Lately, I had been praying that the Lord would cause me to hear his voice more, and to be obedient when I hear his voice. Sometimes, I have those moments when I am so sure I heard God and other times, I have the seeming quiet seasons where God doesn’t seem to have spoken for some time. During the latter, is when I sometimes question if I am paying attention to God’s voice.
Honestly, I am sort of used to God speaking to me in particular ways, and when he doesn’t speak to me in a particular way that I am very familiar with; I simply miss it until it is too late. The familiar ways that I am used to God speaking to me:
The still small voice discussed in the Bible -1 Kings 19:11-13
When God speaks to me in this way it seems almost as if to come from the deepest part of me and up to my mind where I recognize it as the Lord.
Dreams – Job 33:15
God always speaks to me in dreams and I normally am given the interpretation when the dream is from God.
Through his Word – The whole Bible
I think this should be a given, and of course, nothing that God speaks will go against his word in any way.
A Vision – Ezekiel 11:24-25
This is where God shows me a picture of something and communicates the interpretation of it. Normally, this happens while I am awake. It happens to me most during praying for someone. It has also happened when I was supposed to give someone a word of wisdom/knowledge.
An intuition – Romans 8:16
This is an inner knowing that cannot be explained, but you know God is trying to get your attention or show you something. I experienced this the night I recently had the accident. I felt like something was going to happen that night, but I said to myself I trust the Lord. There is another instance that happened where I could feel the Lord calling me away to pray with him while I was eating. I had to put my food down and pray and God spoke to me about two different things that were going to happen, but everything would be okay.
There are of course other ways that God speaks. He is limitless, and he teaches us what we need to know by his Spirit and his Word. However, when God speaks to me in my mind as simply a thought sometimes, I don’t always recognize it. That’s why I had been praying for God to teach me, and guess what he’s been answering my prayers.
My car insurance came up for renewal in April, and the thought came to my mine saying, “When you renew your car insurance, get full coverage this time.” I paused and said a prayer to God, “God, do you want me to get full coverage auto insurance this time?” I heard nothing after that. So, I did what I had done, and renewed my liability insurance. Little did I know that the confirmation to my prayer on whether God wanted me to get full coverage would come a couple of months later.
Fast forward to June and my car got hit in a hit and run accident, and I only had liability. It was at that moment that I realized that I had heard God’s voice on the full coverage and that he was preparing me. God’s word talks about how the Lord will lead and guide us. Leading and guiding us is one of the ways God speaks to us.
Because it was an unfamiliar way that I did not always recognize as God speaking; I missed out on what God was trying to shield me from. At the time, I was not sure if it was my thoughts or God’s voice. Therefore, I have concluded that the next time a good thought like that comes to mind that isn’t something I would normally think about, I will simply follow it as an act of faith. It could have only helped me.
This was the second time something like this had happened where I did not follow that voice/thought in my mind. Years ago, I used to pay my car insurance with a money order through the mail. This time, the thought came to mind saying, “Why don’t you take your payment in this time? You pass by your insurance company on the way to work every day anyway.” I thought to myself, well I always pay my insurance through the mail.
Do you know someone stole the mail, and my insurance lapsed? My dad covered it and I paid him back. This was a long time ago when this happened, but God recently bought it to my remembrance to put me in the mindset of being aware when he speaks to me in a way that I am not used to.
I can remember a time however not long ago when I experienced this same voice from God speaking to me in my thoughts. I had made an appointment to get my makeup done for a photoshoot for a magazine. The makeup company was supposed to email me a confirmation with the address. I did not receive an email and the place was closed until the day of my appointment. I said to myself I would Google the name of the place and go to the Chicago location that came up online because that is where I booked. Well, the thought came to my mind before you hit the expressway call and confirm the address because if this is the wrong address you will be late and may not get your face done.
I called and sure enough, the address was wrong. I turned out being an hour and a half away instead of 30 minutes. I arrived a ½ hour late but was there in time to get my face done because I followed the thought in my mind to call to confirm.
When we pray and ask God to teach us his voice and help us to become more sensitive to his voice; he does just that. I am excited about learning how to follow God’s voice in a greater way and to get better at recognizing him so I can obey more. It’s important to obey even when we aren’t used to it or when we are used to doing things in our normal manner. I had to realize that obedience to his voice sometimes requires an act of faith when I’m not really sure if a good idea or thought just popped up in my head or if it’s really God providing instruction. Next week, we will read about someone in the Bible who heard God in an unfamiliar way and almost rejected God’s voice because of it in part II.
Have you ever had an experience like the above? What happened in your scenario? Are you ready to step out in faith to hear God in a new way?
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