I was recently asked to teach about how the Holy Spirit speaks to me. At first I thought that should be easy. Then I started thinking about how I hear the voice of God, and it suddenly became difficult. How do I hear from the Lord? How do I know what message is from the Lord, and what comes from another source like myself? 

These are questions each of us wrestle with in some way. Sure, there are times when there is no doubt a message comes from the Lord, but there are other times when I doubt and wonder if what I think is the voice of the Lord is actually his voice or is it my desire that I am projecting as the voice of the Lord. Let’s dive in and discover together the ways that the Holy Spirit speaks to me, and ways he may be speaking to you too!

Bible

The first and most obvious way the Lord speaks to me and to you is through the Bible. Have you ever been wondering something and then go read your Bible only to discover the very answer to your question? I know I have. 

Who I am

One question I have is “what is my true identity?” I’ve heard from people who they think I am. But who does God say I am? As I’ve asked God this question and read the Bible I’ve learned God sees me as brave and courageous. I’ve learned this lesson through the lives of people like David and Joshua. 

Joshua

Joshua’s first act as the leader of God’s people was to fight the people in Jericho. God comes to him and tells him 5 times to be strong and courageous, or to not be afraid. As I read through this passage in Joshua 1, I felt the Holy Spirit showing me that I too needed to be strong and courageous. Just like God called Joshua to be brave, so he was calling me to be brave. I never saw myself as brave, but God told me I was brave. I now had a choice to make: Do I believe what God was telling me through the Bible, or do I continue to believe the lie that I could never be brave? 

David

As I continued to read I came to King David. I read about how he killed lions and bears. I could see how he was confident in his mission to kill Goliath. In fact he tells Goliath exactly what was about to happen. 

“Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.”” ‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭17‬:‭45‬-‭47‬ ‭(ESV‬‬)

I learned that it isn’t my own strength and will that makes me brave and courageous, but it is the power of the Holy Spirit in me that makes me be able to be brave and courageous. When I am doing the work that God calls me to do, I can come in his name and bravely do and say all he directs me to do and say. 

People in the New Testament

I then go to the New Testament and see once again it is through the power of the Holy Spirit that bravery comes. 

I learned that even the people who lived during Bible times became scared and needed to have the Holy Spirit fill them with boldness. After Peter and John spoke to the religious leaders, and were told to stop talking about Jesus. Peter and John report what the chief priests and elders told them regarding teaching others about Jesus. This shakes the confidence of those in this meeting. They became afraid of what might happen to them if they continue to do what God called them to do- preach the good news. What do they do? They pray an amazing prayer:

“And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.” Acts‬ ‭4‬:‭29‬-‭31‬ ‭(ESV‬‬)

They ask the Holy Spirit to fill them with boldness, and he did! Now I know all I need to do is ask for boldness, and the Holy Spirit will fill me with his boldness to do what he is asking me to do. My boldness and bravery comes from the Holy Spirit. I don’t have to try and make myself bold. It is only through the power of the Holy Spirit. This revelation makes me feel free because the power to be brave doesn’t come from me, rather it is a work of the Holy Spirit. I know I can trust the Holy Spirit. In fact I trust him more than I trust myself, and that gives me great comfort!

Writing

Another way the Lord speaks to me is through my writing. I will often not know what I am going to be writing about before I begin to write. I usually have a general topic, such as, write on the Woman at the Well. But I have no clue what direction the Lord will take me when I am studying and writing. 

I will read through the passage and often get a general outline in my mind of what the Lord wants me to write. Still, I don’t usually know what I am going to write until it “just flows out of my fingers.” 

I often find myself writing something I have never thought of before. It’s almost like the words are being typed onto the page and I have no idea what I am actually saying until the end of that thought. One such example happened recently while I was writing about the Woman at the Well. 

Recent Example

I was writing a Bible study for some ladies, and it suddenly occurred to me what Jesus was really offering this woman. Yes, he was declaring he was the Messiah. Yes, he was offering her salvation. But what he actually offered her was living water. I suddenly started writing this: 

Basically he (Jesus) says, “If you knew who you were talking to you would ask me to give you living water.” Living water is a spiritual substance God uses to purify people and things in the spiritual realm. 

Suddenly I had a deeper understanding of this interaction. I knew that it is living water that is the cleansing agent. I’ve seen and experienced living water as a cleansing agent in some of the visions the Lord has given me. As I was writing this lesson things about Jesus on the cross suddenly made perfect sense. I knew why blood AND water flowed out of his side when they pierced him on the cross. It is his blood that is the payment for our sins, and it is the living water that makes us clean from our sins. 

More Revelation

As I went on in this teaching the Lord gave me a practical story to go along with this idea that living water is the cleansing agent. I remembered when my kids were little and we would take them to the beach, and I found myself writing these words: 

We need a spiritual substance to wash us clean from our sin. When my children were little we would take them to the beach. My youngest daughter loved playing in the sand. She would literally throw sand in the air and let it fall on her head. When we would leave, we would try to wash as much of the sand off of her as we could. Inevitably we would find more sand on her body. I remember one time we took her diaper off after a day at the beach to find it full of sand! We would bathe her and think we got all the sand off her only to find more someplace the next day. No matter how much we tried to wash the sand off, we continued to find more days later. We thought we cleaned her really well, but our best effort wasn’t good enough. Sin is like the sand left on our daughter. People can try and wash off the bad choices they make and those things they do that miss God’s mark, but despite their best efforts sin will still be there. 

