Some say God isn't speaking today because the divine revelation, the Bible, has been completed. If they're saying God is no longer speaking through men and women to make authoritative statements to the world that are not found in Scripture, I agree.
But there is no question God is still speaking and has been since the beginning of time. While His communication is always done against the backdrop of the Bible, you can often hear His whispers between the lines.
Something I've asked God for many times when I find myself in need of clear direction comes from a prayer in the book of Psalms:
Send out Your light and Your truth, let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your dwelling places. (Psalm 43:3)
The Psalmist was committed to following God and wanted to make sure he stayed between the lines. While He was asking Him to reveal His divine TRUTH, He was asking for something else: LIGHT. The objective truth of the Word of God may move us in the right direction, but often there's still a gap. What we need is LIGHT, which is the enduring power and presence of the Holy Spirit.
There are times when reading the Bible you may sense something going on deep in your soul: a LIGHT that is beyond the words. It nudges you in directions you've never thought about and answers questions in ways that surprise you. It's God. His voice travels on the waves of your mind, intellect, and emotions. He shows up in circumstances and conversations. He's not declaring revelation to the world but He is to you. It's what happens when the Scriptures connect you not only to the words of God, but to His heart.
Shortly after I asked Joy to marry me, I got cold feet. It wasn't that I didn't love her, because I did. But I’d recently had a life-changing encounter with God that had drastically altered the course of my life and I didn't want anything, including marriage, to jeopardize that. So I canceled the engagement—not just once, but seven times! God would confirm I should move ahead in the marriage, we'd get re-engaged, and then I'd get cold feet again and break it off. Not good!
One Sunday morning, I was reading the New Testament Book of Ephesians. When I got into the fifth chapter, I found it had a lot to say about marriage. It was like God was again saying, "Stop second-guessing what I'm telling you, move past your fears, and get married!"
I picked up Joy a few hours later and we drove to church. The guest speaker that morning was an elderly missionary who spent the first ten minutes praising the value of his wife on the mission field; he couldn't have done it without her. About that time, a lady sitting in front of us—who knew nothing of my struggle—turned, patted me on the knee, and said, "See, it won't be so bad." That was it. God had spoken loud and clear through the Bible, the missionary, and the lady. We got married.
There is no question some have used the “God told me” line, often quoting Scripture, to further their greed and self-promotion. Some have used hearing from God to justify abuse, killing, and the furthering of their political ambitions. So yes, it can be abused.
Hearing from God comes through TRUTH and LIGHT: the truth of the Word of God and the light of the Spirit of God. And when this happens, it leads away from self-promotion and toward humility; away from self-advantage and toward the benefiting of others; away from saving your life and toward losing it so you can find it. If it doesn’t, whatever you’re hearing or think you’re hearing isn’t the voice of God.