Centered Ministries

Hearing God’s Voice – Part 2

Is God Still Guiding His People Today?

Why is it that when we speak to God we are said to be praying but when God speaks to us we are said to be schizophrenic?
Lily Tomlin, comedian

God Desires to Guide Us

The Bible says that our God desires to guide us. The Scriptures describe God as a Guide. He came to Abraham, “The Lord said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people, and your father’s household, and go to the land I will show you’.” (Genesis 12:1) – God guided Abraham.  Later, God guided Moses and the People of Israel: “By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night”(Ex.13:21). In Proverbs 3:5-6 we are promised, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.”

The most famous psalm talks about this. Psalm 23: “The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul.” He knows just what I need. Our God is a Guide: He doesn’t leave His children, nor does He forsake them.  James 1:5 puts it like this: “Whoever among you lacks wisdom …. “  Anybody here ever make a bad decision? You ever needed any wisdom? Anybody need any right now? “Whoever among you lacks wisdom, ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault.” Our God is a guiding God. But of all the facets of the greatness of God, the guidance of God can be the most confusing to people. How do we actually experience it?

Let’s look at a story in the Old Testament about a little boy named Samuel, a story that sheds light on our subject. The Lord called the young Samuel and he answered, “Here I am.” Twice Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” “My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down. Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. The Lord called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up, and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening’”(1 Samuel 3). This is the beginning of his relationship with God. God was speaking to Samuel in this story. Samuel knew he was being addressed. He did not know it was God. He actually had to learn how to recognize God was speaking to him. In other words, it’s possible for God to speak to someone and for that person to know something is going on, but they don’t know it’s God. All believers must undergo a process a learning to discern the voice of God.

What Is Communication?

Let’s think for a minute: What does it mean to communicate with someone? It’s quite a miraculous thing we’re able to do! We take it for granted. People can communicate. It’s essential to community and to communing. Communication is simply guiding somebody else’s thoughts. In his excellent treatment of this subject, Hearing God,  Dallas Willard explains

“When someone is communicating with you, all they’re doing is causing you to think certain thoughts you would not otherwise be thinking. Those thoughts are going on in your head. They’re your thoughts, but somebody else is prompting them. That’s communication. Because we’re finite creatures, we have to use finite means to guide each other’s thoughts. So we make sounds. I’m doing that right now, and because you’re sitting here for this talk, you are having thoughts you would not otherwise be having, right? Thoughts like, When will this be over? We make sounds, or we write symbols down on a piece of paper (like the handout you have in your hands). When people look at those symbols, they prompt thoughts. That is communication.”

Because we’re finite creatures, we have to use finite means to guide each other’s thoughts. But God is infinite, and among other things, this means God can guide your thoughts directly. He doesn’t have to use sounds. He doesn’t have to use symbols. He can, but He doesn’t have to. He has direct access to your mind. He can simply guide a thought without using any other means at all. But now part of what this means is it’s possible for God to guide a thought in my mind, but I may not know it is God doing that. Something like this is what happened to little Samuel. He didn’t know. Eli helped him with this. This is what some has called the “ministry of Eli” – helping someone to discern when God may be speaking or guiding in their life. Prayer is not just me talking with God. If God wants to, God can also talk back. To commune—to be in community, involves communication. Jesus says about his people: “When he [the Good Shepherd] has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.” To have a personal relationship with God means I must be open to the possibility that the Spirit of God is prompting me, guiding me.

Often the Spirit of God will prompt us with ideas. A thought will come to write somebody a note or encourage somebody who feels alone or serve somebody who is in need or confront somebody who is going down a wrong path. Or, out of a blue sky you might get a prompting to call someone, and you did, only to find out that s/he felt miserable and was contemplating some evil thoughts, even suicide, but now s/he was refreshed by your [divine] intervention as you both went out for a coffee and s/he benefitted from your ministry. When those thoughts come, the main thing is not to say, “Hey, God is speaking to me.” What is important is that you actually do what the prompting is. It may be that you have been obeying those kinds of thoughts and serving God your whole life long, while never identifying that that is God’s voice. The main issue is not that you say it’s God’s voice. The main issue is that you actually respond with obedience.

Prerequisites to Hearing God’s Voice

1. Salvation. In our attempt to understand how God speaks to us and guide us we MUST understand that we are enabled to hearing God’s voice only by partaking into the life of God, a life of loving relationship with the King and the other members of His Kingdom. Jesus left no exception from this condition when He declared, “He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” (John 8:47) In order for us to belong to God we must first be born again, and enabled to walk in the light and the truth of the new life. Answering to Pilate, Jesus said, “I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.” (John 18:37)

2. Receptivity.  Only our communion with God provides the appropriate context for communication between us and Him! It is not enough to be sharing in the life of God; the second fundamental requisite is to be “in tune” with God! The fact that we are not hearing, doesn’t mean that God is not speaking to us! Think of all the Radio or TV waves that are passing through our bodies and brains right, messages that a correctly tuned receiver can transform the waves in images and sounds. God speaks to us all the time, but we are not attuned to the voice of God!

3. Are We Ready Vessels? We all need to do some honest soul-searching: What kind of vessel is my life, my heart, my mind? Paul tells his disciple Timothy, “Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.” (2 Tim. 2:21).

4. Are We Ready to Be in Business with God? We pray, “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed by thy Name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done!” Are we devoted to the glory of God and for the advancement of His Kingdom? If our lives are not devoted to the will of God, He might still speak to us, even use us if we are strategically placed. Let’s face it clearly: What are we living for? If we are not living for God and His purposes, His voice will always be an unwelcome intrusion into our plans.

