When attending the institutional church there inevitably was someone speaking about how you too could learn how to hear from God, almost as if however it was happening for you in the then-and-now was not good enough.  Most of the time it was through doing something or relying on some method or person.

In the few years since I have come to appreciate that God speaks to people in a variety of different ways as diverse in themselves as people are.

There are those that are at peace just being in nature, taking a walk, observing a bird flittering through the garden, soaking up the sun on their back.

Other are invigorated and moved by music whatever the genre they chose.  They hear God's love and tenderness, His passion and enthusiasm, His pain and anger resonating within.

Then there are the creative types who identify, perhaps not consciously, with Gods nature being the creator of the universe, and think, design, construct and revel in a project that brings great satisfaction to their hearts.  It fulfills them.

I am finding I am a bit of all of these and more.  More because as infinite as God is there is undoubtedly many more ways that He speaks to us than we realise, and I did not intend to set out to detail them all here anyway.

These too may differ from what our expectations of 'hearing' and 'speaking' are, as we perhaps parallel them to human relationships.  Back in the times of the bible, when Jesus walked the earth, yes, 'hearing' and 'speaking' would have been tangible, physical, audible.

We don't have the luxury of Jesus being a friend who we welcome into our homes to sit and chat, contemplate and bounce ideas off.   More is the pity.

Instead we have God's spirit given to those who believe, as a counsellor.  I like that idea.  A counsellor is the sort of person, who listens to what you have to say, who is succinctly intuitive about which questions to ask you to get you thinking about the possible solutions for yourself.  A counsellor reflects back what they hear is important to you and helps you build a  path forward that is safe, and productive, if you let them.  Of course you can stimy or fight the counsellors assistance but why bother talking to one in the first place if you have no intention of letting them help you!

So IF that is an accurate understanding of how God speaks to us today then does it not follow that God can and does use those things all around us to reflect back to us, like a counsellor does, what we value and is good for us, to encourage us to move forward?  And no, I don't believe in there only be one right way for a Christian, that just doesn't fit with God's diversity and nature.   The only-one-right-way mindset paralyses ones faith and freedom.  Is there only one way to get to the supermarket, or an overseas destination or to learn to read?

Well that brings me to wondering how selective perception plays into the ways that God speaks to us.  It is all around us.  When we focus on something the tendency is to start seeing it wherever we look.  Is this God reflecting back to us a solution, trying to use that which we value enough to notice, to speak to us?  Do we already know the answer (the one we are waiting to hear from Him on)?  What weight should we place on it if it is?  Or is it instead just a random act of probability?  Where does selective perception fit on the scale of reliable ways God speaks to us?  Somewhere below flashing neon signs I would assume!?