So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ (Romans 10:17). 

 
I learned about hearing God a few years ago through a personal experience during my vacation.

The final flight

It was the end of my annual vacation. I only had a weekend before I had to return to work. My parents planned to visit me. I felt uneasy about their plans and expressed my concerns, but they laughed it off. They were determined to travel to me.

Having resigned myself to the fact that my parents would travel despite my warnings, I needed something to keep me from worrying. I had to occupy my mind and do something constructive. I wanted to keep my eyes on the things above, rather than the things of the earth. I decided to listen to a recording of a story I had borrowed from a coworker.

I settled down and listened. I don’t remember much about it. It was a story about the final flight that Jesus piloted. The passengers were excited to board the airplane. Those who saw them off at the airport were sad and heartbroken. 

After the story ended, I decided to listen to it a second time. As soon as I had listened to it again, the telephone rang. It was a matron from a hospital in a town along the route my parents traveled. She informed me that my parents had been in an accident. Their car veered off the road and rolled a couple of times. My mother had been killed, and my father was in an ambulance, on his way to a hospital nearer to me.

Though the news shocked me, I felt strangely comforted by the recording I had listened to before the phone call. I realized later that I started listening to the recording when my parents left their home, and I finished listening in time to receive the call. It was as if God prepared me for the news of my mother’s death. During the time I listened to the recording, my mother boarded the final flight.

I went to the hospital to await my father’s arrival. Having found comfort, I was able to comfort my father. I stayed with my father until he was transferred to a hospital in the city that was better equipped to deal with his injuries. 

God had blessed me with a short time with my father, until he too succumbed to his injuries.

Throughout this ordeal, I was conscious of God’s presence, and His comfort. I knew that He was with me, and that He would give me the courage and strength I needed at this time.

Hearing God’s voice

Though I experienced God’s presence, I have never heard God’s voice. 
I don’t know what God’s voice sounds like, yet He often speaks to me. It sounds contradictory, but it is not. God speaks to me in various ways. I am sure He speaks to you in different ways. We must be willing to listen.

God prompts me, or speaks to me through His Word, sermons, devotionals, preachers, teachers, friends, and sometimes strangers. He has spoken to me through dialogue in movies, books I read, or stories I have listened to. At times, God speaks to me in dreams, just as He spoke to Paul. 

That night Paul had a vision: A man from Macedonia in northern Greece was standing there, pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” (Acts of the Apostles 16:9).

Often, when there are major changes in my life, God prepares me ahead of time through dreams. 

I recall many instances, when a dream, Bible verse or a specific word stirred my spirit. Whenever I listened, and acted on it, it turned out for my good. 

Have you heard God’s voice? Did you act on it? What happened?