Women of Faith on TBN brings you the best of TBN’s women’s Christian teaching. Here you’ll find content from your favorite women’s Bible teachers, speakers, pastors, and authors, featuring teachings from Priscilla Shirer, CeCe Winans, Christine Caine, Joyce Meyer, Jackie Hill Perry, Lisa Harper, Lisa Bevere, Sarah Jakes Roberts, and more!
it ruins you for church as usual okay
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 the nearness of his
presence
[Music]
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 we’re
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 it yeah
and you know you’re a miracle worker
that you got him on the show jerry
doesn’t want my buddy come on i know
y’all are bad you guys you’re just going
to have a good time
we’re going to 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 i 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 them in the first
place beautiful 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 will 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 gonna 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 that don’t sound
like my god when you hear the voice of
your ego pride jealousy divisiveness
stepping in all of 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 the direction
for our life to just fb meyer is a great
theologian put it this way when a big uh
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 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 and 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
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 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
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
hmm well that makes a lot of sense okay
i get that uh oh by the way if you’d
have said yes i was gonna 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 no
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 well 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 losing 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 to 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
why is it important to hear god because
it changes you perception 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 omnipresent there are times
where he manifests himself in a way
where the the hair on the back of your
neck stands out 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
you know you know i’m get have
goosebumps right now oh hey hey hey
hey hey
yeah how much time we have left in the
show they’re needing to get out okay um
and by the way uh we’re going to unpack
this so get right back into the suburban
it’s an important subject matter even
the idea well i think the publisher and
all that kind of stuff this is this is
on the heart of god
right now this is the people being
dissatisfied with the mundane yeah we
are aren’t 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 about 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 to
say 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 and we can win 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 eli’s
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 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 maxwell cato who says it’s easy
which is
not fair he’s kind of different though
that’s not even yeah
[Laughter]
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 let me tell you
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
going to 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
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 ha 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 okay 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 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
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
god
talk to them yeah well yeah would it
happen 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 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 wow i love what you said about your
mama you know the need for god so many
of us
we need something new our life 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 them
that’s right you know so i think that’s
a that’s a good thing if you’ve got
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
[Laughter]
right tell us how important my
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 sorgey 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 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
uh 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 because
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’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 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 a 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 just
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 a still this thing in me
like you know what jerry don’t go
you know what
no
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 how the prayers of
one woman change the generation i mean
still today it’s so funny our boys will
be like granny still praying in the
prayer 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
yeah 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
we’re not right
okay so uh 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
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
directv all that stuff we didn’t have
any of that stuff right 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 at 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 him 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