Have you heard the voice of God? Or, if He talks, what ways do you hear Him?

[righteousdude2]

In another post I made the mistake of saying God spoke to me, and I was seriously mocked for insinuating I heard from God.

So I have to ask you all, have you ever heard from God, and in what form did God speak to you? Plus, how did you know that you knew, that it was God you heard from?

Scripture to support you views on the voice of God within us would be helpful. Thanks!

 

[Rippon]

In another post I made the mistake of saying God spoke to me,

So you are now admitting that it was indeed a mistake on your part?

 

[HAMel]

rd2..., now I know you watch TV on occasion and I'm sure you have watched some cop shows, right?

Well, you should know full well that "Anything you say can and will be held against you in the court of Public Opinion"...even if it was a 'typo', excited utterance or just plain being of the opinion others might just understand what you're saying.

Otherwise, for sure, the Lord has spoke to me often. Now I fully understand this statement will cause some to find themselves in need of being "combobulated" or face implosion of their physical being but, it's true. Yes, the Lord has spoken to me often. Have I heard Him Audibly? No. I really don't think our Lord is restricted one iota to using the King's English and/or sending me radio like beams to be received and decoded by my receiver. No, our Lord can speak to us in many, many ways and He does on a regular basis. The problem is, often we just don't want to hear what He has to say.

He speaks to me through impressing my heart and mind. I believe that often He speaks to us through situations/happenings in our lives the result of answered prayer which usually doesn't become aware to us until after the fact. I am of the opinion our Lord can speak to us through a child, like my beautiful six year old great grand daughter. He can speak to us through our Pastor. A dying soul in a nursing home and the list of opportunities are endless.

Yes, the Lord is absolutely communicating with each of us on a minute by minute basis. Only those who desire to box our Lord in fail to hear. And you know what else rd2.., I am so thankful He does speak to me. Praise the Lord.

 

[Jkdbuck76]

Doesn't this present a problem? Does God speak to Benny Hinn? Does God speak to TD Jakes? Does God speak to Heidi Baker? Not the way THEY say He does!

God has spoken to all of us in His word. If we want to know what God says, we look no further than in the Bible. When people say that God spoke to them, I get a little nervous.

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk

 

[HAMel]

Nothing to get "nervous over". The god of Benny Hinn; TD Jakes; Heidi Baker et.al., can probably hear their master audibly. That's why they offer their "prayer cloths" for a small fee of $39.99.

The God of those who have been called..., those of us who are born again believers..., is a different matter.

 

[Scarlett O.]

God speaks to me primarily through his word when I read and when I am taking notes on his word as I write. I keep a bible journal and write down what God reveals to me when reading the bible. As I write the impressions become more clear.

God does rarely speak to me through mental impressions of him speaking (or Christ). No, I don't hear voices - nothing audible, but it's real.

Not long ago, I was angry over something and I couldn't get some bitterness out of my head. I didn't want it there. I had prayed for it to go away. I couldn't concentrate on what I was doing. Finally, I said out loud, "Jesus, I can't WAIT until I'm with you and I don't have to battle thoughts like this anymore!!"

The immediate impression in my head was him saying, "I can't wait either." And it wasn't a mocking tone, but a loving tone. I cried and cried thanking him for not turning away from me and understanding that I wanted those thoughts OUT of my mind. And they left.

Another time several month ago (in April, I believe), our pastor was preaching out of Joshua 5 where the Israelites had crossed the Jordan River and were preparing to tackle Jericho. God told them that they could not do anything until they had circumcised their men and the reproach of Egypt was taken away.

The pastor said, "And we are like this. We cannot go forward until we complete the first task God has given us."

This time, the impression I felt was God - he said to me (again, not audibly), "That's you, kid. Listen." I began in my bible readings to search for that "thing" that was undone. I prayed for God to show it to me. He did, but not until June. When he did, it was very clear.

 

[blessedwife318]

""If you want to hear from God read the Bible, if you want to hear God audibly, read the Bible out loud" Justin Peters.
Or I saw another one that said "if private revelation agrees with Scripture they are needless and if they disagree they are false" John Owen

It is a direct assault on the Suffiency of Scripture, and the Complete Cannon to claim additional Revelation from God. To do so makes God a liar when he inspired Paul to write "16All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproduction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work."
2 Tim 3:16-17
I'll be honest any time someone says "God told me"... And it is not followed by a Bible verse I tune them out since they are showing that they do not understand how important the Scriptures are. We either believe that the Bible is Sufficient for faith and practice or we do not, and if we don't believe that the Bible is the final authority then we have nothing to stand on.

