Be in His Purpose Podcast | Guiding Christians to Wholeness, Identity, and Calling

Is God Speaking to You?

• Yvonne Paschal • Season 2 • Episode 16

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Finding Your Purpose Series

Session 3

Ever waited for a thunderous voice from heaven only to hear silence? Maybe you've questioned whether those subtle thoughts were divine guidance or just your imagination. The good news is that God isn't playing hide-and-seek with you—He's constantly communicating, but perhaps not in the ways you've been expecting.

God speaks to each of us uniquely, much like how parents instinctively know the best way to communicate with each of their children. Your Creator knows exactly what will capture your attention and resonate with your heart. Sometimes His voice comes through dreams that demand interpretation; other times it's scripture that suddenly illuminates with fresh meaning just for you. For some, it's that unexplainable peace that descends in the midst of chaos or the persistent inner knowing that won't be silenced.

Divine communication doesn't follow a formula. It might arrive through worship music that moves you to tears, a timely sermon that addresses your exact situation, or through friends who unknowingly speak exactly what you needed to hear. While some have experienced God's audible voice, most often it's that "still small voice" within your spirit that requires intentional quiet to discern. What distinguishes God's voice from all others? It consistently brings peace, clarity, and sometimes loving conviction—but never confusion or fear.

The challenge isn't whether God is speaking; it's whether we're creating space to listen. This week, carve out intentional time away from distractions. Get quiet, open your heart, and simply listen. As Psalm 46:10 reminds us, "Be still and know that I am God." Remember, you were created on purpose, for a purpose, and hearing His voice is essential to discovering what that purpose is. Ready to tune your spiritual ears to His frequency? Join us next week as we continue the Finding Your Purpose series and go deeper together.

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Speaker 1:

Hey, have you ever wondered how do I know if God is speaking to me? Maybe you've been waiting for a big, booming voice from heaven, or wondering are these my own thoughts or is this God? Well, here's the truth God is speaking and he's not hiding from you. I think the real question we need to ask ourselves is are we listening and do you know how he speaks? Okay, well, today I'm about to show you how hearing from God might look different than what you expected and why learning to hear his voice is essential to discovering your purpose and really all things in life. Right? So here's the first thing I want you to know there's not just one way that God speaks. He's a very personal, intimate father and he knows exactly how to get your attention in the way that you will hear it, just like a parent knows how to communicate differently with each child, god will speak to you in a way that's personal, relatable and meant for you.

Speaker 1:

I want you to think about that for a second. Look back in your life and how God personally, intimately, spoke to you in certain situations and watch how it was very specific to the way that you would normally, what would normally get your attention. That's, that's our God, I love it. So he will speak to you in a way that's personal, relatable and meant for your heart. Sometimes it's loud, sometimes it's subtle, but you know, it's always with love, it's always with clarity and purpose. Love, it's always with clarity and purpose. And we don't want to box, we don't want to put God in a box, right. We want to be very open to the fact of however he wants to move or speak, because God is far more creative than we could ever think or imagine, ever understand. You know his ways are higher than our ways. So we don't ever want to say, oh well, he won't do that for me or he can't do that for me. Right, how he speaks to you may be different than how he speaks to me and same for everybody else, but let's think about this In the book of Joel, chapter 2, verse 28, it says your sons and daughters will prophesy.

Speaker 1:

