Are you missing some of the ways God communicates with you?  

Humans communicate in a rich variety of ways.  Obviously we speak to each other.  But we also write notes, post blogs, send emails, and thumb type texts.  We share photos on social media and communicate with a look or with a hug.  Sometimes we send the message that it is time to leave by turning out the lights, other times parents send a message by leaving a pile of clean clothes in front of a bedroom door.  There are many ways we communicate.

When an imigrant is learning to communicate in a new culture, they will focus on one part of the language.  But to become confident communicators, they need to expand their vocabulary and learn its idioms and metaphors.  Beyond that they also need to learn social cues and how to correctly interpret body language - things that locals 'just know' because they have grown up around it.

In a similar way, when we begin to learn to hear God for ourselves, we can find that we more easily recognise one particular way that God speaks - maybe through the bible, or through nature, or the 'still small voice' in our thoughts.  But part of becoming confident hearers of God is to expand our experience of the different ways God communicates with us.

In "My Sheep Have Ears", Cath Livesey lists some of the different ways God speaks to us.  I encourage you to read through these lists in two ways:

1. For each way, reflect on your experiences and see if you can identify a time God has spoken to you in that way (either for yourself or for another person).  When you have gone through the lists, see if you can identify some of the ways that you have found it easier to hear God.  See if you can identify gaps where you can't remember hearing God in that way.
2. Then prayerfully read through the lists again and look for one way of hearing God that you would like to grow in.  Don't just go for an 'exciting' or 'dramatic' one.  Rather look for one that seems to be highlighted to you.  Then ask God to help you grow in that mode of hearing God.  Ask God to speak to you in that way in the next few days.  Find someone who has more experience than you in hearing God this way and ask them for help and advice.

From Chapter 2 of "My Sheep have ears"
Some of these 'normal and everyday' ways that God speaks to us are:

• through our conscience
• through a sense of peace
• through circumstances
• through the counsel of others
• through creation

From Chapter 9 of "My Sheep have ears":
The Holy Spirit is the most creative person in the universe and can bring revelation to us in many different ways.  However, both the Bible and experience suggest that there are a few broad categories of prophetic revelation:

1. Scripture (specific references or verses that come to mind)
2. Hearing (sometimes as an audible voice but more commonly as the internal still small voice)
3. Seeing pictures and visions (usually through our 'mind's eye' but occasionally as an 'open-eye' vision as clear as in the natural
4. Sensing (discernment, intuition, burdens, impressions, vibes and gut feelings, a 'just knowing')
5. Dreams (not all dreams are God speaking, they are just us processing our experiences.  Prophetic dreams tend to have a special quality and be more memorable.  But in interpreting them we need to avoid the temptation to use symbolism or formulas)