Rev. Paul Woodburn is the pastor of our home church in Toronto. He wrote a great congregational letter in January. With his permission, I am sharing it here.
Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.
1 Thessalonians 5:19–22 (ESV)
Example 1
“God told me,” the visiting evangelist said, “that there is someone here who is suicidal. If you come forward for prayer right now, God will set you free.”
What he didn’t know, could not know, was that afternoon a woman had come early to the tent to speak with him. Instead of finding the semi-famous evangelist, she had found me. I was a twenty-something-wet-behind-the-ears, tired and frustrated volunteer worship leader setting up equipment for the evangelistic service scheduled for later that evening.
There is no way he could have known that she had slit one of her wrists before noticing the ad in the paper advertising the crusade. No one told him that her afternoon search for him was her one final, desperate lunge at hope.
But I knew.
The moment the evangelist spoke those words I began to scan the faces of the crowd. It was the after-service prayer-time and I was at the piano gently playing background chords. Given where I was sitting on the stage, I had a clear view of the crowd that had gathered that night in one corner of the parking-lot of the local fair grounds. I finally spotted her tucked into the shadows. She was standing just outside the tent as though frightened of what she might find inside.
As the evangelist continued his call two or three people stepped forward for prayer. Obviously, in a crowd that size there would be many people wrestling with suicide. I freely confess, that as he prayed with those who had come forward, I thought, this woman, still hiding in the shadows, had lost her chance to receive a miraculous touch from God. But when he had finished praying with those who had come forward, the evangelist continued to call.
“There is someone, God has told me, a woman, you’ve come here desperate. God can change all of that.”
My intent is not to argue the point. I am not going to try to explain it. I am not going to debate with you whether God still speaks to His people or not.
I have seen it. What’s more I have lived it. I know it’s real.
But…
Example 2
“God told me.” That was his reply as he sat confronted by the leadership of the church. Some were confused, some were angry, most were hurt.
Their pastor had been having an affair with a married woman.
“How could you?” they wanted to know. Probably not the best question to ask given the situation but understandable given the circumstances.
His answer?
“God told me to.”
God told me…
I don’t know what it is with Christians. We like to argue in extremes. Then we love to make our extremes normative for all people, for all time, in all places. One side argues “God speaks to people! Look at the proof!” The other side argues, “It’s a manipulation tactic used by people who simply want to have their way! Look at the proof!”
Couldn’t both be true? Couldn’t it be true that God still speaks to His people AND that there are people who attempt to use “God told me” as a means of manipulation?
So what do we do? How do we know?
Check out 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22.
Did you catch it? In the New Testament Church hearing God speak is not an “individual sport”. It requires the discernment of the Body. The BODY!
What if instead of saying, “God told me we need to do this NOW!” We were to say, “I think God might be leading us in this direction. Can we exercise 1 Thessalonians 5:21 together? What do you, my brothers and sisters in the faith, think about this direction?”
Using my opening examples, the first, “God told me”—with the evangelist and the suicidal woman—would have been (and was) affirmed.
The second “God told me” of the adulterous pastor would have been challenged. Two families, a church body, and an entire local community could have been spared immense sorrow and deep wounds.
Maybe God was onto something when He called us to interdependent, covenant community!
“Asking for God’s guidance, compared to living by our own ideas, is the difference between the squeak of a mouse and the roar of a lion.”
Where should we go on our first vacation?
My wife, Joyce, and I were in our mid-twenties. One day she said to me, “Where should we go for our first vacation?”
I said, “Well, why don’t I practice what I’ve been teaching and ask God about this?” At the time I’d been pastoring a small country church just east of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I’d started a 4-part teaching series on “How to Hear the Voice of God”.
After our discussion I went into our bedroom, closed the door, and knelt down beside our bed. I started praying and quoting Proverbs 3:5: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart…” I then declared, “Oh Lord, you are completely trustworthy because you are all knowing, all wise, all powerful and complete in love. There is no reason to not trust you.
The verse continued: “…and lean not unto your own understanding…”
“Oh Lord”, I prayed, “it makes total sense to not lean on my own understanding because my understanding is very limited compared to yours.”
“In all your ways acknowledge Him…”
Based on God’s character and limitless understanding, acknowledging Him for direction seems to make a lot of sense. I also used my imagination to stretch my faith and my normal boundaries. “Lord, if for this holiday time you want us to go to India or Russia or South America or just down the road to Rosebud, Alberta, We will go.”
The final part of verse 6 ends with a promise: “…and He shall direct thy paths.”
James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives …” Here is another promise from God to give us wisdom. It goes on in verse 6: “But when you ask, you must believe…”
So, once we ask God for guidance we must get up off our knees with faith. If you have faith, you will be listening and watching with joyful expectation for His clear guidance in answer to your question. And that is exactly what I did, and that is exactly what the Lord did!
All that week impressions regarding the general location of our time away came at me from every angle.
I was in a meeting one evening and someone started talking about a man in relation to Taiwan. One afternoon I opened a magazine, and a travel ad jumped out at me: “Come to Thailand.” A couple of weeks before, Joyce and I had been listening to some reports on the plight of the Vietnamese boat people and the Cambodians suffering under Pol Pot’s evil regime. All of this was pointing to Asia.
After about three days Joyce asked me, “So, where are we going?” I said, “Well, I think I know, but let’s give it a couple more days so you can hear too.” On that Joyce walked down the hall to our bedroom to pray. When she came out she said, “Well, one thing I know, this will be a holiday with a purpose.” Then, after a long pause she looked at me and said, “We’re going to Asia aren’t we?”
A few days later, a friend of mine called. During the course of the conversation I said, “Hey, Joyce and I are going on an incredible holiday half way around the world!”
He replied with a chuckle, “Where? China?” His seemingly off-handed comment couldn’t have been more accurate. Wow!
Normally a couple like us would think about going a short distance to a holiday resort with hot springs, or a cabin near a good hiking spot, but here we were being directed half-way around the world.
Seeing as we’d both been involved with Youth With A Mission when we were younger, we decided to look up where YWAM might be located in Asia. Yes, there was a base in Hong Kong, so that is where we headed.
