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When God Speaks

Yes, I heard an audible voice…was it the Lord speaking to me? There is no other explanation. My journey back to the Fathers house was almost complete. I could see it in the distance. He had been drawing me for months through the teachings of the two pastors at our church. I was living under constant conviction of the double life I led for so many years. At home I was a father and husband who gave the appearance of being a really good guy that cared about his family. Yes, I loved my children and wife, but I led a double life…the reality was very different.

At home I was dad and husband…on the road I was a wild man that partied like a rock star, drinking and carousing when not working. On the night I heard His voice it was a simple request, “Don’t drink tonight, watch what goes on with your friends.” What I saw would forever changed my life.


My friends where having a large time as the alcohol flowed. The more they drank, the loser they got with their language and how they looked at the women in the club. I saw in an instant what I became when I drank..I did not like it and knew it had to change. That evening was a turning point in my life and my relationship with the Lord…I was forever changed. I stopped drinking completely soon after that night.

I have not heard that voice again, however, the Lord continues to speak to me through the scriptures, devotionals, friends, family and the circumstances of life. As my relationship has grown with Him, discerning His path for my life has become easier. The same can happen for you, it normally starts with a simple request.

Blessings

When God Speaks
by Os Hillman

…”The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” – Judges 6:12

Has God ever spoken directly to you in such a way that you knew that it was actually His voice speaking to you specifically? I don’t mean just an appropriate verse of Scripture, or a circumstance that seemed probable that it was God. I am talking about a situation that you know that you know it was the God of the universe speaking directly to you.

In the book Experiencing God, authors Henry Blackaby and Claude King say that one of seven important steps to experiencing God in everyday life is how God speaks to us. “God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways.” [Henry Blackaby and Claude King, Experiencing God (Nashville, Tennessee: LifeWay Press, 1990), 225]

You can examine the life of every major character in the Bible and see this principle expressed in the way God worked in each of their lives.

One of the ways God speaks is through others. God often used others to speak to individuals, especially in the Old Testament when God often spoke through the prophets. This is still one of the ways He speaks today.

Several years ago I was in a church on the west coast that I had never been in before. I was in the midst of a tremendous trial. Three people prayed for me, and as they did, they began to describe a picture that was reflective of my life since I was a young Christian. It was a very accurate picture of my life. About a year later a man from Virginia prayed with me in my office. After our prayer time, he began to describe what he had just seen as a picture of my life. It was the same picture that had been described a year earlier. A year after that I was on a trip overseas and a man from England whom I had never met before came to me. He and I had a time of prayer together, and at the end of our prayer time he described a picture he had just seen in his mind while we were praying. Again, it was the same type of picture as the two previous encounters. Only this time, one element was added that was important for me to know related to what God was doing in my life at that time. When God chooses to speak into our lives through others, it can be an incredible blessing. He speaks in many ways. This is just one of them.

God desires to encourage us by speaking to us. He does this in many ways. The next time someone speaks into your life, prayerfully consider whether God is using that person to convey something important He wants you to know.

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