When was the last time you heard God speak to you? To you alone, that is, in a personal and individual way? You might be surprised by this question and ask, “Don’t we hear from Him through the Bible, every time we read it? Isn’t that sufficient? All that is written there is for me – I don’t need any other messages but Scripture.”

Here’s how I’d reply: “Of course He uses His written Word to speak to us. Most of us can testify to times when the Holy Spirit highlighted a passage or verse and we heard God ‘speak to us’ in an individual, personal way. Those experiences are exciting, comforting, maybe even sobering when they happen. And they keep us coming back for more, don’t they? That’s because there’s nothing quite as wonderful as hearing something personal from our loving Father.”

But maybe we need to expand our expectations beyond the occasional highlighted verse from Scripture. God wants to speak to us all the time, just as parents want to be in conversation with their children on an everyday basis. What parent would be content to hand their kids a handbook of principles to live by and a collection of family history and never interact with them about how it applies to their everyday lives? Good parents understand that their children need constant instruction, encouragement, and on occasion a swift administration of discipline to help them grow up into mature adults.

When I first came to know Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I was keenly aware of His voice. Mostly He spoke to me through Scripture, but I also “heard” from Him in other ways too. The Holy Spirit was so active in my life that I could receive instruction and encouragement from nature and other Christians at times. And on occasion I received a personal word to me (in my spirit) from God himself, helping me see that I needed to change my attitude and/or behavior.

Sometimes these “words” were simple questions, like Jesus often used in the Gospels, to cause me to reflect on what I was saying or doing. At other times, I received specific instructions about a particular circumstance that had been troubling me. His decisive instructions made all the difference in knowing which way to go, and saved me lots of time and trouble. Of course, I still had to make the choice about whether I would obey His word or not.

These specific interactions came out of the blue, usually when I least expected them. And they certainly didn’t come very often. I didn’t have the power to “summon” them when I desperately wanted them to come. I just needed to be open to the possibility of Him speaking in this way. Why He chooses to speak directly to us on one subject and not another is one of the mysteries of God’s sovereignty. He knows when we need to hear from Him in this way and it’s best to leave it in His hands.

I think we’re all a little cautious about this idea of God speaking to us in our spirits. We’ve all heard about mental patients who claimed they heard God speak to them, telling them to do something horrific. So we tend to associate spiritual conversations and voices in our heads with delusion, maybe even demons. It’s all so ethereal and hard to pin down that we tend to shy away from the whole idea. But should we be deprived of this awesome spiritual resource by those who erroneously claim to have heard from Him? Can’t the children of God expect to hear from their Father in a variety of ways to help them grow up into His image?

Throughout the historical record of both the Old and New Testaments we can see God reaching out and engaging men and women in profound dialogue on a regular basis. He seems to delight in conversing with them about the important matters of life – faith, obedience, love, sacrifice. Often men turned a deaf ear to His voice, but He continued to call throughout human history. As it says in Job 33:14, “God does speak – now one way, now another – though man may not perceive it.”

Finally, He came in person to show us the way back to Him. As Jesus was leaving the earth, He assured His disciples that He was not forsaking them. He would send the blessed gift of the Holy Spirit to guide them, comfort them, teach them, and discipline them in the ways of God. In other words, He would continue to speak to them on a daily basis. Their role in the relationship would be the same as any child: to hear and heed, then obey His voice.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to know God in such intimacy that, like Moses, you could speak to Him “face to face, as a man speaks with his friend” (Exodus 33:11)? Or to be so trusted by God, as Abraham was, that He let you in on what He planning to do on the earth? (See Genesis 18:16-33.) To enjoy that kind of fellowship, you’ll need to speak often to the Lord and let Him speak to you – freely sharing your hearts and common purposes and finding ways to fulfill His good plans for the world together (as the apostle Paul did).

One thing’s for certain: If we aren’t expecting to hear from God, we likely won’t. We will continue to stumble through life on our own resources, doing the best we can with our limited understanding of how to live a godly life, but often failing because we are too distracted, too blind to the real situation we are facing, too busy to get alone with God, and too proud to cry for help. The spiritually keen among us are different – they realize how desperately they need the help of the Holy Spirit and they actively pursue the voice of God every day.

A.W. Tozer (in his book The Pursuit of God) describes them in this way: “One vital quality which they had in common was spiritual receptivity. Something in them was open to heaven, something which urged them Godward. They had spiritual awareness … and they went on to cultivate it until it became the biggest thing in their lives. They differed from the average person in that when they felt the inward longing they did something about it. They acquired the lifelong habit of spiritual response.”

When I was a brand-new Christian, my relationship with God took first place in my heart, my goals, and my life. Nothing was as important as hearing His voice and learning how to follow Him better. Now, as an older Christian, I have to work a little harder at cultivating that day-to-day speaking relationship with Him. Perhaps it’s because I know more now and I tend to rely on what I’ve already learned about walking with Him. Perhaps I’m lazy about carving out time to spend alone with Him. Or maybe I’ve let other things in life compete with my allegiance to Him. Whatever the reasons, I am determined to rediscover the joy of communing with Him daily and hearing His voice speaking to my spirit about how to better reflect His glory in my life. Is that your desire too?

David, the man after God’s own heart, knew how important it was to pursue Him with passion. In Psalm 27 he declares, “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple … when thou said, Seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.” (vv. 4, 8)

The boy Samuel was confused when he heard God’s voice for the first time. He kept hearing his name being called and he assumed it was Eli, the elderly priest, calling him. Three times he got up out of bed and asked Eli what he wanted. Then Eli finally figured out what was happening and told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening’” (1 Samuel 3:9).

Like Samuel, and all the great servants of God, we will get better at recognizing God’s voice with experience. A few things are helpful to keep in mind. He will not say to us something contrary to His written word, the Bible. His voice, even when He speaks to us in discipline and rebuke, will not seem condemning or unloving. He’s our Father. He wants the best for us and believes in us, just like any good parent. So if we “hear” something that makes us feel discouraged or causes us to despair of ever doing better, that’s the voice of the Accuser of the brethren, not our loving heavenly Father.

We likely won’t hear an audible voice (though He did speak this way at Jesus’ transfiguration and at Paul’s conversion in Acts 9). We can’t rule out any way God might choose to speak to us; after all, He used a donkey with Balaam and addressed a wicked king by writing on a wall. But today, we have the Holy Spirit living within us. He will be the means by which God speaks to our hearts in almost every case. We’ll be aware that the thoughts we are receiving aren’t coming from our own mind, and by knowing Scripture well we can assess whether the “other voice” is God or our enemy.

Seeking God on a regular basis and being receptive to His voice are keys that unlock an intimate relationship with Him. If we want to be on good speaking terms with our Father, we need to cultivate our receptivity and be open to hearing from Him however and whenever He chooses to address us. Jesus told His disciples, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63).

Let God speak to you about the issues that really matter in life. If we heed His voice and obey Him, we will find true life and enjoy sweet fellowship with the One who loves to speak to His children.