God "speaks"?

Have you ever wondered how or why it is that some people have this "hot line" to God? You know what I mean? They say things like, "God told me..." or "God showed me...". In the past, I used to be really skeptical about such people especially since many of them had big blue hairdo's and fake eyelashes, really flashy suits and fancy jewelry... including the women!

The reality is, showmanship and flashiness aside, God does "speak". No, He doesn't sound like Charlton Heston" and He doesn't have a British accent. Honestly, I don't know what His voice "sounds" like, but I do know when I hear Him. Jesus said that His sheep (that's you and me if you follow Jesus) will hear His voice and will recognize it. It's like when my girls were really little and when I or their mom would speak they would turn their head around to wherever they heard our voice come from. God speaks to us in many ways and we respond to Him. Sometimes it's through the counsel of a friend, a passage from the Bible and sometimes just a deep impression in your "gut", to name a few. It's our responsibility to become familiar with Him and to know Him so that we can hear His voice in our lives. That takes time and determination.
When you want to know someone you have to spend time with them. Before there was caller ID, you would answer the phone, say hello and if you didn't know the voice, you would ask, "who is this?" But when you knew the person on the other line, just the sound of their voice was enough to recognize them. It's the same with God. The more time you spend with Him, the more you will begin to recognize His voice.