One day when we were visiting the base, a man from another mission was there. He approached us and asked if we would like to take some Bibles into China. What?! I wasn’t so sure I wanted to do that. Everything in Asia was strange to us, and we were new comers to the area. But, I prayed about it and God said, “Do you remember when you were still back in Canada, I told you that when you arrive in the Far East I’d tell you why I sent you, well this is one of the reasons.”
A few days later Joyce and I found ourselves standing on a dock along the Pearl River in Canton City about 80 miles up from Hong Kong. We got there on a hydrofoil along with other tourists. This was the beginning of our scary adventure. Scary because the communist government of China was not happy to have the Bible come into their country. However, at that time in 1980, if they found you with Bibles at the border, they would just take them away and you could pick them up on the way out.
Joyce and I experienced some delays in getting our Bibles to the right people. The people we were supposed to meet never showed up. At one point we thought we’d just give them all to the government church we’d attended on the Sunday morning. But just before we moved in that wrong direction, a Chinese man dressed in Western clothes came up to us and started talking. He had come to check on how the church in China was doing. He ended up coming to our hotel room where we could visit.
While we were visiting, there was a knock at the door. “Oh no, who’s that?” When I opened it, there stood the contacts we’d missed the night before. It turned out they’d gone to the wrong hotel. But now we had someone who could translate for us as we asked questions about what it was really like to be a Christian in China.
“Yes, we really do need Bibles”, we were told. “In some situations 300 people have to share one Bible. And yes, it is hard to be a Christian in China because of the persecution.” In the end it all worked out, and we will never forget that experience as long as we live.
But there was more. After two weeks in Hong Kong we flew to Thailand. Again we visited a YWAM base in Bangkok. Unexpectedly, we had an opportunity to join a small team that was going to visit Cambodian refugees along the Thai-Cambodian border. These were the terrifying days of Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge army which was terrorizing the whole country. Thousands were executed, especially the educated like doctors, teachers, and former military and police. Religious citizens were killed as well along with those who refused re-education. By the end of the war, over one million were murdered.
Seeing the refugee camps in Thailand and also the Vietnamese boat people in Hong Kong, deeply impacted Joyce and I. A year and a half after returning home from that six week trip, Joyce and I joined a YWAM ministry in Hong Kong and later spear-headed an Indo-Chinese refugee ministry in Edmonton, Alberta. However, our long-term mission field turned out to be an entirely different place, a place most people knew very little about at the time. Today, however, it is in the news almost every day!
On November 26, 1982, I was having a quiet time and asked, “Lord what country should I pray for today?” Without warning “GREENLAND” popped into my mind. I was stunned because I knew nothing about this place. I got up off my knees, went to the map on the wall and looked at Greenland. “Wow, are there even any people there?” I wondered.
Well, we found out there are people there! On my very first trip to Greenland in July of 1984 I was all alone with no contacts, no cell phone, no credit card, and limited finances. But I experienced supernatural guidance on that three-week trip, and complete provision for all I needed. It’s been almost 42 years since I made that first trip, and I’m still at it.
One of the most valuable lessons we learned over the years ministering in Greenland, was how the Lord came to heal the broken hearted and set the captive free.
Terry Bone is a former software systems analyst, pastor, and the author of The Great Exchange: Passing the Baton Between Generations of World Shapers. He is also a mentor and a personal friend. On a call a couple of weeks ago, Terry shared the following story of a deliverance based on the presence of God with me.
In the Gospels we see on more than one occasion that as soon as Jesus showed up, demonic forces would panic. His presence was enough to cause them to begin to lose their grip on people’s minds and bodies.
Recently, during a weekend workshop on the topic of the person and gifts of the Holy Spirit, one of the participants confided in my wife and me. She told us that she had almost checked herself into the psychiatric ward of a local hospital that day due to the voices in her head that were urging her to self-harm. On her way to the hospital, her vehicle seemed to be unsafe to drive, so she turned around and came to the workshop with her husband instead.
This woman was eager to have the Lord bring a resolution to the problems she was facing. During ministry time the first evening, she confided this story to us. We sensed that it wasn’t the moment to try to discover and deal with the root issues in her life, so we prayed a simple prayer of protection and blessing.
In the course of one of the sessions the next day, this woman suddenly felt ill. She went to the bathroom and threw up. After returning to the main session, she again felt ill, and a second time went and threw up in the bathroom. Afterwards she said, “I feel really good. The voices are gone!” During the rest of the seminar, she enthusiastically joined in the worship times.
Although there might also have been a physical component to her condition, it was evident to us that the enemy of our souls had gained access to her thought life and had been hounding her with evil thoughts.
What impressed me was that we didn’t need to employ any special prayers. We didn’t need to engage in a power encounter. The manifest presence of God was enough to bring deliverance to one who knew that Jesus is Lord and who was eager to be set free.
Seeking to be a carrier of the presence of the Holy Spirit may be the most powerful weapon to add to our prayers in the name of Jesus when we are confronting demonic entities.
We visited Shelly Olson, a busy mother of four, during a trip across Canada this summer. Shelly is one of the few people who has not forgotten the art of letter writing. My wife told me that she can write a letter while simultaneously singing to her children. Since my brain runs on exactly one track at a time, I decided to double-check the veracity of that claim. Shelly confirmed that she can indeed write while singing. She also told me that in Bible School she used to study Hebrew while singing and dancing in her room.
Shelly wrote a beautiful letter to us, and with her permission, I am sharing parts of it with you.
All photos in this post were taken from Shelly’s property
Journaling and Making Time for Listening Prayer
Neil, I really enjoyed your book, and it has inspired me—particularly to try mentoring others in listening to Jesus. But also, it’s been a reminder to make time and space in life for listening prayer. Also, to journal more as I tend to be a very infrequent journaler. I find it so encouraging to go back and read things from my spiritual journey when I have written stuff down. It’s cool that the start of your journey of really listening to Jesus started with God speaking to you of his love for you.
