Some have said that finding God's will is difficult to do. I don't think it has to be that way.

This is the second part of things to keep in mind when looking for God's will. (I'm thinking there will probably be four parts to this.) The first part was that God's will does not contradict the Bible. (For part one, copy and paste this URL: http://thebrinkonline.com/articles/read/how-to-know-gods-will-part-1.)

The second important thing to remember is to listen to the Spirit of God.

After the following introductory thoughts, I tried to make the rest of this piece flow like a conversation where I anticipate a question that might come to your mind. Feel free to ask more questions in the comments section and I'll do my best to find an answer for you.

I didn't hear much about the Holy Spirit growing up. I think some Christians have been scared to talk about Him in fear of being labeled something they didn't want to be. So as a result, He gets neglected. Or at least our understanding of His role in our life does.

But if we want to understand the Bible and the nature of God, we have to understand the significance the Holy Spirit plays in the story of God. And if you want to know God's will (essentially, hear Him), then it would greatly benefit you to know and at least partly understand one of the main methods in which God speaks.

Does the Spirit know what God's will is?

Emphatically, yes!

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians that the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. He went on to say that no one understands the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Other than Scripture and nature, the only way we can know what God is thinking is to listen to the Spirit of God. If you want to know God's will, listen to the Spirit, because the Spirit knows what God's will is for you.

How does the Spirit speak?

I have a caveat and then an example. The caveat is that in the same way God's will does not contradict the Bible, the Holy Spirit does not either. In fact, I have had experiences when the Holy Spirit spoke to me through a passage of Scripture. Someone was reading a passage, and the Spirit of God "said" to me, "This is what I want you to get right now." So yes it was the Spirit speaking to me, but He used the Scripture to tell me exactly what He wanted me to know. It was an unexplainable, incredible experience.

This caveat reminds me—if and when the Spirit of God speaks to you about the will of God, test it. If you want to know whether or not it was God's Spirit and not indigestion or a different spirit (evil spirits are real, and they can speak), test what the spirit said with what the Bible says. If it contradicts the Bible, you did not hear from God's Spirit, but something else (1 John 4:1).

The example I'm about to give is not necessarily the only way God's Spirit can speak (see Isaiah 30:27 for a time when God spoke loudly). It's just the way God has chosen to speak to me.

In 1 Kings, God spoke to the prophet Elijah. God had told Elijah to stand on a mountain so he could observe what was about to happen. He witnessed a wind that broke rocks into pieces, an earthquake, and a fire. The text says the Lord was not in any of those things. But then after the fire Elijah heard a "still small voice." That voice was the way in which God spoke to Elijah.

I think the Spirit still speaks in this way today—quietly.

How should someone go about hearing the Spirit speak quietly?

There's two parts to this answer. The first is you have to be quiet to hear something quiet.

I heard a speaker one time that had a real gift at using different volume levels in his presentation. He would get louder or softer depending on the moment or what he was saying. As I listened, I noticed something interesting about how the crowd reacted to his volume changes. The louder he got, the more rustling you could hear in the audience. But the softer he got, the softer everyone else got. You could hear a pin drop during his pauses. That's because if you wanted to hear what he had to say, you had to be completely silent in order to hear him at that moment.

I think listening to the Spirit works in the same way. Sometimes our lives are very, very loud and it takes the Spirit doing something very loud just to get our attention. Other times, we are very reflective and meditative and quiet, and the Spirit simply whispers to us.

If there is so much going on in your life that you never think about what the Spirit of God is saying to you, your life is too loud. Too noisy. Too busy. You need to unplug. Don't use your iPod for a week. Stay offline. Don't check email. Don't text. Sit in silence for 5 minutes without saying a word. Add 1 minute to that time each day.

The first part of the answer is you have to learn how to be quiet in order to hear something quiet.

The second part of the answer is you have to be close to someone to hear them whisper.

The Scripture says draw near to God, and He will draw near to you (James 4:8a). God has gone to great lengths for us to be able to know Him and hear Him. He reveals Himself through (1) creation, (2) Jesus, (3) the Bible, and (4) His Spirit. These things are all available to you. Now it's up to you to respond to what God has done. If you want to know God's will, you need to listen to the Spirit. And if you want to listen to the Spirit, you need to draw near to Him.

How does someone "draw near to God?"

The same text I referenced above goes on to say that we should cleanse our hands and purify our hearts. We are sinners and "double-minded" people (James 4:8b). This is how we draw near to God: we confess our sins and repent of them.

If sin is a blockade that keeps us from God, it is incredibly foolish to think God would show us His will when there is sin in our lives! It's not that God doesn't want to tell you, it's that you have chosen to cover your ears!

The Spirit of God cannot speak to someone who has put a barrier between that person and Himself. And if you want to hear the Spirit tell you God's will, you have to be incredibly close to Him.

The good news is that if you have accepted Christ, then you have the Spirit of God in you. And the Spirit is always looking to tell you things about Christ (1 Corinthians 2:12). In fact, sometimes He speaks in ways you wouldn't have thought—we would think a God so powerful as our God would choose to speak in an earthquake instead of a still small voice.

 Is there anything else?

The last thing I have to say in how we interact with the Spirit of God to find out His will is to ask Him. Ask Him.

Ask God to tell you.

Matthew 7:7 says if you ask it will be given to you. And if you seek, you will find it. If you knock, it will be opened to you.

Another point of advice is to literally verbalize what you are asking God. Don't just "ask it in your heart." There is something about saying things aloud when talking to God.

If you have a specific decision in mind, simply say aloud, "God, what do You want me to do about ______?" If you want to know whether or not God wants you to date a guy named Charlie, say, "God, do You want me to date Charlie?" Take whatever situation you are in and adapt it to the question.

If you want to know what God's will is for your life, you've got to get plugged into one of the main sources through which He speaks—His Spirit.

Jacob Riggs is Editor of The Brink. Contact him at twitter.com/jacobriggs.