Priscilla and Jerry Shirer join Matt and Laurie Crouch on TBN’s Praise to discuss how to hear the voice of God. Listen as Priscilla teaches not only how to hear God, but why it’s so important for you to learn to communicate with Him in your daily life.

so really the first step especially if you grew
up in an environment where this concept is sort of

um unique and different and
new for you it’s to believe

that as a as a privilege of being a son or
a daughter you can hear from god it is the

deception of the enemy to cause us to think we
have to have a seminary degree we have to have

some special hotline connection with god like
somebody we may admire that we as regular men

and women can’t hear from god that’s what the
enemy wants you to think he doesn’t want you

to know it’s your birthright and so believing
that you can is the first step to hearing god

praise comes to you today right here in beautiful
southern california our guests are jerry and

priscilla shire priscilla um our gift offered this
month in part is your book discerning the voice

of god today we’re going to unpack that so
why is this subject matter something that is

really important it is important because this
facet of our faith is what separates our faith

from every other so-called faith on the face
of the earth okay that our god lives he’s alive

and he speaks to us we have an actual relationship
with him and that that’s so casually thrown around

this whole relationship thing but what good is
any relationship if nobody’s talking to each other

if there’s no communication if there’s not um
a connectedness that is ongoing and continual

so this issue of discerning the voice of god
first of all believing that he does speak

but second of all trusting in the fact that as
his kids we have the privilege to actually discern

and just have a distinction of his voice between
all the other voices that also want to get a word

in edgewise that’s something that really can
change and transform the trajectory of your

entire christian experience okay let’s let’s
lay a little bit of the ground rule in your

in your world where you’re our guest today
you and jerry uh jerry jump in anytime you

want to you’re much bigger than i am you
can jump in any time you want yeah and

you know you’re a miracle worker that you got him
on the show jerry doesn’t want my buddy come on

we’re going to discern the voice of god
let me ask you a question in the priscilla

jerry world yeah uh does god speak audibly does
he only speak through his word does he speak

how how what are the different ways that
you certainly know of that god speaks to you

um i’ve never heard the audible voice of god babe
have you missed something i have not no no not yet

but i think there is something internal yeah in
you that you that you feel the presence of god

and it lines up with scripture which confirms
okay this is what i’m hearing that’s right so

the holy spirit of god illumines scripture the
book is alive and he causes the the old presets

of scripture to have a now-ness and a newness
that applies and intersects with our personal

experience so as jerry mentioned the holy spirit
in us confirms and corroborates and connects with

the the word of god and causes it to intersect
with our experience so that that verse that has

something to do with david and goliath all of
a sudden it’s not about david and goliath it

actually applies to what you’re facing right then
in your life and you understand it as a directive

straight straight from god and then there’s the
conviction you know the conviction of the holy

spirit that that green light of ease and peace
that says go that that yellow light of warning

and uneasiness that says hold up a minute till
you get clarity and then that red light that is a

straight up no there’s no peace there’s confusion
there’s dissension that’s the holy spirit’s way of

telling you no don’t go there there’s a better
yes for you if you’ll just wait and be patient

have you ever heard the still small voice of the
lord in a phrase and an impression what describes

some of what is in discerning the voice of god
how how the lord speaks or how this conversation

unfolds with you yes well most of the time most of
the time god speaks to me through his word it is

exactly what i described it is reading through a
portion of scripture and on that day it’s like the

holy spirit has taken out a highlighter and has
highlighted this verse you have seen a million

times before but on that day it leaps up off the
page and it grips you that’s the only way i can

really describe it is that it grips you in the
depths of your soul and causes you to pause for

a moment because it seems to be literally speaking
to something that’s happening in your life

most of the time that is the voice of god we have
discounted i think the power of scripture because

if we say we want to hear from god and we never
actually read the love letter that he wrote to us

we don’t want to really hear from god and we
rarely will because the canon of scripture is not

only it not only provides the boundary into which
everything god says to us will fall because he’ll

never say anything that manipulates the scriptures
or his character as revealed in the scriptures

so it not only gives us the boundary but it also
provides for us the number one mechanism through

which we have the privilege to hear him in the
first place beautiful you know we’re discussing uh

with priscilla shire and and uh her not often seen
husband jerry uh uh jerry thank you for being on

by the way give me a little there you go all right
i’m glad you’re here all right now um the um our

part of our love gift uh monthly love offer
monthly gift offer here uh this month in march

is your book discerning the voice of god
let me let me tell you um a little bit about

the way a i believe the way the lord has
communicated to me i have been sitting

or standing in a place before and from one moment
to the next uh you know i i hate to be so secular

but remember that remember that that moment in
on tv back when we were kids do you remember

remember um the i dream of genie where she’d
kind of do like that you know totally okay

so uh i have from one moment to the next i mean
this is like one heartbeat to the next heartbeat

i’m remembering some kind of conversation that was
a longer conversation for instance and i felt like

that was something that got communicated to me a
big subject matter communicated to me in a blink

yeah so what the voice of the lord sometimes
feels like to me is like i’m remembering a

conversation not like i’m talking and and going
hello lord and he says well hello matthew it’s

nice to have you here with me today yeah it’s
been you know okay so i’ve never had any kind of

an experience like that at all every time i felt
like volumes of information get communicated in a

in a snap of a finger and then it just feels
like you’re remembering when we’re done with this

conversation today and we’re out of this studio
we’ll be able to remember this conversation and