A Bought of Depression and the Love of God
A year or two ago when I was in a particularly fruitful season of prayer, marked by a lot of joy and peace in life, there came a day when I awoke with a heavy, discouraged heart. I felt oddly depressed and struggled to pray or feel anything but blech! I spent my morning driving to work as usual, in prayer, but nothing seemed to break through the gloom. I figured it probably was a spiritual attack of some kind. When I was nearly at work, the song I was listening to led me into prayerful contemplation of God’s love, hearing him speak it over me. Instantly I began to cry and be overwhelmed with joy and relief from the depressed state I was in.
This puzzled me, as knowing God loves me hasn’t been something I’ve struggled with. My parents raised me with wonderful love and affirmation. I asked God for some clarity and He spoke to me: If you need to hear me speak my love over you, how much more do those who struggle with knowing they are loved.
From that I was convicted that the foundation of prayer—the thing we need to start with and come back to over and over, is hearing God speak His love over us. “We love because He first loved us.”
Creativity and Mentoring
Another listening prayer experience from quite a few years ago is this. I grew up in a creatively gifted family with lots of artists and musicians. I felt like I had this depth of creativity bursting within me but no creative outlet. I kind of felt sad and frustrated, wishing I had some artistic gifting to express myself. Well, one day God showed me that He had created me to bring out beauty in other people and that this was to be my creative outlet. This brought me a sense of joy purpose in my life.
God has placed a lot of people in my life who really matter to me and who I long to help come alive, to thrive, in Christ. I’m an introvert and a busy mom of 4 and it can be hard to know how best to invest my time. Some of my closest friends are really struggling. Your book helped me see that leading them to Jesus to speak to them His life-giving words will be much better than me giving them my advice, guidance, etc. And I know listening to Jesus will help me to best know how to invest my time and energy.
I’ve decided to start with doing some faith mentoring of my niece. She had a tough time last year in public school so she is doing distance education.
Even Children Hear From God
When my niece was around 1 ½ years old God encouraged me in a time of depression with her insistence every night that she wanted to pray for me. One day she said out of the blue during her bath time, “Jordan is healed, mommy.” Jordan was a man they knew who had been mysteriously ill and losing weight. Around the time she stated he was healed, the family heard that he had suddenly recovered from all symptoms.
I sometimes feel rather awkward guiding others in listening to Jesus, but trust God will help me. Thanks for the book!
While Anna was still very young, her parents took her with them as they ministered to the sick and demonically oppressed. For Anna, praying for healing and deliverance was a normal part of Christian life. However, in this story she shares an experience that ended in a disappointment.
Anna says…
From the ages of 12 to 18, I attended a boarding school in India. When I was 13, a new girl came to our school, and she became one of my dorm roommates. She was from a wealthy Hindu family. This girl was socially awkward and didn’t fit in with the rest of the girls. I am ashamed to say that I, along with the other girls, bullied her in school. I was downright awful to her.
There were five of us girls in a single dorm room. She would talk in her sleep at night, and she kept the whole room awake at night because of her sleep talking. One night she was sleep talking in different voices. I realized evil spirits were speaking through her, so I started rebuking them and commanding them to leave in the name of Jesus.
Rebuking demons was normal behavior for me because I had seen it all the time. I didn’t really think twice about it. If you encounter a demon, you rebuke it. It was the middle of the night, an evil voice was speaking, and I just went at it, commanding it to leave in Jesus’s name.
I had what I thought was success. Multiple demons were expelled. But the last demon was hatred and since I had been acting in hatred toward the girl, there was no way it would obey. The demon confronted me. It said, “You can’t cast me out because you don’t love her.” That was true, I had not been nice to her at all.
The confrontation ended. We stayed in our beds, and she didn’t wake up. Well, maybe she did a little bit. She started whimpering. I prayed a prayer of protection and peace over the room and asked God to protect us. However, the encounter ended negatively because she was not set free.
The other girls in the room were terrified. They will probably never forget that event as long as they lived. They could hardly look at me in the morning, and they went and told our dorm parents.
The school authorities didn’t know how to handle the situation either. Rather than rejoicing in the attempt, although flawed, they sent me to a local pastor. I don’t think he knew what to do with me either.
Although it may have been normal for Anna, rebuking a demon when you are only 13 years old wasn’t normal for the school authorities, and they didn’t know how to handle it.
What they could have done is sat with Anna, praised her for her courage, asked her what she learned, and asked her to think about what she would do differently in the future. In addition, if the relationship was trusting enough, they could have helped her to work through her own issues of shame that led to the bullying behavior.
What do we learn?
That’s the story, what can we learn? I see three lessons, maybe there are more.
Even children can drive out demons! Anna was barely a teenager, yet she successfully commanded demons to leave. And at least some of them obeyed. Deliverance does not depend on our age, theological education, or whether we have been ordained by the church.
The church needs to know how to deal with demons. It is unfortunate that the adults in this story didn’t know what to do. They couldn’t minister effectively to Anna, nor could they help the girl who was demonically oppressed, nor were they able to assist Anna’s roommates to process their experience.
If we are not living according to the principles of the kingdom of God, we lose access to the power of God. Anna didn’t love this girl and so she couldn’t drive out the spirit of hatred. Perhaps the same kind of thing was going on when the seven sons of Sceva couldn’t deliver a heavily oppressed man (Acts 19:11-16). Let’s live as a member of the kingdom of God ought to live!
Post your comments at the very bottom of the page if you have any thoughts on this story.
People sometimes ask about teaching kids how to hear God’s voice. Grace K, a participant in one of the Listening to God cohorts, shared the following story.
Benji hears from God
One of my main goals in taking the Listening to God class was to be better equipped to teach my three sons. Even though I had grown up always believing that God both hears me and shows me things, I wanted to make sure I had as much help as possible for passing this truth down to my boys. What if their listening style is different? I wondered. The group dynamic of the class has been so helpful in expanding my view of the many ways to “listen” to God.
During my second week of class, I posed this question to the group, “Do you see any correlation between the various ways God speaks to us in relation to our own personal love languages, or personalities?” For example, does God have more to say to someone who naturally receives love as “words of affirmation” and perhaps less to say but more to show physically to someone whose personality is practical and pragmatic? (The love languages and personality types are not part of scripture, but it does seem God uses such a variety of ways to communication with us and that there could be some common themes.)
Later that day, I got an answer to my question.
