Discussion Topic #9: How does God communicate with you?

Nudges, intuitions, dreams, signs, symbols - I related a lot to the Emerson quote.

As an example of what I mean by signs: ravens, squirrels, and the color blue often appear to draw my attention to something, or to reassure me all will be well.

SYNCHRONICITY.

Those little things that make perfect sense.

God speaks to me in many different ways...sometimes I DO hear a message in words. Other times it is through a song I hear, something someone says, or a sign I have asked for.

Apparently, I'm not good at listening or the communication is in a language foreign to me. I continue the search...

God communicates through me by way of miracles! I see them everywhere.

as a very intuitive person i get some very strong psychic feelings sometimes that i can't ignore. sometimes i KNOW something is going to happen a certain way and then it does. i have 'seen' as far as 4 years ahead. also signs and feelings play a big part. before 9/11 for about 2-3 years i kept asking why 11:11 was catching my attention so strongly. that day was the answer to that sign. i felt another person's feelings for about 2 years before i met him and always faced in what turned out to be the direction of his house. when i did meet him..i felt i already knew him and treated him as a familiar friend from the start. birds are constantly dipping in front of my vehicle and if there is a fence they will keep flying ahead and land where i can see them. they will even perch on my mirror and peer in at me. i feel pretty sure this is a form of telling me something but i haven't figured out what yet. the answer will come...it always does.

peaceowork said it best: synchronicity. It's a little like being a radio that is tuned properly to a station rather than to static. That's the best I can do to explain it.

BTW, Carla -- great question!

The urge to do a thing that won't leave--the things I read, the conversations I have. Sometimes I'll have three conversations about the same thing with different people and they bring up the topic. The more I try to listen, the clearer God's voice becomes.

There are so many venues and God being who He is (although neither male nor female,) uses them all...dreams, intuitions, thoughts, premonitions, the words of others, the Catholic mass, circumstances and situations as illustrations... I used to shut out the less tangible methods, but God used them, anyway, so I surrendered to it.

It's a good question. So far I haven't really figured out the answer.

I am so enjoying reading the many ways that God gets through to us. I hope that it will help others who maybe haven't felt that God is there for them to realize that God speaks to us in so many wonderful and creative ways.

As for me, I have sometimes heard that still, small voice within that urges me to do something; but more often than not, it is often God speaking through someone who tells me something that I really needed to hear that was the answer to a question that I'd had. Dreams, intuitions and music have also been a channel of God's encouragement at times when I needed it.

God communicates with me when I choose to listen with my heart instead of with my ears.

Elizabeth, that is so beautiful and right-on! Thanks for reminding us of that important truth. God's language is the language of love.

God commucates with me though prayer, action of answering my prayers. Sometimes I may not like the answewr but I always obey. When you get this over welming feeling if you feel God will direct you in your daily walk. Before I prayer or read the bible or going to help someone in need of food, prayer,understanding whatever. I go to God first & ask him the the understanding of his word, understanding of what is his path for me today. I feel it in my heart & soul. Some times very heavy, others is is very delightful feeling. I always ask for his words to speak to me in my understanding so I know what it is that will be for today.
Love & honor.
God Blessings
dee-dee Carla say's it all really well. thanks

Thanks for sharing.

Another great question Carla. As I read the article I thought what my answer might be, then as I worked down the comments I was reminded of so many more ... Thus I would say that because ALL is of God, the communication could well come from anywhere and everywhere in anyway and at any time ...

Prior to my actually 'meeting' God through my 'awakening' 14 yrs ago, there was no real thoughts about God, just my ego me, attempting to relate to the world based only upon myself. That made the world a real challenge and sometimes a scary place. The only love I knew then was the normal kind that we all grow up with, mostly associated with family, in which, as deep as it was, for the rational person that I am, there were often strings attached, at least on the surface of the give and take experiences of day to day.

But then in middle age I became depressed, because of so much negativity in the world and the lack of what I never knew, real peace, I had become overwhelmed with the many expectations of me to provide for others, when I needed something myself, that life did not seem to provide.

