HOW GOD SPEAKS

   I Remember when I was a babe in Christ I would always hear people say that they heard God speak to them and I would get so frustrated because I felt like God was talking to everyone but me.  I started to think maybe it was because I was doing something wrong or maybe I had too many sins and God was upset with me. I thought to myself maybe when I do right then God would speak to me. Now that I can hear the voice of God I realize that its not that difficult to hear God speak. Truth is God is always speaking but you have to be aware and attentive to His voice.

  Hearing the voice of God is very simple once you get to know Him. Once you get to know God you will know His voice just like you know your child, husband or family member voice. The bible says that my sheep knows my voice and, no other voice they will follow. If you are a born again believer you can hear the voice of God. Once you identify His voice you will learn that God is always speaking to you, but you just have to be attentive to His voice.

 In the next section of this blog I want to give you 5 ways that God speaks so that you can learn How to identify his voice.

FIVE WAYS THAT GOD SPEAKS.

1.) THROUGH HIS WORD

 The best way to Get to know Gods voice is through His word. The word of God is where we get to know Him, and know His character, His Laws, and His will. The more you study scripture, the more you know God and are able to build a relationship with Him. Once you build that relationship with God you will know His voice. Most people say that they can't discern whether it's God's voice, the enemy voice, or their own voice. Well, the voice of God is always uplifting, encouraging, and it always brings you to a place of repentance. The enemy voice is condemning, fearful, and it comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Your voice is always the things that you think and worry about the most. The only way that you can differentiate between the three is by getting in the word of God and learning His character and the enemies character, then knowing God's voice would be just like knowing the voice of those who's closes to you. It's just like if someone was to tell you something about your husband, friend, or child, then judging based off their character you would be able to say if what that person is telling you is true or not.  In that same way we get to know God's voice by spending time in His word and learning about who He is. If ever you get confused you can always go back and reference His word.

 God also speaks to us directly through His word, we can always go to His word to look for life answers and also while reading His word something may stick out to you, It can be a answer to your prayer or something that gave you peace in the moment. It can be just as simple as you reading a scripture about God's love and realizing how much God loves you. God's word is always speaking to us and is the number one one way that we hear Him speak.

2.) God speaks through people.

God can use people to speak to you. He can speak through prophets, pastors, and normal people like me and you. God has even spoke to me through my children at times. Usually when God speaks through people it'll be something that is confirming or it resonate with you. Someone can be just randomly talking and something that they have said may have helped you or stuck out to you, or maybe you're in church and you hear the pastor preaching and what he saying is so befitting for your situation or 

circumstances, this is a example of God speaking to you. 

 God may also speak to you through a prophecy, this is when God uses a person its usually a prophet to speak divinely from God  to you about a event  in your current life or a future event. It's usually something that is unknown to the person/ prophet about you but, its something that is confirming to you. So for example you maybe struggling with a financial issue's and a person/prophet may say (not knowing that your struggling with finances) "God told me to tell you not to worry because He is working out your finances". A prophecy usually  gives strength, encouragement or comfort ( 1corinthians 14:3). 

The bible are full of prophets and people who God spoke through I encourage you to study.

3.) God speaks through dreams. 

This is my favorite way that God speaks because it is the most frequent way that God speaks to me. God loves to speak to us in dreams because we are unconscious and not distracted by our own thoughts and the busyness of our everyday life and we can hear Him without interference. Not every dream is from God but, usually when God sends a dream it's always to send warning, to give direction or guidance, to answer a prayer, to tell you about a future event,  or to tell you to pray about something or for someone.  Usually when God sends you a dream it's a vivid dream and one that you will remember when you awake. In order for you to know if your dream is from God are not you have to test the spirit , through, pray and His word. Usually I know that its a dream from God because it comes to past.

4.) God speaks through His creation.

Throughout scripture you often hear Jesus speaking of God's creation to convey a message or get a point across. He would say things like if you only have faith of a mustard seed you can move mountains ( Matthew 17:20).  Often times He uses creation as symbols and metaphors. So for example, He told the woman at the well that He can give her living water and she'll never thirst again (John 4:4) He used water as a metaphor of the Holy spirit or He says that the Holy Spirit is like a Dove, meaning the Dove is symbolic of God's character. God uses His creation as a way to relate to us so that we can understand who He is. When I look outside and see the sun rise and set everyday I  can see that as a symbol of  God's faithfulness. It has been over 2020 years and  God never cease in letting the sun rise or set, that is a sure symbol of His faithfulness. 

 God also use His creation as signs for us. He can use pretty much anything from a leaf on a tree, a rainbow in the sky, a car going down the street, a house, and the list goes on. I remember just recently we were evacuating from a hurricane and I was worried about our house flooding. As we were traveling I saw a rainbow in the sky and I took that as a sign from God that I house wouldn't flood. Sure enough when we returned home we had no flooding. God is always speaking to us through His creation we just have to be attentive.

5.) He speaks through circumstances and situations.

God uses situations and circumstance to get our attention and to guide us down the right path. He uses situations to elevate us, promote us, and to build us up. For example, you may go to work then suddenly  loose your job with no fault of your own. That can be God telling you to start a business, or His way of protecting you from something on that job. Or maybe you're in a situation where you have lost everything due to no fault of your own that can be God's way of teaching you to rely on Him. God never send bad things our way but He allows them and uses them for a greater purpose and in the end He will work it out for our good Romans 8:28.