God's audible voice in modernity

Nope, I "hear His voice" when I read the Scriptures. There is no audible voice.

 

I do not scientifically hear His voice but I metaphorically listen intently for it as a child listens for his father.

Some often say they hear God speaking but I don't think they usually mean that in a scientific way with moving air hitting their eardrums.

Some do mean it in a scientific way and who am I to doubt them.

 

I think this quote from John Bisagno is helpful here:

"When you wait upon God, he will speak to you in the quietness of your own soul. His voice will come not with heavenly vocal cords or crashing thunder but in the still, small impression of the Spirit deep in your heart--a language without words, louder, clearer, more distinct than any you will hear from another person."

 

just a word of caution, that 'small impression of the Spirit' should always be in check with the Word of God. I remember talking with a brother that claimed that the spirit 'told' him something that was obviously against the Word. I bit my tongue, but i felt like saying "where does it say that in the Bible?"

in answer to the OP, i have never heard the audible voice of God (He 'speaks' to me throught the written Word). And when someone says that they did (or do)hear the 'audible' voice of God, I just look at them funny....

 

Jim,

Turning the question around - how do you think a Christian knows when they have prayed to God for guidance what responses are from God and what are not?

When you figure that out - you'll have the answer to what people mean when they talk about God talking.

I think PastorSBC put it best.

 

Richard,

Your caution is a biblical one, and I agree with it. I have found over time that there is a peace and contentment in your very soul that goes hand in hand with listening to the voice of God in your soul.

 

I am curious to know what verses support that God only speaks to us through His Word? I agree completely that He does speak to us through His Word, but is that the only way? And if it is, where do you get support for that?

 

I Have never heard God speak audible, But He does speak to my heart through His word when I just shut up and listen.

 

People thought Noah was nuts too.

 

I'm amazed at how often God speaks in a very audible voice, and it sounds just like my wife

 

John 10: 1-16

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.

Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

 

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God speaks in many different ways: often through the scriptures, through inward impression in times of prayer and mediation, in worship, through sermons and conversation with other believers, and for some people, through dreams and visions.

One thing is certain, those who follow the Great Shepherd will hear him if they practice listening. God is interested in speaking to His people.

 

On the few occasions when God spoke more directly to me it was as if He had placed a thought in my mind for me. Not an audible voice.

 

--

God speaks in many different ways: often through the scriptures, through inward impression in times of prayer and mediation, in worship, through sermons and conversation with other believers, and for some people, through dreams and visions.

One thing is certain, those who follow the Great Shepherd will hear him if they practice listening. God is interested in speaking to His people. </font>[/QUOTE]I agree, I think God speaks to us in many different ways. I think the big problem many times is that we are not willing to be still and listen.

Many have become so appaulded by some of the charasmatic/pentecostal stuff out there that we have thrown the baby out with the bathwater. I think too often we want to limit God and place Him in a nice, neat little box and say He only does this and that, and yet God is bigger than all of that.

I am not saying by any stretch that anything goes, but I do believe with all of my heart that God speaks to His children in a variety of ways and if we are faithful to come into His presence and listen, He will speak to our soul.

 

He has spoken to me through observations I have made while out in nature, etc. This I know for sure that He does.

Dreams and visions, I don't know about. I'm a little scared of that stuff now.

He always speaks to us through Scripture.

 

Pastor SBC,

You remind me of the book, "Mr. God This Is Anna." (That is a good thing.)

Anna said people try to put "Mr. God" in a box, and that God is too big for a box.

She also said, “Mister God can know things and people from the inside too. We only know them from the outside, don’t we?”

Her theology went like this:

"Do you believe in God?"
"Yes."
"Do you know what God is?"
"Yes."
"What is God then?"
"He's God!"

I think we (meaning Christians in general-not you) sometimes forget that.

 

I've never heard the "audible" voice of God. I've heard his voice through the Word and in my heart. I'm not saying that it could not happen. I don't believe there is anywhere in Scripture that says that he doesn't speak to man that way now. If he does, I don't believe it is often.

 

You know,

One thing this brings to mind is during the dark period in life when my children's father was hearing voices that I know were demonic.

The voices never claimed to be God. When he related things to me or to ministers working with him, he said that this creature never really claimed to be a messanger of God, and that they would say, "God wants you in heaven, but first you have to die. God is just waiting for you to kill yourself and your wife," etc., etc.

So while they pretended to be messangers, they never actually said, "God said this," and they never claimed to BE God. They just "hinted" and such. I wonder - are the demons of hell afraid to pretend to be the voice of God?

 

I think it's very possible, Texas Sky. I've had people tell me they have experienced voices such as those you're speaking of, and they also have acknowledged that the voices have never said anything about being God. It could be that they had a mental disorder, too. There are many possibilities.