The Journey - Hearing God
Hearing God… this is a huge topic! How do we hear Him? How do we know it’s His voice?
Many books, articles, and blog posts have been written about how to hear God and how to recognize His voice. They describe hearing God through nature, through art and music, in worship, in silence, in community, and many other ways. God is always speaking. We can learn to hear Him better.
Today, we are going to focus on our Divine Friendship with God and how hearing God happens in Conversation with God.
Divine Friendship
In prior posts we have seen that God is Love. And we have pondered that you and I are Beloved Children of God. This leads us to a special kind of relationship… divine friendship with God.
I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. John 15:15
In John 15:15, Jesus describes both our relationship with God, as well as our conversation with Him. As friends with Jesus, we are learning to hear Him and learn everything Jesus and the Father know.
In order to hear God, I need to spend time with Him. To know who He is and who I am, I need to be in conversation with Him, just as good friends talk and listen to grow in friendship with each other. As we get to know ourselves and God, we also are shaped by Him… and become more fully the people He created us to be.
Discernment is learning to recognize God’s active presence and voice so that we can bring our lives into harmony with what God wants for our lives and for the life of the world. – Trevor Hudson (1)
The Conversation – Honest Prayer
So how do we have this conversation with God, so we can hear Him clearly? We start with honest prayer.
Just as a friendship grows with transparency and authenticity, so our relationship with God will grow as we are honest with Him about the true state of our lives, minds, and hearts. The purpose of prayer is not to share information with God. He already knows everything. Our honest sharing gives Him access to all of us. We will not be able to clearly hear what He says if we hide from Him.
This can be a challenging prospect. It is important to keep returning to the truth that God loves you and calls you His Beloved. As you turn to Him with honesty, He will never turn away from you.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1
Like the Prodigal Son’s Father, He runs to embrace you.
But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. Luke 15:20
I sometimes think I need to clean myself up before I talk to God. I think I need to figure things out, and then go to God to get His blessing. Yikes! I slip into making myself the one in charge, the little god of my life!
I continue to learn that He invites me to share everything with Him. The messy, unresolved, painful, confusing stuff. I must allow Him to simply be present with me in those hard places. He may not give me an answer right away. He may not make it all better immediately. What I do experience is His love in the midst of the mess. His promise of protection, provision, and love. And a growing experience of His friendship with me.
Whatever makes for good friendship makes for good prayer. - Trevor Hudson (2)
While there are times I hide from God in prayer, there are also times when I do ALL the talking, allowing no space for God to respond. How about you? How can we be open to hear from God?
The Conversation – Meditating on Scripture
God has given us the Bible, given us His very words, so that we can hear directly from Him.
I love studying the Bible to gain knowledge about God and receive instruction about how to live life. I can be intrigued by the beauty of the story, the movement of God through the timeline of history. The characters, places, and cultures of the times can be fascinating and worthy of study.
My own study of the Bible led me to a wonderful discovery - God’s Word is also a place of conversation with Him. He speaks words directly to us through Scripture. We respond, and it becomes a conversation. Our friendship deepens. This is meditation…
To clarify what I mean by “meditation” here is Renovare’s definition and a few verses that describe meditating on Scripture…
MEDITATION: Prayerful rumination upon God, his Word, and his world. (3)
This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night. Josh 1:8
I will meditate on your precepts, and fix my eyes on your ways. Ps 119:15
Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, … if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Phil 4:8
While you meditate on God’s Word, a specific word or phrase may jump out at you or stir something in you. Pay attention to this and talk to God about it. Be curious. God may be highlighting something very specific for you.
As we think about these things that we read in Scripture, it’s important that we know that we are hearing God’s voice… and not another voice.
The Conversation – What Does God’s Voice Sound Like?
Honest prayer with God, gives Him access to speak into our lives…
Meditation on Scripture gives us the ability to hear Him speak…
When God speaks, how do we recognize His voice?
This is critical. There are lots of voices out there, telling us what to do. And plenty of voices in us, telling us what to think. How do we distinguish God’s voice from all the others?
We can pray just like Samuel did to be able to hear God…
“Speak, for your servant is listening.” 1 Samuel 3:10
We can also be assured that God’s voice will never contradict Scripture. If we hear a specific word from God, we can check it against the Bible to confirm it is from Him. God's voice always lines up with Scripture. This is a comfort to me. I don't need to be concerned that I'm listening to the wrong voice, if what I hear reflects what the Bible says.
In addition, His voice is loving and kind. It does not shout at me or demand things from me. (Which my own voice can easily do!) Increasingly, I hear His love for me, His patience with me... His welcome, right where I am.
Dallas Willard’s description of the quality of God’s voice is helpful. God’s voice has the qualities of
…exalted peace and confidence, of joy, of sweet reasonableness and of goodwill. (4)
His voice is an invitation to move closer to Him and receive from Him.
Hearing God and developing our relationship with Him will lead us to love Him more and to love others more. This is always a good measure of hearing His voice. God is love, and He will show us His love for us. His love moves us into greater love for Him and the people in our lives.
The Invitation
This is a life-long practice. Here’s a summary of things that can help us hear God –
Slow down. A slower pace of life helps us hear God.
Read a little bit of Scripture and meditate on it. We are looking for depth, not mileage.
Be honest with God in prayer and give Him access to all of you.
Remember that God’s voice is gentle and loving, not harsh and demanding.
Be aware of God stirring something in you, perhaps pointing to a word or a phrase in the Bible.
Read your Bible from the perspective of developing relationship with God, not simply to gain knowledge.
Ponder Scripture as you go about your day.
Coming Soon
Interested in learning more? Join me this fall for From the Inside Out, a six-session course developed by Renovare that goes deeper with the topics we’ve been exploring in The Journey. Want to sign up? Have questions? Email me - anne@shallowford.church
Next Time
Later this month, we will practice hearing God as we go about our day by Listening to God in Daily Life. Until then, enjoy listening to God as you read your Bible and talk with Him!
References
(1) Hudson, Renovare Institute Residency 2, 3/14/23
(2) Hudson, Renovare Institute Residency 2, 3/14/23
(3) https://renovare.org/articles/spiritual-disciplines-index-meditation
(4) Hearing God, p. 230
Additional Resources
Article by Steve Macchia - A Lifestyle of Discernment
Book by Dallas Willard - Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God
Book by Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection - The Practice of the Presence of God
Excerpt from Nathan Foster’s book, The Making of an Ordinary Saint - Understanding Study