we will be able to ultimately think back on it
that’s that is a way the lord has communicated

i have heard the still small voice say one word
to me or two words one time hillsong channel

six months later the hillsong channel was
on the air yeah okay uh we’re sitting here

today lori and i um you know have often heard
the story but just just because of what we’re

talking about and i wanted to set a little bit
of the stage and by the way what a thrill to

have you guys seriously i mean it’s been i know
it’s like i’ve known your parents and i was like

what’s the matter with us man i mean so we met
actually at t.d jake’s church not long ago he

sat behind us and made us laugh through the whole
i’m sorry for that i was cutting up and the kids

thank you for sharing thank you for that because
they were like okay when is this going to be over

you realize you’re making fun of a td jake service
that’s okay it was a fantastic service with kids

in church for three hours they were yeah they
were glad matt was sitting uncle matt was like

that’s right and just so that they wouldn’t
freak out i gave him a little money

kind of bribing them okay anyway uh so one

okay so one of the the things that i think
is pretty interesting about discerning the

voice of god again it’s our love gift uh this
month gift offer this month is my mom and dad

were working for somebody else in the 60s it
was a tv station and after one very successful

night they were leaving the parking lot and the
lord said i’ve released you from your work here

now my parents believe it was almost like one of
these moments where you look in the back seat make

sure there’s somebody not in the backseat but
they were in their car and my dad didn’t recall

it as being an audible voice but it might as
well have been because he looked at my mom

and said you’re not going to believe what the lord
just said to me and she said no i will he said the

same thing to me he’s released us from our work
here very very unique thing they quit that job

i’m 11 years old my dad doesn’t go to work anymore
this is you know here in southern california in

the early 70s and then a few months later praying
the lord said had to say these words somehow

because my dad heard call angel lirima it was a
gentleman that owned a tv station here in socal

he called and he said to he said to angel
he said i’m just calling you today checking

on your channel and there was a long pause on
the phone paul i just came from the board room

we just had a board meeting just now we just
voted to sell this channel did you know that

and he said no sir i didn’t know that but based
on that i’d like to come see you by the end of

that day there was a deal worked out which was
the birth of tbn which was this channel here in

los angeles channel 40. channels actually changed
now because of digital but that was channel 40

back in the day so here’s the here’s the thing
we’re sitting here today because of a couple of

moments that the lord was wanting to communicate
to someone to see if they would respond to it okay

so now 40 something years later we’re sitting
here there’s 31 television networks on the air in

13 or 14 different languages and we are literally
ultimately uh now communicating to the globe as

we’re sitting here okay so if everyone can realize
it’s kind of an important subject that we’re

talking about okay okay and so if everybody
moved on something that god spoke to them

there it is you know take another generation
what would that become what exactly god had done

if we would have obeyed it and we and we’ve had
that we’ve had that in all i’m thinking about when

we first got married babe where you’ve had these
these moments where like you said there is almost

like a huge conversation that has already happened
and the wealth of it down it just downloads to you

in an instant um and one of those things happened
when we were married for our very first year of

marriage very very sure what happened we were
at a family reunion on my father’s side of the

family and uh i remember one of my cousins said
jerry do you realize that if you and priscilla

don’t have any boys the shiny name will die with
you i’m like and i looked around i’m like wow

and at that moment i felt like laura said to
me jerry you have nothing but boys wow and so i

looked at priscilla and i told her what i said you
have nothing but boys we have nothing but boys and

i remember when our first son was born jackson a
boy uh the second son jerry junior a boy and it

was so funny the third child everybody you know oh
the way she’s carrying it it’s a girl that it’s a

girl i’m like no it’s not it’s a boy and everybody
asked me how confident was i that i knew that it

was a boy wow and i told him years ago the lord
told me i had nothing but boys because what he’s

doing is starting a new generation wow of shire
men wow and i remember being in the delivery room

and uh uh when when when jude was coming out
and his head was out uh i said oh i bet you a

thousand dollars that’s a boy the doctor said we
haven’t seen everything yet i said if that’s a

girl she’s going to be with me for the rest of her
life that’s a boy but you know what some of the

details of that that you have to know is that some
of the well most of the men in jerry’s legacy did

not live well they didn’t honor god they didn’t
stay with their wives they didn’t honor their kids

nothing and so in that moment where he felt like
the lord said that to him he really felt like

the lord was saying i’m doing this on purpose
i’m going to generation i’m going to change

what it means to be a shire man wow through
this legacy and he looked at me just barely

into our first year of marriage and said we’re
going to have boys god’s doing this on purpose

and here we are 18 years later with our three boys
and so we have high expectations that god’s got a

plan for that she does um and you don’t have
any plan for any more kids we actually do not

you know she always says she always says
from this stage our youngest is jude

because that’s the closest she can get
the revelation because it is finished

it is finished that’s the
end of the line right there

oh gosh okay so start us out on um
because i know so many people wonder oh

you know how can i hear god’s voice for
ourselves and i can’t trust it or trust or

trust it how can i trust god’s voice when i do
hear it is that really him is it me is it yeah

well let me let me just start by putting
a little grace over this entire situation

the reality is that sometimes you do not know
until hindsight that what you heard was the

voice of god there you go and the reality is that
there is grace and mercy to cover our missteps and

that the lord in his graciousness toward us his
knowledge of our frailty and our humanity for the

willing heart who desires to do his will even
when we make mistakes he allows them to become

