God Is Talking. Are You Listening?

God is talking. Are you listening?

1 Kings 19:12-13  After the earthquake, fire—but the Lord was not in the fire; after the fire, a light silent sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. A voice said to him, Why are you here, Elijah? 

This verse takes place on a mountaintop. Elijah, a great prophet of the Lord, is hiding in a cave when the Lord appears to Him and asks him what he is doing in the cave. Next is 1 Kings 19:11-13 "Then the Lord said: Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord; the Lord will pass by. There was a strong and violent wind rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the Lord—but the Lord was not in the wind; after the wind, an earthquake—but the Lord was not in the earthquake;  after the earthquake, fire—but the Lord was not in the fire; after the fire, a light silent sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. A voice said to him, Why are you here, Elijah? 

At the end of Friday’s episode, I said I would talk about hearing the Lord’s voice more on Monday. I think this is a good verse to show us what it might be like to hear God’s voice. Elijah was told to go out and stand on the mountain, and the Lord will pass by. Then there was a strong wind, but that was not the Lord. After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the Lord wasn’t in the earthquake. After the earthquake, there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. God was found in the sound of silence on that mountain. That is where you can find the Lord too. 

When we think about hearing the Lord’s voice, we tend to think of something like the scene in the movie “The Wizard of Oz.” We picture this big booming voice coming from the Lord. We also tend to think if the Lord was talking to us, there is no way we would miss it. This is not often the case. First, the Lord is talking to each and every one of us every day. If we can’t hear Him, it is because either we aren’t listening or because the sounds of this world are too loud. Only you can know which of these is most true for you. Are you spending time in silence, waiting for the Lord to speak to you? How often are you doing this?

I think it is amazing that God revealed himself in the silence. God is almighty, He is powerful, and He could have come in the fire or the earthquake, and yet he chose to come in the silence. I love that. I love that God doesn’t scare us when He talks to us. He doesn’t do something that would frighten us. How scared do you think you would be if you were just sitting down at the kitchen counter and all of a sudden you heard this big booming voice from the sky? What about if every time you went to make a decision, a booming voice from the sky told you which decision you should make? Life would seem pretty weird if that happened.

My experience has been something quite different. Whenever I have experienced the Lord speaking to me, it has been in a few different ways, but never a booming voice from the sky. The most common way for me to hear the Lord is through my thoughts. I ask the Lord to speak to me, and then I write down anything that comes into my mind. I do not question what I think He is saying, I do not let myself analyze it while I write it down. I just write down whatever comes into my mind. After I am done writing, I will re-read it, and if anything looks strange or makes me feel funny, I will talk to the Lord about it.

Another way we can all hear the Lord talking to us is that still, small voice inside. Do you know the one I am talking about? Have you heard that little voice inside of you that warns you when you shouldn’t do something? That voice that tells you when you should do something. I had that voice just yesterday telling me to check in with someone about coming to the retreat. I almost ignored it because I had already asked her, and she had already said she was busy and wasn’t going to come. I didn’t want to bug her or make her feel guilty for not coming, so I almost didn’t reach out. However, I knew it was the Holy Spirit telling me to reach out, so I did anyway. It turns out her plans changed, and she was now free to come next weekend. I am grateful I listened to that small voice inside that told me to reach out.

Another way God can talk with us is by visions. When you ask the Lord to talk with you, or you sit quietly in silence, you might close your eyes and get a vision of something. Sometimes it can just be a quick something, and other times it can be a whole scene. I remember one of the first times I went to a retreat. I was sitting in adoration, and I asked the Lord to let me feel His presence. I just wanted to know He was there with me. When I closed my eyes, I saw this white light bouncing around off the back of my eyelids. It is so cool. I remember not wanting to open my eyes because I feared it would go away, which it did. However, I did get to sit with that vision for a few minutes. Other people have really vivid visions where they can see a whole scene unfold before their eyes.

The last way I have experienced this is when I am sitting in a prayer group, and we tell the Lord that we are listening. I tell the Lord if He wants to tell me something, I will share it with the group. When I am in this situation, I get words that come into my mind. They are words that are not really spoken. It’s not as if I hear a voice dictating them to me. It is more like as I speak, the words just seem to keep coming. It is truly remarkable.

If you do hear an actual voice in your head from the Lord, it will most likely sound like your voice. The Lord is not trying to scare us. If we had this strange voice talking to us in our heads, we would think we were going crazy. So, God is gentle, and when He talks to us, He uses a voice we are used to hearing our own voice. This way, we can focus more on listening to it and less on what it sounds like or who is saying it.

I hope this helps you understand a bit more how God tends to talk with us. He truly does want to talk to each and every one of us each day. Where in your day can you take a few minutes to just sit in silence and give the Lord some time to talk to you? I promise if you start giving the Lord a chance to talk with you, you will be amazed at what He has to say. He is a good and loving Father who wants to talk with you. Won’t you give Him a chance?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, you are amazing, and we would love to talk with you and have you talk with us. Please show us how. Please show us where in our days we have the time to sit in silence and just be with you, to just listen to you. Lord, we want to put you first. Show us how. Lord, we are sorry we tend to fill our world with so much noise that we can’t hear you. Please help us change this, Lord. Help us get our priorities back on track. We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. Last call for the retreat. CLICK HERE for retreat info. I will be sending in my numbers later this afternoon. I am so grateful to all who have signed up already. I look forward to meeting you in a few days! I look forward to meeting you all here again tomorrow. If someone has a witness, they would be willing to share. Please reach out today or tomorrow so we can get that recorded. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

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