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Hearing God
How
to Hear God No Matter Where You’re At
Doug Addison
God is speaking all the time, but many people
are either unaware or have not been shown how to hear God or recognize His
still small voice.
I want to share with you some tips I have
learned the hard way while developing my ability to “learn to discern” the
voice of the Lord.
Hearing the voice of God is vital to our
spiritual life and maturity. Jesus modeled this for us by getting up
early to pray and only doing what He saw the Father doing.
God is Speaking
God can speak to us in many different ways. The
most common is through the Bible. This is the basis for everything we hear — it
must line up with and not violate biblical principles.
I am a prophetic seer with years of experience
and testing to do what I do. I started out and advanced the same way that you
do, though.
We are not all prophets, but we do all have
access to hearing God!
Note that Jesus and His disciples operated in
most all of the spiritual gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12.
You have the same access to these gifts through
the Holy Spirit. You might operate in one or two gifts more than the others, but you
still have access to them all.
Perceiving the Source
What is from you, God or the pizza you ate?
The most common question I get asked is how to
tell the difference between God’s voice, your own voice, the voice of the enemy
or others.
In order to discern the source of
revelation, you will need to train yourself. This can easily
be done by starting a few new habits.
“But solid food is for the
mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from
evil.” Hebrews 5:14 NIV
Most people spend more time training to better
their careers, hobbies or sports. There is nothing wrong with doing this,
but you will benefit greatly from also training and learning to discern
God’s voice!
Here are a Few Tips for You to Consider:
1. Ask. If you have not heard the
voice of God, ask Him to speak to you!
2. Record. When you start sensing God
might be saying something, write it down or record it. Down the road, it will
help to study how it came to you. Note if you have peace in your spirit or not.
3. Search. Go back and study the ways
God has spoken to you in the past. You have to become so in touch with
the real voice of God that you can identify other sources.
Resist the urge to focus more on Satan and
demons than God and angels. Satan is a liar!
We need to make room in our lives for hearing
God and seeing angels. This was one of my biggest hurdles early on.
How to Discern
So how can you tell if a prophetic word is from
God, ourselves, or demonic sources?
Discerning God’s messages from those of demonic
sources is easy. Demonic sources will not have the characteristics of God in
them. For example, there might be a lack of peace or it might be fear-driven.
Distinguishing God’s messages apart from our own
thoughts and desires takes time and practice.
I have found that our own thoughts often elevate
ourselves. They can also be legalistic and rule-based, as opposed to reflecting
God’s grace.
Our own ideas will usually come to us once or
twice, but there will be no confirmation. Be careful of false confirmations!
When God has spoken and you pray about it, you
will usually get confirmations. It will be in harmony with biblical principles
and you will have a sense of peace and lack fear.
Keep in mind that if it offends you, it might be
from God because He is trying to get you to change. Peter was offended with
what God said to him in Acts 10 to eat unclean animals.
Peace is the best fleece! Don’t let a bad
experience with hearing God turn you off.
The Goal of Hearing God
The ultimate goal of the prophetic and hearing
God is to know Him better!
“I keep asking that the God of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom
and revelation, so that you may know him better.” Ephesians 1:17 NIV
Doug
Addison is a prophetic dream
interpreter, speaker, writer, Life Coach, and stand-up comedian. Doug travels
the world bringing a message of love, hope, and having fun! His unique style
helps open people to discover their destiny and experience God's supernatural
love and power. Doug is an award-winning author of seven books. He and his wife
Linda live in Los Angeles, California.
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