our greatest teachers for hearing him correctly in
the future he does not hold it against us because

we’ve misstepped along the way so um just grace
for those of us yes who have ever heard god wrong

and um wish we could get it get it right one
of the people i sort of interviewed when i was

first writing that book many you know over a
decade ago uh now i interviewed henry blackaby

who wrote experience in god yes and i you know
had my notebook out my pen i was going to take

a seminary class from henry you know and i
said how do you know when you’re hearing god

and he gave me lots of incredible answers to
that question but really he summed it up this way

he said the more you know god
the more clearly you can hear god

there was really nothing for me to
write down because it boiled down to

priscilla it’s simple he said the more you
know him the more clearly you can hear him

so the reason why we go to the scriptures the
reason why we have quiet time the reason why we

fellowship with other believers who are going to
help us remain encouraged in our faith is because

we’re just trying to get to know god when you
know his character when you know um the nuances

of what he does say and what he wouldn’t say
because of how he spoke to our forefathers

because of how he handled circumstances previously
with people in the scriptures who were going

through some of the same scenarios we’re going
through now when you see his personality and his

character then you know when you hear the voice of
fear uh that don’t sound like my god when you hear

the voice of your ego pride jealousy divisiveness
stepping in all that stuff that in our flesh is

also trying to get a word in edgewise we can
quickly quickly pinpoint the voice of a stranger

because if we know god the more clearly we can
discern and just divide his voice from a stranger

okay now you talked about seeking god’s provision
and his blessings on our life and then knowing who

what his character is talk about that because i
found that fascinating yes so god’s blessing um

and i believe his provisions are a corroboration
of his word to us so in other words

while in the old testament there were external
means as a primary way for folks to hear god

in the new testament and now in this time frame
as well we have something they didn’t have we

have the holy spirit so the primary way he is
speak to us that he speaks to us has changed

but his goal hasn’t his goal is still for his
kids to hear his voice so he’s chosen the holy

spirit of god to be the the way that we uh hear
and know what it is that his will is for our life

but he still uses external means his provision his
blessings his aligning of providence some people

would call it luck or coincidence no it’s the
aligning of god’s handiwork in our life to confirm

that what we’re sensing on the inside is indeed
how he’s aligning uh the direction for our life

to just fb meyer is a great theologian put it
this way when a big 747 is getting ready to land

on a runway well well the plane better not just be
looking for one light somewhere to land better not

just look for two lights somewhere to land there
better be several lights that are that are lining

a runway so that that 747 knows exactly where
land the bigger the decision that you have to make

the more you need to trust in the mercy of god’s
external confirmation that aligns for you where

to land that plane in your life um and and so
that’s important that we have external blessings

provision coincidence that really shows
us the sovereignty of god aligning

i’ll give you an example i was just telling
you guys before we started um aaron that i

that i started to to look at this discerning
the voice of god book the material that we’ve

been privileged to be able to develop through the
years on the topic and i just started you know how

the lord puts layers of maturity on a message
the more you grow in him aren’t we so grateful

that he lets us grow and mature and learn
from our mistakes and i thought i was just

starting to feel like you know it might be time
especially with the video series that we’ve done

in regards to this it was taped 11 years
ago so it kind of looks dated now and

i thought we might need to do something
different with that at some point

this was going to be my lazy year where i just
kind of sat down and didn’t write too much

but at the same time i started to sense that on
the inside maybe we need to do that at some point

one of my publishers called to say you know let’s
redo the discerning the voice of god bible study

then the publisher of this particular book called
and said hey you know what maybe we’re going to

put a re-face this and go ahead and freshen up the
material here and the new insights that the lord

has given you so there were two things two lights
there that kind of corroborated what i was already

sensing on the inside and then matt lloyd crouch
called and said you know what priscilla we think

that we would love to offer this to to people who
want to know how to discern god’s leading that

third light wow was the confirmation for me that
what it was i was sensing on the inside the lord

was very clear clearly giving me a light bulb to
let me know this would be his direction for me

which ultimately means that discerning the
voice of god is a is on the heart of god okay

so i didn’t call your publisher your publisher
didn’t call us we didn’t you know yeah there was

no pr yeah there was no person kind of trying
to stir that you know soup there and so this

is uh the month of march it is our gift offer
this month and what a great story to be able to

basically hold this book and let you know that we
want this coming into your home and that’s why it

is chosen that’s why we have jerry and priscilla
here and we’re going to be unpacking this let me

let me tell you what the kindergarten course
to hearing and discerning the voice of god is

you know what the dummies yeah the for for
the the kindergarten entry-level person

a number of years ago when laws were different

today if we’re hiring somebody here at trinity
broadcasting we can say by the way your you

know tbn as a christian organization might have
noticed um are you a christian we can say that

that is but there if you wind the hands of
clock back about 30 years you couldn’t say that

you couldn’t make somebody tell you whether they
were a christian or not in in the application

process there’s a different rules well my dad when
he in the early days somebody called and trinity

broadcasting is you know under the authorization
of the federal communications commission we have

employees here that make sure we stay in tune
with those policies and procedures and rules and

all that kind of stuff we have different sets of
employees that do lighting and sound and this and

that but my dad was of course the general manager
and and somebody called and my dad’s on the phone

uh mr crouch you have to be a christian to work at
your channel he had the phone in his hand he went

and wanted to say yes and the
discerning voice of god at that point

was literally he couldn’t say the word yes so he
went yeah and tried to say yes again and couldn’t

