When I would hear people talk about how they “heard from the Lord” on something, I have to be honest with you, I was skeptical. Not necessarily because I didn’t believe it could happen, it just hadn’t happened for me. 

But what I’ve come to learn in my years of growing closer to Jesus is that His spirit “speaks” to all of us in different ways – none bigger or better or stronger than the other, but all the same whisper of our Father.

Think of it as a relationship with someone you love deeply. You have learned to know the way to their heart.

You know the sound of their voice. 

When we can learn and recognize the sound of a loved ones voice it means we have become familiar with hearing it. When something is familiar it is “in close relationship; intimate, well-known” In order to hear from the lord, we have to be near to Him. 

How well do you know Him, how familiar are you with hearing from him? Can I tell you today,

You can know the sound of His voice too. 

How I became familiar with hearing from the Holy Spirit was knowing the different ways He speaks to us. I think what’s so special about this is that God knows our hearts in a deeper way than we can fathom and therefore knows how best we will receive His voice. I believe that’s why He speaks to us all in different ways – similar to the gifts He gives us. All different and special in their own way, yet all for the same purpose – which is for our good and His glory.

For me personally, the Holy Spirit speaks to me most in thoughts. It happens usually when I’m quiet – sitting in His presence. A thought or vision almost appears in my head without me even thinking it first. It usually happens to be something far greater than myself and it always comes with this underlying peace and comfort. That’s how I know its from Him. He will speak to me through feelings. I feel the Holy Spirit often. His presence never leaves us. But there are moments when I know something is from Him because of the peace that surpasses all understanding in that moment – even if what I’m feeling from Him is not something my flesh wants to be obedient to. He also speaks to me through dreams. During our two year infertility journey before we got pregnant with the twins, I had a dream and remember it vividly that I was holding twin babies in my hospital bed. My grandmother had the same dream. He speaks to me through people. Someone will validate something I’ve been praying about and it will come straight from the Lord. I have an amazing story on an example of this. On the night that Zeke and I said yes to adopting our little girl from Colombia, it was only me and him who knew we were even considering adoption. No one knew. The next morning around 6 am I received a text from a friend I went to high school with and she reached out to tell me how random this was but that she couldn’t not tell me but that she had just had a dream that zeke and I adopted a child. I was just blown away and had tears in my eyes being reminded that the Lord speaks to us in so many ways – even if He wants to reassure your heart that you’ve made the right decisions. He cares about the details of your life. 

So, how can we recognize the voice of God through the Holy Spirit? 

He speaks to us through visions and dreams 

He speaks to us with a whisper

He speaks to us through people

He speaks to us through worship

He speaks to us with His voice

He is a speaking God

The Spirit of the Lord is alive and close. His very nature is to be near. His very nature is to comfort. His very nature is to reveal himself to us. My encouragement to you would be to ask God to speak to you. As simple as you read that. Simply make time to turn some worship music on, be quiet, and just ask Him. He’s waiting. And when He speaks to you, because He will, recognize it, because it will only be the beginning of what is meant to be the most sacred, intimate relationship you will ever have this side of heaven. You will long for it, thirst for it.

But the thing is in order for us to hear Him we have to be willing to quiet the other noises in our lives. He often speaks to our hearts with a whisper or a thought and if the noise in our life is louder than that voice, we won’t hear it. Noise can be anything that is distracting you from being near or familiar with the lord. Wherever your treasure is there your heart will be also. Where is the majority of your time going? What about your thoughts? How are you handling your emotions and who or what are you running to when they overwhelm you?

I think what I want to say most about hearing from the Holy Spirit is that if you want to hear from the Lord, you will. If you want to hear from Him, you’ll quiet the things around you. 

John 14:15 says “If you love me, you’ll follow my commandments.” 

But I’ve always read this verse this way: If you love me you’ll follow my commands – as if God was pointing a finger at us saying do this or that to show your love for me. But that’s not the context of what He’s saying. He’s simply saying if you love me, if your devoted to me, if you adore my heart, the other things will follow in place. You will simply do my commands because you want to not because you have to. That’s the heart of our father. 

So if we want to hear from the Holy Spirit, we will quiet the noise, prepare and make time and room for him, and expect His presence to come, fill, and speak to us. 

If you’re unsure, filled with disbelief, you’re heart is hardened by Him not showing up in your life, whatever it may be. Let this encourage you today. He is gentle and kind. He is waiting for you to call on His name. And His promise is this: “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” James 4:8

Are you thirsty today? God gives us an invitation for that. 

Isaiah 55 – Invitation to the Thirsty

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters … Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. (v1, v3) Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near (v6).”