How Do I Listen to God?

1. The Bible.
• The Bible is God’s Words.  If I want to know what God says about a certain topic or issue, I can read the Scriptures (Old Testament and New Testament) and find out.
• For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.  Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.  Heb 4:12
• After being tempted by the devil, Jesus answered the devil from Scripture (only the Old Testament at that time):  “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Mat 4:4, Jesus was quoting from Deut 8:3.
• “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Mat 7:24
2. Through angels.
• In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”  Luke 1:26
• Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.  Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.  Luke 1:8-13
• Okay… thus far in my life, an actual angel has not appeared to me that I know of.  But I believe this can happen as God wills.
3. Through dreams.
• This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,because he will save his people from their sins.”  Matt 1:18-21
• I have dreamt dreams where an angel speaks to me on behalf of God.  It is a very scary experience indeed.  Not because the angels themselves are scary, but because… you know, I don’t even know why I was scared.  I guess I have a certain fear of the unknown and powerful.  I don’t remember all of these dreams—unless I write things down, they get forgotten.  I remember one vaguely, but they’re personal… nothing that pertains to others.  However, I can say that I asked this ‘angel’ a question and I got my answer.  It was one of those moments where if you’re ever in front of God, what would you ask, kind of moment.  For some reason, the answers are always so simple and they’re always in the Bible.  I’ve only shared this with two people in my life before.  Trust me, it’s nothing great about me… it’s how great our God is.