6 Ways to Hear From God & Listen to Him

Hi Sis!

In today’s quick tip Tuesday, I answer Tara’s question, “How do you hear from God on your purpose and in your life?” I prayed over this and dug deep into my own life on how we can hear from God. Plus, how to listen to Him with intention. This episode shares 6 specific tangible ways that I believe you can begin growing close to Him!

Re-heat that coffee and get some comfies on friend, take a seat.

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION:

(00:00):
It’s time for Quick Tip Tuesday. You guys ready? This is such a great question from Tara Nash. You’re going to be challenged, I think through this question and through this answer, and I’m really excited to give her my 2 cents on this topic. So get ready or about to go deep.

(00:22):
Hey Stefanie! My name is Tara Nash. My question for you is how do I listen to God? I pray. I meditate and I need to really figure out how to listen for it. How that’s I’m getting those messages. Thank you so much. You’re awesome. I’m so glad to have found you.

(00:53):
Hi Tara. Thank you for your vulnerability. Thank you for asking this question. And I feel so honored that you asked it of me. I’ve come up with six things. I want to share with you today about how to hear from God. And I first want to preface this with hearing from God, hearing from Him and really getting that closeness with God it is definitely a journey and it’s even in a way, a learned skill of teaching us how to seek Him and find Him and grow closer to Him.

(01:24):
And that’s going to be an evolution and a journey. So just know it’s a journey that you can live out with excited anticipation. And I would recommend go back Tara and check out my episode 351 Religion versus Relationship, and really understanding that closeness. It’s just so everything. So episode 351, I recommend that you go check that out, but let me do my best here to give you these six things of how to hear from God.

(01:55):
Number one, how we hear from God is through His word. John 1:1 says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. So cool. So God’s primary way of talking to us. And speaking to us is through His word, which is the Bible. It’s not just this old book, but it’s the actual authoritative word of God. It is the absolute truth.

(02:28):
And when we read it, we’re hearing from Him, we are seeing an internalizing His words, we’re planting seeds and truths in our heart. We’re getting direction. We’re connecting with Him. It’s all in scripture. So I had a hard time with this one when I was getting started with scripture, because I kept trying to read it from Genesis forward and the old Testament.

(02:49):
While it’s absolutely in my opinion, super relevant, I would recommend starting with the new Testament with a Bible that you can understand like NLT the new living trans translation is a great one or NIV version or the Christian standard Bible. And start with Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John. Those are some great ways to begin hearing from God. And it’s just so relevant for your life today.

(03:15):
Number two, sometimes God speaks to us through other people and obviously be super discerning of this one, be mindful and careful because we have to be discering of who people are and what they’re saying to us. So sometimes God chooses to deliver His messages through other people. This is something that I’m not searching for. It’s just something that naturally happens.

(03:39):
Someone will get in my Voxer or email me or something and say, Stef, you know, I have a word for you or Stef I had a dream about this thing, or, Hey, Stef, I had like this experience that I felt compelled to share with you and God is speaking through them to me, but it’s not something that I’m looking for. So I just wanted to put that out there.

(03:59):
Number three, God can speak to us through our circumstances. You know, I’ve been through so many times in my life that felt really painful, or that felt like I wasn’t hearing from Him. Maybe I was like uncomfortable in some way or I had this business breakdown or something was going on with a sick family member that I didn’t understand, but the Lord is always at work,Tara.

(04:22):
And sometimes we don’t understand what He is doing, but He is teaching us. He is preparing us. There is perseverance that comes through our pain and there is purpose that’s born of every pain that we go through. And I really think if you’re in one of those seasons of Oh, I’m not hearing from you and I’m feeling frustrated, I’m feeling lost in this season.

(04:49):
I want to start a podcast, but I don’t know what’s my purpose. And I would love to hear from you, Lord, what are you trying to say to me through this circumstance? You know, what are you trying to show me? How can I hear from you, Father? Like sometimes it’s even just asking Him how to hear from Him that leads us closer to Him. It’s that vulnerability. So our circumstances have so many lessons and so much intimacy with Christ hidden inside.

(05:15):
Number four. Another way we hear from God is our own personal conviction. And this is Holy Spirit when we surrender and we say, Lord, Jesus, you are my Lord. You are my savior. I am here for this. I welcome you into my heart and my life. And I want to live by your truth. And I want to be filled with your love and your purpose.

