Here are the final points from my list of the different ways we hear God's voice. I would appreciate any suggestions if you can think of other ways we hear Him.
- The
sacraments–Lu. 24:35
Jesus made Himself known in the breaking of
the bread. This is still one of the sweetest ways to hear his voice.
- Angels—Num.
22:31:35; Jud. 6:12; Zech. 1:14; Lu.
1:13, 19, 28
God has directed angels – His holy messengers – to
guard all Christians. If you do encounter an angel, pay close attention,
because the message he or she delivers will be important.
- Commonsense wisdom—Prov. 2:6; 3:13
Your common sense is a gift from God that you can
use to help you make wise decisions. If you don’t sense God leading you about a
particular decision in a specific way, you may be able just to trust the common
sense He has already given you.
- Signs—Ex.
10:2; Jud. 6:17, 36-40; John 3:2
God may choose to get your attention through a
supernatural and direct sign, but He will usually do so in conjunction with
other ways of speaking to you. Don’t depend on signs to hear from God. Instead
of focusing on signs, focus on God Himself and strengthening your relationship
with Him. If you become close enough to God to recognize His voice, you won’t
need to test Him by asking for signs. Sometimes it’s fine to ask God to send
you a sign – when you want to obey and need one to strengthen your faith.
- Dark
sayings—Ps. 49:4; 78:2; John 16:25
Puzzles,
hard questions, proverbs, parables, riddles; allegory or illustrated speech.
The psalmist even found that playing the harp helped him to understand the
riddle or mystery (Ps. 49:4). Jesus used parables and allegories to convey the
heart of the Father to us. Luke 15 is an excellent example of His parables.
- Words
which are seen—Amos 1:1
It seems that the prophet Amos saw the
words he was instructed to speak from the Lord as some form of scrolling tablet
or writing.
- Burden—Nahum 1:1; Hab. 1:1; Zech. 9:1;
12:1; Mal 1:1
It seems that some of the
prophets received prophetic messages as a “burden” on their heart. It must be
noted that the Lord will never put a heavy burden on us that is overwhelming to
carry. His burden is always light (Matt. 11:30). The message of God can come to
us as a burden that “presses” upon our spirit for a season. In Hebrew, the word for “burden” is massa which can also mean - a prophetic song.
- Burning
fire inside—Jer. 20:9 Then I said, “I
will not make mention of Him, Nor speak anymore in His name.” But His word was
in my heart like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it
back, And I could not.
- A
donkey and a hand—Num. 22:28–30
The main thing we can learn from these two
instances is that the Lord can use anything
to convey His message to us.
In Num. 22:28-30 the Lord used a donkey to
speak to Balaam – even though there was an angel there who could also speak
God’s word.
In Dan.
5:5, 24-28 The Lord used a hand (with no body attached) to write on King
Belshazzar’s wall and give him a message. This was a very affective
communication with this wicked king. Even though the writing was in Aramaic,
which was understood by the Babylonians, no one but Daniel could interpret the
prophetic significance of the four words.
