People hear from God in differing ways, Pastor Bianca Olthoff explains during a recent sermon at The Father’s House in Orange County, California. Some just get an impression or gut feeling to where they know it’s God’s voice. Others are “seers,” where they receive dreams or visions from God. Still others may hear an audible whisper from Him. (Jump to minute 32 of the embedded video to hear about that specifically.)
Not only does Olthoff believe God can speak to people today, but she shares how He has spoken to her personally and even changed lives in her congregation. As she’s been teaching a series on prayer, she says that miraculous answers to prayer were reported to her.
“People who couldn’t afford car payments had their car payments absolved,” Olthoff says. “People who were desperately waiting to hear back from grad school and scholarships and all this other stuff not just got a partial scholarship, but got a full grad school scholarship. People who didn’t have a job came back this week with a job. … What gets me excited is that people’s faith is being reinvigorated. They’re believing in a God who hears them.”
So how do we hear the voice of God? Where do we start? Olthoff says it begins with faith and a desire to hear Him.
“Begin to tell yourself, ‘I want to hear the voice of God,'” Olthoff says. “… We are the most efficient generation, and yet we lack the most intimacy, not just with God but with others as well. … I firmly believe that God can speak to us and there will be people who tell you that He can’t, that He doesn’t and that He won’t; I’ve read books on it, I understand the theology of it. But [John 10:27] tells me that He speaks to me. … I believe that you’ve actually heard God speaking to you, but you didn’t identify or know that it was actually God speaking to you.”
Watch the entire video here.