How to Talk to God and Get Answers
Mar 18, 2026Summary
Have you ever felt like your prayers are just hitting the ceiling? You’re pouring your heart out, but the silence on the other end is deafening. If you are tired of guessing and desperate for direction, you are in the right place. In this episode of the Arise, Women of God podcast, host Tamara K. Anderson joins advisory board member Tiffany Fletcher to answer the vital question: How to talk to God and get answers. We dive into the "Conversation Framework," exploring how to move your prayers from a list of demands to a counseling session with the Creator.
Tiffany shares her powerful "Return and Report" method, teaching us how to ask God for one small task and then report back to Him to build spiritual momentum. Tamara also uncovers surprising insights about the "Delayed Download," discussing how God let her sit in silence for two weeks regarding her college plans before giving her a massive course-correcting answer during a random walk with a friend. If you’ve ever wondered about how to talk to God and get answers when heaven seems quiet, you won’t want to miss our discussion on the "Sacrifice of the Altar"—how fasting and honestly wrestling with God can open doors that were previously closed. Tune in for a thought-provoking discussion on hearing God's voice, and don’t forget to subscribe for more expert insights on building your faith!
Episode Takeaways
- The "Return and Report" Method: Prayer isn't a checklist; it's a conversation. Tiffany suggests asking God for one small task (e.g., "speak kindly to my children today"). At the end of the day, go back to Him to "return and report" on how you did. This builds a two-way relationship and allows you to feel His gratitude.
- The Delayed Download: Tamara took a meticulous 5-year college plan to God. He gave her an initial feeling of peace, but then was silent for two weeks before dropping a massive, course-correcting answer ("You're going to miss being here") while she was on a walk. Sometimes God lets us sit in the silence to see if we are truly listening for the pivot.
- The Sacrifice of the Altar: When answers aren't coming, Tiffany relates modern fasting (from food or social media) to the ancient prophets bringing a sacrifice to the altar. Fasting shows God you are ready to receive and helps you approach the throne of grace with more power.
- Wrestling with God: God doesn't just want your polite, reverent speeches. He wants your whole heart—including your frustration, confusion, and anger. Wrestling with the Spirit is a deeply healing part of the prayer process.
Resources
Are you ready to stop guessing and start hearing? Download our FREE Roadmap to Revelation: 6 Steps to Hearing God in Your Daily Life, which includes an exclusive Receiving Light and Revelation Audio Meditation to help you move from a monologue to a dialogue. 👉 Download the Bundle Here: https://www.womenwarriorsoflight.com/pl/2148756546
Reflection Questions
- Are your prayers currently a "list of demands" or a "counseling session" with God? How can you add a "pause" to your prayer today to let Him respond?
- Have you ever taken a "perfect plan" to God, only to have Him completely change your direction (like Tamara's college plan)?
- What is one "sacrifice" (food, social media, a bad habit) you can bring to the altar this week to show God you are ready to receive an answer?
- Are you giving God your whole soul in prayer, or just the polite parts? How can you honestly "wrestle" with Him about your current frustrations?
Host & Guest
Tamara K. Anderson @tamarakanderson
Tiffany Fletcher @tiffnyfletcher
Transcript
Tamara K. Anderson
00:00:00.560 - 00:01:32.230
Have you ever felt like your prayers
are just hitting the ceiling? Maybe you're pouring your heart out, but the silence on the other end is deafening.
Perhaps you're asking, how do I talk to God and actually get an answer? Because you're tired of guessing and desperate for direction. You are in the right place.
By the end of this episode, you will understand the conversation framework, how to move from a list of demands to a counseling session with the Creator.
We're going to help you solve the pain of prayer fatigue by sharing the secret of the return and report method and how a walk in the dark can sometimes be the clearest path to a download from heaven. We're moving from a monologue to a life changing dialogue with God, Stephen. Stay tuned. Ordinary women Extraordinary faith. When God calls, we say yes. The Arise Women of God Podcast hello
and welcome to another episode of the Arise Women of God podcast. I'm your host, Tamara K. Anderson, and joining me today is Tiffany Fletcher, a member of our Women warriors of Light Advisory board.
