How does God guide us? Can we hear God’s voice today?
These are two great questions and I believe they are linked.
First, you and I believe God seeks a relationship with us e are two great. This is why He sent Jesus, to both show us the love He has for us and to offer His life as a just payment for the sin that separates us from Him and that blocks our relationship with Him.
As with any gift given to us, we must receive it from the giver to possess it. It is not enough to know there is a gift “out there” for us…we must take it, open it, use it. So, when we, through prayer, receive God’s gift of forgiveness, which includes “abundant life” in this world and “eternal life” in the next, we have a new relationship with God. He is now our Spiritual or Heavenly Father.
He desires to communicate with you and me, 24/7! We are encouraged to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and the scripture is full of references to God’s desire for His voice to be heard. A wonderful description of that is Psalm 29. (Stop right now and read it!)
A few people can testify to having literally heard the voice of God audibly. I have not, but I hear Him everyday through His Word (the Bible), His people (brothers and sisters in Christ), His creation (see Romans 1:20…and Numbers 22:22-35), and even sometimes through those who do not follow Him.
And, this is one of the ways God guides us, with His “voice.”
His primary agent for guiding us is through the Holy Spirit. We read in John 16:12-14…12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.
This is an awesome promise! That His Holy Spirit will speak truth to us, guide us in that truth, tell us “what is yet to come,” and give us insights that only God Himself has! This comes as we do two things:
#1 – Invite Jesus, by His Holy Spirit, to reign in and rule your life (Luke 11:11-13) and
#2 – Trust and obey His leading (Proverbs 3:5,6)
So, be assured, He will speak to you and He will guide you and as you listen and follow you will live fully the life He has given you, now, and forever!
- Rev. Dub Ambrose