and he said hold second put the call on hold and
said you know just kind of went what you know lord

and he clicked the button back and went well
sir i suppose you don’t have to be a christian

to work at our channel but you might want to
be you know much like if you were applying

for a spanish language channel you might want to
know how to speak spanish yeah and the guy went

hm well that makes a lot of sense okay i
get that oh by the way if he’d have said

yes i was going to file uh you know against your
license at the federal communications commission

so my dad’s you know hit over the head with a
ball-peen hammer from the lord that moment was

that was god having a conversation by literally
not allowing him to make a mistake and see here’s

the thing that i love about this story about
your dad and the story about your parents

at the very beginning of this what i love
is their willingness to not push past those

moments of restraint when they sense the cat
that that warning that conviction to not put

the foot call on hold but then pick it back up
only to get that yes out that they wanted that

he wanted to get out and that’s the problem with
most of us that rebellious streak that we all have

that when we sense that conviction that warning
don’t say that to your spouse not not right now

that’s not the time to say that to your spouse
you had to say the spouse thing the thing is you

know when you’re in heated fellowship with your
spouse and you you know sometimes as wives we

get ready because we know what we’re going to see
it’s going to shut this whole thing down and we’re

going to win this battle we plan to win the battle
and then we feel that warning that conviction

that’s not that’s not going to be healthy for
the the longevity of your marriage the question

is when we sense that will we push past it and
say what we want to say anyway yeah or will we

submit to the leadership of the holy spirit and
the moment it might seem a little bit limited

yeah it might seem like you’re limited you’re
losing but really the outcome of obedience is

always freedom and victory yes and it’s hard to
see that from this perspective but if you trust

god if we trust god then when we sense that
conviction of the holy spirit to not say this

do not buy this to not eat all of this to restrain
ourselves it’s because there’s freedom and victory

that he’s trying to lead us to okay so i’m going
to personally hold you to that when the butter

cake is is served a little bit later so there’s
this thing called butter cake that both of you

so when it comes to this kind of discerning the
voice of god we’re unpacking this all hour with

jerry and priscilla shire um i have a question
uh let me let me just let me let me say this one

thing when it pertains because i want to jump
off of something you’re saying about marriage

um i was running one day and the lord said i
didn’t call you seem to be pointing at me okay

this is like a daydream this isn’t like you know
i mean it’s like you’re just trying not to sound

weird i’m not sounding weird because i don’t want
to sound weird uh but it felt like the lord was

pointing at me with one finger you know i didn’t
call you i called you and then he had two fingers

pointing and lori was next to me in this kind
of daydream yeah i knew i was running and i was

on the side of the road and all that came home
and told her and and let me tell you something

that got more important the years later that this
happened 20 years ago because i’ve always loved

her but the idea that he didn’t call me he called
me i didn’t call you i called you and she’s there

so i wouldn’t be the me that god sees without her
and so that’s a good man right there okay girl

so ultimately i have to remind him of that on it
okay no honestly she doesn’t i’ve always known

that you know so let me tell you bickering in
marriage pales to comparison of just making this

one statement if the lord said that to me and he
did or i felt you know again it it wasn’t this

conversation then if i divorced her i wouldn’t be
divorcing her i’d be divorcing my destiny yeah now

when in in light of that who cares you know yeah
what she looks like what kind of what kind of kind

yeah let’s go there immediately so so the i
the idea that um you know the voice of the

lord changed my dynamic about what marriage was
20 years ago or so i’m different yeah you know

i’m different the voice why is it important to
hear god because it changes you precisely change

me that’s right it does change you you know what
it does you know what it does yeah it ruins you

for church as usual oh hey ruins you yeah that
regular old mundane christian rediverse a day to

keep the devil away sit in church go because my
mama went my grandmother went this is what we do

all of that goes away okay because you’re
hungering for what you know you’ve experienced

before actually sensing the voice of god his
presence near you listen sometimes hearing

god is less about having a specific word and
more about just a nearness of his presence

just knowing that he’s near i’m talking about
where your physical body responds to the presence

of god there are times when you know he’s near
because he’s only present there are times where

he manifests himself in a way where the the hair
on the back of your neck standing kind of fail

goosebumps yes and in those moments once you start
sensing the nearness of god in that way you’re

ruined for all just doing stuff because it’s what
you’re supposed to be doing and you want more

of that and i think what a lot of people need to
understand and he also speaks through his silence

very much so you know i’m not saying anything

you know think about the years in the
world where you know from the old to

new testament he was just silent yeah and his
silence means stay still don’t move i got you

yeah does somebody your size ever feel goose
bumps does that ever happen to you ever i it

hey yeah how much time we have left in the show
they’re needing to get out okay and by the way

uh we’re gonna unpack this so get right back
into the subject it’s an important subject matter

even the idea well the publisher and all that kind
of stuff this is a this is on the heart of god

right now this is the people being dissatisfied
with the mundane yeah we are wanting to hear god’s

voice wanting to know you know i don’t i mean you
know not what to to eat today yeah necessarily

but needing to know to help their kids yeah to
their jobs their you know in every area of your

life i believe god is speaking or wants to speak
or wants to have a say yes and i want to say too

that just that sense of dissatisfaction that
that someone may be feeling that we all feel

when we’re going to be launched into the next
level in our relationship with god sometimes

that dissatisfaction makes us so upset and
so frustrated because we just want to know

