If God is still talking, how does He speak? We can discover His methods by reviewing the different ways He revealed Himself in Old and New Testament days.
First, He spoke by direct revelation. By His Spirit He spoke to the spirit of men like Abraham, who one day heard God directly tell him to leave the land in which he was living and go into a land that God would show him.
Second, the Bible says God spoke through dreams. A good example is evident in the experiences of Daniel, to whom God revealed His world destiny in a series of dreams. In this way, God gave Daniel tremendous insight into future world events that are still in the process of unfolding today.
Third, God spoke through His written words, such as when He gave Moses the Ten Commandments.
Fourth, God spoke through His prophets. The prophets exclaimed, “Thus saith the Lord,” and the people obeyed because they knew it came directly from God.
Fifth, God spoke through circumstances. We’ve all heard the story of how God revealed Himself to Gideon. God wanted Gideon to lead the nation of Israel in battle against the enemy. Being a little fearful, Gideon decided to lay out a fleece. In fact, he laid it out twice. One morning he asked that it be soaking wet in the midst of dry grass, and the next morning he asked that it be as dry as gunpowder in the midst of wet grass. God graciously reached down to Gideon and gave him the assurance and confidence he needed.
Sixth, He spoke through angels, introducing to Mary and Joseph the birth of Jesus Christ through angelic proclamation.
Seventh, God often spoke through the Holy Spirit. You remember that in the life of Paul, who was on his way to Asia, God spoke to him through the Holy Spirit, forbidding him to go there: “Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them” (Acts 16:6–7).