Actually, there is nothing we can do by ourselves to wash ourselves clean from sin. No matter how hard we try, we can’t even wash off one speck of sin from our lives. Remember sin is a spiritual problem that needs a spiritual solution. Living water and the blood of Jesus is the spiritual solution and the only substance that can completely wash us clean from our sins. 

It’s as though the Lord just drops information into my mind as I am writing. I can tell you I have asked the Lord why he offered this woman living water. I couldn’t figure out the answer to that question on my own. Until the Holy Spirit revealed this truth to me, I couldn’t tell you why he was offering her living water instead of telling her about the blood he was going to shed for her. What I didn’t understand is that living water is part of the salvation process. It wasn’t until I started writing about the Woman at the Well that the Lord showed me this truth. Again, this is all through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is not something I can do in my own power because it originates in the Holy Spirit, not in me. 

Follow the Peace / I Just Know

There have been times when we need to make a decision like where to live. Brett and I both ask the Lord to show us where to go. One example is when we were living in Ireland. We had to make a choice of where we were going to live when our time there was finished. We could have gone anywhere in the country really. However, we narrowed it down to three places: Phoenix, AZ, Albuquerque, NM, or Round Rock, TX. 

We came from New Mexico and so that was logically where we should go if we wanted to do what was easiest. However, we knew when we left New Mexico that we weren’t supposed to move back there. How did I know this? After all, I grew up in Albuquerque and it’s the place where all of my family lives. I knew we weren’t supposed to be there because, well, I just knew it. It’s something I can’t really explain, other than to say I just knew deep down we weren’t supposed to raise our kids there. 

Phoenix

The next logical choice would be to move back to Phoenix. We lived there for 6 years before moving to Albuquerque, which brought us to Ireland. Again, this was a logical choice because Brett would definitely have a job there. He was well liked in the company he worked for in Phoenix. We had friends who still lived there, and it’s where our kids were born. Although this may have seemed like a great place to go, I knew we weren’t supposed to go back. Again, I just knew we weren’t supposed to move back there. 

Round Rock

Where did we end up going? We ended up moving to Round Rock, TX. This was the least logical choice as we didn’t know anyone in Round Rock, and Brett didn’t have a job when we moved here. Brett’s parents live about an hour and a half away, yet we didn’t move where they live. We weren’t supposed to be there, we were supposed to be in Round Rock. I just knew this was where God wanted us to be. I knew it before Brett knew it, and would regularly tell him so. 

Fast forward to looking for a place to live. Every single time I have ever had to pick where we were going to live I did the same thing. I would pray and ask the Lord to show where to live. Then I would go with what I felt. I followed the peace. Each time when I walked into the place where we were supposed to live I would feel like I was home. It felt peaceful. 

Follow the Peace

When making decisions, I often follow the peace. I ask the Lord to show me the right choice and then go with where my body feels the peace. Should I choose option A or B? Well, when I think about doing option A I feel tense and nervous. When I think about doing option B I feel confident and peaceful in my body. 

Remember our God is a god of peace. We are told in Isaiah 9:6-7 that Jesus is the Prince of Peace

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.” Isaiah 9:6-7 (ESV)

In Isaiah 26:3 we are told we are kept in perfect peace when we keep our focus on God and trust him.

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” Isaiah‬ ‭26‬:‭3‬ ‭(ESV‬‬)

And in Galatians we are told a fruit of the Spirit is peace. When we are walking in communion with the Holy Spirit, he will give us peace. 

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” Galatians‬ ‭5‬:‭22‬-‭23‬ ‭(ESV‬‬)

Words in my mind

Another way God sometimes speaks to me is through downloading words into my mind. This method is done most often when Brett and I are doing prayer ministry with someone. 

Brett and I will listen to the person’s story. Then Brett and I will go to the Lord in prayer. While Brett is praying I am silently praying and asking the Lord to tell me what message he has for this person. I will “hear” a message playing on repeat in my mind. 

“Work with Kids”

One such example is a time when we were praying for someone. During the prayer time I kept hearing “work with kids” over and over. When prayer time was over Brett was telling these amazing stories about what he saw in the spirit via a vision. As I was listening to Brett talk, I suddenly felt like the message I got wasn’t important. It felt so insignificant compared to what Brett saw in the Spirit.

This message continued to play in my mind on repeat. Finally, I couldn’t stand it any longer and timidly said, “I felt like I heard the Lord say you are supposed to work with kids.” 

As it turned out, this was a huge key for this person. They were looking for direction and got it through the message the Lord put in my mind. Today, this person has a new job working with kids and is doing really well. This job came after our prayer time and is confirmation that the word I heard in my mind was in fact from the Lord. 