My second son, Benji, is an excellent 6th grade student. He is always thoughtfully on time and prepared. He often reminds me to get my shoes on and take him and his little brother to school (even though I consider myself quite punctual!) This day, upon unpacking his backpack in class, he realized a whole stack of very important papers was missing from his binder. He later told me, “Mom I was so stressed for a second, but then I took a deep breath and asked God for help. I asked God where my papers were.”
We have always explained to him that God is a GREAT father and just like his own dad—if you ask him where something is—he will be glad to tell you! Benji said, “I got an immediate peaceful feeling and then the thought locker popped into my head.” Sure enough, he went back to check his locker later in the day and the papers had fallen behind some other stuff out of sight.
I was so excited to find out how he knew he heard from God, wondering if it was like my own experiences. “Did you SEE a mental picture of the papers in the locker? Did you HEAR the word ‘locker’ or see the word like SUBTITLES?!” He looked at me sort of funny and paused.
“Mom…” He said, in that way that 12-year-olds say “Mom”, “I just…knew. And since I had just prayed about it and had peace. I knew it was from God.”
I was beaming, and so thankful the Lord had answered him so simply and so completely regarding something he really cared about.
In retrospect, the other funny part of this story was knowing that if my first or third son had lost their papers, they would not have cared two bits! So, the answer to my question was a definite YES! The Lord knows the hairs on our head and cares deeply and personally about the issues of our heart. He also knows the best way to communicate with us in a personal way.
Our washing machine went on the blink right before a nine-day local holiday. The machine was showing a “door close” error and refused to wash our clothes. I called a technician in who tested the door close switch and, finding it not to be the problem, told me that the main circuit board needed replacing. I then contacted the service center, and they very politely told me that they couldn’t do anything until after the holiday because all their technicians were going to be off duty.
After the holiday, the service center called me and told me that they would order a replacement circuit board and door switch. Once those came in, the service center would send the technician with the parts. Since the machine was out of warranty, I would have to pay for any parts the technician needed plus the service fee. The cost of the circuit board was about ¼ the price of the original washing machine purchase price.
Well, it took ages for the parts to come in. My wife was washing her clothes by hand, and I was wearing my shirts and pants for as long as I could. (No questions please.) On the two-week mark, one Saturday morning, my wife asked me to take our dirty sheets and towels to a friend’s house who had a washing machine.
That morning in my devotions I had felt the Lord’s prompting to try to repair the machine myself. I even got a couple of ideas as to how to go about it. After delivering the suitcase full of dirty clothes, I got to work. Since I had seen how the technician took the machine apart and tested the door switch, I could repeat the process without any difficulty. I found that the door switch cable and connector were corroded—something the technician had missed. A bit of cleaning and soldering resulted in a working washing machine. The whole job took about 1.5 hours. I wish I would have prayed about it two weeks earlier. I immediately called the service center to cancel the repair ticket. That evening a technician phoned to say he had the part and could he come now. I happily told him that I repaired it myself and he didn’t need to come.
Some lessons
The Lord is deeply involved in our lives! I am sure much of the time he is standing there wondering why we don’t turn to him for help sooner. Not only is he involved, but he is also so willing to talk to us. If the Lord ever gets frustrated, it is probably because we just don’t listen to him. And when we do, we frequently dismiss what we hear.
I wish I could say that I always listen, but that would not be true. I could write a book of stories about how the Lord prompted me to do something and I didn’t do it, and the negative fallout that occurred. But that wouldn’t make for edifying reading! Perhaps if I slowed down a little bit, I would hear the Lord a bit more.
I was visiting a house church in Michigan with some friends. We had just received news that we did not get the five-year visa for South Asia that we were hoping for. Instead, we only got a one-year visa. This was difficult news, but we were trusting God that he would make the most out of it.
This matter was on my mind as the time of time of worship started. We, the gathered body of believers, were crowded around the piano in the living room that morning. The worship time was a good time of connecting with Jesus. During the last song, the worship leader hit the wrong note on the piano.
My immediate thought was, “Oh, I like that sour note.” I like classical music and one of my favorite composers uses a lot of dissonance. He crafts pieces that combine dissonant notes on top of each other, and but then uses those notes to create a harmony that crescendos into something incredibly beautiful. When you listen to his work for long enough you start to understand how the dissonant notes form pieces of the whole, and how they become part of the beauty that later emerges.
Immediately after I thought, “Oh, I like that sour note,” I heard the Lord say, “I did that just for you.” I felt God’s presence and joy. He is teaching me to see how he works even the disappointments together into something beautiful.
I find it intriguing to think that even the worship leader—who may have felt embarrassed for hitting the wrong note—was being used by God through what felt like a mistake. Afterward, I told her about what had happened, and she was encouraged because just earlier that day she had been explaining to her son what dissonance and then demonstrating it for him on the piano. God prepared each of us to hear from him an interesting way.
Reflection
Does it feel like something has gone wrong in your life? Do you feel dissonance between the way things are and the way you think things should be? If so, why don’t you stop and have a conversation with the Lord about this? Could it be that what feels like a mistake is actually part of the harmony that God is composing in your life?
Reader Response
I just finished reading What if Listening to God Was Easy? I loved the stories! They both helped me understand the points that were being illustrated, and they made the book so much easier read. But I also found myself needing to pause after every chapter to go spend time in prayer and try to listen to God. Thank you! The book has been a real blessing. —Aaron
My friend Aaron shared a couple of stories for this post. By way of background, Aaron used to work in a developing nation.
Approaching Burnout
It had been a tough few months. I was on the verge of burnout and desperately needed a break to recharge. My family was looking forward to some vacation time. We packed our bags and headed to the airport for our flight. When we got there, our flight wasn’t listed anywhere. As we approached the airline, we were told that the flight was rescheduled for tomorrow. Since there weren’t enough passengers on the Friday flight, they combined two flights together for Saturday. There were no other flights that day to our destination.
My body ached at the thought of waiting another day before our needed rest. The reschedule meant we would have to wake the young kids up at 3am the next day. We complained to a teammate who told us her friend Yolanda must be on the same flight as us since her flight was moved to tomorrow as well.
In my frustration, I asked God, “Why is this happening? Why is it so hard to get some rest?” In the stillness, I heard God tell me, “There is a reason, you just don’t know it yet.”
