How to hear from God

Question: Think about some of your friends, what were some things that you did to become friends with them

Answer: Spend time with that person and talk with that person a lot

Intro: This is the same way we can begin to relate to God. And yes, it is so important for us to go to God and talk with him and walk out our lives with Him. But that’s not all that is available to us. Because if our relationship with God was just us speaking and Him listening and maybe acting on what we say, That wouldn’t be much of a relationship.

God shows us through the entire bible that He wants a real relationship with us, And a relationship Goes two ways. Each person Has to speak for the relationship to work and each person has to listen for the relationship to work.

Many people will say that God doesn’t speak to us anymore or that He will only speak to some and not others, Both of these statement are just not true. There is no bible verse that says that God has stopped speaking to his people(if you want to get into some of those arguments later we can) but for now i wanna keep going. In fact the entire bible is God having relationships with People.

Over and over again we see in the bible that God walked with Adam and Eve, He spoke with Noah to build the Boat, He spoke to Abraham to leave his people and pioneer the faith of the Jewish people, and he spoke to moses to write everything down. From the beginning of Adam to the time of Moses, which is who wrote the first 5 books of the bible, is thousands of years.

That means that for thousands of years God was relating to people by just speaking to them in some way. And its not just Before Jesus’ time. God was speaking with people in the bible even after Jesus had ascended to heaven. So what i’m trying to say is that God does speak, He created us to have a relationship with us, a two sided relationship with Him.

Question: So what are your thoughts on this concept of hearing from God. what was your first thought when considering that God can speak with us

Answer: When I first started Getting closer to God I was pretty open to the idea that God would and could speak with people, but my problem was that i didn’t know if he would speak to me, like why out of all people would he speak to me. we are gonna talk more about this problem later on but ill go ahead and say it now that God wants a relationship with all of his children and He wants to build that relationship with us regardless if we feel worthy of it or not. Jesus paid the price for us to have that relationship.

Hearing from God is such and important part of our faith as christians and so many of us ignore it. I mean, if God wants to speak, then why wouldn’t we want to hear from The literal creator of the universe because whatever he has to say is probably important.

Now, you may ask, if it’s so important how do i start. well, i’m glad you asked, The First thing we need to know before we really get into How to hear from God is that, And i will never stop stressing this to you guys, The primary way that God will speak to you is in your bible.

If you want to hear from God at any moment you can open your bible and read it because these are God’s words. This is how you hear from God and it’s also how you learn how God speaks when He talks to you personally.

And a side note, Everything God speaks to you personally will ALWAYS line up with the bible. this is how we know if it was God or not, does it agree with the bible or not. And that means in order to be confident with what God is speaking to us personally, we have to know what our bible says.

So, with all of that being said I have three main passages i want us to explore today.

1 Samuel 3:1–10 ESV

Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision. At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called Samuel, and he said, “Here I am!” and ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down. And the Lord called again, “Samuel!” and Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.”

Question: What’s going on hear in this passage, what’s happening

Answer: The Lord is calling Samuel but he doesn’t know that it’s God talking to Him. So he keeps running to his master and finally after three times of this Eli, the master, Figures out what is happening and teaches the Samuel how to listen to God and respond in the right way.

The first step to hear God speak is, and this is probably obvious but, Listen. And what i mean by that is to intentionally listen for God to speak. just like Samuel, We can hear God speak and have no idea that it was Him.

We can have good ideas come to us out of no where or give someone good advice that we’d never thought of before those could be moment where we are hearing God and not knowing it. We have to intentionally listen for the voice of God to come to us. We have to be aware that He will speak and constantly open to hearing him.

Question: Have you ever experienced something like this before, where you might of thought God was speaking but you weren’t sure

Answer: I definitely have, when i first started praying i began to feel like God was responding. But for the longest time i was afraid to act on what He was saying because i wasn’t sure. It wasn’t until i stepped out in faith and acted on what he was saying to me that I became confident that it was Him speaking.

Another part of listening is not being afraid. Don’t let fear of being wrong keep you from being open to hearing God. Now, yes we have to test everything and compare it to the bible, but after that don’t be afraid. Doubt will keep you from being able to hear Him clearly.

When we doubt what we are feeling or hearing all the time eventually we will stop listening because of fear that we will be wrong. We have to have confidence and trust that God will protect us and guide us through the process of learning how to listen to Him.

Does that make sense. We have to listen for God to speak, Before we can hear him and know that it’s him speaking

Genesis 3:6–10 ESV

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

Question: What do you think this passage has to do with hearing God

Answer: Adam and Eve didn’t have a problem listening for God. They heard Him pretty well, but when they heard God coming to them they hid instead of Running to him for help. why did they hide

Answer 2: they felt shame and guilt for what they did.

This is the second key to beginning to hear from God is that Shame and guilt will completely destroy our ability to listen and hear God. We have to let go of all of that to be able to Hear him. Because sometimes when we talk about hearing God speak, some will think that God won’t speak to them because they messed up in some way or because they aren’t perfect.

God does not build relationships because of who we are or because of what we’ve done or not done. He builds relationships with us because of who He is and what He’s done for us. Jesus died for our sin and covered us with his righteousness, or with his perfection. If we are in Christ, if we are believers, there is no place for shame or guilt.

Now that does not mean we get to do whatever we want, but what that actually means is that when we make mistakes we repent and that’s the end of it. Our relationship with God continues.( Continue don’t restart), We can choose to not listen to shame and guilt, instead of running from God because of mistakes, run to him for help.

1 Kings 19:9–13 ESV

There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Question: Looking at this passage, how did God speak to Elijah

Answer: In the low whisper, Some translations say, In a still small voice

The last key to learning to hear from God is removing distractions. In this passage, Elijah was in a cave waiting for God’s instruction. The Lord called him out of the cave and a series of events came to Elijah, there was wind, fire, an earthquake, but God wasn’t speaking yet. Elijah didn’t let those things distract him from the Goal, which was hearing from God.

All of those things weren’t God even though they were easy to see and believe, that wasn’t the Voice of God that He needed. He pushed through those things to be able to listen for the true voice of God.

Question: What are some things that distract us today

Answer: People, sin, and #1 technology

God can speak to us in a way that it is undeniable absolutely, But most of the time He’s speaking in that low whisper and like i said earlier we have to be listening to hear it. How are we supposed to hear the whisper of God when everything else in our life is screaming at us. Our own minds, other people, and definitely our phone are all constantly filling our minds and fighting for our attention. How can we expect to hear God when we are wrapped up in all these distractions.

And i’m not saying we all need to turn into monks and live alone with no technology. Im just saying its a really good idea to have, at the least, scheduled alone time where your away from other people, away from your phone, and focused on God, even if its just for 15 minutes. That can help us hear God way more clearly.

Conclusion: So now i want to just talk about what hearing from God may look like. God is very creative, obviously, and he can communicate with us in many different ways

the bible(Ephesians 6)

other people(many encounters to keep going)

hear Him in your mind(Ministry calling)

feel something in your heart, a knowing of something, discernment, knowledge, wisdom ( praying for people and knowing what to say)

Conviction

use of your imagination, seeing pictures or visions(Praying and seeing a picture)

dreams(Dreams about maegan)