How can I hear from God? How can I hear from God more often?
These are two of the most common questions we hear at CityLight Church. There are plenty of things you can do to position yourself to hear from God more often. Our senses are designed to receive stimuli from the Holy Spirit; many times we just have take the time to notice what He is telling us. Quite often, God may have already told you something, but you just didn’t realize it. Let me explain:
John 14:21: He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.
For most people, ‘hearing from God’ means experiencing something tangible: a still small voice, a dream, a vision, or one of many other tacks the Lord can take when speaking to us. In the verse above, Jesus promises He will make himself manifest (real; tangible) to ‘he who has [His] commandments and keeps them.’ If we keep His commandments, He will make Himself real to us.
So, when someone asks me, ‘How can I hear from God,’ my response is usually, ‘What have you done with everything He has already told you?’ The Bible is full of truths – ways to pray, things to pray for, and situations over which the name of Jesus Christ already gives us full and complete authority – that we can take the time to fully appropriate when we don’t feel like we are hearing from God. Sometimes God will give us a fresh word, but sometimes He will wait for us to internalize what has already been distributed before He gives us more revelation. There is always Scripture that is relevant to whatever we are going through in our lives; it is our job to find it and use it, trusting that the Holy Spirit will guide us into all understanding.
If you want to hear more from God, ask yourself this: what was the last thing He told you? Maybe the Holy Spirit highlighted a verse of Scripture to you as you read. Maybe you had a dream a few years back but never followed through on it. Maybe a still, small voice told you to make a phone call but you never had the conversation.
Now go back and do whatever He told you to do, or memorize that Bible verse that really spoke to you. God will give you more information when you fully utilize that which He has already shown you.
-by Pastor Mike White