Hearing the "Still Small Voice"

BY: Deana Bell, Director, Restored Marriage

"There is only one place in Scripture where God is said to speak in a 'still small voice,' and it was to Elijah after his dramatic victory over the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:20-40; 19:12). Told that Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, king of Israel, was seeking to kill him, Elijah ran into the wilderness and collapsed in exhaustion. God sent an angel with food and water to strengthen him, told him to rest, and then sent him to Horeb. In a cave there, Elijah voices his complaint that all of God’s prophets had been killed by Jezebel, and he alone had survived. God instructed him to stand on the mountain in His presence. Then the Lord sent a mighty wind which broke the rocks in pieces; then He sent an earthquake and a fire, but His voice was in none of them. After all that, the Lord spoke to Elijah in the still small voice or 'gentle whisper.'"
 
DESCRIPTION TAKEN FROM https://www.gotquestions.org/still-small-voice.html
 
We often hear about this "still small voice," but what could that look like in reality?
 
Hearing the voice of the Lord is imperative to standing for the restoration of your marriage. And because God speaks to us in many different ways, it is vital to know who the Speaker is and what He would say. Sometimes hearing the voice of God takes practice, but knowing Him comes first. Anything that does not align with Scripture is not from God. For instance, God would never tell us to lie, kill, or steal something. But knowing the Word of God comes from a daily practice of reading of Scripture.
 
CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network) lists a few ways that people hear from God:

1. Through an audible voice (see Matthew 3:17)
2. By putting words or Scriptures into our minds (see Matthew 24:35)
3. By flashing pictures into our minds (i.e., visions)
4. Through dreams (i.e., Daniel, Joseph)
5. Through others that speak into our lives (throughout the Bible)

 
Often I have "just suddenly" heard a Scripture in my mind. It would repeat itself over and over. Usually, I didn't even know where in the Bible that particular verse was located. I would google search and lo and behold; it was a verse that the Lord spoke to me. He was trying to tell me something important. If I had just ignored that verse running through my head, I might have missed an important message from the Lord.
 
I have learned that when there is the most significant risk, there is also the biggest reward.
 
Recently, I woke up with a seemingly biblically unrelated word in my head. I heard the Lord say "Tika," and I immediately knew it referred to my High School friend, Teresa. "Tika" was a nickname that we called her because one of the little kids we knew couldn't say, "Teresa." He called her "Tika."
 
On this day, when I woke up, I could have indeed chosen to ignore that "pop" into my mind, but since I have been doing this awhile, I knew I needed to spend some time finding out what the Lord wanted me to do.
 
I immediately prayed for my friend. That was Step 1. Then I felt the Lord prompting me to reach out to her via social media. Again, another risk. What would I say? What will she say? I have learned that obedience and obedience alone is KEY.
 
So Step 2 was that I stopped what I was doing, sat down, and sent a message to my friend. I said something like, "Hey, the Lord put you on my heart this morning, and I just wanted you to know that I prayed for you." (Keep in mind here that I haven't seen or talked to this particular friend in almost 20 years. But again, I know I heard "Tika," and she was the ONLY "Tika," I knew) Within minutes she replied.
 
She said, "Oh, wow! Beautiful example of divine intervention. I need them SO badly right now."
 
At this point, I could have moved on with my day, just knowing that God was intervening in something in her life, BUT, God being God, He wasn't done with me (or her) yet.
 
I felt prompted to respond. It felt like an "urging" that I couldn’t just push out of my mind. If I had tried, I am confident that He would have "urged" me back to the messages again.
 
I wrote, "I didn't want to overextend, but I felt like the Lord was saying, 'I've got this. Don't be worried.'" Again, what I said, was Scriptural (see 1 Peter 5:7, Matthew 6:25-34, and Philippians 4:6-7), and I was doing my job of encouraging her in the Lord. I went on to say, "You are loved, my friend. You are so loved." Again, Scriptural, but I could also "feel" in my Spirit that He loved her. It almost felt like my heart would burst with how much love that I was feeling at that moment.
 
Here's where the clincher came…
 
She typed, "I was just diagnosed with cancer on Thursday."
 
My heart hit the floor.
 
Now it was finally all making sense to me. Quickly, as my friend was typing some more, I felt the Spirit leading me to look up "Tika" because I was wondering why He used "Tika" instead of her given name.
 
Are you ready for this? Guess what the name "Tika" means (and was the first description when I googled it)?
 
Tika means WONDER OF LIFE!!!
 
Friends, this is what happens when you hear "the still small voice."
 
The Lord (not me) knew that my friend had a diagnosis that she was facing that made her scared and worrisome. He loves her, as He loves you, and wanted to make sure she knew that He was in this with her. He used me (just the willing vessel) to reach out and speak a word of LIFE and encouragement over my friend.
 
Teresa and I exchanged a few more messages, but ULTIMATELY it was HIS overwhelming love for my friend that was so encouraging to ME!!!! God goes after the ONE! He's speaks to THE ONE! He will do anything and everything to let us know that we are loved, cared for, and treasured.
 
I share this story with you today, not to pat myself on the back, but instead to give you a real-life example of how looking for and obeying the "still small voice" is essential. I am very sure that I have missed some (or a lot) of those times, but the Lord will find another way to get His purpose completed, if not through me. BUT, by obeying what I only presumed was the Lord, I got to encourage a friend and be encouraged myself by how good the Lord is.