The next day, we arrived at the airport once again, half awake and feeling defeated. As we approached the counter, Yolanda approached us. She needed our help. The airport security wouldn’t let her on the flight since she didn’t have a visa for the destination. Yolanda didn’t need a visa for her destination since she was entitled to a visa on arrival. The real issue was that the security official wanted a bribe, and he thought Yolanda, a young woman in her twenties traveling alone, would be an easy target. Yolanda didn’t have the money to pay.
As soon as the security officer saw Yolanda talking with me (a foreigner), he immediately apologized to us. Yolanda walked beside my family all the way onto the flight without any further hassle. In the end, my inconvenience led to a timely encounter which was the lifeline of someone else’s day.
Shattered Hopes
My friends and I run a social enterprise that employs youth in poverty in a volatile country with an ongoing war. After months of hard work, our business was starting to pick up. The youth we employed were beginning to have hopes and dreams about their future. Then one day, it all came crashing down. The government announced a new conscription campaign that targeted youth.
Our employees’ dreams shattered, hope dissipated, fear ran high. I went before God in silence, not knowing what words to even say. In the stillness, I heard God telling me to pause the entire operation for one month. I was to use the time to care for our young employees. I was to simply be there for them to lean on. This was scary because our company only had one month of cash flow. Taking a whole month to care for the youth would mean risking the whole operation.
For the remainder of the month, we had deeper conversations with each employee than we ever had before. While they struggled to talk with their parents about the situation, they openly shared their pain with us. We carefully guided them to think through their options. In the end, the youth who remained with us developed a deeper sense of family commitment that went far beyond ordinary working relationships. The business quickly recovered under the hands of these committed youth.
Thank you, Aaron! What a great reminder to pause and ask the Lord what do during times of stress.
Do you have something to add to the conversation? If so, scroll down to the very bottom of this page and add your comments.
A couple of months ago, one of my readers shared a post by the musician Dominic Balli with me. I tracked Dominic down and asked permission to share his post with my readers. He kindly agreed. But first, a little about Dominic, abbreviated from his church’s website.
Dominic grew up in church knowing about Jesus but never knew Him personally. It wasn’t until the age of 16 that he finally surrendered his life and chose to follow wholeheartedly after God.Growing up with a mother who was a professional musician and songwriter, it seemed natural for Dominic to pick up the guitar. There was only one problem: he was legitimately tone-deaf. Though his condition left his guitar and voice regularly out of tune, his broken physiology didn’t stop him from tirelessly pursuing music. When he met Jesus at 16 and was filled with the Holy Spirit, his tone deafness immediately vanished, which changed the course of his life.
Knowing where the healing came from, Dominic began writing songs with the intention of sharing the good news of Jesus with the world and, soon after, began leading worship at church. He took a position as a youth pastor and worship director at Reality Carpinteria and was soon after ordained as a pastor/elder. After his first album topped the Gospel and Reggae charts in 2008, Dominic stepped down from his staff position at Reality Carpinteria to pursue a career as a self-produced, full-time independent recording artist.In 2016, he joined the team at Reality Ventura as the Interim Pastor for Preaching and Vision, then in 2021 Dominic moved into a part-time role as Pastor for Worship Life.
Now here is his post…
At the beginning of the year, my wife and I sat down and asked God how he wanted me to spend my time when I wasn’t working at church. After we asked the question, we listened (PS, if you don’t listen in prayer, you should.). As we sat in a silence, a conversation started forming in my mind…
Me: What do you want me to do? God: What do YOU want to do? Me: Um, I want to make music again. God: Oh, I love it when you make music. Me: You do? God: So much. Me: I love it too. God: I know, I made you like that. Son, I’ve put it into the heart of man to enjoy the work of his labor. That’s what I want you to do? Enjoy. Me: Enjoy? God: Yea, enjoy making music. Me: But what about money? God: I’ll take care of the money. You go enjoy. Me: Ok, but you’re gonna have to tell my wife. God: I got you.5 seconds later…Wife: Did you hear anything? Me: Yea, did you? Wife: I saw a picture. Me: Of what? Wife: You were in the studio, working on a song, and you had the biggest smile on your face. And above your head there was a huge word written: ENJOY. Me:🤯 God:😉
So after five of years of hardly doing anything with my music, this year I’ve been enjoying. For so many years, I was so focused on building that I forgot to enjoy. So here’s to enjoying again. Enjoying the process. Enjoying the mess and magic. Enjoying the music.These photos (above) are from a small outreach concert I played at in Kauai recently, but they represent something bigger—a new season of enjoying. And he made good on the money promise too. Is there work that you truly ENJOY – where you feel the pleasure of God when you do it? What is it? I’d love to know!
Many people take time at the beginning of each year to make resolutions and resolve to do better. What if, just like Dominic did, we take some time to listen and ask God him what he wants us to do in the new year?
Dominic Balli photos from his church’s website and from Dominic’s Facebook page.
The Lord began to speak to me about children even before I accepted his call to serve him. After we got married, however, we faced the problem of infertility. Many wounds formed in our hearts because of this, but the Lord was speaking to me to remain faithful and that he would work. In the last months of 2023, he spoke to us more and more often that he was preparing our hearts to have children.
God’s Voice
In the Listening to God’s Voice course (January-February 2024), I did an exercise in which I was asked to remember a beautiful memory I had from the past week. Then, I pictured Jesus there in the memory and asked him a few questions.
I chose a memory of when my husband and I went to the park with our colleagues’ little boy. Asking Jesus those questions, I felt that Jesus was telling me that within a short time we will have our own child.
The last thing Jesus told me during that listening exercise was, “I will fulfill the promise I made to you in Genesis 11:14.” I went to reread that passage because I couldn’t remember what it said. As I read it, I realized that it was the verse through which the Lord had spoken to me two months earlier that He would give us a child before my husband turned 30. The verse says:
When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber.
It was only a year and a few days away from my husband’s 30th birthday. Although it required a lot of faith, I chose to share what I received with the other course participants. As I write this (June 2024), I’m now 14 weeks pregnant and expecting my baby to come in November!
