Have you heard people saying, “I decided to do this because this is what God told me”, and wonder how these people hear from God? One of my life groupmates asked this and I thought this is a valid question. Who knows, people are saying this just to justify their decisions or appear spiritual. So today, I thought I would share with you my personal thoughts on how to hear from God. A little bit disclaimer, this is based on what I’ve learned and what I’ve personally experienced.

CONFIRMATION

One way of hearing from God is through hearing the same message again and again. There are times when Sunday preaching is about courage, your current devotional is about courage and your Christian friend unexpectedly shared something about courage too! Coincidence? Maybe not. When this happens, take time to reflect. It can be God’s way of confirming His personal message for you.

SPECIFIC WORD

This is one of my favorite, but to be honest, this is the rarest way of hearing from God. There are times when you are asking God for something and you open your bible and literally, God’s answer is in front of you.  Last year, there was a point when I was in doubt about our move to Japan. As I do my daily journal, the verse Jeremiah 29:7 speaks to me “seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you (into exile). Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper”. Because of this, the sadness was gone, I received peace and I once again believed that this is part of God’s plan.  However, as mentioned, this doesn’t happen all the time. If only God, answers prayers with emails! But the Bible says, keep asking, keep seeking and then you will receive, you will find. Pray to receive a specific word for your specific needs.

DAILY BIBLE READING

I’ve been a Christian for about ten years now. One thing that I learned over the years, that has become part of my life until now is Bible reading. The Bible is the word of God. It is His way to speak to us. It tells everything we wanted to know about. By reading the Bible, you get to understand God, yourself and His purpose for you. At first, it will not make sense. But as you keep on reading, you’ll eventually understand. I remember before, I only read my bible because I’m required to do so. In one of the church training, we have a notebook that we need to fill out with our daily reflection of our Bible reading. Of course, I don’t want to be that bad student who doesn’t do her homework! Eventually, this became a habit for me and even though I had finished with the training. I get used to it and keep on doing it until now. Reading the Bible constantly, builds faith and understanding of God’s way. When the times comes to make decisions, it’s easy to identify which decision is God approved. Being familiar with the Bible is like being familiar with God’s voice. It’s like building an archived of God’s perspectives in your brain, ready for use any time.

That’s about it. Bottom line, hearing from God is all about being in His presence. I remember ten years ago, I was a new believer of God, I was in college and a very grade conscious student. In fact, I’m hoping to graduate cum laude, but it was gone when I received a low grade in one of my subjects. I get the list of verses I usually hear from church and all I can see that is applicable to me is the verse “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). I talked with my churchmates and they say the same thing. I thought, well, it’s a safe verse to say, so why not? But I certainly put that verse in to action. When I reached my house, I locked myself in the room and cried. I cried and complain to God, asking him why. I remember myself saying things like, “I used to be by myself and I’m doing good, now that you came into my life, you ruined my dreams!”. I complained, blamed and yelled God. When I got too exhausted to cry and complain, I stopped and tell myself that I’m just wasting my time because no matter what I say, it will not change the fact that he is God. That moment, the very words I said bounce back to me, as if God is telling me, “no matter what people say, no matter what happened, it will not change who you are”.

I hope this helps you hear more from God. See you in my next post. 

From time to time, take a seat back

Feel life. Feel the time passing by.

Watch your life and see what’s up.

I don’t want to go with the flow

I don’t want to be toss by the wind.

I’m all about calculated risk, intentional move and purposeful living.

Seat back and have a careful look at your life

Dream. Imagine and take a leap of Faith.

Then take steps again. 

I’m so happy to finally tick off my favorite item in my dream list and that is to see the Cherry Blossoms in Japan. It was a carried over goals for a couple of years and finally it’s here! Sharing with you some photos we took during its full bloom.

Before I thought Cherry Blossoms can be found in Japan only, but they’re all over countries in the Northern Hemisphere, including China, Korea, Europe and the United States. 

What makes it unique in Japan is the special attention they gave to it. They have this particular picnic held under a blooming Sakura tree called Hanami. 

They celebrate the beauty of the cherry blossom while relaxing and enjoying the company of friends or family. Just by walking around the park and seeing the Sakura and the Hanami parties, you can sense the joy in everyone.

This made me realized that learning to celebrate simple pleasures can transform to enormous joy. Taking time to look closer at the things that we have and appreciating it to the fullest will yield joy, and I decided to practice it every day. I hope you too.

Let’s celebrate life! There’s more to be thankful for.