when god speaks

Most folks are of the opinion that God speaks only to certain people and that most folks are not entitled to hear His voice. The people who believe this are the people who have yet to hear their Lord's voice, this is nothing more than religion. How do we know God will speak to people? Because the Bible says He does.

Hebrews 3:7-8 The Holy Ghost said, today if you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.
Seems like a lot of people want to hear His voice but they do not want to do what they hear Him say. God said He would speak to His people but if you're not willing to do what He says or believe what He says, He has no reason to say anything to them. If you have heard Him tell you something but you haven't heard for awhile, go back and do the last thing He told you.

John 16:13 When the Holy Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth: whatsoever He will hear, that He will speak to you.

The question of whether or not God will speak to His people is a forever settled event. I knew nothing of God's voice until I was saved and filled with His Spirit. In the Old Testament God spoke to His servants face to face (mouth to mouth), He had to do it this way because the people were spiritually dead. When people are born-again they become alive in their spirit and are then able to discern God's voice. Let me be practical here, I have never heard God's actual voice but I have heard His thoughts.

1 Corinthians 2:14 A nonbeliever cannot receive anything from God, neither can he know them because they must be spiritually discerned.

When God speaks it is conveyed in the spirit like thoughts, God created us to hear His thoughts. How do we distinguish between our thoughts and God's thoughts? When God reveals something to us, it will be something we would never think of ourselves. He imparts His thoughts into our thoughts but they are things we would not have thought of. One day I was watching the television and right in the middle of a program I picked up on a thought from God.
During the millennial reign of Christ, the Bible will become the constitution of the world.

I would never have thought of this on my own in a hundred years, I quickly wrote it down. If this thought would have originated within me I would remember it. But when a thought comes from the Lord I must write it down or I will forget what He said. For this reason I have note pads all over my desk, near my chair at home and in my truck. God can and does speak to us anytime and anywhere about anything. I had been dealing with a young lady that was having some issues in her life and I wasn't quite sure how to help her. Well, one day I was hunting elk and as I walked along a ridge I heard the thoughts of the Lord: words hurt her and words will heal her. This is exactly what He said and I knew immediately who He was talking about. Now I knew how to help this sister because the word of the Lord came to me. Often times I will ask God a question but not get the answer for several weeks or months, but I do get the answer. We are human and we can miss God, we may hear something we think He said. Don't get beat up over this, use it as an occasion to learn right from wrong. And by all means don't sweep it under the rug, repent and take responsibility.