Join some of our favorite Christian speakers on TBN’s Praise speak on their experiences on hearing the voice of God. Listen in as Priscilla Shirer, Jentezen Franklin and Shawn Bolz discuss how to discern the voice of God and how to practice audibly hearing His voice and not the voices of others.
sometimes you’ve got to get Jonah off
the boat
before the real blessing comes into your
life some of you need to throw Joan off
because your boat you’re hanging out
with the wrong people and they’re
rocking your boat the moment they threw
Jonah off and Jonas never jump off on
their own why didn’t he jump off himself
sorry that’s pretty sorry Jonas will
never jump off your boat you have to
throw them off in the book of Hosea
chapter 5 God said to Ephraim one of the
tribes he said I will come to you
as a moth
it’s the only time in scripture where
God says
Compares himself to a mouth you know
what a moth is it’s just a little insect
it’s just a little little flutter
something how do you describe them all
it’s just it’s so tiny it’s so little
you just kind of do like that and it
goes away
but then in the next verse he says I’ll
come to you as an eagle
lion and then a lion
wow and you know I tell people if you
open the closet and you saw a moth in
there it would be no big deal but if you
come back the next day day and you open
the closet and there’s a big old eagle
with sharp claws and a beak that could
rip your flesh to Pieces you’d get your
attention sure but if you on the third
day open that closet and there was a
vicious lion
looking at you it would really get your
attention so the point is this
notice the pattern God says
it’s a powerful thing to to be sensitive
to the voice of God that he you can just
have the gentle flutters of the Holy
Spirit he doesn’t have to scream God
seldom screams almost never he whispers
still Small Voice he wants us not to
have to have the lion not to have to
have the life just being torn all to
pieces in the eagle tearing our lives up
those things will come because whom the
Lord loves he chastens and if he has to
do those things to get you on the right
path he’s got Lions he can release trust
me wow
but his greatest desire this is this is
the tenderness of God that his greatest
desire is just to flutter wow just to
make us sensitive that oh I don’t have
to have some mighty thing I I’m reading
the word I’m praying I’m in touch with
his voice and just the flutter is the
strangest thing I was preaching for
um Craig Rochelle not too long ago and
his he had asked me to to come and
preach some sermons and and take them
and then stay over and do his staff
thing and he has like 1200 people that
that had gathered and I had prepared my
messages ahead you know the best I could
and all of that and I was prepared and
just before I walked up that last
service
I I don’t know how to describe except
that flutter it wasn’t like you know
just overwhelming thus saith the Lord in
Reverb it was just the flutter somebody
said something on the stage that mess
there was another message that I tucked
in my Bible and it and it just came
alive everything in it and I had that
one but it just it didn’t and the
flutter was over there I don’t know how
to describe it
and I walked up and I preached that
message this isn’t about me but I
preached that message and and and I’m
just telling you the it was it was
strong what God did I almost I could
have missed it I could have gone with
just an old program message that that
you know that but I I had that
sensitivity and to be gently impressed
to be tender enough to just have those
gentle impressions of the Holy Spirit
man that’s when you start walking
and I believe with all of my heart there
are hundreds of thousands of people
watching this program who don’t need
another year like last year this is the
year that God’s going to bring if you’re
single God has a bow ass for you come on
now if you’re a single God does God care
if you’re a widow does God care if
everybody else goes home after church
with somebody and you go home to that
lonely apartment does God care you
better The God Who said it’s not good
for man to be alone knows who you are
supposed to meet he knows how to put you
together
for Kingdom purposes this is your year
and I’m I’m praying today that hundreds
of you will respond that hundreds of you
at the beginning of the year will get in
an alignment with your assignment and
say I surrender myself completely and
God and this is big sometimes you’ve got
to get Jonah off the boat before the
real blessing comes into your life some
of you need to throw Joan off because
your boat you’re hanging out with the
wrong people and they’re rocking your
boat the moment they threw Jonah off and
Jonas never jump off on their own why
didn’t he jump off himself sorry that’s
pretty sorry Jonas will never jump off
your boat you have to throw them off and
that’s not being ugly it just means you
don’t belong in my circle right now
somebody else is assigned to you you