A Step of Faith
In mid-March I had a dream. In that dream I knew it was March and I felt sick. In the dream, I went to the doctor to find out the cause and learned that I was pregnant. In the morning, I shared the dream with my husband. Again, sharing this with my husband was a step taken in faith because the chances of becoming pregnant that month were quite small. But still, at the end of the month I was holding a positive pregnancy test.
Another dream
Just days after testing positive, my non-believing sister wrote to tell me that she dreamed I was pregnant. Although I didn’t tell her then that her dream accurately portrayed what was happening to me, I felt the Lord confirming to me once again that he speaks in wonderful and different ways, and that we must listen and take steps by faith.
If you have read our story, please pray that the Lord will protect this pregnancy and help us trust Him through any waves of difficulty.
Editor’s Update: our reader gave birth to a healthy baby girl in November 2024
When people speak of God’s voice through circumstances, they normally mean open and closed doors. If a door is open, they assume God is leading them to take a step through that door. If the door is closed, they assume God is telling them to do something else. This is NOT what I’m talking about in this post. When I speak of God’s voice through circumstances, I am talking about events in our lives that God uses to arrest our attention. Perhaps a story will illustrate what I mean.
Aden’s Amazing Memory
I arrived in Toronto late one night from a conference in Western Canada. After I deplaned, I pulled out my phone and checked Uber and Lyft, the two rideshare companies that work at Pearson Airport. Since Lyft was a few dollars cheaper, I booked my ride with Lyft. After a short wait, my ride pulled up: a black Honda Civic driven by a man with a big beard.
Aden, the driver, was friendly and chatty. I sank back into the seat as the car pulled onto the highway. Aden’s friendly talk receded into the background as my mind began to fade into fatigue-induced oblivion.
After about ten minutes, something caught my attention. Aden didn’t sound like he was raised in Canada. I began to engage with the driver. Our conversation went a little bit like the following:
Neil: If you don’t mind, would you tell me your country of origin?
Aden: My country is Somalia, but I grew up in Kenya.
Neil: I was born in Somalia.
Aden: You were born in Somalia? Wow, I don’t get many people born in Somalia.
Neil: I spent time in Kenya too. There were a lot of Somalis in Nairobi.
We talked about Somalia and Kenya for a while. Then Aden continued…
Aden: We’ve had this conversation before. I picked you up 3-4 years ago downtown. I was driving for Uber then. I have a photographic memory. Between Uber and Lyft I’ve taken some 9,000 passengers, but I have never taken the same person twice. Even when I go to the same building, I never get the same passenger. You are the only person I’ve picked up twice. This is an amazing coincidence.
Neil: And not only that, I was born in your country.
That got me thinking. Sometimes coincidences occur because God is involved. I began to ask, Lord, what are you doing in this situation? What are you trying to say through this circumstance? The only answer I got was that I was supposed to ask Aden the same question. Our conversation continued…
Neil: Do you believe in God? I knew that most Somalis, like around 99%, are Muslim, but I didn’t want to assume anything about Aden. And I wanted to ease into my topic gently.
Aden: I definitely do believe in God.
Neil: What do you think God is saying through this coincidence, that you picked me up twice and I was born in Somalia? What message is God trying to communicate to you?
Aden: (after thinking for a bit) You have something from God for me, a message from God for me. Something that will bring me success in life.
Neil: I do have something for you. I carry something that is a key for you: the key to eternal life. Sometimes we are so focused on success in this life, but eternal life is what really matters.
Aden: Yes, yes. You are right. If you give me your business card, I will definitely call you.
At the end of my ride, I gave Aden my card. Perhaps you could pause for a moment to pray for Aden. Pray that he will find the key to eternal life.
God’s Voice Through Circumstances
As Aden correctly understood, there was a message from God for him in the unique circumstance he encountered. God was speaking to Aden.
Indeed, the Bible shows us that God speaks through circumstances. God said to the returnees from exile who were focused on their own comfort, “Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it….” “Why?” declares the LORD Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house.” (Haggai 1:5-6, 9) The returnees’ ongoing lack of economic success contained a message from God for them, if they had ears to hear it.
We also see God communicating through circumstances in the New Testament. When the disciples forgot to bring bread with them, Jesus used that event to warn them about the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees (Matthew 16:5-12). There was a message for them in the circumstance, if they had ears to hear it.
Have you recently faced an unusual circumstance? Why don’t you stop and ask God if he is trying to say something to you through it.
Christine, a participant in Cohort 7 of the Listening to God course, shared this touching story.
My mother died tragically in a car accident when I was 11 years old. The grief was devastating. A few weeks after her death, I was standing in my bedroom, looking out the window, watching the cars go by and the people walking up and down the street, laughing and talking. I remember thinking,How can life just go on? Don’t they know what has happened to me? Don’t they know that my whole world has been turned upside down?
I looked towards the living room where my dad was sitting with a Bible open on his lap, sobbing as he did every day when he came home from work. He would sit in the chair, open his Bible, and sob.
Then I looked outside and saw the people laughing and talking with their families as they were walking up and down the street. I heard God’s voice say clearly in my heart, “You have a choice. You can respond like your dad, or you can do like the people on the street.”
I didn’t know which to choose. Laughing and talking like the people on the street seemed to disrespect my mother’s death. But grieving like my dad seemed overwhelming. Then I heard God’s voice again, “What would Mutti (the German equivalent of ‘mommy’) want you to do?”
Without hesitation I said, “She would want me to embrace life, do the best that I can, live up to my full potential, and live out my days with joy!”Then God said to me. “Do that.”
I only realized years later that God’s voice to me that day changed the trajectory of my life completely. Instead of being someone with a victim mentality, someone who made excuses for her behaviour by focusing on the devastating blow she was dealt as an 11-year-old little girl, I was set free to pursue joy, to grieve well but grieve with hope knowing my mom would have been cheering me on. God’s voice changed everything.
Thank you, Christine! I am so glad you heard and responded to God’s voice. I believe many people hear God’s voice at various points in their lives, but only a few pay attention and act upon what God tells them.
