"The Lord told me to."

"I feel that God is saying this,"

"I have peace, so I know this is right."

Whether you grew up hearing these phrases or began following the Lord recently, you, as a Christian, are no doubt directly or indirectly familiar with the sometimes complicated business of understanding what God is saying to you.

I'm not just talking about understanding what Scripture means, I'm talking about when you get on your knees, pray about a specific situation, and aren't sure if God is responding. Sometimes, we get a response, but we aren't completely sure if it's the Lord's voice we are hearing or our own.

I used to think that God's voice was audible. In essence, when I prayed, I hoped that God would directly whisper in my mind the answer to my question. Perhaps for some, God speaks to them that way. However, throughout my time of following Him, I have learned that it is not uncommon for Christians to hear from the Lord in a much more subtle way than they expected.

We know the Scripture which says that "faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word of God." However, Isaiah 30:21 says that "your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left." When I encountered this verse, my soul rejoiced and my heart felt relieved. Why? Because I learned that it doesn't mean I lack faith if I do not hear a booming voice or loud whisper in response to my prayers.

I am always hesitant to say, "God told me to do this." I try to say, "I think God is directing me to, _" because I want to be led by the Holy Spirit in every step. There is danger at bay when we assume to perfectly comprehend God's unknown and omniscient will. According to that verse in Isaiah, God often directs us moment by moment, rather than handing us the reigns and laying back without interfering further.

Before Jesus left earth to return to heaven, he told his disciples, "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you." The world does not know the Holy Spirit; it makes sense, then, that perhaps He doesn't speak to us in the way we expect He might; He doesn't speak to us the way the world speaks to us.

Born-again Christians have the Holy Spirit to guide them. He is with us always to direct our thoughts and steps when we listen. While this is biblical, it is also true that God does not speak the same way to everyone in every situation.

Some receive visions; some receive words; some see signs; some hear prompting; some might be spoken to through another person. I cannot claim to know if a person is a wrong when s/he says, "I know that God told me to do this," because we have different needs, and God knows exactly how to meet them. At the same time, it is Scriptural to leave things open for new direction and constantly be guided by the Holy Spirit. In another chapter of Isaiah, God says that His "thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways." I don't know about you, but I am beyond grateful that God does not operate the way we do or the way our friends and family do.

If you don't hear from the Lord, that doesn't mean He isn't speaking to you. It is an endless learning-process to walk more and more by the Spirit by each day. Do not be hasty to put words in God's mouth, for His ways or not your ways. Some might be frustrated with the fact that God speaks more softly than He used to, and I can see why. The apostles had the Son of God, in the flesh, walking among them to perform tangible miracles and preach The Word. The Holy Spirit is so powerful, however, that Jesus told his followers that it was better that He go back to heaven so that they could have the Holy Spirit.

We have been given all the guidance we need. Our Father does not expect us to know what to do. On the contrary, He knows that we need access to His wisdom all the time, and it is for this reason that He made a way for us to walk in His "good, pleasing, and perfect will." Do not be discouraged if you do not "know what God is telling you." The truth is, nobody knows what God's will for us is all the time. But because of the Bible and because of The Helper, we never have to walk blindly; we never have to walk alone.