 

[TCassidy]

 

[Scarlett O.]

Are you all saying that you all don't hear from God in prayer, in impressions of Scripture, in nature, or any other way except when you open the Bible? Are my experiences in post #6 a lie or deception to you?

 

[annsni]

I fully agree that God speaks to us through the Scriptures but I've had experiences like Scarlett and just can't explain them and know they didn't come from me. One of my examples was after my second miscarriage and I was crying out to God why I had this desire for more children but it seemed I couldn't have anymore. Why? What should I do? Try again or forget it? I felt God saying to me "You will have more children but they will be mine and not the doctor's." I felt it strongly enough that I spoke to my husband and he had the same sense. So we stopped the fertility doctors, I went on a new medication for my condition (a diabetic medication for polycystic ovarian syndrome) and we waited. My son was conceived 5 months later. We were overjoyed! When he was 20 months old, we found out we were expecting again!! Wow!! Out of my 6 pregnancies, 4 of them were with fertility drugs but these last two were conceived with NO fertility medication whatsoever!!! It was definitely a testimony to God and His goodness.

I've got some other examples (when my daughter was critically ill at 21 years old with a pancreatic tumor, when my husband was called to be a pastor, etc.) but this one is one that stands out in my mind the most.

 

[blessedwife318]

Annsni I usually really respect and enjoy your posting but on this issue I have to disagree. And here is why, I cannot debate your experience, any more then you can debate my experience. That puts in a very subjective realm which is dangerous. By staying firmly within Biblical grounds we take subjectiveness out of the equation because we can all read what God has inspired for us in the Scriptures.

If I did not believe the Scriptures to be the Sufficient word of God I would actually find your story of the birth of your last two children to be discouraging and depressing to myself in my struggle with infertility. Why, because I have not heard from God on if we will ever have children, and if I believed in extra Biblical revelation I would wonder what was wrong with me that God has not answered our question about children and would believe His silence to be an indication that I will never have children.

But that is not the case for me since I rest firmly on what God has said in the Bible, and I know that he is in control of my infertility even though I don't hear from Him on that issue. I don't know if we will ever have children but I do know He is in control and that is enough for me.

 

[Baptist Believer]

[H]ave you ever heard from God, and in what form did God speak to you?

In the general order of frequency, from most common to least common way:

• Through study and meditation upon scripture - especially passages of scripture I have memorized
• Through other Christians
• In the quietness of my soul during prayer
• When I am wrestling with an issue and the way forward is suddenly made clear to me
• Through a sudden mental image that is not part of my imagination
• From a voice inside my head that is not part of my internal monologue
• From a vision (only once, 10 years ago)

Plus, how did you know that you knew, that it was God you heard from?

It is full of wisdom, life and power that I do not have. It is good and unselfish, and pushes me beyond what I would naturally do.

Scripture to support you views on the voice of God within us would be helpful. Thanks!

John 10:27
"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me."

 

[Revmitchell]

Calling the hearing from God as direct revelation is just wrong. Revelation can only be understood as information about God that is new. No one here is making such a claim. Neither is it an assault on the sufficiency of scripture. First no one can provide any scripture that shows a conflict between hearing from God and the sufficiency of scripture. The 2 Tim 3 passage in no way shows a conflict here. In fact hearing from God in almost audible ways still leaves scripture as profitable for correction, reproof, etc. Nothing changes about scripture or that passage.

Second, when people say they have heard from God it is usually God speaking to our spirit about something personal in our lives. It may be to understand scripture more clear or to apply scripture better in our lives. The fact is scripture does not cover every possible situation in life.

Does God still speak to people today? Does God still give people visions? Does God still do miracles? You bet He does. However, when we see or experience these moves of God it must line up with scripture. Anything that is found to be in conflict with scripture should be understood to be not from God.

Jesus Himself said that the Father would send the HG or the comforter who will teach us and bring to remembrance all that we need to know. (John 14:26) Paul wrote that we are sealed with the HG until the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4) So the question is how does the HG interact with us today? Does He speak to us through that inner voice that reminds us of scripture making clear how to apply it properly in our lives and even for a specific moment? You bet. Does He convict us of sin in our lives? You bet.

Should we deny the work of the Spirit of God in order to protect our errant view of the sufficiency of scripture. Not a chance.

 

[Internet Theologian]

No offense intended to anyone here; blessedwife318 I appreciate your solid stand on the Word within this thread. I too believe the Word to be all sufficient for faith and practice, as all we need and all we should seek or heed (2 Tim. 3:16). Of course there are also those who preach/teach the Word as well that are sent to admonish us by the Word (Eph. 4:11). In my opinion you nailed it with your 2 posts.