Your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. That means sometimes God speaks through dreams and visions, and we've talked about this in previous podcasts, and you know there's other times where he will speak through scripture and that you know that jumps off the page, right. There's times when we have that Rema revelation where it's like you've read this before but somehow, like today, it just stood out to me Okay, that's the rhema word, that is the revelation happening. And then there's other times where you know you could be listening to a song and you feel the presence of God through your worship. Or maybe it's the lyrics in the song that just spoke to your heart so deeply. Maybe it was a sermon that you were listening to at church or online, you know, on TV. Or maybe it was a friend's encouragement, or maybe it was just that quiet, undeniable, knowing deep inside. You know it's God, deep inside you know it's God. Okay, it's not if he's speaking, it's really whether we're slowing down long enough to listen.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so let's get practical now. Let's cover some of the ways that God may speak to you. We've talked about some already. So let's go back to dreams and visions. Okay, god promised in Joel 2.28 that he would pour out his spirit, and so one way he does that is through dreams and visions. So sometimes, while you sleep, he may speak to you through a dream, through a dream, and that is why I believe that it's so important that we tune into and write down our dreams and ask the Holy Spirit and the Lord's guidance and Lord, what is it that you're showing me and telling me through this dream? And begin to search it out, because that is what he is. He wants us to seek him. So search it out, seek him out, get some training under your belt, get some understanding of what these things could mean, so that you know what the Lord is saying. Sometimes it's while you're praying, so we want to ask the Lord what are you showing me, father? What is it that you want me to see, hear from you today? Okay, another way we know we've talked about is the word of God In Hebrews 4.12,. It says His word is alive and active, sharper than a double-edged sword and active, sharper than a double-edged sword. So when you open your Bible, you're not just reading, you know, dead ink on a page, you're actually encountering the living voice of God.

Speaker 1:

Now, I know there's times especially if you know, in our walk this can vary from time to time. I think, definitely as a new believer, if I just look at myself and my own walk when I was a new believer, where reading the Bible wasn't always that it coming alive and active in me, in my life and active in me and my life. Okay, but there have been times where this does occur, and I think, the more that we are walking and growing in relationship with God, the more intentional we are about creating these times of intimacy with him, the more that we're praying for the thing that we want or that we're seeking, right, praying in advance before we get into the word. Lord, give me revelation, speak to me, show me what it is that you want me to get from my reading today. Help it, help me to recall it, help me to understand it right. You're seeking this out. You're praying into it in the name of jesus, and he will show up. He will show up. So begin doing that, if you. If you're not doing that, I would definitely recommend that you begin doing that, and that will help you, day by day, anytime that you're in the word, to begin for it to become that, as as what the bible tells us is, it is alive and active, and so you're encountering the living voice of god through the word.

Speaker 1:

Another way is through prayer and the holy spirit. So, right, when we're in prayer, it's not just about talking to god, it's also about listening for God. It's communication. It's a two-way communication. We're not just giving him our requests, but it's also a time to tune in to what he is saying. He will speak to you in prayer and in John 10, 27,. It says my sheep listen to my voice, I know them and they follow me. You were created to know his voice and I think this is so good to know that we were created to know his voice. If you're a follower of Christ, if you are a believer and you believe in Jesus and what he has done on the cross for you and you've accepted Christ, you will know his voice. You will know his voice.

Speaker 1:

Another way is the inner knowing or feeling. So sometimes God speaks through a strong sense of peace. Does that ever happen to you, where you just feel the peace of God come over you? It's this undeniable like you could be in the midst of a storm and have this overwhelming sense of peace. That is the peace of God. Or you could have an unsettling conviction that just you just can't shake it.

Speaker 1:

We want to pay attention to that. Pay attention to that because that inner tug you know that's the Holy Spirit working in you. That inner tug could be him guiding you in a specific thing, a direction take, take. You know, do this. Whatever it is that he's asking you to do, take this step. You know it's all for our good. I want to put that in there. You know anything, when we are being led through any way that God is speaking, it is always for our good. It is always there's something that he wants to do. And on the other side of the thing that he is speaking or saying or asking us to do, on the other side of that, right, because he's already gone before us, he already knows the end from the beginning. He created us. He knows what's best for us. So all the more reason we want to be in tune with what God is saying.

Speaker 1:

Another way is through other people. So God often uses people, and that could be mentors, could be pastors, or even a random conversation, you know to speak encouragement, to speak wisdom, confirmation into your life. Another way could be music, right, if you've ever were listening to a song and we talked about this earlier if you're ever listening to a song, or you're just in the state of worship in your own personal time or in corporate worship, and the song is just, you are hit so deeply by it. Maybe you become overwhelmed with emotion, because you're just so in tune to the way that it is making you feel. I'm not talking about secular music here. I'm talking about like you're giving him your worship, you are seeking the face of God in it, through it.