In recognizing that need and finally deciding to attempt to do something about it, it required trying something new, as all of the old things had never worked. I could remember way back in life during hard times even talking to God, making the promises to "Him" (and maybe even Jesus) just as the religious people always promised would work ... but it never had, so eventually I had given up on 'that' ... and for sure 'religion' itself.

So I sought information, always seeking truth, then when I learned (on PBS-TV) of the findings of Joseph Campbell where his research all over the world convinced him that all peoples were really seeking the one and only same God, that resonated with me because it just made sense that there was a singular God of all, not at all like the religions seemed to be saying, where they each had a version and called the others something less, even fighting over it at times ...

About then, along with other things I was prescribed an anti-depressant. I only took it for a short while because I did not like the side effects (it was an older type, not like the newer stuff that I later took) ... but the thing it did do for me was give me some very vivid dreams that were far beyond any I had ever experienced before ... that alone made me open to the possibility of an expanded reality, it at least presented a lot of questions to me.

In some of those dreams there was the experience of sharing a lot of love, an unconditional kind with no strings attached, a kind unlike I had ever experienced before ... very special but never did I yet relate it to God in any way, it was 'just' a dream to me. Very nice dreams though.

Some time later, right after starting for the first time the newer antidepressant (Prozac) I had the urge to attempt to meditate. I knew nothing about such, so just decided to lay down and become as relaxed as I could, concentrating on my breathing without falling asleep ... and lo and behold ... within minutes I became seemingly weightless and encompassed in this tremendous feeling of love and peace, even beyond the earlier dreams ... and I was awake and conscious of it all ... extremely relaxed and seemingly encased in an off-white cocoon ... I surrendered to it, but it soon within minutes subsided bringing me back to near normal ... BUT ... I would never be normal again, because to me that had to have been without a doubt, very much related to God, in my mind anyway, because it had been rather miraculous as far as I was concerned.

I became very excited about that experience and with great anticipation and a renewed sense of possibility, I actively sought more of it along with an understanding of it. I was not disappointed because over the next few days I experienced ever-increasing altered state experiences very much related to that first. They then culminated in what cannot be really described with words, but was undoubtedly a full acceptance from God into a universal (at least cosmic) realm.


Sorry, I get carried away here setting the stage for the actual 'speaking' to God ... ( I would hope that some one may be interested ). (nobody is 'forced' to read) :-)


Subsequent to 'that' experience I felt myself a completely different person, I now had a relationship with God that extended into eternity, the old ego-self view no longer seemed to apply ... I may have well over-estimated things though, because with time (a few years) I found myself very much closer to being a more 'normal' person, like I now am. Yet still changed because I hold the knowledge of certainty of 'that' relationship. I now "chop wood and carry water" as a, I believe Zen, saying goes.

It was through a matter of years actively relating to God as books came into my possession in an order of wonder, as each seemed to answer my most recent question, as if it were a divinely ordered lesson plan. (I seriously believe it was). I also saw and related to certain numbers in a very special way when they appeared seemingly very much related to certain things. The numbers that meant the most to me were a series of repetitive 1's, 3's and 4's ... with special meaning to the last two.

I also had 'messages' that appeared mentally to which I responded with thought in the form of questions to which I then received answers ... all of that was very brief in duration but very powerful in meaning ... always ! On a few occasions I experienced what I later determined was 'automatic writing' that was also a two way communication between my ego self and my higher Self (God for all practical purposes)( by then I had found a preferred 'definition' of God). I had been long into writing to 'myself' (so 'I' thought, until the awakening) after which I found that it was my higher Self that I had been unknowingly communicating with through my journaling. When I realized that fact and truth, my journaling became an almost continuous thing, I have countless piles of legal pads filled with it all ... I only stopped when I began my book and then took up here on Gather where I do somewhat the same via this and other writings, believing it now my spiritual mission to help others awake to the higher truths of a personal God as I have.

I must say that there came a time some few years (maybe only one, I do not recollect for sure) after my awakening when I 'made a deal' with God. The deal was that I would completely commit everything about my life to God, but that I did not want it to be the kind of relationship where I had to come to 'Him/Her' (my God was/IS female as related to male ego me) with prayer and advice ahead of time or during the actual experiences of a worldly nature ... I wanted an automatic real time experience based solely on my INtuition, I did not want a me/Him separated experience ... as far as I know, I have had that ever since ... I no longer have conversations with, but feel that we (God and I) are a part of each other at all times ... we have that 'bargain' and I love it. It is reinforced often in many subtle ways and I never doubt the connection ...

