“Does God speak out loud or does He speak in your heart?”

That was the question of a seven year old after our Saturday evening worship service. It’s also the question of many followers of Christ.

For the last few weeks, I have been preaching about “Hearing God.” I am preaching this series because I have been on the quest that the seven year old is on. I want to hear God, and I want God to be close and personal in my life. I hope you are on the same journey.

How is it that God speaks?

1. God speaks through His written word. God gave the Scripture to reveal Himself and to guide His people.

Scripture helps us discern the voice of God. As we read, study, and meditate Scripture, we begin to understand the difference between the voice of God and competing voices. God’s word helps us to understand what God wants.

If Scripture speaks, we do not need an additional communication from God. We simply need to act on what God has said already.

2. God speaks through His messengers. The word for angel is also the word for messenger. God’s angels were His messengers. In the Book of Revelation, God spoke to the “angels” of the churches in Asia.

We should listen to our messengers and follow God’s word.

Church people too often discount God speaking through a messenger like a pastor or teacher, and church leaders too often give their opinion instead of seeking God’s authentic message.

If you would like to read about hindrances to hearing God, click here: http://waylonbailey.com/2014/09/22/hearing-god/

3. God speaks in the midst of our pain. Yesterday I spoke with a young woman who will soon have a very serious surgery. While she has long loved God and sought to follow Him, the serious nature of her illness has opened the communication with God. God has been speaking, and she has been listening.

C.S. Lewis said it so well: “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

When pain comes–as it inevitably does–I encourage you to open your ears to what God wants to say through this experience. Like the young woman, we can learn so much about God through these times.

By the way, God sometimes speaks out loud, but often speaks to our hearts. The seven year old has a heart to hear God.

May it be so with you as well.

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