For God speaks again and again, though people do not recognise it.
(Job 33:14)
The Bible tells us that God does speak to people, in lots of different ways, but sometimes we miss it. We have to be ready to listen in lots of different ways. Christians believe that God speaks to us today through his Holy Spirit, and through Jesus:
Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. (Hebrews 1:1-2)
Lots of people expect to hear a voice with our ears, like when a friend, parent or teacher speaks to us on the phone, zoom or face to face. We see that happening in the Bible sometimes, Elijah heard God’s voice as a still, small whispering voice and Moses spent time talking with God face to face on a mountain. But most people today don’t hear God speaking like that. Christians believe that it can happen, but we find God chooses different ways to speak to different people at different times.
The Bible tells us that when you become a Christian, the Holy Spirit comes and lives in you. We’ll talk more about who the Holy Spirit is another time, but for now, all you need to know is that the Holy Spirit helps us to hear from God, and helps us to live God’s way. So some people just have a strong feeling, like when we feel our conscience tell us we’ve done something wrong, or the feeling we get when we know we’ve done a good job. Then we can check in with God to see if he’s is using those feelings to guide us.
We can also find that God speaks to us through nature. When we see how incredible our universe is we can feel more connected to God. Some people like to spend time enjoying God by enjoying nature.
Some people find God speaks to the through music, either the lyrics or through the rhythms.
Some people find that God speaks to them in the quietness.
Some people find that God speaks to them through other people. Sometimes God gives us a message to give to someone else.
God can also use dreams to speak to us. That doesn’t mean that all of our dreams are from God, but many people in countries where it’s difficult to be a Christian find that God uses dreams to speak to them.
Sometimes Christians find that God speaks to them through the Bible. When we read the Bible we might find that something really stands out to us. It’s as if God draws our attention especially to the thing we need to hear. The Bible is a really important place for Christians to check in with what we think God might be trying to tell us. If the Bible says we shouldn’t do something, we can be sure that’s what God means.
So the answer is, yes! God does speak to us and He uses lots of different ways…
The most important things to remember are:
- God can speak to us today
- God uses lots of different ways to speak to us
- God won’t confuse us by saying things that go against what the Bible says – when in doubt, check the Bible.
I wonder how you will hear God speaking to you?