Grace, a participant in one of our cohorts, shared the following story:
Recently, when my sister was visiting me, we had an argument. She said, “I’m the only one working on this relationship and you keep throwing bricks at me!” I cannot remember what we had argued about. I also cannot remember what Liz meant by the word “working.” As I thought about her comment, I realized it wasn’t true. I had worked on the relationship, too—perhaps in a different way. Neither Liz nor I like cooking. However, I had made three separate dishes and stored them in the fridge before she had arrived to make sure we would have meals to eat. I don’t think she even looked in the fridge before she left.
I longed to bring this to Liz’s attention and justify myself. Yes, unfortunately, my key motivation was to justify myself to my sister. However, as I was sleeping that night the distinct thought came to me, “Don’t bring up this issue with Liz. Just bury it.”After I awoke, I felt bad that we had parted on a negative note. I waited until I knew Liz would be awake and then phoned her. We had a friendly and peaceful conversation instead of the strife that would have occurred had I brought up the argument again.I’m convinced the Lord spoke to me in my sleep. As a result, Liz and I enjoyed peace in our relationship. This is in accord with Romans 12:18 which says, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” —Grace
I am on the board of a small church. One day, the chair of the board called me to discuss an issue. A member had made a request to the church. It would be awkward and potentially unwise for the church to grant the request. But not granting the request might leave the requester feeling embarrassed or angry. This was a sticky situation with no easy way out.
Relying on my best wisdom, I suggested that two board members meet the requester in person and try to explain the church’s position in as gentle a way as possible. Complicated circumstances made that approach impossible. The situation was made worse by the short time frame needed to make a decision.
The next morning, I was sitting in my room trying to finish my devotions when the Lord spoke to my heart. Call the person who made the request. My immediate response was to delay. Maybe I’ll do that later, I’ve got a lot on my plate this morning. And it’s not my problem anyway. But I put my Bible down and called him. That turned out to be a wise decision and diffused the situation. The requester thanked me the next day. My relationship with him deepened.
What’s the point? God speaks to us. He has solutions for the little problems we face each day. Sometimes it is just a matter of paying attention to the thoughts he gives.
In a recent post I talked about asking the Lord a question as I started my day. A reader named Charlie responded as follows:
The other day God caught my attention with a similar thought. I was praying John Stott’s “morning prayer” which begins with the words, “Good morning, heavenly Father. Good morning, Lord Jesus. Good morning, Holy Spirit.” Then the prayer leads into worship and some requests.
But that morning the Lord stopped me and said, “Why don’t you ever stop to see if I might want to greet you in return?” So, I backed up, started over, and stopped to listen after saying “Good morning, heavenly father.” What followed was something along the lines of a big smile, a “Good morning” in return, and then suddenly the memory of all the men who have acted like fathers/mentors to me over the years, including my own dad. The moment filled me with gratitude and still makes me smile.
Thank you, Charlie! That made me smile too. You know, the Lord speaks a lot. Our problem is that we need to train ourselves to stop and listen.
As we were leaving very early in the morning for our flight to Pennsylvania, I had an odd hunch that my glasses would break and that I should throw a back-up pair of glasses in my bag. I did and forgot about it. A week later after speaking in a church service, I was in the car praying about the service and asking God some questions about whether I had handled things correctly in what I had said and done. In the middle of my prayer my glasses “popped” and broke on my face. It looks like they had been screwed in too tightly and the tension had finally made the plastic break. God is so good to give little confirmations of His hand and steering along the way.
—Jonathan
The Lord really wants our good and he is happy to warn us about things that will cause us trouble or inconvenience. On a much larger scale, God warned the church in Antioch about an impending famine (Acts 11:28). He warned Pharaoh about a famine too (Genesis 41). In both cases, those warned were able to take corrective action. But if we are going to hear God’s warnings, we need to learn to pay attention to these, sometimes very subtle, promptings.
Stephanie, a participant in Cohort 1 of the Listening to God Course writes:
I recently led my daughter through a listening exercise. Afterwards she said, “Well that was different” and needed time to think about its implications. She has a cognitive kind of approach to life, so this was a new way for her to experience her faith.
Well! She came back from a Christian camp and told me she had led her group through a listening exercise.
I love this story because it shows just how easy it is for a person not only to come into a living encounter with Jesus, but lead others into the same. As Paul explained on Mars Hill, “[God] is not far from any one of us.” (Acts 17:27)
Unfortunately, there are many who have powerful one-time experiences with the Lord, but do not come into a regular experience of hearing his voice. That is why learning and listening in community over several weeks can be so helpful. If you have been thinking about registering for the Listening to God Course, then why not do it right now? Click on the button below to get more info.
A lot of people want to know, “How can I hear God’s voice?” Let me take the mystery out of this process and give you the answer right away: God’s voice will come to you primarily in the form of thoughts when your heart is fixed on Jesus.
As Mark Virkler says in 4 Keys to Hearing God’s Voice , “His voice sounds like spontaneous thoughts that light upon your mind, especially as your heart is fixed on Him.” God doesn’t usually speak audibly. He doesn’t usually speak through overwhelming visions. He speaks through your thoughts when your attention is fixed on Jesus.
His voice sounds like spontaneous thoughts that light upon your mind, especially as your heart is fixed on Him.
Mark Virkler, 4 Keys to Hearing God’s Voice
In this article, I will give you a process you can use both to prepare your heart and to hear God’s voice.
How can I hear from God about practical matters?
My friend Sam told me about a flight booking decision he had to make. He says…
We were deciding on flights for our journey to our holiday destination. Taking the earlier flight would mean less chance of a missed connection in case of a delay. But the earlier flight would also mean a longer wait in the airport—not easy with our two littlechildren. The later flight entailed a much shorter wait time, but was risky because a delayed first flight would mean an overnight wait in the capital city before we could get to our destination.
My wife and I decided to listen to God’s voice about this decision. I received the impression that we should take the later flight. But after talking some more, we decided on the safer option, and booked the earlier flight. The next day the airline called. The earlier flight was cancelled and so they put us on the later flight. The Lord knew all that in advance and he did tell me.
Sam heard God’s voice and you can too. This article will show you how.
Start With the Desire To Hear God’s Voice
When the prophet Jeremiah was imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard, God said to him, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3).
We learn two important lessons about how to hear God’s voice from this verse. First, if you want to hear God’s voice, you must desire to hear from him.