know and throw Jonah off the boat get
the wrong people out get the right
people in 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 anytime
you want and you know you’re a miracle
worker that you got him on the show
Jerry doesn’t want my buddy you guys
you’re just gonna have a good night
we’re gonna we’re gonna 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 an
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 the 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
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
know 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 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 now I
interviewed Henry blackaby who wrote
Experiencing God yes and I you know had
my notebook out my pen I was going to
take a seminary class from Henry
blackody 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 the nuances of what he
does say and what he wouldn’t say
because 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-uh 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 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 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 has speak to us is
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 Myers
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
aligning a Runway so that that 747 7
knows exactly to relent 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 beautiful um and and so that’s
important that we have external
blessings provision coincidence that
really shows us the sovereignty of God
aligning you feel like there are times I
have to hear God’s voice and so Sean I
would just ask you like what are some
practical things I can do as a Believer
I think one of the biggest questions
would be like how do I how do I decipher
the signal from the noise yeah so like
if you’re on a cell phone and there’s
you can hear in the background there’s
kids playing or there’s music or there’s
wind but you still hear the person
you’re talking to his voice separate
from that and our brain is able to do
that how do you do that in your spirit
well you know it’s God’s voice and not
just Bobby’s weirdness or your you know
you know what I mean you’re my like my
own thoughts you know it’s it actually
takes a while and it takes practice just
like it takes practice to learn how to
communicate when you’re first getting
married absolutely there’s something
about that the art of communication it
takes time and especially because a lot
of the way that God speaks is internal
it’s in our process I think if Solomon
when he asked God not for wisdom a lot
of us think he just asked for wisdom and
knowledge so he knew how to lead the
country he actually asked for a Jewish
Hebrew word that we don’t have the best
interpretation for directly it’s a word
uh the Shema which means I want to have
direct processes if we were sharing the
same mind and that was a Biblical
prototype for the New Testament of what
Jesus demonstrated which he walked with
the father and we didn’t see how the
father talked to him every time but
there’s this internal dialogue going on
and it was his sharing thoughts so when
you think about sharing thoughts a lot
of times you might think about you know
a married couple because there’s times
instinctually you know what your wife
wants she doesn’t have to say it to you
because she said it to you so many times
that that voice still speaks so there’s
that instinct to know how she’s talking
it there could be an intuition to know
because you know her somewhere there’s
so much connection to her there can be
an intuition to anticipate what needs to
happen in the situation and it’s because
you share Heart you share mind you share
ideas and that’s how we get as we read
the Bible as we learn how to pray as we
learn how to listen and Listening Prayer
has been a lost art in Christianity not
just Listening Prayer in a sense of a
devotional time but listening when
there’s decisions to be made that your
average human makes like 4 000 decisions
a day and a few of those are
consequential so how do we actually in
those times where it actually has
consequences stop for a second check in
with God just like I would with my wife
if I’m going to spend a lot of money I’m
going to check in with my wife first
because we partner on the finances so
learning where you’re partnering with
God which is everywhere but especially
the bigger moments throughout the day
checking in listening and then looking
for that voice some you know it’s yours
when it’s very self-centered and selfish
and doesn’t consider the world around
you you know it’s the enemies when it
comes to shame and condemnation but you
know it’s God when it feels like wow I
never thought of that or I wouldn’t have
done that or I wouldn’t have chosen that
myself that’s one of the early ways one
more time because I think I’m wondering
if people really just copy you said
those three things I think are going to
help people so much so much so the first
is you know it’s yourself when it just
