How often?

I rarely ever "hear" him. Typically he shows himself to me in the way things happen in life.

I sense the leading or guidance or inspiration of the holyspirit almost as often as I seek him. He is never far from us and greatly desires to be with us. I have never heard a voice. Most often it is a simple and sudden inspiration or thought or idea.

I am beginning to think that our ability to hear him is more based on our neediness before him, much more than any skill we can attain. He responds to faith and he loves a broken contrite heart, there is no way to learn how to get God to talk to you or how to perceive him. God reaches out to those in need and those who love him and believe in him.

Migdala said:

Does God speak to you? How often do you discern the Presence of the Holy Spirit in your heart?

I am asking this because I have friends who claim to hear God speaking to them constantly, every day. When I first came to the Lord, this was happening to me as well, but I just wondered how often the average Christian hears or senses the Lord's Voice or the guidance of the Holy Spirit?

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*When I was a little girl I often heard the Lord speak to me...mom took us to church from the time we were in the womb up until I was about 10. We moved, mom got sick and was ill for longer periods of time etc.

Mom told me I was singing Amazing Grace and The Old Rugged Cross when I was two...I knew the songs by heart.
She heard me talking to God as I played on the front porch.

I remember walking around in the backyard talking to the Lord and I remember various stuff He said to me.

I remember Him awaking me and warning me to run!
There was a snake slithering up on my blanket I had been laying on.
I didn't know God had called my name at the time...I saw my brother and thought he'd seen the danger and he had called out. I went over to thank him and to my surprise he had no idea what I was talking about!
I relayed the story of how I'd fallen asleep on my blanket and heard someone call my name and told me to run, I woke up and ran; I looked back to see the snake on my blanket!

He speaks less often to me now but I still hear that audible type voice every now and then. The last time that happened was several months ago and He said "He had not forgotten me." Truly, God perceives our thoughts because I had inwardly been feeling and thinking I wasn't of importance.

I "feel" Him often.

Aibrean said:

I rarely ever "hear" him. Typically he shows himself to me in the way things happen in life.

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yes I would agree with this! I can honestly say I have never heard him directly, but it is that intuition of knowing it is Him!

I think it's a hard thing to quantify. The Holy Spirit is in marital one-flesh relationship with our spirits, and in such an intimate relationship sometimes, speaking for myself, it's not easy to know who's doing the talking. Sometimes it takes testing and waiting to prove a word.

But the important thing is this. If you have a sense of dryness, and of not hearing the Lord's voice, clear heart and mind of external things, and enter into intimate worship and adoration of the King. Draw near to Him and restore that intimacy that He wants, and that we need.

I wish I could hear him..

There are lots of false positives, but there are no false negatives. When it's not God, then people may just be fooled by their own desires or anxieties into thinking he has spoken. But when it is God, people know. He's different from all that noise that people attribute to God.

If Adam and Eve did the right thing by obeying God in the first place then we wouldn't suffer spiritual deaf ears and blindness when trying to use faith to detect our Jesus within our hearts. I can imagine in God's massive most advanced kingdom of God where all three superior beings: Jesus, the Father and Holy Spirit acting like preachers and scientists of supernatural power - teaching us the mysterious power of creation of the atom, and how human adult men and women like Adam and Eve can be created from dust without the child-bearing pregnancy of women. Jealousy or failure from sin is never experienced because, with the spiritually pure intelligent minds of Christ, we become multi-talented in every hobby or interest such as dancing, singing or playing sports. What we have learnt from our earthly-born minds of our past human experiences will not be repeat failures in the future once Jesus returns and transforms us with superior minds and bodies - minds that act like supercomputers to prevent us from failure, accidental injury or death. I can imagine the technological advances made for Ipad, for example, that would integrate the mind of Christ with the computer so that our thinking would act like a mouse or touchpad to give directions to the cursor without using our fingers, or typing in words, especially when playing console videogames such as Xbox 360, the control pad integrated with mind-Christ thinking power would improve super-fast touch control response times for Xbox fans .:*:. Praise, Jesus he is victorious over Satan.:*:.

INTP, lol... I'm glad you brought that up, because I think the differences in hearing have a lot to do with how we are put together. If the Body is made up of people who will be good at evangelism-helps-shepherding-prophecy-interpretation, then we are going to need different ways of hearing Him.

For instance, I would think that someone with a passion to deliver food and tangible help might have a very pragmatic "let's just get this done" approach. Sensing the real needs simply by observing and taking responsibility, rather than needing nudges.

A person who needs to write a sermon would need guidance for topics that the congregation needs at the time, but then would spend time learning through research of the written Word.

Chicken or egg, gifting or way of hearing or passion... who knows which relies on the other.

it's not easy to know who's doing the talking.

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Same here. I hear a lot through the day, but can't count on it being from the right source. There's that 10-20% that keeps me humble. (Or does it.)

I have heard some speakers say that if God tells you something and you resist following through, you might not hear it again until you do what you were supposed to. I don't know that it's scripturally true, looking at Jonah's story. But it does come to mind when I'm looking for guidance and not hearing it.

I find that I get less guidance on big choices, and more on daily tidbits that I knew nothing about. Things that might relate more to interaction with other people, like "don't say what you're about to say," and then slipping out and finding out it was a sensitive issue. "Go down this street," and finding there's an accident that needs prayer. "Wrap up your work now," and then someone knocking on the door.

I never hear audible, or see anything visible, or hear Thus Saith's.

If you've ever had a really attentive dog, it's easier to grasp what the hearing might be like. Some dogs catch every nuance of their owners, and will even wake up when they hear the word "ride" or "walk."

There's a lot of good information already posted. Learning to hear Yahweh is one of the most important things a believer can do imo. Scripture states His sheep hear His voice. So first we have to believe that Scripture. In numerous ways, He "speaks" to us everyday. I found "How to Hear God in a Noisy World" helpful and it includes exercises. The ways He speaks are numerous - His Word, some dreams, low-risk promptings, lyrics, something that someone says, etc. You know sometimes you're reading Scripture you've read previously and you notice something you didn't see before? Sometimes I wonder if He speaks more to the ones who inquire of Him more including the small things and expect to hear Him. Not that He can't speak to anyone anytime He wants. Another key is obeying what He says. I ask myself many times - when are you going to hear and obey what He says?! But He's so awesome including giving me more opportunities.

God often talks to me through images when the message is very important[sometimes He will speak too, but it's like He's not speaking but I'm 'hearing' Him while seeing the things, if that makes sense :S ]. I talked to Him once in a dream too. Sometimes I hear Him when awake.