While we will discover and discuss the multifaceted nature of God's speaking to us, there is, however, one particular practice that, perhaps more than any other, matures us in assuming and discerning God's communing with us. The practice is called Lectio Divina, literally translated "divine reading."

Henri  Nouwen once said, "All the disciplines of the spiritual life are intended to help us move from an absurd (deaf) life to an obedient (listening) life of freedom,  joy, and peace." This is especially true of Lectio Divina. 

Lectio is a framework, guide, or structure used to help us in our often distracted lives and noisy minds, to dialogue with our Father through His word. In Lectio, we assume that God has spoken in the words written and that those words help us recognize His voice today. When incorporated into our regular rhythms, Lectio grounds our hearing in something sure (scripture) and helps tune our ears to be attentive to the living and active voice, which is the foundation of our conversational companionship throughout our everyday routines.

In regards to the practice itself, Lectio has four "movements": Read, Reflect, Respond, Rest. Each step guiding us deeper into dialogue with our Father through the scripture and Christ, who is in us via His Spirit. While Lectio can be applied to almost any passage of scripture, psalm, or story, it is best used in familiar or easily understandable texts or ones in which we have a bit of context. The purpose of the practice is dialogue through meditation and contemplation, so having to do a lot of research kind of defeats the point.