Recently, my mind has been drawn to an email from my friend EM. With EM’s permission, I’m including the main points of his email and my reactions below them. His email is in regular text and my responses are in italics.

EM friend wrote…

I’ve been seeing an increase in listening prayer in our community in the USA and I have been thinking about how to help people grow in this practice while avoiding the pitfalls of inherent in trying to hear God’s voice.

A couple of recent examples have made me thoughtful:

• A young man was a candidate for a church office, and he felt like he had clearly heard from God that he would be chosen. He wasn’t. This has been an incredibly difficult journey for him emotionally.
• Another man thought he heard from God that he and his wife should buy a specific house. Someone else from his church was already in the process of buying it, but the man was able to step in and take it away from the other family. A year after they bought it, they ended up moving away.

Here is my attempt to create some principles. I’m curious to know if these resonate with you or if you would go a different direction.

1. Instead of “God told me…” people should learn to say things like, “It felt like God told me” or, “I sensed that…” Using language like this opens the door to others’ input and to the possibility that they didn’t hear correctly.

Neil: Absolutely. I almost never say “God told me…” until after the fact. In my course I mention what I call “The myth of certainty.” We are almost never 100% sure we are hearing God correctly until after the fact. This ought to encourage a deep sense of humility in our journey of listening.

2. Recognize that hearing from God often comes through our senses and that not every detail we perceive may be accurate. One teacher said that we often do hear from God, but we tend to add Hamburger Helper* to fill out what we heard with more specific details from our own imagination.

Neil: I fully agree with what you have written.

* For those not from North America, Hamburger Helper is a packaged food product consisting of dried pasta with powdered seasonings. The consumer combines the contents of the box (our own imagination) with browned ground beef (God’s revelation) to make a one-dish meal.

3. Look for confirmations. Godly, mature people affirming what you heard can function as confirmation. Situations can also be confirmation. For example, if you think you heard that someone has back pain and you should pray for them, if you ask them and they confirm their pain, that is likely a sign that you heard correctly. If they say that they actually have pain in their foot, then perhaps you had the right sense, but not all of the details. And if neither, perhaps you just didn’t hear correctly. Often confirmations come when we look backwards. My Amish grandfather heard an audible voice one Sunday afternoon telling him to go study Scripture because he would be called to the ministry someday. Years later, he was in an ordination by lot. I don’t think he told people the story until after his ordination, but it was incredibly faith strengthening for him and for many others through the years and it helped prepare him for ministry!

Neil: Amen. What an encouraging story!

4. Measure everything by Jesus and the Word of God. If it’s not aligned with Scripture, we should question what we heard.

Neil: Amen!

5. Godliness opens the door for us to hear better. As we move into holiness, our hearts are less cluttered and more able to hear other things God speaks to us.

Neil: Amen and amen!

6. Have people who can speak into your life. If you sense that God is calling you to do something radical, get input from godly, mature people. We shouldn’t treat people as the ultimate decision maker, but I am very slow to go in a new direction if godly people who know me well don’t affirm that what I am sensing is from God. Part of this is recognizing the Holy Spirit in other people and that God often speaks to us through other people.

Neil: Amen! In addition, life-changing decisions should be given sufficient time. When I was praying about starting a business, I asked a number of people to pray with me about this. When things got tough, I looked back and said to myself, “It wasn’t just me who asked the Lord about this. Ten others did too, and they got the same answer.”

7. Recognize that God has spoken clearly through Scripture. Perhaps 95% (or 99%) of the guidance we need to follow Jesus and live a fruitful life is found in Scripture. Prioritize a Scripture-saturated, prayerful life, walking in the fruit of the Spirit. As you do, then you will be in a far better place to hear from God. I think part of our job as teachers is to remind people that 95% of what we need God clearly reveals through Scripture and 5% comes from the mystical/experiential realm (or 80/20 if you want to be generous) and not the inverse.

Neil: The only point where I would disagree a bit is in the ratios. Yes, God has given us the Scripture, and we treasure it, learn from it, use it to keep us in boundaries, and hear God’s voice through it. But I also treasure a walk with the Holy Spirit where I turn to him for help, comfort, and direction many times throughout the day. During those times of turning to him, I often hear his voice within my heart.

8. Treasure the greatest gifts: The Holy Spirit at work in our lives, people brought from darkness to light, being sons and daughters of God, hearts transformed into the heart of Jesus, the fruit of the Spirit evidenced in the lives of believers. As we treasure these gifts, we are less likely to misuse or misunderstand the other gifts that God gives such as physical health, material blessings, healings, or words of knowledge.

Neil. Amen! Thanks, EM, for your great comments.

What about you? Do you have something to add to the conversation? If so, scroll down to the very bottom of this page and add your comments.

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House photo by Trista from Pixabay

Hamburger Helper image from Walmart. I don’t think they will mind the free advertising.

Classic Hamburger Helper product photo by Evan-Amos