Experiences Hearing from the Holy Spirit

I want to share with you experiences I have had when I’ve heard the Holy Spirt. There have been countless times since the first time that I recognized His voice, but the following three are ones I want to share because they stand out to me the most.

It wasn’t long after I was born again that I experienced my first encounter with the Holy Spirit. I was running out of time to finish a craft project, as they were intended as gifts. I had all the items necessary to finish, except for one.

Living in a moderate-sized city, I knew I would be able to find it, as there were four stores which sold these kinds of items. I was at the fourth store and still didn’t find it, though. Or so I thought.

After walking up and down two or three isles in the store and still not seeing what I needed, I prayed (something like this) under my breath, “Lord, you know I need to find this, and I need it today. Please help me. You know this is the last store. Amen.” To my surprise I heard immediately, “It’s behind you.”

Thinking that it was me, I shrugged it off. I went down those same isles again. I heard one more time, “It’s behind you.” I then argued with “myself” (but I later learned I was really arguing with God) and kept looking. On the final trip around these same isles, that same voice said, “It’s behind you.” It was then I stopped, turned around and looked at the display. This time I looked above where I had been looking before, and there it was! And the quantity I needed! Being so excited about this, I couldn’t wait to get back in the car to praise the God of heaven that He answered my prayer!

Writing this right now has me excited all over again! Because the God of the Universe, the God of Creation, our Heavenly Father wants to bless His children more than we want to be blessed. It is that still small voice that we all need to learn to hear and then obey.

Another experience was when I lived in Atlanta, Georgia, many years ago. As you probably know that city is huge. The traffic is horrendous, and no one drives at the speed limit. After work, during the hour of the heaviest traffic, my mission was to get to the grocery store and then drive home. The store was only a couple of miles from the office, on a 4-lane road with a turn lane. And as usual, there was a steady stream of traffic in both directions.

While living there I found most people were helpful when one needed to turn onto a side road. The signal would be given so both were aware that we would be able to turn at the same time.

While approaching the street to turn, I heard very strongly, “Sit back further than you normally do to turn.” I thought, “Okay,” thinking it was me. So, I did just that, probably an entire car length.

It had rained earlier that day but was mostly dry at this time. The road in front of me had a hill that curved to the left. The speed limit was 35 MPH, and as I said earlier, no one went the speed limit. To my horror, a person was PASSING IN THE TURN LANE and headed right for me! I pressed down hard on the brake while gripping the steering wheel and yelled, “JESUS!” The driver obviously saw me and swerved into the lanes to his right and with some fishtailing, slammed into the curb, which flipped his car 180 degrees, and landed him slamming into a light pole breaking off a wheel. Miraculously no other cars were involved! I knew then it was the Holy Spirit telling me where to stop to turn. (I often wonder if I had not been there that day, might people have been killed with his reckless behavior?)

Well, needless to say, I was really shaken up and my knees felt like wet noodles, but I was able to drive to the store. I had to sit in the parking lot for a few minutes before I could get out. As I drove home, I was praising God for keeping me safe and the others as well. I often tell people that if I had not listened AND obeyed, I might not be here today, or perhaps living as a vegetable. Our God is so good, and we need to heed that voice!

The next experience is about hearing from the Holy Spirit while praying in the spirit. My husband and I knew we were to go on a mission trip; however, we didn’t know where. We had just been in Bogota, Colombia for four weeks and knew during the last week while there we were to go to another country the following year.

After returning home and praying a little here and there, after a month we still didn’t know where we were to go. I am a planner, and I like to have everything lined up. I needed to write letters about our plans to those who would support us financially. After a few months, I suggested to my husband that we needed to pray more in the Spirit until we knew.

One day I had determined while getting around for the day I would hear from God. I was only speaking in tongues while doing so, when suddenly the only word I recognized was “Romania.” I stopped everything! My brain kicked in with my first thought, “That’s in Europe!” (We believed we were called to Latin America.) My next thoughts were, “Isn’t that a Communist country?” And then, “Have we heard of someone adopting a child from there?” “Has it been in the news lately?” The questions went on.

Then I realized, the Holy Spirit was telling us we were going to Romania! I was so excited I couldn’t wait to tell my husband. When I told him I had heard where we were going, he asked, “Where?” I replied, “I am not going to tell you nor answer your questions. I’m not showing you where on the atlas, either. You will need to hear from the Lord Himself. If you do, it’s from Him, if not, it was me.”

A few days later I asked him if he had heard from the Lord. He said, “Romania, Bulgaria.” Although I didn’t hear Bulgaria, that thrilled me! And we both knew we were going on a wonderful God Assignment! We have talked about this day many times since. He said he would have agreed with me had I told him the destination. And I have told him I was glad I heard it first.

The next issue was who to contact. Normally, you just don’t show up in a country without a place to go and further information. We didn’t know anyone who lived there, nor knew anyone that had been there. We didn’t know who could help us. After writing many emails to various people, a few months later we finally connected with an American couple who had been living there for several years. And as they say, the rest is history. (We made seven trips and saw God show up and show off! Praises to our King!)

In sharing these examples, it shows me, and hopefully you, too, the God of the Universe speaks to us! I once heard, “God is a gabber!” He is constantly speaking to us. He delights in having conversations with us.

So, when He speaks are we really listening? If we are listening, are we obeying? We all can say at times we hear and don’t obey. Or obey immediately after hearing. I pray we all recognize His voice more clearly and more often so we can hear and obey the voice of the Holy Spirit more often.