When I was born my parents were already pastoring. On Sunday mornings Sunday school followed by our worship service was the norm in our house. Not going to church was never an option or even a thought. I would sit and hear my dad's sermons about God and God speaking to different ones every Sunday. My dad was a very sincere man, a man that lived what he preached so I never questioned whether he was lying or if God was real. I simply believed him, as well as the many ministers that would preach at our church.

Let's fast forward to the age of 23. I remember waking up one day and realizing this pattern of church every Sunday had become "routine." Even though I had prayed the sinners prayer at a young age and had never questioned the existence of God, I could not recall God ever speaking to me. Being one that can not rest until I have the answer, I found myself needing an answer to this now burning question. To further intensify my pursuit, I found myself talking with Janet Clayton, a minister who was also one of my middle school teachers, around that time. I remember as clear as day when she said to me, "your success will hinge on how well you hear God's voice." I remember thinking, "I have never heard His voice" and "if that's what I need to be successful, then I'm in trouble."

All of this lead to me finally sitting down with my dad. My dad never preached to me as many of my friend's jokes may have suggested. Our house simply had rules that we had to obey. So I never saw my dad as my pastor, but I found myself now needing a pastor.

I remember dad arriving home that evening and I sat down with him with my burning question. "How do you hear God's voice?" My dad simply responded, "have you ever read the bible?" Of course I never had. So he told me that God speaks through His word, so I needed to begin there. He said if I had "nothing in me" then God had nothing to speak to me through. I made up my mind that evening that I would read the bible in it's entirety. I also decided that I would give God one year. If God did not speak to me in that year, then I could finally say God doesn't speak to me and I would go off and live my life.

I was about a little over a month into my reading when I had my first encounter with God. This encounter changed my life forever. I was completely stunned, but what stunned me the most wasn't what was said. It was what His voice sounded like. What sent chills through me was His voice was not foreign at all. In fact I had heard His voice all of my life. I soon realized we all have. The problem wasn't hearing it, the problem was recognizing it. 

In Proverbs 20:27 it says that the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly. God created people with the intent of having a relationship with them. So we are all designed to hear His voice. We all have the ability to hear His voice. In part two of this article we will explore how God speaks and what His voice sounds like.

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