Four Ways God Speaks to You

God is speaking to you, but are you listening for his voice? Today’s verse says God sometimes speaks one way, sometimes another.

The question to ask is, “How do I tune in so that I can hear him?”

Here are four of the channels that God uses:

1. God speaks to us through the Bible.
It’s your guidebook for life. It shows you the right step to take. That is why you need to read God’s Word every day. If you’re not having a daily quiet time and reading the Bible, God is getting a busy signal when he wants to speak to you. You need to keep a constant connection because God’s will is found in God’s Word.

2. God speaks to us through teachers.
There’s no way I or any other teacher could figure out exactly what to say to meet every need of those we’re teaching. But God knows. So before every service I pray, “God, you know the people and the needs out there. Give me the right things to say.” Somehow, in the way only he can, God uses my teaching and the teaching of other pastors to meet the needs of the people who are listening.

3. God speaks to us through impressions.
There are two extremes to this. One extreme is the rationalist who believes no impression can be from God; it all has to be logical. The other extreme is the mystical belief that every impression is from God. You need to get in the middle and realize that every impression has to match God’s Word.

4. God speaks to us through our circumstances.
If we’re going to live a life of significance, God will make constant course corrections, and one of the things he uses to do that is the circumstances of our lives. When you start listening to God through circumstances, impressions, teachers, or the Bible, he may lead you in ways that you don’t understand.

Hang in there! Following God is not always easy, but it will reap more blessing in your life than you can imagine.