it wrong. He just wants to be with you.  

Ok moral of the story: God speaks to you

How would you live differently if you firmly believed that??

Author | Sam Forbes