Spêak - Saili Falealoto
Spêak
So the question posed was; what does it mean to hear God speak?
Immediately, Matthew 3:16 sprung to mind. For those who may not be familiar with this verse, allow me to quickly paraphrase; Jesus was baptised, the heavens opened and the audible voice of God was heard saying, ‘This is my son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased’.
Hearing God speak is glorious but for me to say it's always this obvious would be a lie.
"Hearing God speak is glorious but for me to say it's always this obvious would be a lie."
Personally, being able to hear God speak can come at many different times in many different ways. Truth is, he's always speaking to you. Whether or not you can hear Him though, is a different story. I can say with confidence that; it is easier to ignore the voice of God than it is to listen to it. Sadly, that is the truth.
However, in saying so, I also have confidence in the fact that, ‘He will never leave you nor forsake you’ (Deuteronomy 31:6), that ‘the Lord your God is with you wherever you go’ (Joshua 1:9) and that His ‘word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path’ (Psalm 119:105).
God is always with you, we just have to position ourselves to be able to hear Him.
I grew up in a big Christian family, but we never really went to church, well not consistently anyway. I had an idea of who God was but I wouldn't say I knew Him or even had confidence in the fact that He was real. However that all changed when God spoke to me.
I was fourteen. I grew up quite an anxious child but I was also extremely competitive as well. As a result I often found myself comparing myself to others. Which I'm sure is normal for your average teen, but the constant question of whether or not I was good enough, was one I could never get out of my head. I also found that the first thing that the anxiety took from me was my voice. I struggled to speak to my peers, my friends, and at some point my family. For some weird reason I chose to do music while I was at school. So a lot of my performances (because I'm a vocalist) were not good. At all.
My cousin, who was oblivious to my inner turmoil, came down to Sydney from Queensland for Presence, a massive C3 conference, and after inviting me to go many times I finally and reluctantly said yes.
The only thing I remember was the worship. They were singing this song called ‘Today’ and it was all about leaving your troubles behind and following God. I remember singing under my breath because I didn't want the people next to me hear me, but then God asked me if I meant it. I was like ‘Excuse me?’ And he was like ‘Do you mean it? Will you really leave your troubles behind and follow me?’ I was so shocked and for a couple of reasons.
1. God is real
2. He was talking to me
3. He was asking me to follow him. As I was. The broken, insecure, anxious, competitive little girl I was and he was still calling me.
4. I had no idea what to do.
So I lifted my hands and sang at the tops of my lungs because I realised I did mean it. Even if I didn't mean it when I started, I wanted to now.
Spêak
If I wasn't positioned to hear God speak, I wouldn't have heard him.
So what does this look like?
This can look like continuing to turn up to church, reading the bible, praying and just spending time with God. My favourite is worship. Whether it's in a congregation or in your room by yourself. Worship aligns your heart with His and can put you in a position to hear from him and without fail put you in a position to feel his presence.
"Jesus meets us where we are at and that is something we can always rely on."
Something I had to get over was thinking I was not worthy to hear God speak, that I had to be a specific level of holy before I would even consider that God would speak to me. However, the man from upstairs came downstairs and his name is Jesus. Jesus meets us where we are at and that is something we can always rely on.
Hearing God speak is life changing. He is always speaking to us and whether or not we have positioned ourselves to hear him will often determine whether or not we can hear him. He is for you and always with you.
Saili Falealoto, a C3 College 1st Year Music student, eager for God to Spêak.