Hearing God

How Does God Speak to Us?

To many, this stands as a big unanswered question, but to the childlike of heart, the question has been answered. We do not tell God how to speak to us. He made our mouths and ears, and He is able to speak so that we can hear. He speaks through many channels, but in the end He speaks in only one way, and that is by the Spirit. "But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you, but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him" (I John 2:27).

No matter what avenue it comes through, it is the anointing that teaches us. It may come through the written Word of God, or through a teacher (God's gift of grace to the church), or through circumstances, or in a place of stillness before God in prayer. It may come in many other ways according to God's own choosing, but it is the anointing of the Holy Spirit--the Holy Spirit speaking to our spirits--that adds the divine element which separates it from all other communication.

As we go through life's circumstances, normal continuous communication is the "knowing of God." In other words, if we have been brought into the Lord by the Spirit, we are living His life (Gal. 2:20). We are not listening for "voices" or waiting for dreams or special visions. We are responding to the urging of the Spirit in the inner man. This is a continuous working, not a sporadic occurrence. We do not live our day-to-day lives by our own initiative and then pray in special circumstances for the Lord's direction. We live His life, and that is a flow in the Spirit.

The reason so many do not know this experience is that they have never entered into the "rest of God" spoken of in Hebrews 4:11. They still want to live their own lives, and ask God to bless them. God will not bless our lives apart from Him. We have been crucified with Christ; thus God does not recognize our lives. We have been bought with a price--to live His life. We possess nothing that is of value to God. We were born in sin, dead to God and totally useless. But the miracle is that "the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live" (John 5:25). How will we live? We will live His life. Now, everything is of God. Our place is to stay in that abiding place, having ceased from our labors, and to respond moment by moment to His gentle urging. This is being led by the Spirit.

Next: Hearing God, the Basis of Faith