Imagine a hiker on a mountain trail. Imagine the hiker falls and is injured. He calls out for help. Why does he call? Because he longs for someone to answer him, someone to come near and rescue him.
Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know
Jeremiah 33:3
You call out when you want something. The act of calling denotes desire.
This principle of desire is found throughout Scripture. Jesus told his hearers in the Sermon on the Mount to “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). Asking, seeking, knocking are all words indicating desire.
The other thing we learn about hearing God’s voice from Jeremiah 33:3 is that God has things to say. He has secrets that he wants to tell you. God is not silent and aloof. He is just waiting for us to call and to desire for him to speak to us.
Deal With Your Fears About Hearing God’s Voice
During one training session I was leading on how to hear God’s voice, one participant said, “I am not hearing God’s voice because I am afraid of what he might say.”
Why are we so afraid? Part of the issue is that we do not understand the depth of God’s love for us. Recently, at a conference, I met a man named Kenneth Williams. Ken repeatedly struggled with alcohol addiction. One night, in the midst of a drunken stupor, homeless, dirty, and dishevelled, he had a vision of God. “This bright light shone in the darkness. I thought it was the police [and] I had to find my bottle and run.” Source: Kenneth Williams
I am not hearing God’s voice because I am afraid of what he might say.
Then a peace came over him. From within the light he heard a voice that said, “I see you and I love you. I love you just the way you are. Come follow me.” Ken got into a detox program, got a job, married, and blessed many others through his life.
God loves us so deeply! He loves us the way we are now. If we come and follow him, he will gradually transform us, just as he transformed Ken. Let’s not be afraid of hearing God’s voice.
Quiet Your Heart
Focus on Jesus
Ask a Specific Question
Wait for God to Speak
Write Down the Answer
Test What You Received
Quiet Your Heart so That You Can Hear God’s Voice Above the Other Voices
One study says that the average smartphone user receives 146 notifications per day. If we assume phones are off for 8 hours at night, that works out to 9 notifications per hour or once every six and half minutes on average. We are not only bombarded by smartphone notifications, we are also surrounded by noise from radios, TVs, advertisements on billboards, and the sensational headlines in the newspaper. There is noise everywhere.
The average smartphone user receives 146 notifications per day.
It is no wonder that we struggle to hear God, we have too many other voices clamouring for our attention. If we are going to become proficient in hearing God’s voice, then we must learn how to be silent. For those addicted to noise and stimulation, this will not be an easy task.
It is not only modern day people who need to learn to quiet their hearts. The ancients did as well. In 2 Kings 3 we read how the King of Israel, the King of Judah, and the King of Edom asked Elisha for a word from the Lord to get them out of a life and death situation.
It seems that even the great prophet Elisha couldn’t give them a word immediately. He needed some time to quiet his heart, so he called for a harpist. While listening to the harpist, the hand of the Lord came on Elisha and he was able to give the kings the answer they needed.
If you want to hear God’s voice, then you will need to develop a practice of being quiet and still. These days I spend some time listening to worship music before I have my morning time of hearing God’s voice.
Focus on Jesus, the Voice of God
In John 1, Jesus is identified as the Word of God. This descriptor tells us in unequivocal language that God communicates. And one of the primary ways that God communicates is through Jesus.
In John 10:3, using figurative language of a shepherd and his sheep, Jesus tells his followers that “he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” Jesus speaks.
In the post-resurrection visions recorded in the New Testament, most of the time, it is Jesus who appears and speaks. Who did Paul meet on the road to Damascus? Jesus (Acts 9:5). Who told Ananias to go and pray for Paul? Jesus (Acts 9:17). Who spoke to Paul in Corinth? Jesus (Acts 18:9-10). Who appeared to Paul in the temple? Most likely Jesus (Acts 22:17-21). Who appeared to John in the Book of Revelation? Jesus (Revelation 1:17-18).
If we want to learn how to hear God’s voice, then meditate on Jesus.
Ask a Question That You Want God’s Voice To Answer
Sometimes we have 10 questions to ask, all jumbled together in our minds. Even if we heard God’s answer, it wouldn’t make sense because we wouldn’t know what question it applied to. David faced that question when he was at the city of Keilah.
David and his roving band of fighters had been protecting the city of Keilah from enemy attacks. The men of Keilah welcomed David and his men into the city. When David’s arch-enemy Saul heard that David was inside a walled city, he thought he had him caught.
All Saul would have to do is surround the city and say to the leaders, “If you don’t throw David’s head over the wall, we will burn this city down.”
David was in a quandary and needed to hear from God.
Then David said, “O LORD, the God of Israel, your servant has surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy the city on my account. Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? O LORD, the God of Israel, please tell your servant.”(1 Samuel 23:10-11).
David asks all his questions at once. God however, answers them one at a time.
And the LORD said, “He will come down.” 23:11b
After David gets the answer to the first question, he must move on to the next.
Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the LORD said, “They will surrender you.” 23:12
Likewise, we need to first figure out what our questions are. After we have done this, we can present them to the Lord one by one.
Wait for God To Speak
We quiet our hearts. Then we focus on Jesus by spending some time meditating on him. Then we identify our questions and ask them one by one. After each question, we pause and wait for an answer. More often than not, the answer will come as a thought alighting on our mind.
Write Down What You Heard From God
As soon as answers, or what might be an answer, comes, we need to write it down or verbalize what we have received.
There is an important scientific reason for this. The visual cortex is the part of the brain which processes information from the eyes and is also active during imagination and visualization. The temporal lobe creates meanings out of sensory input and is also the area of the brain where language is processed. If we do not speak out or write down what we have received, what we receive stays hazy and unclear. The act of speaking or writing forces us to clarify what we have received.
When God was training the prophet Jeremiah, he told Jeremiah to speak out what he had seen (See Jeremiah 1:11-12).
Evaluate What You Received
When we want to hear God’s voice, we may hear from God, we may hear our own thoughts, or we may hear the voice of an evil spirit. How can we tell whose voice we are hearing?
But test everything; hold fast what is good.
1 Thessalonians 5:21
There are a number of tests we can utilize to clarify whose voice we are hearing. This is the topic of a future post.
