How do I hear God?

Wow. I was asked this yesterday. How do I hear God? Person asked me to please list this down because it was really difficult for this person to hear anything. I am not an expert. All I can say is I spent 41 years not hearing Him so I can identify with others who are trying desperately to hear Him but can't. I don't think I'm qualified or equipped to teach anyone how exactly to hear Him. I can only tell you the process I went through that allowed me to hear Him. Hopefully, my personal experience can be of some help to others.

God doesn't speak to me in an audible voice. There is no sound. It is the sound of silence (thanks, Simon and Garfunkel!). He speaks to me in my heart and mind. When we have our conversations, it is just like any conversation I have with a human. The usual manners of discourse. I speak. He speaks. I speak. He speaks. But if I speak to much, I sometimes don't calm myself down enough to hear Him. It is NOT a given. I DON'T always hear Him. I especially don't hear Him when I am not in the right frame of mind or if I have not prepared myself to hear Him.

Before I carry on, you are probably wondering, how sure can I be that I am hearing God? Sorry, I cannot say I am certain, if proof is what you need. I have no proof. Does a Christian need proof of God's existence to believe? No. We walk by faith alone. So I walk by faith alone. But can it be myself pretending to hear God? Yes, there is that possibility. Can it be the dark one speaking to me? Yes, I cannot rule that out. So how then do I know that it is really God speaking to me?

I didn't know at first what it was that I was feeling. All I know is that after I received the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit during the Life in the Spirit Seminar in 2009, I started getting promptings from within. There were words, sentences, which wanted to burst forth from me but I didn't know what that feeling was. I just knew that they wanted to come out. Then I learnt from post LISS sessions, that some people are able to 'hear' God. At first, I was too shy to even speak out these sentences or messages that were spurting forth from within me. I'd keep quiet for fear of ridicule. But then, someone else would say out these exact same messages or the words would appear somewhere. After a while, it just became too coincidental. I just knew then, that I was receiving the promptings from God. That was my first foray into being able to 'hear' Him.

Parallel to the above happening, I also started speaking and singing in Tongues. The first day I received the Gift of Tongues, I was already having long and emotional conversations with God. I hardly slept. Were they words from someone else? I doubt. I was given warnings of what was to come just because I had decided to pick up my cross and follow Him. It was to be a huge blessing from God and yet, the road ahead wasn't going to be easy. I was terrified.

Anyhow, that's how it started, In the beginning, I needed to pray in Tongues for a while prior to 'hearing' God. It was especially good if I sang in Tongues prior. Nowadays, I don't need to pray in Tongues first to break into conversation with Him. But I still do. If anything, it's only to ensure that it is God I am speaking to.

I have no proof it is God I hear but I did doubt once and this privilege was taken away from me. When it was gone, I was bereft. I tried and tried but could not hear. It was then that I realised, if it was now gone, then it was there before. I immediately knew that I had made a mistake. Repented and asked for God's forgiveness for my doubt. Thankfully, God saw me fit to hear Him again! So anyone, including you the reader, can doubt or think me crazy for all I care. But I will NEVER doubt that I can hear God.

I have my conversations with God anywhere and anytime I feel like it. If you see me driving and my mouth is moving AND there is no one else in my vehicle, it's God who's in the vehicle with me and I'm talking to Him! : ) Sometimes, I am in Adoration Room. It's hard to say why I need to be there when I can hear Him anywhere else. He has 'summoned' me there before and usually, it's because He has something important to say. I have never asked why it had to be said in Adoration Room but I knew it in my heart that He wanted me to be very sure that the message was coming from Him.

It's really tough when someone tells you to try to hear God. I couldn't for so many years and I had to receive the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit before I did. I had to confess my sins and be a completely empty vessel before I could be filled up by the Holy Spirit. The LISS facilitators prayed over me and they and I invited Holy Spirit to help me receive the Gift of Tongues (yes, I very much desired it) and I did. So praise God. This is in short, how I ended up 'hearing' God. I don't know if I can be hearing Him today if I had not gone through the whole process.

Many amazing things have taken place ever since I started having two-way conversations with God. I was not your typical 'holy holy' person. I am still not even that today. I am cheeky, slightly wild and very much crazy. But God loves me this way any way. You can have this loving relationship with God too. Empty yourself of sins, repent and invite Him into your life. It makes all the difference in the world.