{"id":70957,"date":"2022-03-15T16:27:23","date_gmt":"2022-03-15T21:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/?p=66262"},"modified":"2025-08-06T13:15:22","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T18:15:22","slug":"listening-for-god-to-speak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/listening-for-god-to-speak\/","title":{"rendered":"Really Listening for God to Speak"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We can learn a lot about how God interacts with people by reading the Bible. Perhaps you\u2019re familiar with the story of God calling out to young Samuel in the middle of the night (1 Samuel 3:1-21<\/a><\/strong>), or how Jesus appeared to Paul in a blinding vision, as Paul was attempting to destroy the early Church (Acts 9:1-9<\/a><\/strong>). In both cases, God spoke audibly, His message direct and clear.<\/p>\n

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How many of us have prayed that God would likewise speak so clearly to us? That leads me to ask: Does God still speak to us in our modern world?<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"Listening<\/p>\n

Hearing God<\/h2>\n

Odds are, if God has a message for you, He won\u2019t open the sky and beam Himself into your front yard. Or use a megaphone. Most of us can\u2019t claim to have heard God speak to us in an audible voice \u2014 though some people do assert they have heard God say a word or phrase to them. It\u2019s definitely possible, as the Bible proves. But God typically communicates to us today more subtly.<\/em><\/p>\n

Have you ever been struck by the words of your pastor, or had a particular verse stand out to you as you read the Bible?\u00a0That\u2019s God speaking.<\/em>\u00a0Have you ever felt a persistent nudge to do something?\u00a0That\u2019s God speaking.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As we pay attention, we\u2019ll find that God often uses His Word<\/strong><\/a>, as well as the words of others, to convict us of sin, give us answers, and guide us through tough situations. God also speaks to us through circumstance; the life issues personally affecting us.<\/p>\n

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Doubting God<\/h2>\n

If the Bible tells us that God regularly spoke to prophets and others, why doesn\u2019t He talk to us so directly? Wouldn\u2019t it make believing in Him and being a Christian so much easier?<\/p>\n

Perhaps\u00a0God wants us to get quiet<\/a><\/strong>, putting in real effort to hear Him. Perhaps He talked with the prophets directly because<\/em>\u00a0they spent so much time in prayer trying to discern His voice.\u00a0Are you taking time to pray? Are you then patiently waiting for a response?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When I feel anxious or restless, I open my Bible app<\/a><\/strong> to find verses about trusting God. As I read the Scriptures, I feel God tell me not to worry; to simply trust His power and His goodness. I also hear God speak when He answers my prayers.\u00a0In both cases, I am reminded that although I can\u2019t see God, He is real and clearly at work in my life<\/em>. My doubts diminish as my faith grows.<\/p>\n

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Trusting God<\/h2>\n

Perhaps God doesn\u2019t speak to us audibly because He wants us to deepen our faith. In this era of science and technology, we\u2019re told that it\u2019s naive to believe in God because His existence hasn\u2019t been proven by the scientific method.<\/p>\n

Some argue that if God were real, He\u2019d make it obvious not just by directly speaking to us, but by physically showing up. Then<\/em>\u00a0they\u2019d believe He was real.\u00a0God has already done so \u2014 in a big way.\u00a0<\/em>For three years, Jesus personally demonstrated God\u2019s existence and supernatural power. Then\u00a0He sacrificed Himself<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0to prove God\u2019s great love for us.<\/p>\n

As much as we\u2019d like to credit our human intelligence, we simply can\u2019t comprehend God\u2019s complex majesty. But through Jesus, we can know for sure that we haven\u2019t been left here to muddle through life on our own.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

God speaks to us all the time \u2014\u00a0because He longs to be in relationship with us.<\/em>\u00a0Are you making the time and space for Him to speak? Begin to do both, and you\u2019ll discover how God, the Creator of the universe, chooses to speak to YOU.<\/p>\n

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NEXT STEPS<\/h2>\n

> Interested in knowing God personally? Get started with this\u00a0really good info<\/a><\/strong>.
\n> Need prayer for more power in your faith?\u00a0Contact us<\/a><\/strong>. We would love to pray for you!
\n> We invite you to read Josh\u2019s book,\u00a0More Than a Carpenter<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0<\/em>This short apologetics classic examines the historical evidence of Jesus. He died. He rose. He lives. He is our hope and example!<\/p>\n

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GUEST BLOGGER CLAYTON THOMAS CARTER, A STUDENT IN PLANO, TEXAS, IS PASSIONATE ABOUT ENCOURAGING THE KNOWLEDGE OF A BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW. HE ENJOYS PLAYING TRUMPET AND SERVING AT HIS CHURCH.<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We can learn a lot about how God interacts with people by reading the Bible. Perhaps you\u2019re familiar with the story of God calling out to young Samuel in the middle of the night (1 Samuel 3:1-21), or how Jesus appeared to Paul in a blinding vision, as Paul was attempting to destroy the early […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23327,"featured_media":66595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"The Bible tells us that God audibly spoke to people, so why not us? Maybe we need to do a better job of really listening for God to speak.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[80],"tags":[157,1015,1140,269,1141,1142,1143],"translator":[],"blog-author":[73],"class_list":["post-70957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apologetics","tag-faith","tag-hearing-god","tag-listening-for-god","tag-prayer","tag-speaks","tag-talk-to-god","tag-when-god-speaks","blog-author-guest-blogger"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/607\/2022\/03\/listening-for-God-1.jpg","meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23327"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70957"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92936,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70957\/revisions\/92936"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70957"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/translator?post=70957"},{"taxonomy":"blog-author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites-stage.josh.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog-author?post=70957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}