Dreams

The last way the Lord speaks to me is through my dreams. I have always had very vivid dreams. I dream almost every night. For as long as I can remember I have had this drive to tell someone my dreams. It’s like I need to get the story out so I can move on with my day. I never thought my dreams had any meaning until one day I was telling Brett a dream I had. As I was telling him this dream, he kept getting more and more excited. When I was finished telling my dream, he proceeded to write down what the Lord was showing him about what it meant. I have come to learn more about what this dream means. It actually makes a lot of sense knowing what my life is like now. I can see it was a prophetic dream. 

I will share this dream and the meaning I currently have with you in a minute. First, I want to share that after I learned that God speaks to me in my dreams, I started wondering what other dreams I’ve had that had a message for me. One day I was driving my daughter to dance class and I asked the Lord this question. I instantly remembered a recurring dream I used to have about being eaten by sharks. The Lord revealed to me that those dreams were revealing my fear of the future, specifically getting married. 

Since this time, I have started writing down the dreams I know without a doubt have a spiritual message, and sometimes I write down those dreams that don’t seem to have any meaning at all. Now for the dream that started me on this path: 

The Empty Town Dream

4/26/19

I had a dream that I was in this neighborhood that was completely abandoned. All the houses were from the 70’s but there weren’t any roads with asphalt on them. They were only dirt roads. When I asked why all these houses were abandoned the person with me said they left because of the hurricane that came through. 

There was a big park with green grass that was fenced in on one side. Inside the houses were all in perfect order. Nothing was structurally wrong with them. It was as though everyone just left in a hurry and didn’t have time to pack things up. 

In one house there was a table with about 10 bags of peaches on it. The peaches were still perfect and just waiting to be eaten. In another house there were folding chairs hanging on the wall and I imagined that the family would take the chairs down when it was time to eat or have a church meeting. I thought these people were geniuses. In another house we were in I wanted to live there. The living room felt spacious even though it wasn’t really. It just felt homey. 

Outside there was a school bus that was parked and it was touching one of the houses. It didn’t damage the house, just touched the house. In my mind I was thinking that we should spruce up the houses and update them so people could come live in them again. The neighborhood had such potential to be the best in the city. 

Meaning

Let’s talk about what Brett first said was the interpretation, and then I’ll add to it with what I know aspects of this dream means based on what has happened in our lives since April of 2019. 

Brett’s notes

Brett sent out a message on Tuesday about how God’s love is like a hurricane, clearing out the evil. I talked with a friend about how God Is like a tornado, and He churns through us, entwining us in Himself, so that there’s more of Him and less of us.  

The cleared out houses are reminiscent of Matthew 12:44 (ESV), “Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order.”

These structures were built by our parents and grandparents but were taken over by the enemy for a time.  Maybe there were even roaches and bugs in the corners of the rooms. But the Lord cleared all that junk away with his love-hurricane. 

Cherise and I have talked about how this year is a year of fruit, and no question the bags of peaches are for our enjoyment.  

The house with the chairs is meant for a church-house gathering.  

The roads haven’t been paved yet, because that’s part of our ministry – from Isaiah 62:10 (ESV), “Go through, go through the gates; prepare the way for the people; build up, build up the highway; clear it of stones; lift up a signal over the peoples.”

We are all mayors of this town.  When I asked if this town was by the sea or in the mountains or like Round Rock, Cherise said it was like Round Rock.  A friend and I prayed Isaiah 62:6-9 over our town this morning.  

“On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the Lord in remembrance, take no rest, and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth. The Lord has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: “I will not again give your grain to be food for your enemies, and foreigners shall not drink your wine for which you have labored; but those who garner it shall eat it and praise the Lord, and those who gather it shall drink it in the courts of my sanctuary.” ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭62‬:‭6‬-‭9‬ ‭(ESV)‬‬

We are the watchmen.  “And they shall be called The Holy People, the Redeemed of the LORD; and you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.” Isaiah 62:12 (ESV).

What I Have Seen

Since I have had this dream Brett and I have started a house church. We meet either at our house or at the park. We have seen great fruit that is lasting fruit because we chose to say yes to this call from the Lord. It is up to us and the other families to fill this town with God’s love and truth. We are the caretakers and need to improve the town. We build upon what has already been built by our ancestors. The Lord gives new and deeper revelation of his truth, but that doesn’t make the truth revealed in the past any less important. This is where the school bus comes in. We need to remember that teaching the truth in God’s word is imperative. It needs to touch every aspect of what we do. 

I am sure there is still more to learn from this dream, but this is a good start! 

Have you ever considered how the Holy Spirit speaks to you? There are lots of ways the Holy Spirit will speak to you. The beauty of the Holy Spirit is that he treats each of us as individuals, and will speak in a way we all can understand. Maybe you get spiritual dreams like I do. Perhaps you often see images in your mind as you pray (this is called a vision). It may be that you just know deep down what the Lord is saying to you. You can’t explain it, it’s just something you know. However the Holy Spirit speaks to you, I encourage you to go deeper with the Holy Spirit. Ask him to refine the way you hear his voice so you can have an even more intimate relationship with him.