Hearing from God

I am by no means an expert on hearing from God. I do believe that God speaks through his Word. I also believe that he sometimes speaks to us through other people (though sometimes I think we mistakenly believe God is speaking through them because they are saying what we want to hear). But at the same time I think that hearing from God is a bit mystical and can't be objectively defined.

I think that God speaks to us through his Holy Spirit... or at least I think he wants to speak to us through his Holy Spirit if we are in a position to listen. Jesus talks about this. He says that the Holy Spirit will teach us all things and remind us of things Jesus said (John 14).

Jesus also says that his sheep follow him because they recognize his voice (John 10).

I feel like I'm relearning how to hear from God. I know that so often I'm guilty of doing what seems right, sounds good, and appears to be from God without taking the time to actually hear from God. I don't do this on purpose, but I do fall into this trap.

You know how to tell you're in this trap? To use a cliched statement, you end up praying for God to bless your plans instead of praying for God to give you blessed plans. Another sign is that you end up being stressed and filled with pressure to figure everything out instead of resting in the sovereignty of God.

I guess I'm posting this to encourage you to listen to God. I can't explain how it all works, but He's talking. And he actually wants to talk to me (and you).