So we no longer 'speak', but there is never a need for that reassurance, I now just know !

Thanks for sharing your journey and experience, Jerry. I know that it will inspire others to develop a personal relationship with God.

Thanks for the direct to here Carla. I am not a 'Goddist'; as a Buddhist, and knowing that we are all the Buddha, my connection with the universe comes through my profound prayers and as a result of the actions I take for the sake of the Law.

When I become aware of that which I had not previously thought, I know I am in rhythm with my greater, lofty Self (Buddha nature). If that corresponds to anyone's sense of "God" then that is how "God" communicates with me. Peace all y'all!!

I love peaceowork's answer, captures my answer in a single word. I'd say through books, ideas, TV programs, the dog, random comments from friends and strangers,the weather - anything. But when the same idea keeps appearing in all these different ways, then I know it's time to listen a little closer, and spend a little more quality time in prayer.

Alternatively, if I think I've heard, then the time in prayer will be followed by little things that tell me yes or no.

Jared, actually, in Unity we would say that what you call "Buddha nature" or "lofty Self" is our Christ nature or divine nature; so it is very much the same. In other words, we believe that all of us have a divine nature--that we are not just human. The apostle Paul said, "Christ in you, your hope of glory."

Liz, I'm curious about the "queer little electrical thing" that runs through your hand. Can you share more?

Define "God".

Intuition is inherent.
Most speak of "God" as extrinsic.

Carla, first off, I do appreciate the notification of the weekly question. Thank you.

Like Liz, I've got various energetic-electrical signals when something's up....the "angel fire" that runs all over me, or when my hands light up with healing energy....

I've enjoyed conversations with Buddha and various Bodhisattvas, with divinities from various religious traditions, with many sacred beings, gods & goddesses, and saints - Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, and others......The God-In-All-That-Is speaks to me, as to all of us, through signs and synchronicities.
I've also truly enjoyed my visits from the Father-God, including some "dates" - restaurant meals and poetry from God pouring out------

Once when things were really too whacked-out in the weeks leading up to my older daughter's wedding, I did a shamanic journey to find some helpful advice from Spirit. I was taken straight to the "throne of God," and God told me, "GO SHOPPING."
LOL!
It's true!
That was the only anwer. So I followed the advice, found the right dress to wear, and had an understanding at a very deep level that - yes - Love/God/Godys/Buddha/All-That-Is ------YES, it keeps track of all the details; and YES, LovingKindness matters. A lot. Like, it's everything.

As from the Heart of Creator, so through my heart.

Music, I forgot about music. The music of John Michael Talbot has done more for my spiritual life than any other one thing, especially attending his concerts where one can feel the presence of the Holy Spirit heavily in the air. People experience healing of many kinds, there: www.johnmichaeltalbot.com

God is everywhere and communicates to me, to the world constantly. I just have to listen. Sometimes if there is something specific that I need to hear, and I am not getting the point, signs will appear. Tune in, pray, listen... it is all right there.

Carla, it is Karma
I agree with Jennifer Oliver, "God communicates through me by way of miracles! I see them everywhere." God also show me the affect our (everyone's] negative actions have caused.
My son has special needs, and every day he shows me God's miracles.
When I listen to the news or read the news papers, I see the bad choice we have made in our lives. Everything we do has an affect on others.
Just the other day in the Kansas City Star, there was an article about a tragedy. A 19 woman was killed in an intersection, when a man drove his car through a red light, speeding, no license, no insurance, and no tags on the car, and he was an immigrant. To compound this sad story, he only received a few days in jail and a $270 fine.
People need to think about their choices in life, from driving a car to entering into an intersection.

What a great question! A friend and I who speak everyday have sometimes different communication from God (He/She) above. We speak about so enthusiactically and feel blessed for this. I believe it starts with opening your heart to God and then you start to see the signs He wants you to see. I personally have dreams, strong intuition, read clouds I think, and radio sometimes come into the picture to lead me when I am lost. And also when I ask a question, the answer is soon seen on a license plate.
I feel there are all kinds of signs to help lead us one from another to our journeys in life on earth too. I call them pass it ons.

