God’s Speaking… But How Does He Speak? (Part 2)

Every day, you’re surrounded by thousands of voices, each vying for your attention—friends, family, social media, and countless others. Amid this noise, your choice of which voices to follow will shape your actions in ways you might not even realize.

The voices you listen to will influence what you do.

Sadly, for many Christians, the loudest voice we hear is the voice of culture. Culture tells us who we should date and what we should do while we date. Culture tells us how to spend our money and what stuff we need. Culture tells us what’s right and what’s wrong and what needs to happen to those who decide to do wrong. We listen to culture on so many topics, and it has a massive influence on what we do.

I would say that Satan is doing a great job right now of convincing our culture that what is right is wrong and what is wrong is right and that the good guys are the bad guys and vice versa. Part of the reason for the sad situations we find ourselves in is that we’re listening to all the wrong voices.

There’s one voice that we must hear above all the others – the voice of God.

We’re in a series where we’re discussing how to hear God’s voice, and we started last week looking at some of the ways God speaks to us. We mentioned two such ways, as God speaks to us through nature and through wise, godly, mature Christians.

Another way God speaks to us is through the Holy Spirit. I wrote about this in our study of the Holy Spirit, so feel free to read that again. God’s Holy Spirit lives within every believer, and one thing he does is give us personalized guidance. He leads us as we “walk by the Spirit.”

I say, then, walk by the Spirit and you will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16)

All believers have within them the Holy Spirit, who perfectly knows the mind of God and communicates the truth God wants us to hear. This is what Jesus was saying to his disciples at the Last Supper (John 14:26; 16:13).

I’m not talking necessarily about an audible voice. Sometimes, we’ll feel a burden, a restlessness, and the Holy Spirit is saying, “You’re off course.” We can’t put our finger on it, but there’s an uneasiness in our hearts. When that happens, ask God whether he’s saying anything to you and, if so, what it is.

When I was in the 8th grade, my dad would take me hunting. I loved it, except for the whole getting up before daylight thing. It’s just one of my fun memories with Dad. But one Friday night, a heaviness, a dread came over me. I was so overwhelmed that I had to tell him I couldn’t go. So we didn’t. Now I was 13, and hormones were having a field day in my body, and this could have easily just been me being strange and emotional. To this day, I don’t know whether it was from God and we avoided something really bad; I honestly have no idea. I have, however, had many times since then a feeling, an urging, an impression. “You don’t need to be here.” ‘Pray for her.” “Mention me in this conversation.”

Other times, a growing sense of peace may sweep over you, a sense of calmness that all is well. Many times, that’s the Holy Spirit confirming to you that you’re on the right track.

I do have a word of warning when it comes to listening to the Holy Spirit. God’s promptings will always, always correspond with the Bible. God will never lead us to do anything that violates something he’s already told us in his Word.

Among all the ways God speaks to us today, one is through nature, one is through other people, one is through the Holy Spirit, but the last, and by far the most important, way that God speaks is through Scripture.

The way to hear God speak to us through his Word is to read it! We should constantly be reading the Bible and asking God to speak to us through it, to give us advice, clarify a decision, and to change us to be more like him. God even says that he gave us the Bible to guide us:

Your decrees are my delight and my counselors. (Psalm 119:24)

Why in the world would we go to other people for advice without going to our Father for advice?

If you want to hear God speak, read your Bible! Read with full understanding that the Bible is authoritative. Scripture tells us what to do and what to believe. It’s God’s word to us.

All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

All the Bible is from God. It isn’t partly fallible and partly infallible; the Bible isn’t partly useful and partly useless. Every part is useful, every part has authority, it’s all life-changing, it’s all from God.

And, get this, the primary purpose of the Bible isn’t to increase our knowledge, but to change us.

…because you have been born again—not of perishable seed but of imperishable—through the living and enduring word of God. (1 Peter 1:23)

If you struggle with reading your Bible daily, I encourage you to talk to God and ask him to give you the desire to read. Ask him to help you crave the Bible like a baby craves milk.

Like newborn infants, desire the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow up into your salvation. (1 Peter 2:2)

That means you need to start screaming at the top of your lungs every two hours if you can’t get to a Bible! Not really, but Peter says we should have the desire to regularly read the Bible on our own, not just at church once a week.

Love the Bible and spend time in it consistently. I think a little time consistently is more important than spending a large amount of time reading inconsistently. And if you don’t have the desire to read the Bible, make that your top prayer request! Ask God to place that desire in your heart, and he will. And while you wait on that, just read!

Read a portion of the Bible every day. Stay in the Bible. Read it, learn it, grow in your knowledge of it, and ask God to change you through it. Because the most common way God speaks to us today is through his Word to us.