Encountering God in His Word: No longer active

How Do You Hear From God?

Many people have asked me how I hear from God in His Word. After much thought and research of various Bible reading programs, I realized that most focus on learning about God, but not on encountering Him. Soon it dawned on me, “let others see how you encounter God in His Word.” These “encounters,” as I call them are what I do during my personal time in God’s Word. I dialogue with the Lord and He dialogues with me. I ask questions of Him and He asks questions of me. As I open communication lines with the Lord, He shows me things about myself, things that are going on, situations I need to learn from, and things He wants me to know, to name a few. I encourage you to do the same.

A few suggestions:

1. Ask the Holy Spirit to not only open your heart to learn what He is showing you, but also to have a willing spirit to personally apply what He has shown you.

2. If you need to stop and speak with God in the midst of your study, go ahead and do so. This is not a race or a ritual, it’s an encounter.

3. As you encounter God in His Word, remember that He also will speak to you in prayer, life circumstances, the church, and others.

4. You may want to keep notes of what God is showing you as you read or as He reveals a truth to you through a circumstance or another person.

5. Lastly and most importantly! If you are going to encounter God, it’s important that you ask good questions, but it’s more important that you LISTEN TO HIS GOOD ANSWERS! Remember, just because you listened to God, doesn’t mean you’ve done what He said. Do what He says and He will show you more of what you need to know.