Have you heard the voice of God? How to know if it really is He who speaks and not ourselves?
At the beginning of the Bible we find a verb that is linked to God throughout the Holy Book: “God said” (Gen. 1.3). Throughout Scripture, we see that the Lord maintains an intimate relationship with man, which is based on dialogue. The Book of the Bible itself is a means He uses to speak to us. But you heard the voice of God? How do you know if it is really He who speaks, and not ourselves? He speaks only to perfect people?
We can be shocked to observe the lives of the saints and to note the level of dialogue they had with God. Santa Teresa, for example, on one occasion she was traveling fell into a mud puddle. Then she looked at the sky and said, “Lord, why are there so many difficulties on the road if I am fulfilling your orders?”. The Lord answered her, “Teresa, do you not know that’s how I treat my friends?”. She replied: “Oh, Lord, so that’s why you have so few.”
How to Hear God?
God wants to be close to the man, create intimacy and friendship with him. Observe, for example, God’s relationship with Adam. When creating it, the Lord allowed him to name the whole creation and warned of the forbidden fruit. The Lord God also said: ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a help appropriate to it ‘”(cf. Gn 2,15s). Consider the proximity with which God kept man! He created us to get along in His intimacy.
There is a path to be followed to reach a close listen to God, however, it is a path, not a formula, because there is a big mistake to seek uniformity when we listen to the Lord. He made us unique and loves us with a particular love, therefore, He speaks to us in a unique way, individually.The Lord uses of language in which we are accustomed, He speaks the language we understand.
So let’s look at some important steps in this experience:
– Seek God. This is obvious, but it needs to be said. We do not hear the Lord if we do not seek Him. God is a person, and when we want to talk with a person we seek ways to get close to him. Seek moments to be with the Lord, one with him, no cell, no music, no reading, only the Father. “When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father” (Mt 6,6) .
– Say what you want to talk Many sufferers because they get their head all filled up during prayer, thinking of many things,looking at many things and are easily distracted.. What can help is to get to the chapel, talk to God all you want, spend ten minutes cleaning the mind, speaking of tiredness, work, family, and after that, a little silence.
– The desire to listen, sometimes hinders. Often create anxiety and expectations that hinder us. The tension does not help that our hearts find the heart of God. It is important that there is freedom in being with him, no obligations, no charges. Be with Him freely.
– Silence. We are talking about dialogue, a great difficulty of human relationships is found in the question: “Do we learn to listen to each other.” Stirring and fast-paced society that we live always leaves us in a hurry, wanting everything for now. So, we do not let people talk; we anticipate the speech of the other. We want to guess what he will say. The same way that we act with people, agitation, transferred to God. After a time of prayer, saying whatever God wants, it is important to make time for Him to speak, silence is necessary in the environment and in our hearts. A gpinciple of good listening is time to give another talk.
God really spoke to me?
We found ourselves sometimes with this doubt. For this, we must always bear in mind that the Lord does not contradict itself. So if what we hear is against any law that He has instituted against love of each other or against the Church, it’s easy to know that does not come from Him.
As we create intimacy with the Lord, we recognize His voice more quickly in our consciousness. He also tells us the facts in the Bible through music or through another person. Particularly, I’ve heard a moment’s contemplation of the Eucharistic Jesus. The Lord has also spoke directly to my heart. In another moment, he answered my question through a fact: I was wondering if it was the will of Him that something happened in my life, and things are explained in a way, I saw the hand of God working on me .
.. Given the experiences I bring, there is an important point that proves, really, if God spoke to me When He speaks, His words echo long, and what He says is fulfilled “What he said, I will execute; which conceived, will perform “(Isaiah 46.11). God is faithful to what he says! And what He says is recorded for us, does not go out, because His voice echoes in our existence.
The Lord desires to grow, with each of His children, a personal and intimate relationship. Pray and ask the Holy Spirit that intimacy, because he is the mediator.
May the Lord give us an open heart and ears to listen to His voice.
José Paulo Pereira Neves was born in Bahia, Brazil. He is a missionary of Canção Nova Community and serves on the New Technologies of TVCN sector. Twitter:paulopereiraCN