the answer we want to get to the answer but the
dissatisfaction itself is a sign of god’s spirit

working with this absolutely and the satisfaction
the journey that it is going to lead you on

the lessons that are meant to be learned they’re
going to be learned because the dissatisfaction

sent you on a journey the journey itself is not a
waste of time discerning the voice of god is never

something you’re going to arrive at it is never
something you’re going to be successful at it

is going to be a journey with god as you walk in
the rhythms of grace you will be on your deathbed

still wanting to know whether or not you have
clearly heard the voice of god because we are

human wow he’s mysterious he is god and aren’t
we glad that he’s not just a big version of us

i don’t want god to just be a big me i want
god to be so far beyond my imagination that

i can never arrive at the knowledge of him that
i have to constantly and consistently be growing

well because it takes faith that’s how it takes
faith okay you know what that that’s why i always

say if we step out in faith kind of no matter
what it is but if we walk in faith how can we ever

fail in that that’s right that’s right if we’re
believing that we’re doing what god’s called us

in our yeah yeah even when we’re when we’re unsure
and we’re unsteady in in the book i list several

of these but i’ll tell you just a couple of them
i believe that he allows us to have the mercy of

confirmation i call them the five m’s of hearing
god when you sense that god is imparting something

upon you um impressing conviction um uh just a
a push towards something or away from something

ask him for the mercy of confirmation he knows
you’re just a human he knows that you need to make

sure that his fingerprints are on this assignment
before you move forward i believe that he honors

the sincere request of his children when they say
lord would you just do something to confirm not

not because it’s the primary way you speak i think
you’re speaking would you confirm that by some

external means to point me in the right direction
and then one of the other m’s is the ministry of

eli do you remember the little boy samuel he had
an older wiser guy in his life named eli who was

the one who pointed out to him that the voice
you’re hearing is the voice of god you need to

have a wiser more mature believer in your life who
you admire not the car they drive the house they

live on live in the success that they’ve achieved
but the ongoing conversational relationship

they have with god the victory you’ve seen them
experience in your life you go to them and you say

here’s what i think the lord is saying would you
pray through this with me listen i’ve got those

people in my life the majority of the things that
we have done in ministry as a couple we have not

done i’m talking about big things that would have
marked our lives in our children’s lives we have

not done before we have called people that we are
submitted to their authority asked them would they

pray through and give us their wise counsel before
we took a step so we’ve submitted ourselves to the

ministry of eli we’ve got elise in our life okay
we’re talking about discerning the voice of god

we’re going to be talking about unpacking it with
jerry and priscilla all hour long uh this book

why don’t you uh whine back and go back to the
original moment that you started thinking about

writing this book what was happening in your
life what was going on how did this subject

matter start forming books for most people are
painful to write except max potato who says it’s

and so most of us would would i’ve never
written a book probably won’t but the idea

it would be painful because it’s hard for me
to write a letter so um this this had to be

a period of light in your life where you were
going to drill down you were going to get into

this why this book why this subject matter
when you wrote it specifically because of

what your wife described a few moments ago as a
dissatisfaction with my christian life the way

it was wow i grew up in a incredible wonderful
spirit-filled environment where my father who

started the church that i still attend to this day
when i was one year old they have been faithfully

pastoring for 40 years and if anybody can
preach the word of god it is tony evans

he is one of the most gifted communicators
of god’s word and i was talking to your wife

earlier today and telling her that the reality is
i had parents that lived the thing i’m so grateful

integrity and character that’s what my parents had
and so i gleaned so much of what the word of god

was who it described god to be what he did in the
old testament in the new testament i knew all that

but felt dissatisfied because if he did that for
them then why am i not experiencing that for me

there was an unrest in my heart i wanted more
i wanted to see and experience this god of the

bible and it is that dissatisfaction that sent
me on a just a personal journey that connected

me with people who were in different streams
of the faith and instead of closing them out

i invited in what it is that god was teaching
them and the ways that he had demonstrated himself

to them and by just listening and gleaning and
inviting from the breadth of the body of christ

i began to realize that there is so much more than
our little box of our little stream presents to us

that there is more that can be that doesn’t take
away or water down what we have but on the firm

foundation of where that god has already laid in
our life there are deeper depths and there are

higher heights and so i just started walking the
journey and i’m so grateful to the lord because he

um honored my quest by again not allowing me to be
at a place where i’ve arrived i’m in a place right

now here i am at i wrote that book i think when i
was 31 or 32 here i am at 42 years old and i’m at

a place right now where i’m revisiting this whole
concept because i’m needing to say lord i’m at a

place right now where i feel like you’re silent
or either my heart’s hardened and i’m not hearing

so once again lord i need to retrain my spiritual
ears i’m praying and saying lord would you

heighten my spiritual senses you know just like
we have five physical senses we’ve got spiritual

sentence lord sen says lord i need my radar to
be up so that i can detect your presence and

hear your voice and i’m gonna need you to make my
detectors sensitive again lord and i’m entrusting

that to your spirit so it’s an ongoing um thing
that is born out of those moments of unrest in

our life with the lord the greatest gift ever it’s
a greatest gift it means there’s a new level he

wants to take you to i’ve been trying to keep
myself from getting frustrated by those moments

right and just go with god you know so then then
at some point though how is your life different

how is your life better after you hit that
dissatisfaction point started writing this book

what has changed in the 10 years for you
personally because there could be somebody