Speaker 1:

Okay, and you know that can happen. The Lord can speak through that. And how about a sermon? Right, you could be listening to a sermon, listening to your pastor, and there's just something through that message that stirred you that you felt it was just like, it was just for you, like, like, okay, lord, you were literally talking to me today. Yes, that is because that's, because that is how God works, that is how God can speak to us. And so, yes, god can speak through that way too. And then we have the audible voice of God. You know, there are some people who have heard God, the very audible, like, like, as if you're hearing my voice right now the very audible voice of God, or the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, it's all God, but more often, right, it's his still small voice speaking within your spirit.

Speaker 1:

And here's what I want you to do I want you to take some time this week to just get quiet, get still, remove the distractions. You know what those are for you Get alone with God, get in a quiet place, turn off the noise. Okay, this is about being intentional, because that's literally what it's going to take is we have to be intentional about getting in those places of stillness, of quiet, of solitude, and getting alone with just you and God. That's being intentional. And then I think the other piece here is we've got to remove the distractions, and you could literally remove all distractions, like the physical stuff, but your mind could still be going right. So you've got to put your focus on the thing that you're set out to do, that intentionality of.

Speaker 1:

Okay, this is the time I'm creating and carving out for the Lord. Lord, help me to fix my thoughts only on you, the word, what it is that you want me to hear and see from you today. Remove all distractions from my mind because, lord right, be honest with the Lord, he already knows. But just tell him, god, right now my mind may be just thinking about certain tasks I need to do today and my mind is all over the place or I just can't focus. Whatever it is, give it to God and let him know and ask him to help you, and when we do that, he will show up. And when we do that, he will show up. So when we, when we've removed all the distractions, we got quiet, we got alone with god, okay, now we're gonna and pray. Right now we're gonna open the word and we're gonna pray into this. Lord, speak to me today through your word. Speak to me, show me what it is that you want me to see, what you want me to learn, what you want me to take away from today in your word. Father, speak to me today and then get quiet and then just listen. Just listen for what he has to say. Just listen for what he has to say.

Speaker 1:

In Psalm 46, 10, it says be still and know that I am God. God's voice will bring peace, it'll bring clarity and even conviction and confirmation. But here's what it won't bring. It will not bring confusion, nor will it bring fear. So we want to trust that if we seek him, the word tells us we will find him. Right. He will answer. He has promised us in his word.

Speaker 1:

Now, the answer may not be what we want to hear, but he will answer. So we want to be ready for that, be prepared for that, open your heart, open your ears and eyes to him, and I'm not even just speaking of your physical ears and eyes, but your spiritual ears, your spiritual eyes as well. If you're ready to hear from God, you know and you want to, you want to go deeper with him. You want to discover what it is he's saying about your life, your purpose, your calling, and to just start walking boldly with him into what he has for you. Stay tuned with me, because the Finding your Purpose series that we are in right now, this is session three. Well, session four is going to be released next week and we're just going to continue this series and until then, you know, if you're ready to tune your ear to him, let me know, leave me a comment, let me know how this podcast has been speaking to you, how it has blessed you. I'd love to hear from you, but let's go deeper together. If this has helped you as well, share it with someone, share it with someone who needs to hear this today.

Speaker 1:

I think we all need this. We all need this reminder, including myself. Including myself, because there are times right when we get busy, when we get to doing the regular everyday things in life. You know, if we're working at our jobs, with family, with our children. Whatever it is right, there are times where things take away our attention from the word. It takes our attention from god. It takes right, it does. And so in those times, we, we are not in tune to hearing from him, right, 24, 7, if we're honest. And so when we do think about this and remind ourselves, I want to be in tune, lord, to hearing from you. You know, I want to be in tune to hearing from him more than what I am doing now, if I'm just going to be open and honest, more than what I am doing now, you know, if I'm just going to be open and honest, more than what I'm doing now. But I think, as we are being more and more, becoming more and more like Him, into His image, growing with Him, going deeper with Him I mean, that's what this podcast is about, that's what being His purpose is about is to go deeper into the things of God. He wants us to seek him out, he wants us to draw near to him. I'm going to tell you, I had a dream, probably within the last week, that just came to mind and where, literally, you know, this is a way that the Lord speaks to me.