Awesome question, Carla! It depends on when and how I am paying attention. God speaks to me after I have prepared myself to receive His message. When I am full of self: self-driven, self-motivated, self-aware, self-centered, chasing after my plans in my time and my way, I don't hear a thing. But when I take the time to stop and seek Him I hear in a multitude of ways. Sometimes it's through a specific Scripture that speaks directly to me - something I've just read, or perhaps a memory verse that gets pushed to the forefront of my mind.

Sometimes it as others have said - that still, small voice, or the words of another, or unexplainable occurrences that others would call coincidence. I've often heard that coincidence is God wishing to remain anonymous at the time. Sometimes it's a strong thought or feeling, a compulsion to call someone, or even needing to go do something for someone specific. Certain music will stoke that, as will certain images or just thoughts that come during periods of meditation.

One thing I am certain of - God does talk to His people and He uses whatever method will work best for contacting each of us individually at that time, that day and that place. There is no waste in God's economy - He will always use the most effective way to accomplish His will. That doesn't always seem to be what we would choose, but God's infinite will is not known to humanity - only the small portion He chooses to show us.

After I pray, I stay quiet and just listen. God speaks to me during that time. I hear Him like a voice in my head or sometimes there are no words just a feeling inside, of peace and love, that makes me weep.

Sometimes God sends signs like a white butterfly, which will fly near me and I know He's telling me that someone is watching over me - when my grandma died I had a white butterfly around me all the time and I think it is God's way of saying that He is watching over me, comforting me in my difficult time. Ever since that time, when I go through really difficult times in my life I would see a white butterfly and I would know all is all right.

Sometimes it's the scent of roses or a burning candle when I am not near any rose or candle that reminds me the God is there. These signs I started to have when I migrated to the US and lived far away from my family.

Sometimes God speaks to me in the things that happen in my life that when I reflect on weaves a pattern of God's plan in my life.

And at times it is the sheer beauty of his creation that speaks to me, how great is our God!

I am very behind in my emails, but I like to come to this particular group.

HOw does God communicate to me,

the biggest way is his earth angels, people on this earth that have been so kind to me and have helped me in so many ways,

he communicates to me through nature, the beauty of his creation

he communicates through the inexplicable feeling of peace I get after my troubled heart and mind has prayed to him for help and guidance

I had to come back to read all of the comments. What an interesting topic Carla!

Communicates
Through the colors
Of the rainbow...
The inner voice
Within

... In every way He/She could - via nature, colors, sounds, books I read, music I listen to, people I meet and even via the seemingly incidental phrases I happened to hear...

Love and blessings - S.

In so many different ways. I just open my heart and everything else follows.

Thank you for the question, Carla, and all of the beautiful answers! For me, there is a feeling (how best to put it) and a trusting. I have stopped trying to figure it all out. I do what I can to be in the moment and allow my thoughts, words and actions to come from within. When I do so, life flows...even when it appears that all is falling to pieces! I don't hear voices, I don't feel an electrical current (though I am very intrigued by that!) but there is an inner knowing when I am following God's direction vs. when I am doing it "on my own". One thing that I have done has to do with kinesiology. I have found that I can ask a question within and my body will naturally respond. My body will either sway forward or backward as I am standing up in a relaxed pose. It's good for yes/no answers. David Hawkins speaks of this internal intelligent power within us in many of his books including Power Vs. Force. If you have not read this, it is great reading for understanding the intelligent energy that flows through all.

Joanne, I have read that book and maybe another on Kinesiology, I have no reason to doubt any of it, having never attempted it yet. It sounds very convincing to me and I would think it would change the thinking of any skeptic that it worked on ...

Joanne, I have a copy of Hawkin's book packed away in a box since our move. I haven't read it yet but do plan to at some point. Thanks for reminding me about him.

I loved reading these answeres. I hear God in many ways, as well. This is remarkable that so many agree on such a profound question.

Intuition and synchronicity, and sometimes as what I would term as miracles.

Carla, your article just prompted me to write one if you care to read.