 

[annsni]

Annsni I usually really respect and enjoy your posting but on this issue I have to disagree. And here is why, I cannot debate your experience, any more then you can debate my experience. That puts in a very subjective realm which is dangerous. By staying firmly within Biblical grounds we take subjectiveness out of the equation because we can all read what God has inspired for us in the Scriptures.

If I did not believe the Scriptures to be the Sufficient word of God I would actually find your story of the birth of your last two children to be discouraging and depressing to myself in my struggle with infertility. Why, because I have not heard from God on if we will ever have children, and if I believed in extra Biblical revelation I would wonder what was wrong with me that God has not answered our question about children and would believe His silence to be an indication that I will never have children.

But that is not the case for me since I rest firmly on what God has said in the Bible, and I know that he is in control of my infertility even though I don't hear from Him on that issue. I don't know if we will ever have children but I do know He is in control and that is enough for me.

I understand your discouragement with my story and I know there are times that I've heard other people say that they heard from God and it was discouraging because I didn't. Trust me - struggling through all of the years of infertility I had, I wished I had heard from God but God chose only this one instance to speak to me regarding this struggle. Why? I don't know. Did I have a special thing with God? No. I'm just one of His children just like you are. I do know that the understanding of not seeking further treatment was very clear to both my husband and me and so we followed what He wanted us to do. Having gone through many medical procedures, injections, tests, surgeries, etc, this was a very big change for us.

I'm sorry that you also struggle with infertility. It really cuts to the core of a woman when she can't have a child - especially when that has been a dream of hers for years. But I do know that even if God doesn't "speak" to you, He loves you and cares even about this struggle in your life. As an adoptee, I know there are many ways to have children and just maybe your path will be different than the one I went through. ((HUGS))

 

[agedman]

Why pray if one doesn't expect to hear from God?

I have heard a great number of Baptist preachers use the phrase, "Hear from God" be it in desiring an answer or delivering the message. What did they expect - that God would ignore them?

Some of the posters expressed that all communication be it revelation or impulse of the Holy Spirit comes from the Scriptures - only. That is partly true. The Holy Spirit uses the Scriptures to build the mental / spiritual relation in the believer. The Psalmist said, "How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word." (Psalm 119).

What is also true is that the work of the Holy Spirit will bring understanding and awareness. We are told to "try the spirits" (1 John 4:1). Why? Because not every communication is from God the Father.

On a personal level, there is that special relationship a child has (even one adopted) with the loving parent. That relationship includes a balance of both discipline and fellowship.

This thread is upon the fellowship, a very special and personal time with the one who knows more about us than we do about ourselves. One who chose us and loved us before we were even aware that He did so on purpose.

So, yes, it is appropriate that he will communicate in the most personal way to the believer. Ways in which He chooses, and if that is a quite still impulse, a reminder of a Scripture, a principle developed, or certain peace in the midst of turmoil, then all praise belongs to the Father.

 

[TCassidy]

Scriptural motto for the seminary I attended.

Isaiah 8:20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

 

[Jerome]

From no less than C. J. Mahaney, Southern Baptist pastor and founder with Albert Mohler, Mark Dever, and Ligon Duncan of 'Together for the Gospel' (T4G):

An Appetite for God by C. J. Mahaney

"For years now — decades, actually — I've enjoyed Sports Illustrated every week. . . One Thursday a few years ago I was walking back from the mailbox, eager to sit down and read the latest issue, when I was interrupted by a clear impression in my spirit. Brief, quiet — but unmistakable. 'You want to read that magazine more than my Word,' whispered the voice. My initial reaction was to disagree and dismiss this as an unwarranted guilt trip. But with a sense of grief I recognized that God had spoken. And, as always, he was right."

 

[Jerome]

And another from Annsni:

https://www.baptistboard.com/threads/has-god-ever-spoken-to-you.72916/#post-1759978

"There is no question that God has spoken to me. I actually had an whine-fest prayer with Him a few weeks ago and He won. LOL Seriously, I was praying and crying about things that are going on in ministry and as I whined, I'd really hear a voice kind of taking the wind out of my sails. As I prayed "It's not fair", I'd hear "It wasn't for me either". "But these are Christians who are hurting us!" I'd hear "It was my close friends". It went on for a couple of complaints and I finally surrendered..."

 

[TCassidy]

Anyone hearing voices in his head needs to see a psychiatrist.