Speaker 1:

I've shared this before. This is one of the one of the primary ways that he speaks to me is through my dreams, and so I had a dream where, part in, in, in, in a part of the dream, there was a point where I was in a line of people. There's a line of people, and as I'm standing in the line, there's these two men, one of them you know, I didn't really not too much paying attention to their faces or anything like that, but there were two men and one of them began to draw on my stomach. So now I'm like laying down and he's drawing on me and it it wasn't like a tattoo, it was. It was literally like they were drawing on me. I don't know with what, but it was like a. All I could remember is just, it was just like drawing and, and I was allowing, you know him to do this and you know what it kind of hurt at certain times, and so I let him know. You know, hey, it kind of hurts, you know, and so he began to soften and you know to where it would be okay, okay.

Speaker 1:

Well, that dream, as I began to ask the Holy Spirit Lord, what are you saying to me from this dream? I think this was the Holy Spirit was really saying to me from this is that this is a picture of the Lord is drawing you to him. He's drawing you to him. He's drawing right. That's literally what was happening in the dream. There was a man drawing me, drawing on me on my stomach, right. So he's drawing me to him. I think this is a play on words of the drawing aspect. That's happening, but really it was a picture of, you know, the Holy Spirit. I think this was. This was the Holy Spirit drawing me, and then the other man, you know may have been Jesus in there as well. So you've got the Trinity, you've got Holy Spirit, jesus and drawing me to God. It's all drawing me to the Lord.

Speaker 1:

And what is the Lord saying from that? Okay, well, the Lord is saying, right in my, in my, maybe in my current life, right now, that is what he's doing and I can tell you that is what he's doing. He is drawing me more and more to him and he is doing that with each and every one and every single person. He is drawing us to him through whatever it may be in your life, through whatever circumstances you're going through right now. It's all, it's all to draw us closer to him. He wants that he. He loves us so much and he wants relationship with us and that is why we were created Right. So I love that about our God. I love that he will speak to us in ways that we will understand, in ways that we know it's him.

Speaker 1:

There's no doubt in my mind that this dream was from the Lord and there's no doubt in my mind that he is drawing me to Him and he wanted to show me that. He wanted to remind me of that, and I want to remind you and encourage you today that when we are seeking Him out and learning about Him and learning about how he speaks, and learning his word and all of these things, we are being drawn to him, we are getting closer to him, we are growing in him, and so let's go deeper together because, remember, you were created on purpose, for a purpose, and we don't want to miss his voice. He is speaking. Be blessed, friends, and I will see you on the next session, and I will see you on the next session. Hey, I am so excited to share something with you that's been burning in my spirit, and it's called the Be Set Apart Community.

Speaker 1:

This is more than just another group. It's a Holy Spirit led membership space for Christian women who are hungry to go deeper in their identity, in their healing and in their relationship with God. So inside the Be Set Apart community, you're going to get weekly Zoom teachings on many different topics. So, just to name some, you know they're going to be topics on faith, healing, calling and kingdom purpose. You'll also get a chance to do some Q&A after each of the sessions. You'll get weekly encouragement emails. You'll also get 25% off all one-on-one support services, access to the replays of the teachings and a nurturing space to grow in your faith, gifts and calling with other like-minded women.

Speaker 1:

So, whether you're healing right now from trauma or you're battling fear or just longing for clarity in your calling, this is for you. And the best part is it's only $17 a month. And hey, we kick off on Monday, may 5th, at 7 pm Eastern time with our first live session. If you've been craving a place to be poured into, to grow and to walk in your kingdom identity, this is it Okay. So how do you join? Go to my website. This is it Okay. So how do you join? Go to my website, beinhispurposecom, and go under the plans and pricing tab to join, or you can email me for more info. But let's rise together because we are set apart for his glory, because you were never meant to blend in. You were created to be set apart.