The Speaker
God is kind of like a museum, it doesn't matter how many times you go, every time you do you'll find something new and interesting, and its impossible to see everything in a single outing. Of course that's kind of limiting to who God really is, but its true at the same time. Every time I've decided I want to go deeper into God and His love and character, I find all sorts of new things.
That's definitely been the case with this DTS. Every topic that's been spoken on so far has been a topic I've thought about, but truly diving into these things is really a cool experience. So far we've been into the nature and character of God, relationships, biblical history, the father heart of God, and recognizing God's voice. Each are topics that are meant to be studied over more than just a week, but even just a week(or a few days in some cases) is enough to really get you thinking about just how deep and broad God is(spoiler: He's infinite)
That being said, this week the topic was recognizing God's voice. This is a topic that most people don't think about enough, or think too much about. However, it really is a simple one once you get into the groove of learning how God speaks to you.
Everyone is different, this is just God's design, which means that God's speaks to everyone in his or her own way. For some people that could be pictures or visions, others it could be words. Of course anyone can experience any type of communication because God isn't limited to anything, but God knows how you hear and learn best. For me, I have a very keen sense of my conscience, or my gut as some people like to put it. This means that if I'm thinking about doing something, I'm pretty good at recognizing the Holy Spirit guiding me toward a "yes this is good" or a "no this is bad".
A lot of times, I would think that these thoughts were my own and I would sometimes ignore them in favor of my own desires, but through this week I've really learned to discern the Holy Spirit's voice. When asking about things during prayer, a lot of times I would immediately get some kind of word or feeling and would most of the time just disregard it for another one of my own thoughts, never taking the time to stop and think about them. Recently, however, I've been learning to question and test those things and to trust that the Holy Spirit can put words into my head for me.
Earlier this week during a lecture, our speaker gave us an activity, she had us write down about six or seven things that often are things that bring us farther from God. She then challenged us to pray about which thing God wanted to work on in us, and then to ask for words about it. At first I had a feeling that I knew which topic He wanted to work on, but as I started to pray, I started getting words for another topic, and so I started writing down what I felt God was saying. As I was writing things down, I realized that God's words were becoming clearer and clearer. All this to say that really listening and trusting that you're hearing the Lord is a great way to figure out how he speaks to you.
I challenge you, as a reader, to really try listen to things God is saying to you. Get out a pen and a piece of paper and pray for words from God and just writing everything down, even if you're sure that what you're hearing is from Him. That way, you'll start to really understand how He speaks to you personally.