(05:39):
You know, Holy Spirit come, there’s this conviction that starts to happen, that starts to direct our lives. And there’s no more searching. You know, God is not a God of confusion, but we are people of confusion. You know, our flesh is constantly battling with our spirit to confuse us and to keep us in this state of unrest and discontentment.

(06:02):
So we have to decide to lay down our fleshly, you know, confusion truly and pick up Holy Spirit conviction and say, God, I’m here, Holy Spirit lead me and then through that be obedient when we get that tug, so Holy Spirit conviction.

(06:20):
Number five, the fifth way that we hear from God is through prayer. And, you know, prayer is such a fun way of communicating with God. We can have a two way conversation with the Lord. And sometimes that two way conversation is prayer and stillness.

(06:37):
And you mentioned that you’re praying and meditating, and I think that’s wonderful. And I just challenge you to think about, are you asking the right questions of God? Are you being vulnerable? Are you pulling scripture in, are you meditating on His word? Are you meditating on the answers that God wants to give you, are you opening your heart up to how He wants to plant truths in your life?

(06:58):
And maybe just really exploring that and doing an inventory of the way that you’re praying and meditating? You know, because in the beginning, I didn’t understand that I could have a personal relationship, a two-way conversation with God. I didn’t know that there was this depth to who He was and how I could get to know Him.

(07:19):
And again, I recommend that episode that I mentioned at the beginning of today’s episode for you to really dig into that, but seek His guidance and then be still, and which is actually number six. So pray. And the number six is stillness. You know, instead of running around with our millions of to-do lists, I think for me, it was like this constant trying to force my purpose to become clear, trying to force my, what is it, God? What you want me to do next? What do I?

(07:45):
And sometimes God’s answer is like, wait for me, you know, I have this perfect timing for you. I have this perfect purpose for you, but you’re not ready, daughter. And I know that me chasing after these answers, you know, it was all in his perfect timing and that just made me stress out and it just made me chase after things that I could have avoided all of that self-inflicted stress and trauma.

(08:17):
If I would have just said, Lord, what do you want for me? I’m here, I’m excited in the waiting and then I was still enough to hear from Him because again, God has perfect plans for you. You have a purpose, you have plans, Jeremiah 29:11, He has got you covered.

(08:38):
So Tara, those are the six things I have for you, how to hear from God, at least in my own life. Again, it’s a journey. It’s an evolution. So let’s pray together, friend. Lord, I lift up Tara right now and anyone else that’s listening to this episode, who’s been struggling to hear from you. And they are yearning to connect with you, Father at a deeper level.

(09:00):
And they are searching for answers. They are searching for your hand on their life and your favor on their business and whatever that breakthrough is for them to walk out their purpose with you, for them to step into their calling, Lord. I pray with them in agreement with them now, Lord, that you would just open the doors to communication in their hearts that you would come in and the Holy Spirit would just activate in their lives, in their hearts and in their minds.

(09:26):
And you would give them divine downloads through scripture, through prayer, through dreams, through other people and trustworthy mentors through any means that you have for them, Lord, for them to know it’s you, for them to be convicted, that you are giving them guidance and direction and clarity over their next steps.

(09:47):
Lord, I ask you to remove any confusion from their minds. I ask you to cast down anything that’s not from you for them to be able to focus purely solely and excitedly on your direction, your path, your books, and heaven for them and for them to hear that revelation, Lord.

(10:05):
We’re so excited that you were not a God of confusion. We say yes and amen to that promise that you give to us in scripture, Lord. And we are just so excited to hear the absolute clarity through your word, through scripture. And we ask you to allow those pages to come to life, to be seeds that are planted in our hearts for the words to come and leap off the page and create transformation in our lives.

(10:30):
And we are just so thankful that we get to have a relationship with you, conversations with you, experience your presence, Lord, and I ask that you would just pour into every woman and man listening to this podcast and show them an incredible experience of knowing you so deeply. We’re thankful. We love you. We trust you so much in Jesus’ name. Amen. I’ll see you guys back on Thursday for another episode.

(10:59):
Hope this blessed you. And if you want to get featured on the show and have a quick question for me on anything that has to do with being a Christian entrepreneur, a God led business owner, you’re stuck in your business. You’re trying to get clarity. You don’t know what the podcast about next, or you’re not making money or you don’t know how to scale, whatever it might be.

(11:19):
I want you to head to stefaniegass.com, scroll all the way down and click the Ask Stef button. I can’t wait to hear from you. I can’t wait to serve you. And to answer your question on the next round of Quick Tip Tuesday. God bless you, friend.