H E A R I N G G O D ' S V O I C E A SHORT PRACTICAL GUIDE NIKI HARDY
Hearing God's Voice A Short Practical Guide By Niki Hardy Niki Hardy NikiBHardy mystorymygod.com
Let's Cut To It. Let's not beat around the bush, whether it's burning or not. Christianity is a relationship. It's not a set of rules or a code to live by and it's certainly not just an excuse to dress up a bit (or not) and hangout with our friends on a Sunday. Like all relationships, our relationship with God is most enjoyable and most fruitful when it's two way. Our God is a relational God who's in the business of healing, transforming, guiding, forgiving and giving. In John 10, Jesus likens this relationship to that between a shepherd and his sheep, where the sheep hear and know the shepherd's voice. God WANTS to talk to us & we CAN hear and know His voice. When we learn to hear His voice our relationship with Him, and our faith, is transformed. It becomes dynamic, exciting, alive. Just imagine being able to hear the voice of the one who put the stars in the heavens and those little luminescent creatures at the bottom of the ocean. I've called this a practical guide, but just as a baby learns to walk, step by tentative step, with lots of tumbles and staggering, we learn to hear God in the same way, step by step. Just as the baby needs to take the first step and give it a go, we need to give it a go too. So let's think of this more as guided learning.
The Basic Theory The first thing you need to know about hearing God, is that He is happy to speak through anything. In the bible we read about Him speaking through donkey's, nature, people, visions, and dreams, to name but a few, but the most common ways we hear Him are through, Prayer (i.e. directly when we pray) The Body of Christ (i.e. other Christians) The Bible (i.e.from the Word of God) I would never dare to limit God to just these ways, but they are a good starting point for us all, and the way we listen and hear is the same however God chooses to speak.. But what does it look like in practice? I like to think of it as a four step process. A process that eventually becomes second nature, to the extent that we don't think about the individual steps anymore it's just one seamless activity. This process involves us engaging both sides of our brains our left brain and our right brain. Our LEFT BRAIN is logical and rational. Our RIGHT BRAIN is intangible and creative.
The Basic Process (LEFT, RIGHT, RIGHT, LEFT) ASK LEFT LISTEN RIGHT ACKNOWLEDGE RIGHT TEST LEFT
ASK "Whoever has ears, let them hear." Matt 11:15, Matt 13:9, Rev 13:9 Hearing God's voice starts with us simply wanting to hear and asking with a genuine desire and expectation. It's that simple. It's through the Holy Spirit that we can hear God and He just loves to give us His spirit. "How much more will the Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask him!" Luke 11:13 So there's no need for fancy prayers with oober spiritual words. Just a simple prayer like "Lord please speak to me" is perfect. The reason we need to engage our rational left brain, is because this is a rational, intentional question we want to ask God. Lord, please speak to me LEFT
LISTEN We live in a very rational, tangible world, where logic and reason often take precedence over creativity and spirituality. The left brain seems to get more air time than the right brain, and we sometimes focus on left brain activities in church more than right brain ones. There is nothing wrong with using our left brain to build our faith, except that God speaks principally by His Spirit, which needs our spiritual right brain to hear. When the Apostle Paul talks about his inner man and the eyes of our hearts (Eph 1:18) he is trying to convey this idea of the right brain engaging our spiritual sides. We don't talk about this side of our character much, and activities that it involves, like day dreaming and engaging our imaginations, are not approved of in some circles. But, this is the side through which we hear God speak. In John 5:39 40, Jesus clearly warns us to not just use our left brains in our relationship with Him. "You diligently study the scriptures because you think that by them you pocess eternal life. These are the scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me."
LISTEN They key to listening with our right brain is to engage in activities that helps us switch off our left brains and switch on our right brains, and enter into it. LEFT RIGHT Activities like (but not limited to) Worship Meditation Reflective Bible Reading Journalling Listening Prayer When we engage in these activities we try and keep our left brains quiet and turned off. As we journal we can write what we feel God might be saying, and when we pray we can wait in silence to see what He might want to tell us. When we read the bible we can read with the eyes of our heart, listening to what God is saying to us today through the scripture passage.
ACKNOWLEDGE Unfortunately, God doesn't normally write in the sky or speak in an audible voice. This means that it's often not 100% clear and obvious what God is saying. God never speaks so clearly that there is no room for doubt. This means that we need to take a STEP OF FAITH So we keep our right brain turned on. RIGHT When we're praying, journalling, worshiping, meditating on scripture, or doing anything that helps us listen to God, something might "pop" into your mind. Perhaps a picture, a thought, a song lyric, or a scripture, (or anything else God choses to use to speak to you), might land in your thoughts like a butterfly on a flower, gently, momentarily and unplanned. In a step of faith, we ACKNOWLEDGE that thought without analyzing or questioning it. A good idea is to write it down as soon as it comes to mind without evaluating it (that comes later don't worry). Just think about it, God might be speaking to you. That's worth writing down isn't it?
TEST Now we turn our left brain back on. LEFT "At first I thought, it's probably me, but it could be God. Now I think, it's probably God, but it could be me" John Wimber. God never speaks so clearly that there is no room for doubt. This means that we need to use our rational left brains to test and weigh up the things that we think God might have said to us. How do we TEST if it's God? Does it sound like something God would say? Is it Biblical? Do other Christians think He's saying the same thing? Is this what I was hoping He's say? Is this what I was expecting? With God, as in much of life, we want certainty and absolutes. We ask ourselves "How can I be sure it's God?" The truth is, we can't. But we can earnestly weigh up what we think He is saying and act on it, in faith, love and humilty.
A Few More Thoughts If this is a new idea, a new process and a whole new skill set for you, let me encourage you to keep at it. Keep practicing and keep stepping out in faith. Hearing God's voice isn't always easy but it is possible, because we have a God that loves us all, irrespective of who we are or what we've done, and He loves to talk to us and be with us. Like the faith it requires, hearing His voice is a muscle that will get stronger the more we exercise it. I like to remind myself that I'm training for a marathon not a sprint and building up slowly, little by little, day by day, is the way to stay encouraged and not get hurt. I try not to compare myself to, and be discouraged by those who find this ridiculously easy, but rather look to them for hints, tips and inspiration. Over the years it has been my experience that God is gracious and tends to speak to us in "our language". That is, in ways that we are already comfortable with. If you are a musician, He may well speak through music and lyrics, if you're a painter He may choose art or pictures that come to mind. If you're a mathematician, He may speak through patterns, order and sequence. Despite having a scientific training, God seems to speak to me most often in the form of pictures that come into my mind when I pray. These pictures resonate with me in a way that other things in my mind don't, so I ask God if they are from Him. "God... guides our minds as we think things out in His presence." J. I. Packer
And Some More Thoughts From people a lot wiser than me. "If the Holy Spirit should come and begin to preach to your heart, giving you rich and enlightened thoughts,...be quiet and listen to Him who can talk better than you; and note what He proclaims and write it down; so will you experience miracles as David says: "Open the eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of the law" (Psalm 119:18)." Martin luther We often miss hearing God' voice because we aren't paying attention." Rick Warren "The voice of God will never contradict the word of God" Unknown "Be still (let go, relax, cease striving) and know that I am God" Psalm 46:10
Helpful Books How to Hear God's Voice by Mark and Patti Virkler, (This book has inspired parts of this guide) Surprised by the Voice of God By Dr Jack Deere Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God By Dallas Willard
By Niki Hardy www.mystorymygod.com Email: niki@mystorymygod.com This is an ebook by NIKI HARDY. It consists of original, unpublished material solely owned by the author. NIKI HARDY 2016. All rights reserved.