H@HKIDS!: DISCERNING THE VOICE OF GOD- SIGNS, COLORS, NUMBERS

If you are like us, you are passionate about training your children to hear from their Father God. Scripture is full of the ways God speaks to His children. This post is 5th in our H@HKids! series. They are written for your older children to be able to read on their own and for you to read and discuss, maybe one section at a time, together as a family. You may want to go back and copy off the others (just click on the numbers below) in the series on Hearing God as a resource for your family devotionals:
One,  Two, Three, Four

To find out more about Colleen Coombs and her wonderful ministry to children, check out No More Crumbs Ministry.

From Colleen Coombs:

SONGS 

Have you ever heard a song in your mind when you were thinking about God? God loves to sing over us and give us songs! We see several people in the bible that God spoke to through songs. God told Moses to write down the song he gave him and to teach it to the Israelites! 

Deuteronomy 31:19-22

Now write down this song and teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it, so that it may be a witness for me against them....So Moses wrote down this song that day and taught it to the Israelites.

Another person God spoke to through songs was Job. He talks about how God gives songs in the night!

Job 35:10-11

But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night, who teaches us more than he teaches the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds in the sky?’

The best known person who God gave songs to was David! He gave him lots of songs. The book of Psalms is full of songs God gave to David. In fact Psalms means Songs!

Psalm 32:7

You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.

Psalm 40:3

He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him.

  Psalm 42:8

By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life.

 Psalm 65:8 

The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy.

In the book of Zephaniah, he tells us that God sings and rejoices over us! How cool is that?

  Zephaniah 3:17 

The Lord your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.

In the New Testament, Paul talks about making music in our heart to the Lord and how we are to speak and teach each other through songs from the Spirit!

Eph. 5:18b-20

Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I love that God uses songs to encourage us and also that He gives ‘new songs’ that we can praise and worship Him with. What a beautiful language songs is! What are two of your favorite songs to sing to God? Have you ever sung a new song to Him?

COLORS

God loves colors!! It is something we see every time we look at God’s creation. Just think of all the amazing colors of birds, flowers, trees, and animals! God loves to show us things with colors. 

What do you think of when you see the color yellow? Perhaps light or the sun comes to mind. What about the color purple? We often think of royalty when we see this color. What do you think of when you see the color black? Sometimes is reminds us of sin or death.

Colors can have meaning to us - they remind us of certain things. God also likes to use color to show us things – it is another of His languages.

Rainbows may be one of the best examples of this language. When God painted a rainbow in the sky  he did this as a promise to Noah that He would never again destroy the earth with a flood. We can still see rainbows today to remind us of this promise. (Genesis 9:12-17)

In both the Old and New Testament we read about rainbows seen in visions of heaven. Both Ezekiel and John saw rainbows in their visions of heaven. So we know God loves to speak through colors.

Ezekiel 1:28

The glow around him looked like a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day. That's what the glory of the Lord looked like. When I saw it, I fell with my face toward the ground. Then I heard the voice of someone speaking.

Revelation 4:3

The One who sat there shone like jewels. Around the throne was a rainbow that looked like an emerald.

The meaning for each color is not always the same. Colors can mean something different to each person.  We have favorite colors and God knows this already, so He may show us this color to let us know He loves us and knows our favorite things.

Let’s look at some colors and what they mean in scripture. Look up the verses for each of these colors and talk about what God was saying through each. 

COLOR	MEANING	SCRIPTURE
RED	Blood, Redemption. Love	Joshua 2:17-19; Isa. 1:18
GREEN	Plants, Growth	Gen. 1:11-13, 30, 2:8-9; Ps. 23:2; Prov. 11:28
PURPLE	Royalty	Ex. 27:16; Esth. 8:15; Matt. 21:5-11; Isa. 14:14; Ezek. 28:2, 6, 9
WHITE	Washing, Purity	Ps. 51:7; Isa. 1:18; Daniel 7:9; Matt. 28:1-3, I Cor. 6:11, Eph. 5:25-27
BLACK	Judgment, Sin, World	Amos 5:20; Job 3: 3-6; 2 Pet. 2:17; Jude 1:13; Job 28:3; John1:5

NUMBERS

Because God is a God of order, we see numbers all through the Bible! Each one can mean something different. When we see the same number over and over again in the Bible, we can begin to understand the meaning of that number! 

Numbers are important to God! He gave Noah exact measurements to build the ark. And even told him the exact number of animals to put on the ark! What if Noah didn’t have these instructions and built the ark too small to house all the animals? What if he brought only one of each animal? So it was VERY important that Noah listen to the numbers God was giving him!

  Genesis 6:14, 19

  So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind) of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.

Numbers, like colors, can mean different things to different people. For instance, God might show someone the number 12 and it might have a specific meaning to that person, such as a special date in their life or it may have a biblical meaning or could be related to a verse in the bible. Often, God gives numbers related to a scripture verse! 

Here are some common number definitions found in scripture.

ONE - THE NUMBER OF UNITY. Father. 
Deuteronomy 6:4 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one."
Ephesians 4:5 "one Lord, one faith, one baptism."

THREE - THE NUMBER OF DIVINE PERFECTION. The Trinity consists of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
FOUR - THE NUMBER OF CREATION - North, South, East, West; 4 Seasons.

SEVEN - THE NUMBER OF SPIRITUAL PERFECTION. Seven days in a week. There are 7 seals, 7 trumpets, 7 parables in Matthew, and 7 promises to the churches. There are 7 "eternals" in Hebrews which are: (1:6); (1:9); (6:2); (9:12); (9:14); (9:15); (13:20).

TWELVE - THE NUMBER OF GOVERNMENTAL PERFECTION. There were 12 tribes of Israel; 12 Apostles, 12 foundations in the heavenly Jerusalem; 12 gates; 12 pearls; 12 angels. The measurements of New Jerusalem are 12,000 furlongs or stadia, while the wall will be 144 (12 x 12) cubits (Rev. 21:16-17).

Did you know that both the Tabernacle in the wilderness and the temple in Jerusalem were built to God’s exact size, based on the measurements He gave his people? (Exodus 26 & I Kings 6) So we can know by these things that God cares a lot about numbers!

I think it is so amazing that God uses numbers to speak to us!!

Take some time to wait on God and see if He speaks to you in one of these languages – songs, colors or numbers. Write down the things you hear through these languages and thank God for being so creative!