Recently, an agnostic friend asked me why God doesn’t just speak directly to people.  God does speak to people, we just don’t hear Him.  We fail to recognize His voice, His urgings and His calling of us to draw near to Him.

We read in the Bible numerous times of God speaking to His people.  For example: Exodus 3:14; Joshua 1:1; Judges 6:18; 1 Samuel 3:11; 2 Samuel 2:1; Job 40:1; Isaiah 7:3; Jeremiah 1:7 and many others. He spoke to Abraham, Moses, Job, David and the list goes on and on.  God has spoken to me on several occasions.

I guess somewhere throughout our lives we have assumed the notion that when God speaks, it will be some loud, booming voice from heaven.  Maybe it will sound like James Earl Jones.  Yet, in 1 Kings 19:12,  Elijah describes it as a still, small voice.

My agnostic friend lives in Serbia.  I don’t speak Serbian and would not understand a word of it.  Luckily, my friend knows English and thus, we can communicate with one another.  I also have friends who call me and don’t have to say who they are, I simply recognize their voice.  Why?  Because I know them, I have heard their voice repeatedly and because we communicate with each other regularly.

I believe we all want to hear God speak to us, but are we willing to do what it takes to hear Him?  Habakkuk 2:1-2 gives us some great insight into how to hear from God.  Habakkuk 1 I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.  2 Then the LORD replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.

In verse two we see that the Lord replied.  How did Habakkuk know that was God’s voice?  He had been quietly waiting and waiting.  He had fixed his eyes on the Lord.  Our spirit does not have eardrums and yet God speaks directly to our spirit.  When you pray, is it an audible voice that brings the peace or is it a spontaneous thought that catches your soul on fire, brings tears to your eyes and makes you want to shout, “Hallelujah” from the rooftops?

Have you ever been going about your day and suddenly have the thought and desire to pray for someone?  Who do you think put that thought into your mind?  I was driving once and the need to pray for someone came over me.  I call it a need and not a thought, because there was such an urgency in my spirit to pray for this person.  I tried ignoring it at first, until my heart ached, physically ached, so bad for this person I thought I would have a heart attack if I did not pray right then.  I pulled my car over and prayed.  Tears rolling down my eyes.  I had never prayed so feverishly before.  The words just flowed from my mouth and heart.

When you want to hear from God, pray.  Accept the thoughts that come to your mind as you pray.

In verse one, we find Habakkuk standing watch.  When someone is standing watch they are not listening to the radio, watching T.V., playing video games or otherwise distracting themselves.  They are still and quiet, alert for any sounds or movement.  We must take the time to find a quiet place to silence our own thoughts and emotions.  This can be very difficult in today’s society.  Christ often went off alone to pray.  I have often found myself in my own closet (literally) because it was the only quiet place I could find.

It is extremely difficult to “shut off” my mind.  I am always thinking.  If I start my quiet time with a song of worship, it brings my focus to God and this world just seems to slip away.  Experiment and find what works for you.  Whether it be outside, inside, sitting, kneeling, or whatever.  There is no wrong way or place as long as you find time daily to be still with God.

Next, Habakkuk says, “I will look to see”.  He was looking for what?  As he prayed he was looking for a vision from God.  As we open our hearts to God, He in return will open our spiritual eyes to see what He wants to reveal to us.  Throughout the history of the Bible and into today, God has spoken through dreams and visions.  “Open The Eyes Of My Heart” is an amazing song and yet so simple.  Jesus (Emmanuel) is with us, so why shouldn’t we be able to see Him?  Because we don’t take the time to look.

At times we pray to see and the “vision” may come so quickly, so easily that we think we conjured it up ourselves.  Let your faith take over.  What is of God brings peace.  Do you have peace?   Keep track of your visions and soon you will see the hand of God. Jesus was in constant communication with God and we can be too.  What an awesome way to live.

Finally, we see that the Lord instructed Habakkuk in verse two that he was to write down what he saw.  Some of us are really good at journaling and others, not so much.  If you don’t write daily, then attempt to write once a week.  You will be amazed when you look back at your prayer requests, visions, dreams, conversations with God,  and the words spoken from others at how apparent God is in your life.

I have been writing since I was 13 and I still have those journals.  Some our funny, some sad and yet through all of them I can see how God brought me through it all.  I can see the miracles, the answered prayers and my spiritual growth.  I can see the times I drew near to God and the times I willfully separated myself from Him.

If we truly want to hear from God, then we must first know God.  To know God we must read His Word.  We must talk to Him and allow Him to speak to us.

Several years ago I was at a conference at Willow Creek.  It was the final day of the conference and over 7000 of us had just written down our sins and nailed them to the cross.  Everyone was sitting when the worship team began singing, “I Surrender All”.  I was sitting in the third row right in the middle of 7000 people.  I am an introvert and really do not like crowds at all.  I definitely do not ever want to be the center of attention.  With that in mind, this is what happened next.

As the song continued, God asked me, “Do you love me Kitty?”  I replied just as Peter did so many years ago, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love You”.  God replied to me, “Then stand up and worship me”.  I tried explaining to God that no one else was standing up, there were over 7000 people here and they would all see me.  He didn’t really seem to concerned about my self-centered fears.  My heart started beating faster and sweat was pouring down my arms when He asked me again, “Kitty, do you love Me?”  My answer was the same, “Yes, You know I love You.”  Again He told me to stand up and worship Him.  Again, I pleaded my case, explained my fears, my self-consciousness, every excuse I could come up with.

My body was trembling uncontrollably.  I was sure my heart was going to explode out of my chest when for the third and final time God asked, “Kitty, do you love Me?”  I leapt from my seat, hands raised high, tears rolling down my face and cried out, “Yes, Lord, I love You!”.  I know if I had not gotten up that God would have either propelled me from my seat or have let the moment pass.  If the moment had passed, I would have missed out on a life-changing experience.

The “voice” I heard that day was not audible to me or anyone else.  It was spoken directly to my spirit by the love of God.  A spirit that needed to be set free to worship.  I am no longer afraid to worship the way my heart desires.  I raise my hands, I cry, I dance, I sing loud (and off key) as if no one is watching, except for God.  I have been able to teach Livvy to worship the same way.  You can view this link to see how a child comes to her Father.  http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1242779349902

I will never be the same because I was able to recognize the voice, the urging, the call of my Lord.  Let Him speak to you today.