This past Sunday, Kaleb White did an INCREDIBLE job talking about how God speaks into our pasts, our pain and our potential.
So often, people (myself included) will say “I heard from God” or “God said to me.” Equally or maybe even more often, people ask “How the heck do I know if God spoke to me or if I’m hearing His voice?” This may be hard for some of you to believe because I’m a pastor, but God speaks to me the same way that He speaks to you, so I wanted to take a minute today to dive a little deeper into how you can practically recognize and hear the voice of God in your life.
Through His Word
When I say God speaks through His Word, I simply mean that He wants to communicate with us through the Bible. God’s Word is living and active (Hebrews 4:12) and God is not a God of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33). That means that He WANTS to speak to us. He WANTS us to get it right. God’s Word IS His will. He’s given us the Bible as a tool to better know and understand who He is and what His plans are for each of us. Maybe the reason most of us feel like we can’t hear from God is we’re too busy talking! It’s so tempting to ask God to say what we want Him to say instead of just focusing on what He’s already said and how it applies in our lives. The next time you want to hear God’s voice, start by cracking open God’s word. God is ALWAYS speaking…that’s why the Bible is so thick :-).
Through His Spirit
In His Word, God tells us that Holy Spirit comes to dwell inside of us when we accept Jesus as our Savior. In Ezekiel 36:26-27 God promises that He will use His Holy Spirit to literally move us to follow His ways.
Have you ever sinned and then felt a sense that what you’d done was not God’s best for you immediately afterwards? That’s the loving conviction of the Holy Spirit. Ever been driving down the road and felt randomly prompted to share Christ with a lost friend or to pray for someone? Holy Spirit. If you have been saved, God’s Holy Spirit is living inside of you- speaking to you in situations to help you walk in God’s will.
Through His People
Over the years, God has used godly Christian friends to speak life into me, encourage me, challenge me and get me back on track. We say a lot around NewSpring Church that you can’t do life alone, and this is one HUGE reason why!! God will use the Christian community in our lives to speak His truth to our hearts. Most of the time, He does it without them even knowing! If you’re ever in a conversation with a friend and they say something that is consistent with scripture and speaks directly to a situation you’re in or something you’ve been wrestling through, that’s the voice of God. You are hearing Him speak through your friend.
Through His Church
I don’t know about you…but there have been times that I’ve been sitting in church listening to the pastor speak and thinking “He’s talking about me…how on EARTH did he know??” Ever happened to you? You’re just sitting there, and you convince yourself that someone had to email him and tell him you were coming because there’s no way he’d know that much about you on his own...
I’m convinced this happens EVERY Sunday to at least one person in EVERY church that honors and preaches God’s Word! In Isaiah 55:11, God promises that when preached, His word will produce fruit. In fact, He says that it will accomplish what He desires and achieve His purposes!! God uses His church to speak to us- His kids. The Church has existed and grown for over 2000 years because God has used it to speak to the potential of His people, and they’ve been willing to say “yes” to Him!
God is speaking to YOU through 1 Corinthians 12:9. He wants to use you and your past (whether it’s littered with pain or covered in protection) to make a difference. He wants to show His grace to you and through you to the people in your life! More than anyone, God believes in your potential. You’ve got what it takes to hear from God and say “yes" to Him!