When I think of how God speaks to us I admit I typically anticipate a random stranger coming up to me in the middle of a church service with some astounding word that forever changes the course of my life. On other occasions I maybe think it will be a dream or a vision, or possibly I need to “get in the Word” more and study hard. Forgetting in my brief moment of selfishness that God speaks to me how He chooses, I am more than honored that He would choose to speak to me.

Yes, God does speak to us through His Word, as well as through dreams, visions, and prophetic words. I’ll be the first to admit that I totally dig it when God highlights me and I receive a prophetic word, and I am just as excited in those seasons when my dream life seems to explode with dreams five nights a week. However if I were to sit back and only expect God, creator of the Heavens and the earth and all that is in it, to only speak to me in three or four ways . . . that’s a limited God I have created in my head.

I have found that I don’t have to try to hear God; I do hear Him. I usually hear Him when I’m not trying and I least expect it. One of my favorite, and most memorable times when God spoke to me was so simple, yet I felt like I had just received all the secrets of the universe in one sentence. I lived in a two story house and my bedroom was upstairs. I had just woken up for the day, and began to leave my bedroom. My dog was always so excited in the mornings as we journeyed out of the room. He would run five feet ahead, spin in circles and crouch down low waiting for my excitement to join his as I left my room. We were in the upstairs portion of the house walking towards the stairs, and the entire time my dog was prancing by my side in excitement with his head up looking directly at my face. He seemed to be totally unaware that in about five more steps he would be tumbling down the stairs if we didn’t stop and focus when it was time. It was as if he was trusting me to not let him fall and get hurt. In that moment I felt God speak to me, He said, “this is how I want you to follow me.”

God is always speaking to us. Sometimes He speaks in the most simplistic ways yet in that moment it impacts our hearts and the hearts of others the most. I want to encourage you all to relax, and go easy on yourself as you learn the voice of God in your own life. I promise you He is speaking!

By Jason MacKenzie