viewing going you know this is really too deep of
a subject for me you know i got kids to raise and

i got two jobs and i got this and that i don’t
have time to put into okay how can we make sure

everyone understands this book the contents of
this book the subject matter of hearing god’s

voice is something that will change their life
so take your own journey talk to us about that

if we feel like our life is too big and too
filled with the busyness of kids or business

or life right now to be concerned about
this topic that just seems so theological

theoretical and sort of out there then those
very reasons are the reasons why more than

anything you need to discern the voice of
god okay all the things that you love the

most your children your spouse your business your
ministry all the things that are closest to you

without guidance uh and leading from the holy
spirit without knowing what it is that god wants

you to do you will not be able to handle those
things i won’t be able to handle those things

correctly we’ll miss out on some of the
biggest gifts and biggest surprises and

biggest miracles that he wants to present to
us because most of those hinge on us hearing

a word and having faith enough to step out on the
journey just like your parents got it let me tell

you what i’ve gained here’s what i’ve gained
what i’ve gained is that now at 42 years old

and i say this i say this uh you know i’m stepping
carefully when i say it but at 42 years old there

are very few things that the lord could ask me to
do that i would not quickly and immediately step

out to do them because i have had i have such a
track record with god now even with my mistakes

but i have such a track record with god now
and i think my husband can attest to this

but i’m one of those people that if i sense the
holy spirit is calling me to do something because

of the track record of seeing his faithfulness
time and time again step in for me when i stepped

off what i thought was a ledge and it didn’t
look like it was good but i had a word from

the lord and it was confirmed in his word and by
leadership in my life so i just went ahead and

i did it anyway and i watched him catch me and i
watched him take me to a place i never could have

gotten in my own giftings or my own talent or
my own skill you watch him do that enough times

you get to the place that when god asks you to do
it again you you can’t wait to step off the ledge

yeah because you need that another word let’s go
i’m so excited to see what’s next in the journey

so i get excited now about hearing a word from god
i don’t allow myself to become discouraged when i

feel like he’s silent i assume that that means the
last word i had stay stay with the last word stay

right there obedient to the do me a favor uh just
uh let’s let’s for somebody that still is going

yeah that’s good for you folks that are on
television right you don’t know what it’s

like out here you know and all this and
and you know you’re all up there in your

suit and you’re all looking good and smelling
good and all that kind of stuff it’s really

rough out here think of the people in you know
foreign you know parts of the world of indonesia

and and and africa that are watching tonight
they’re just they’re struggling to get by okay

think of think of them in in regard to that
and if you would look at them and maybe pray

for them for so long let me just say this first
of all and i want to talk to those people please

i’m the youngest of three grew
up in a single parent home

my mother had to sat groceries work
for tips only to put food on the table

but i remember nights i couldn’t sleep
and get up i saw her praying on her knees

for her it was how bad she wanted it i tell
people all the time how the prayers of one

woman change the entire generation wow so yeah
and so god speaks to us no matter what ailments

we have no matter how devastating those seasons
of life are where we feel like we are completely

overwhelmed we don’t have what it’s going to take
to sustain our current needs and we’re wondering

if god hears we’re wondering
whether or not our prayers

matter we’re wondering whether or not he is
ever going to speak into and change and alter

our circumstances but one of the greatest gifts
i think from scripture is not his voice it’s not

what he can give us it’s just him yeah seek him
he will disclose more and more to you in terms

of his will his plans for your life his gifts his
blessings those are a benefit of just having him

and you need to know that he’ll never leave you he
will never forsake you no matter how devastating

things might become and i know there are some very
real practical needs and so i want to pray for

those right now i want to pray that the lord will
manifest himself to you in a tangible way that

will keep you hope filled encouraged and excited
to continue your relationship with the lord

uh despite external circumstances lord jesus i
pray for my sister and brothers all around the

world i’m asking right now in jesus name that
you would bring encouragement you would replace

discouragement with encouragement lord i’m going
to ask right now in jesus name that you would

build up somebody’s faith today by manifesting
yourself in their life lord i’m asking you to

speak to them a still small voice lord or let the
scriptures fall open to a page of of your word

lord that is so evidently so clearly for them that
they will never doubt again that they have not

heard from you and experienced you lord i’m asking
that the church they attend would be on fire with

your spirit that every time they and the others
that go there would walk through the door they

would have a tangible sense of your presence with
them lord i pray that your word would be alive

i pray that the assignment of the enemy against
them against their children against their spouses

lord that those assignments would be canceled and
that they would see those assignments replaced by

your grace your love and your mercy washing over
them and their experience lord meet us speak to

us lord we need a word from you and so we ask
lord that you would bring uh your word to your

people and speak clearly so that we can hear thank
you lift the veil from our eyes thank you lord

cause the veil that is over our ears the
hardness of our heart lord to be softened and

to be removed so that we have tender sensors that
are able to detect your presence we need you lord

and so we ask you to speak it is in jesus
name that we pray amen amen beautiful wow

wow i love what you said about your mama you
know the need for god so many of us we need

something new we need god and and i think that
dissatisfaction leads us to a place of seeking

you know and i think being a seeker is one of
the greatest things that could ever happen to us

because there’s a lot of people sitting in church
that aren’t seeking god anymore yeah but there’s a

lot of people out in the world that haven’t found
god yet god hasn’t found them that are seeking and

you seek and you’re going to find him that’s right
you know so i think that’s a that’s a good thing