Hearing God’s Voice

Many of us have grown to love the theme of God’s guidance. Within Christian community, the teaching on the will of God and how to discover it continues to be one of the most popular subjects. Many of us grew up accustomed with the prayer line, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!” At many Christian Conferences the workshop that most people stay in line to sign up for is, “Knowing the Will of God.” My wife Rodica, a 5th Grade Sunday School Teacher recently surveyed her class and was surprised to see that even at this young age the theme of hearing God’s voice topped her students’ preferences!
Indeed, there is a deep thirst within that challenges us to desire and seek a personal, intimate relationship with God. The Bible is filled with examples of regular people like ourselves who experienced a close relationship with the Creator, a relationship that resembles more like a friendship or family tie. This is the reality and the beauty of the one-on-one relationship: God has created us for intimate friendship with Himself – both now and for the eternity ahead. God’s desire for intimacy with His children is well attested in the Scriptures:
“Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God.” (Exodus 29:45-46). “The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent” (Ex. 33:11). Jesus said to His disciples, “You are my friends if you do what I command” (John 15:14).  “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God’.” (Revelation 21:3)
Busting Some Myths Regarding God’s Guidance

Myth 1: God only speaks to and guides the spiritual mature believers

Some Christians think God’s guidance is just for prophets or missionaries or pastors. A story that shows how false this myth is comes from the Old Testament Book of Numbers. There was a prophet named Balaam who was hired by the enemy of Israel, Midian, to curse Israel. Balaam is riding a donkey to go to Midian but God sends an angel to turn Balaam back to Israel. On the road, the donkey sees the angel of God blocking their path. Balaam doesn’t see it. So the donkey turns aside. Balaam beats the donkey to get her back on the road. This happens three times. This is in the Bible, Numbers 22. The donkey is reasoning with Balaam, not just speaking to him. God is speaking through a donkey. God can speak through anybody He chooses. He can speak through a donkey if He wants to. It’s not about spiritual greatness and maturity. God can speak to a little boy, like He did in the case of the young Samuel (1 Samuel 3). It is important to observe that it was a process for Samuel to learn to distinguish God’s voice!

Myth 2: If I’m always obedient to God’s Word, He will guide all my decisions, and I won’t have to make any decisions on my own.

As a parent, would it be a good thing if you would make every decision for a child’s whole life? Would you like it if for your whole child’s life you would say, “Wear these clothes. Take this class. Choose this major. Buy this house. Enter this job. Marry this person.” The normal answer would be NO! Because that would paralyze their development! As a parent, my main goal for my child is that he or she becomes a good and godly person, a person of wisdom and courage and grace and mercy and love and truth. Becoming a good person requires you to think things out, exercise judgment, sometimes make difficult choices in the face of uncertainty, and then take accountability and learn. That process is indispensable for the formation of a human being, and that means that many times in your life when you pray and ask for guidance, God’s response is going to be: “You choose.”  Because you’ll never grow if you don’t do that!
Sometimes, the reality is, I don’t really want guidance. What I want is to be spared the anxiety that goes with freedom and choosing and being responsible. Part of God’s will for your life is that you grow into responsible, mature adults. There is no other way to learn except by choosing. When you choose, there is risk involved. With risk, sometimes you’ll experience failure. With failure you’ll feel pain. God does not offer guidance as a method of risk avoidance. God’s guidance is not about you reducing your anxiety in the face of choice. It’s about you becoming the person God intended you to be. That means very often God will say to you: “You choose: be wise, get good counsel, and I’ll be with you guiding through the process.”

Myth 3: God’s will is an inner and subjective card I can use to get my way

Most of us probably heard a story when somebody – could be a guy or a gal – would say to somebody of the opposite gender: “God told me you’re the person I’m meant to marry.” The best response to this is, “You tell God to tell me, and as soon as I hear from Him, I’ll get back to you.” Or you hear that a pastor at a church will leave to go to a larger church with more prestige and a higher salary. But he will never say, “I’m leaving to go to a bigger church with more prestige and a higher salary.” What he’ll say is, “I got … called.  I don’t want to go to that bigger church with more prestige and a higher salary. Personally, I’d rather stay here with you, but God called me, so what can I do?”
Some Christians can become hypocritical by using this “spiritual” language as they try to make themselves look more spiritual by adding to the normal course of decision-making phrases like, “The Lord called me to … “; “God spoke to me about going there;” “God put this burden on my heart” ; “God showed me this…” This kind of language can impress and often intimidate “regular” Christians. Our God is a guiding God. But of all the facets of the greatness of God, the guidance of God can be the most confusing to people.

Myth 4: There is nothing we can do to be guided by God

The Prophet Elijah was discouraged and needed guidance at one time in his life. The Lord led him to a place alone for 40 days. He was on a mountain, and some spectacular things happened. A great and powerful wind came down, but the text says the Lord was not in the wind. Then a strong earthquake occurred. The Bible says the Lord was not in the earthquake. Then a fire came. The text says the Lord was not in the fire. Elijah had to wait and wait and wait, and finally after the fire was a still, small voice.  There was the Lord. Not the big, spectacular, dramatic special effects, but a still small voice.
What is my role in finding God’s guidance? Listening. Of course reading Scripture is a primary way we listen to God. The Holy Spirit never leads us in a direction contrary to the teachings of Scripture. When you wonder, “How do I know if a prompting is of God?”,  part of what to recognize is that God’s guidance will never be in contradiction to the teaching of Scripture. The promptings of the Spirit are generally in line with the gifts the Spirit gives. If somebody says, “I want to sing in the choir,” but they have a terrible voice, that is probably not the Spirit leading them. The Spirit generally leads people in a direction of servanthood. If you find an idea, and it’s really all about your fulfillment and not about serving, there is good reason to question.