I have heard God's voice. The first time was when I was just 7 years old and had asked Jesus to be my best friend. I walked into the "big" church (I had been in children's church) and whispered, "Where are you, Jesus?" And a strong, yet loving voice answered, "I'm right here, Marilyn."

The next time was many years later. I was listening to a lay speaker and heard a voice, "You could do that." It sounded like a familiar voice. I looked around, but there was no one nearby, or close enough to have spoken to me. As I exited the church with the intention of telling the speaker I had enjoyed his sermon, I reached out my hand to shake his and the words that came from my mouth were, "I'd like to do what you do!"

What??? The following week I was in the beginning lay speaker's class.

God speaks to me every day through his creations. Before fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue hit, I used to waken early enough to watch the sun rise. I love God's morning sky. I love watching the birds romp that early in the day and enjoy hearing the birds sing. It's as if they are worshiping Him.

God speaks to me through the words of others, through Scripture, through the ants crawling on our porch. There are messages everywhere, if we just take the time to watch, to listen and to learn.

God speaks to me through answered prayers, intuition, that calm peaceful feeling you get when you know you are doing the right thing, and through others answering questions I have been pondering.

By the way I liked the question. It made me stop and think about the answer.

It's been incredible reading everyone's responses. God speaks to us in soooo many ways. I guess that God has to sometimes just to get our attention. There are so many distractions in life that make it difficult to hear/notice the messages that are coming to us. And ChrisJerri, I'll check out your article.

I just joined this group so I'm a little behind but I had to respond to this one.
Good question and some great answers!
As someone said, the universe or God talks to us all the time and we can learn to listen any time we can shut off the internal dialog long enough. Turn one's attention outward, look, and listen.

Welcome to the group, Hawkowl! Yes, listening is something that we're not always good at. There seems to be a lot of the internal dialogue going on most of the time, at least for me. I love my times of meditation and silence, but even then sometimes my mind starts in with yada yada yada...

Just stumbled across this article, Carla, and I loved the question. I know the discussion has long since moved on, but I thought I'd mention a few of the ways that I believe God speaks to us:

To me, the most obvious way God speaks to us is through His work. The beauty of nature all around us but also the design inherent in it. By that I don't just mean the elegance of the atom or the snowflake, but also the glimpses of the plan behind the design. I believe that much of what God intends for us is obvious in the way his universe works, including the laws of Karma.

I believe, as I know you do, that God is within us as well as without. He is part of us and part of us is from Him. Sometimes we hear God from within and I believe our conscience to be one aspect of His voice within us.

Prayer is another way in which God speaks to us and, again, I think from His place within us. Often I think that there is something I would like to pray for, to ask of God but when I begin to pray I realize that my desire is spurious or excessive or childish or unnecessary. Often I realize that rather than asking for the thing or event that I desire it makes more sense to ask for the strength and the wisdom to either find within myself the means of achieving my desires or have the strength to endure the lack of my desire and the good sense to acquire new wisdom through that. I believe that this phenomenon, of facing more openly our inner self through prayer is an aspect of speaking with God and being spoken to by Him.

I think God also speaks to us through miracles. When my best friend survived a viscious assault with a motor vehicle, one from which he should have died at least three times during the event, I believed and still do that a miracle had been granted in response to my prayers and those of everyone who loved him. Why did God see fit to grant this miracle when so many others die violently or needlessly, why should my friend be spared? I'm not sure I know the answer to that one, but I do believe God was using the event to communicate with me (and others).

I think God also communicates with us through others, especially through hearing honest expressions of faith from others. So vast and comprehensive is the reality of God, so far beyond the ability of any single person to know, that it is very likely that the truths others hold in their heart, even when they don't dovetail with our own, are really true and represent one more aspect of God and His plan. Hearing how He has spoken to others is akin to hearing Him speak through others.

I'm sure there are many more ways, some of which have already been mentioned. One of your better questions, and that is saying quite a lot.

Through the written word of God. The bible first and foremost. In a dream or a vision and sometimes confirms things through another person, however none of the last few take place above the written word of God. He does NOT speak in contradiction to his word. Period. What he says WILL line up with his word. Always has and always will. Read it you might learn something from it.