if you’ve got um children that are seeking god
you need to pray for your kids that god brings

that person or something into their lives that
that draws them to god because i think that’s a

very open season of their life was when they’re
seeking god totally how do you know um so so

i know that a lot of um people want to hear
god’s voice but they won’t stop talking

right tell us how important my problem just
stop talking yeah we have turned prayer into

this one-way monologue where we’re just you know
just feeling like we have to fill in the no of the

silence any quiet spaces we’ve just got to fill
them in with our next request or the next thing

that we want to say and you’re right we don’t
leave room for god to get a word in edgewise

but one of the authors that i remember reading
bob sorget i believe his name is he said

nothing happens when i speak but when god speaks
worlds come into existence so why in the world

wouldn’t i want to leave time for him to speak and
what that practically looks like is yes vocalize

your prayers to him i literally have kind of begun
the habit of even writing some down just writing

down what it is that i want to say to the lord
yes we have the privilege of bringing our needs

and our requests to him but there ought to be at
some point where you just pause and you say okay

lord is there anything you want to say to me most
of the time he’ll speak to us just through his

word through whatever you’re reading in your
bible time that day he knows how to match up

what you’re going to be reading today with what
the needs of your life or your future are that

you might not even be aware of yet so in his word
that is how most of the time he speaks back to us

but oftentimes it’s just an impression it’s just a
bible verse from that you learned in sunday school

years ago all of a sudden it comes back to your
your mind now take that as god speaking to you

or the name of a friend you haven’t talked to in
years take that as god saying pray for this friend

right now those little impressions those little
inklings you know deuteronomy chapter 30 says

god’s word is not so hard that you’ve got to send
someone above the heavens to go find it for you

or through the seas to go and get it for you
god’s word is in your own heart it’s in your it

is as close as your fingers tips all of that stuff
that we discount as our own ideas oh that’s just

coincidence most of the time for the believer for
the one who is seeking god’s will and his voice

most of the time that’s god’s word take it
seriously write it down ask him for confirmation

treasure his word and see if he doesn’t
show you how important and palatable it is

in terms of the experience that he has planned for
you we are talking with jerry and priscilla shire

discerning the voice of god you know what’s uh you
know it it it couldn’t be any more important this

subject matter i mean the very fact that the
four of us are sitting in a studio doing this

broadcast is because discerning the voice of god
came to paul and jan crouch 40 something years ago

and tbn is his thing this isn’t something that
the crouch family built uh this is something god

did and and the idea um you know that’s why it’s
almost comical when people try to rise up against

something that god did it’s just kind of kind of
funny you know it can be irritating for a season

but it’s it’s almost comical yeah uh because uh
if we thought that this ministry and as it is

now fully in its second generation were up to
us we quit it’s not up to us it’s god’s thing

and so we have that same firm foundation of
understanding and and oftentimes people will say

well you know everything’s different for you and
everything’s different for these smiling faces on

on television you don’t understand what’s like you
know in the real world and well the problem is is

uh the crouch family the shire family and you
know the evans family were all just normal people

till we heard the voice of the lord and then
that’s what changed if there is a difference

it’s because of his voice there couldn’t be a more
important subject matter for you uh and jerry i’m

circling back to you just for a second because
of what you said so it it’s not an economic

thing it isn’t just you know uh executives that
the lord speaks to your mama uh needed the voice

of the lord and apparently was struggling in
a single family situation so it worked and

it worked for your mama yes you’re absolutely
right i remember her coming home with her tips

and and she said she made 40 tips that day all
right i remember her taking out four dollars

yeah you know putting it to the side because
that was going to go into the offering plate

that’s an i mean i’m like mom are you
kidding me you know the lord would understand

she goes no it’s just she goes it’s a simple
obedience so it had nothing to do with that

and then i remember her like i said getting up
early praying i remember there were situations

i was in off in college that some of my boys
and i we would go do something and there was

this thing in me like you know what jerry
don’t go you know what i i know that was the

time my mom was praying for me so she has kept
me out of so much situation through her prayers

that’s why i said the prayers had the
prayers of one woman change the generation

i mean still today it’s so funny our boys will be
like granny’s still praying [ __ ] in the present

for 30 minutes i’m like yep she’s still praying i
said she’s praying for you guys so she’s praying

even for this next generation her grandchildren
yeah and so it’s just great but yeah it is not

an economical thing it is it is a it is something
that you desire do you really want it like i said

she used to get up early in the morning before the
kids got up on her knees praying for her children

praying for the day praying for whatever so you
know you make time for what you want and if you

want to hear the voice of god you got to make time
for him okay now we we the four of us grew up in

an environment where this subject matter is normal
yeah this one this this is understood we get this

there are people that grew up in the opposite
polar opposite of that and they don’t get it

this book you know it the title is discerning the
voice of god how to recognize when god is speaking

okay so there could be you know why don’t you
start with you know just speak to the people that

are new christians they didn’t grow up they don’t
have no examples in their life of this happening

this isn’t normal and it sounds crazy sounds like
it’s not right that we’re not right a little crazy

okay so just introduce the subject matter
if somebody just doesn’t quite get it okay

so john 10 27 to me is the most concise and
comprehensive verse in scripture about hearing god

uh it is when jesus says my sheep hear my voice
i know them and they follow me he says you got

to be my sheep to hear my voice so you said new
christians listen that relationship right there

is the the connector that allows you access to
the voice of god so so to me the first step is