And today we are breaking down the mechanics of spiritual communication. First, Tiffany is going to share a little bit about the importance of making time for God first and a powerful hack about returning and reporting.
Tiffany Fletcher
00:01:32.470 - 00:03:46.500
I think that a lot of time we need to have that connection with God first. I think life is crazy busy, so many distractions.
And if we really want to get a clear answer from God, one of the best things that we can do is make time for him and connect with him and sit with him for a little bit. I think sometimes, at least in my life, I'm like, okay, I send my prayer check, get it off the list and I run and I go do my next thing right.
But, but I think that if we really want to talk with God and get answers, we need to realize that it's a conversation, that it's not just us telling him our list of demands, but it is a conversation with us, counseling with Him. Are these the best things for me to be asking for? Maybe I should be asking for something different.
And before saying amen, maybe waiting and pausing for an answer for thoughts to come into your mind and heart to help you know that God is there saying, yes, I'm here and maybe, maybe do this today. And I think for me, when I was learning how God spoke to me, I would start very small and just ask one thing.
Okay, God, what is one thing that you want me to do today? And when I received revelation for that I could feel in my mind and my heart.
Okay, Tiffany, I want you to focus on speaking kindly to your children today. And so I speak kindly to my children, right? That's, that's all that I focus on. And then coming back and saying, okay, God, I did this.
I spoke kindly to my children today, and I want to return and report to you about it. And then just stopping for a minute and feeling his gratitude for you and his love for you for doing that one thing.
And so it really is about honing and, and working with God to know how he speaks to you, also giving him the time to speak and allowing him to speak to you and so that you can receive those answers. Because I think a lot of the time we think that we're not receiving answers when we are.
We're just not giving time to God to speak back to us in our prayers.
Tamara K. Anderson
00:03:46.740 - 00:07:52.000
It's a relationship, not a transaction, right? Friends, when we treat God like a counselor instead of a vending machine, the answers can start to flow.
But sometimes those answers require us to do our homework first. I learned this the hard way back in my college days when I thought I had my whole life mapped out.
Sometimes there are super big questions, like life changing questions you have. I've always been a researcher and I like to really kind of learn all I can about something and then present it to God.
When I was in college and I had finally figured out what I wanted to major in, and I said, God, I taken this career explorations class. I've studied all my options, and I really feel like this is what I should do. And God's like, yes. I felt this huge, peaceful feeling. I'm like, okay.
And the first thing I learned to do is write it down. Because I found that when we receive an answer from God, that the adversary often comes right in and tries to say, no, no, you shouldn't do that. And so first of all, when you
get those beautiful, peaceful answers that you're like, okay, that is totally God talking to me. And that was definitely a yes, because I feel happy and peaceful and excited and calm.
And so write it down so that when the doubts come, you're like, no, God spoke to me. Get the hence, Satan. Following the pattern of Jesus, get the hence. And I'm going to act on this answer.
But I also remember I then took my major and I plugged it into the next four or five years of my life, and I'm like, okay, I'm going to take these classes here and I want to go serve a mission for God. And then I'm going to come back and I can probably get married somewhere in here and I was so proud of this plan,
friends. I was so proud of that plan. I was like a toddler showing a drawing to an eternal parent.
But sometimes God lets us sit in the silence for a little while to see if we're truly listening for the tweak he has in mind. For me, the answer finally came while I was doing something completely unrelated. Helping a friend with her troubles.
There was nothing for, like, two weeks. And I'm just like, oh, well, you know, I'm busy. I'm doing schoolwork.
And then I went on a walk with one of my friends, and she was dumping all her boy troubles on me. I'm sitting there listening to her, and all of a sudden, this words in my mind and a heart, and it was powerful, and it was super shocking to me.
