{"id":5980,"date":"2018-11-07T13:50:09","date_gmt":"2018-11-07T19:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedisciplemaker.org\/?p=5980"},"modified":"2018-11-07T13:50:09","modified_gmt":"2018-11-07T19:50:09","slug":"does-god-really-speak-to-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2018\/11\/does-god-really-speak-to-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Does God Really Speak to Us?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It was my very first class in a PhD program. The professor opened the session with a lecture on epistemology, which I quickly learned was the theory of knowledge. My head spinning, I took copious notes on the various views regarding how we know what we know, until these words stopped me short: \u201cDivine Revelation? They believed that in the Middle Ages.\u201d<\/p>\n

With one sentence, my professor had dismissed a premise on which I\u2019ve built my entire spiritual life, which is that God speaks personally to his children today.<\/strong> In fact, that was why I was even in that program. It had begun one morning a couple of years earlier in a conversation with God, when I sensed him asking me: \u201cIf you could do anything you wanted for the rest of your life, what would it be?\u201d I knew the answer immediately\u2014I would teach college students how to grow in their spiritual journeys. This became the impetus for my PhD quest.<\/p>\n

Does God Speak Today?<\/h3>\n

One of the first hurdles we must get beyond in conversational prayer is doubt that God really speaks to human beings. Our enlightenment culture teaches us to value only what we can see and touch, or that which can be tangibly investigated and proven. We have no idea how we have been subtly influenced to go along with a world view that dismisses spiritual experiences out of hand.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Conversational prayer relies on communion between our spirit and the Spirit of God; the God who spoke the world into being, who calls himself the Word<\/span>. We must embrace these things in faith if we hope to hear him speaking into our lives. For some of us, this begins by recognizing and acknowledging any hidden bias about supernatural realities.<\/p>\n

How Can I Know It Is God?<\/h3>\n

The second area of struggle is whether we are hearing God or our own imaginations in conversational prayer. Discernment here is important, but like every other spiritual discipline, we only learn by doing. We don\u2019t expect teachers to be profound the first time they share, nor do we think we should pray perfectly from the start. We must be trained in anything that promises to help us grow in our spiritual journeys. Thus, as we spend time with God, listening and relating, testing what we hear over time, we will mature in our ability to discern his voice as it becomes more and more familiar to us.<\/p>\n

Some basic guidelines here are helpful. For example, we know that God will never speak something that contradicts his character or ways, nor will he violate his written Word. Hearing God in conversational prayer is also not some strange thus saith the Lord <\/span>experience, but more like a heart-to-heart talk with a good friend. God is a person who knows us intimately, and to that end, his words will be uniquely personal, reflecting our relationship. This means that the wisdom he imparts or the encouragement he offers usually comes to us in ways that fit with our personality. We don\u2019t have to become something other than who we are to engage in conversational prayer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Personally, I am not greatly concerned with whether I am imagining God\u2019s voice. His Spirit joins my spirit, crying \u201cAbba, Father,\u201d and I doubt that I\u2019ll ever be able to separate these out perfectly. If I sense God is speaking, I usually jot it down, and watch to see how it will pan out over time. Do I miss him or make mistakes? Yes. But even in this, God is training me, so I do not have to fear getting it wrong. Still, most of the time the things I sense that I hear him saying in conversational prayer bring depth, direction, and meaning to the details of my day.<\/p>\n

Practicing Prayer: On Your Own<\/h3>\n

Let’s get practical here!
\nOne of the most meaningful ways to converse with God is over Scripture. Today you can do this in three simple steps:<\/strong> Stop, Look, and Listen. First, choose a passage you would like to pray through (around 10-15 verses\u2014the Gospels are a good place to begin).
\nPrepare your heart to hear God\u2019s voice by seeking to:<\/p>\n