When Was The Last Time You Heard God Speak?

It saddens me when I hear Christians comment that they don't know how to tell when God is talking to them.  Far worse is when I hear a conversation between two believers and they state that they are unsure if they have ever heard God speak to them.  If you feel like you fit into one of these categories please keep reading.

I find prayer to be so important to my personal walk with Christ that I own several books that discuss prayer and how God communicates with His children.  One of those books is Hearing God: Developing A Conversational Relationship With God.  I am currently reading this book for the second time.  I would like to briefly describe how Dr. Willard explains how God communicates with us.  First off God has and I believe continues to communicate through dreams, visions, and angels.  However, I do not believe that we always know that we are entertaining angels when it happens.

   “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” (Hebrews 13:2, ESV)

  Also, another warning is that dreams, visions, and angels are not the norm for God communicating with His children.  Instead, Dr. Willard explains that these forms of communication are often not very clear.  Moreover, he goes on to say that God tends to use these fireworks of communication when a person is still young in their faith and/or to bring others to faith in Him.

He argues that the primary way that God communicates with His people is not through these kinds of spiritual fireworks, but instead through the still small voice of the Holy Spirit who indwells every believer.

   “And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”” (1 Kings 19:11–13, ESV)

With that said I would like to begin a weekly conversation with you concerning how you can better hear that still small voice speak to you and know the difference between hearing God and hearing yourself.  So please leave comments and/or questions below or on my Facebook page and I will do my best to answer them with the help of scripture and a few favorite books of mine on prayer.