And it said, tamara, you're going to miss being here. And we were.
We were standing in a place where we were overlooking the campus, and it was nighttime, and I just stood there almost stunned, like, this is the answer that I got after two weeks of praying, what do you think you're going to miss being here? Well, what does that mean? Where am I going to go? You know? And so sometimes we get these powerful, yes, that's totally good. Good job.
And other times we'll say, no, you're going to have to move. And I did. I ended up withdrawing from the next semester, going home to my family.
But God introduced me some amazing people on that journey, and I learned so many things that I would not have learned any other way.
It wasn't my plan, but it was his plan, and it was exactly what I needed. But sometimes the answer doesn't come very quickly.
And Tiffany is now going to share some tips she has learned for those times when the answer doesn't come.
Tiffany Fletcher
00:07:52.800 - 00:09:34.190
I loved how you said that you got the answer while you were walking.
I think sometimes if we put ourselves in a space where our mind is clear and we can receive answers, they may not come right away when we ask them and in a place where he can reach us, where we're at. And I think that that's really lovely. And I also appreciate that you said God wants us to do, put in the work. Um, that.
That's so important, too, when we receive. Receive answers. One of the things that I think about often, I think the old times, the prophets would bring a sacrifice to the altar, right?
And they're like, here's my sacrifice, God. And I sacrificed my, you know, whatever it is. And now will you please hear my prayer?
And I think that for us I've thought about it a lot, what I could sacrifice, bring to the altar to ask God for a greater portion of his spirit and his wisdom. And a lot of the time, I feel like that answer is fasting. Fasting is as sacrifice, right? We're sacrificing food.
I feel like fasting allows us to approach that throne of grace with a little more strength and power. In our request, I noticed that if I feel like I'm not getting an answer and wondering if God is listening, a lot of time I will fast from the world.
Whether that fast is, like, from food or from social media or. Or whatever it is. Fasting as a way to show God that I am here and I am ready to receive whatever he wants to give me.
That has been very helpful for me. That is how I receive answers when I'm really not feeling that they're coming, but need more.
I lay my sacrifice on the altar and also, you know, a humble heart and a contrite spirit so that I can receive what God needs me to receive.
Tamara K. Anderson
00:09:34.350 - 00:09:49.780
And sometimes, my friends, that sacrifice is. Is honesty.
Tiffany is now going to share why it's okay to wrestle with God and be completely open and honest with our feelings when we're frustrated or confused.
Tiffany Fletcher
00:09:50.260 - 00:10:41.760
Sometimes when we come to God because He's mighty and wonderful, we need to be kind and reverent and. And yes, that is important in prayer. But sometimes it's okay. God wants to hear the hard things, too. And sometimes it is a wrestling with the spirit.
Spirit, it is a pouring our soul out and saying, God, this is what I've asked for. Why is it not coming? Why do I not fill your prayers? And God wants to hear those things, too, and they really are healing.
And he wants our whole heart, not just the good parts and the happy parts. He wants to hear it all.
He's okay when we are frustrated with him, that we acknowledge that frustration as long as we're willing to open our heart and also feel the peace when he is there to comfort us. That is part of the process of prayer, is giving our whole soul to him and being willing to receive his whole soul back with us.
Tamara K. Anderson
00:10:42.880 - 00:11:48.840
So, my friends, God does not want a polite speech. He wants your heart. Whether it's a peaceful yes or a jarring course correction or even a season of wrestling, he is listening.
And if you're ready to move from a monologue to a dialogue with God, we have created two powerful, free tools to help you. The first is our roadmap to revelation. Six steps to hearing God in your daily life.
And this, paired with a beautiful receiving light and revelation meditation, will help jumpstart you and your connection with God. You can download them free on our Women warriors of Light website. The link is below. As we wrap up today, ladies, don't
be afraid to take your land to the altar of God and ask for tweaks. He cares about your specific journey more than you can imagine because you are his and he loves you. Until next time, May you arise. Do it God's way.
God strong.