actually believing that as an adopted son
or daughter grafted into the family of god

that you have the capacity innately
because you’re part of the family

to now hear the voice of god it’s like um when we
were growing up in our house i don’t know about

you guys but we didn’t have access to a whole
lot of cable television my parents didn’t get

cable they didn’t get you know whatever direct tv
all that stuff we didn’t have any of that stuff

and i i felt a little mad about that i really
wanted to have more channels my parents chose

that we could really only watch the
cosby show on thursdays at seven o’clock

and then a different world so it wasn’t until
we were getting ready to get married i moved out

i remember the day i had the cable guy come
over hook up the cable and after he did all that

hooking up he said here’s the remote control push
the guide button and i pushed the guide button

and i had never seen so many channels in my life
on the screen i had no idea all those channels

were there now all those channels didn’t just get
created that day they had always been there it’s

just i didn’t have the right hook up so that
i could tap into them and bring them and draw

them down into my experience the holy spirit is
the hookup when you place faith in jesus christ

ephesians chapter 1 says the moment you believe
you receive the hook up the holy spirit now you

are able to draw down divine channels it’s not
that you created them no they were always there

god’s speaking he wants to reveal himself
now you have the the opportunity to hear him

so really the first step especially if you grew
up in an environment where this concept is sort of

um unique and different and new for you it’s to
believe that as a as a privilege of being a son

or a daughter you can hear from god it is the
deception of the enemy to cause us to think we

have to have a seminary degree we have to have
some special hotline connection with god like

somebody we may admire that we as regular men and
women can’t hear from god that’s what the enemy

wants you to think he doesn’t want you to know
it’s your birthright and so believing that you can

is the first step to hearing god and you
wrote the book that is our march uh gift offer

and the 800 number that’ll be on the screen
watch this see it came right on 800 201 5200

that number is specifically for this
uh month the month of march 2017. we

want this information also frequency by pastor
robert morris those are what we’re offering this

month the 800 number is on the screen that one is
very specific for this book right here right now

for you we’ve been sitting all hour with jerry and
priscilla we how much time do we have left we got

about four minutes um uh why don’t why don’t you
kind of don’t get up from the set without saying

something that is in this book that are going to
help people uh and so just kind of start giving

your final thoughts in regard to the subject
matter and the fact that this book is available

right here right now well this is one of the most
beautiful things about hearing god that i enjoy um

reminding myself of and that is that sometimes we
we want to know the will of god for us we want to

hear his voice but we’re a little bit nervous
about that because he might actually call us to

do something we don’t want to do you know he might
actually send us somewhere that we don’t want to

be sent or he might actually call us to a season
that we don’t want to we don’t really want to be

single anymore we don’t even we don’t really
want to be married anymore he might actually

impress upon us something we don’t want and we’re
nervous about that so um one of the things i love

about the holy spirit’s work in us and this is
in regards to hearing god but his work in us

is to sanctify us sanctification is the process by
which we are molded into the image of jesus christ

it is the process by which our mind changes our
ambitions change our desires we start wanting

stuff we never thought we want we stopped wanting
things we never thought we’d ever not want to

want to to separate ourselves from all of a sudden
we find ourselves unnerved by jokes that we used

to laugh at or company we used to keep it just
doesn’t work for us anymore that’s the work of

the holy spirit so in regards to discerning
the voice of god if anybody’s ever concerned

or afraid like i have been that oh god might say
to me something i don’t want the holy spirit what

he does is turn your desires so that they are in
alignment with god’s will so you actually want

what it is that god wants you to want that’s
what i believe the psalmist meant when he said

that he gives you the desires of your heart he
doesn’t give you what you want he actually puts

his desires in your heart so that you want what
he wants let me tell you a practical application

of that when we were first married and before we
had children we lived in orange county california

i grew up in newport beach california so um
l.a county was more like enemy territory we

you know we we didn’t really understand the big
city of los angeles if you live in a suburb of

orange county l.a county it’s real different it’s
just a real different environment and and then the

lord called us to hollywood so we packed up our
little kids and we went to los angeles bought a

home in l.a and lived there for 15 years lori told
me that i’m so used to orange county when i need

grocery shopping i’m going to get my kids put them
in my car i’m going to drive back down to orange

county how far drive was that 35-40 miles and
i’ll do my grocery shopping and then come back we

had planned that so we bought a house that felt
like this kind of sanctuary up on the side of

a hill and and we were very protected and it felt
really good when we were at home but we just were

very you know the the surrounding was not going
to work for us within days the changing of our

attitude and the holy spirit that we fell in love
with this area we started it was when god called

us to hollywood he changed the very inside of who
we were yes so the idea of when he’s going to call

you if you don’t like it now you’ll you’ll you’ll
immediately like it you’ll you’ll immediately love

it we lived up there raised our boys for 15 years
in l.a county and only recently have come back to

serve this ministry tbn as my parents were in
their retirement age and now we’re in heaven so

they’re in heaven now watching the fact that we’re
still talking about god that we’re still doing the

same thing that for 45 years tbn has been doing
you know uh all of this and what we want for you

this month we want you to discern and to hear the
voice of god get our love gift thank you to jerry

and priscilla shire for being with us we’ll see
you next time bye-bye thank you guys thank you

at tbn our mission is to use every available
means to reach as many individuals and families

as possible with the life-changing gospel
of jesus christ thank you for helping make

the gospel of grace go around the world
without you we couldn’t do it god bless you