Here is a good topic of discussion especially for a newer Christian. How will God answer my prayer questions and the things I petition the Holy Spirit to show me? This is a good question and a question I am going to attempt to answer in short version for God can answer us in a vast number of ways, but let me give a few common examples.
1. Some people are very intuitive, gifted, and open to hear the spiritual and audible voice of God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit, and newer Christians are not limited from hearing God's voice. If a person is capable of hearing God's audible voice they will "if" their heart is open to hear from the Lord. I want to emphasize that a gifted person capable of hearing from the Lord will not always get the audible answers they seek from God for there are some things we need to figure out for our self. It is better for our growth that we learn some things by experience and by our observations of what we are learning from the Lord than it is for the Lord to spoon feed us the answers.
2. Okay granted not everyone hears the audible voice of God, but God does have different ways He can communicate Himself to us. I myself do not hear, or receive a whole lot of audible information at one time from the Lord, but instead I receive a lot of revelations. When there are storms, or struggles I am going through and I seek God to show me what the purpose of this struggle is. Is it an attack? Is it an open door. or an unresolved issue that is causing havoc in my life? I may hear, or receive a knowing in my spirit that this struggle is serving to teach me how to trust God on a deeper level. To go through a storm is not pleasant and yes Christians will go through storms but they will, IF their trust is in the Lord come out of that storm more knowledgeable, more experienced, and having more faith than before they went into it.
If I ask God to show me why there always seems to be a stumbling block in a specific area of my walk I may hear the word "fear." Then I will start to reflect on that and ask myself is there any areas of my life where I still fear? As I reflect on this I may see a picture in my mind showing myself when I was as a child being in a fearful situation, then receive a revelation that this fearful situation had caused some deep rooted fears which hasn't been covered under the Blood of Jesus Christ yet to release me from its influences. At which point I will focus my attention to rectify these unresolved issues with the Lord's help. I will forgive what needs to be forgiven, repent for what needs to be repented, rebuke the spirit of fear which enforces fear against me, and I will seek the Lord by the Blood of Jesus Christ to purge me of every fearful thought and negative influence which stems from that past situation which the Holy Spirit had revealed to me.
We can hear an audible voice, or we can receive revelation. When seeking the Lord for an answer to something we may receive a prevalent thought that seems to be an answer to our question and have a knowing that we know that this is an answer from God. When a person is beginning to hear from the Lord, or is beginning to understand how the Lord talks to their spirit, doubt or unbelief can be their worst enemy. If a person growing up has come to have little confidence in themselves, or are not a bold type of person they may hear the answers to their questions, or receive direction from the Lord but then they won't trust that it came from the Lord.
3. For this type of person the Lord will use other people to confirm to them the message that God wants them to receive. I have seen where especially as a newer Christian I would have a pressing question about Christianity, or about what my purpose was as a Christian that I would be seeking answers to and all of a sudden the coincidences begin to happen. I may get talking to someone and all of a sudden "bang" they begin talking on the exact topic that I was seeking an answer to and I would think wow what a coincidence. I may turn the television set on and "bang" a person says something which gives me some insight to the question I had, or I could turn the television set on to a discussion show and coincidently they are elaborating on the very topic of concern I had. And another example of coincidences (which are not coincidences at all but God's way of shining a light on what we are struggling to know) is that I may be seeking for three or four days to gain an answer to a pressing concern that I have and "bang" I go to church and what is the message that the minister is talking about? You got it.
4. Another awesome way that God is able to give us revelation, or understanding to what we are needing to know is through the Bible itself. Many a time as we are in a time of struggle, and a time of struggling to understand why we are in this struggle I may feel a need to study the word of God. As I am beginning to read the word I may feel led to read a particular story such as the story of Job, Gideon, Elijah, Abraham, or whomever at which point the Lord may give me a insightful revelation "a knowing in my spirit" that what I am going through is similar to what these people had gone through.
Sometimes out of the blue a scripture may come to my mind that helps shine a light on what I had been asking. Quite often I would sit down with my bible in my hand and get into deep prayer seeking God for an answer to a pressing concern that I have and then I would ask God to direct me to the appropriate scripture that would best help me to understand what I need to know. Then I would open my bible to where the page opens and begin reading, surprisingly many a time the answer would be right before me, but some times the scripture I read didn't seem to fit and I would keep petitioning God for an answer until I received it.