means that gratification immediate
gratification it means it’s like I want
ice cream tonight even though I said you
know it’s like that kind of thing where
people do it’s just me talking it’s like
this is what I want I can lead myself
here and so you think so Satan speaks to
people too right I think Satan plants I
think it’s direct you know messages but
I think there’s some plans because you
said if it’s shameful what’s the
difference between like
the shameful thought or like conviction
you know well conviction leads us to
more of God it’s actually an exchange so
conviction caused us to go oh wait if I
don’t do this I get more of you wait
this is blocking my ability to keep
connected to you and shame says because
you do this you can’t connect to God the
very different conversations like me
looking at my child and saying you know
I’m going to punish you because what you
did was wrong and I want you to feel it
and I want you to feel bad versus saying
I want to give you choices so you can
make better decisions so if the voice is
ever like you’re the worst of course you
did this it’s accusing don’t worry it’s
blaming that’s that’s the enemy wanting
to keep you it’s a demanding voice a lot
of times people get into this
relationship where it’s like turn left
here you might miss your you know there
might be a car accident so go the long
way home tonight but there’s really no
fruit from it we’re looking to partner
with God’s voice and it’s hard for us
which is always good so that’s always
for us so those types of voices that’s
always noise but the signal so God’s
voice is always going to be what what
did you say it’s always going to be a
voice it’s going not where we could lead
ourselves but it’s something that we
wouldn’t have thought of and what it
doesn’t feel like it originated even
though it may be our thoughts it didn’t
kind of feel yeah it has a Eureka feel
or it feels like oh wow I wouldn’t have
considered that in my own desire even if
my desire is good because God always
upgrades our desires so even if we have
good desire when we include God all of a
sudden he leads us into place and we
talk about this a lot in the book where
he leads us into a process we wouldn’t
have put ourselves in nor would we have
chosen directly that process to get to a
god result because we’re not looking for
a human result we’re looking for God
result especially when we talk about the
marketplace career when someone’s trying
to figure out their career path we don’t
think like wow you know I’m going to go
work here to get here to get here to get
here to get here and end up here that
sounds great no one no one chooses that
but when you walk with God sometimes
that’s how it is it’s like he leads you
a different way than a corporate ladder
would lead you don’t you think and Bob
this is a good question for you I mean I
feel like as just as a believer
and the way the world is I mean there’s
so much interesting stuff available you
know I’m even on your phone you’ve got
Instagram and Tick Tock and Facebook and
everything it to hear God’s voice you
need to be listening and to listen you
have to kind of stop doing things which
seems like an obvious thing to say but
like I know like if I’m sitting with my
wife and she gets up and goes to the
bathroom the very first thing I’m going
to do is reach for my phone compulsively
not because I somebody called me not
because I got a text I don’t even know
why I’m reaching for it it’s because I’m
so trained to always be doing something
as a business guy I’m sure you’re going
in a million miles an hour all the time
you feel there’s always an email you got
to respond to a text you got to respond
to a contract or a payroll or whatever
to hear God’s voice you have to is there
is it hard to to find that kind of I
almost want to call it boring
silent quiet place to hear God’s voice
and how do business people is it worth
doing that I mean is that a key part of
hearing God’s voice in business well I
think it’s a practice
and I think we have to practice
listening to his voice and Sean said
earlier uh Listening Prayer is a lost
art but how many times do people go to
their prayer closet and play two worship
songs read two chapters of the Bible and
then get their list and pray their list
and then say Okay Lord I’ve got
two minutes left so I need you to answer
my prayers
two minutes yeah and what we’re saying
here in this book is Adopt a lifestyle
of hearing and listening and so you
might drive down the road and the
billboard might answer your prayer or
you might be in a conversation with
someone who doesn’t know the Lord and
they might be talking and answer your
prayer of course you could read
scripture and get a prophetic word and
hear something in a worship song all the
normal ways but God’s speaking to us all
the time and we we need to be listening
we need to tune our antenna we’re wired
to hear God in a different way and
John 14 18 says fear and love can’t
coexist because fear has to do with
punishment
and so lots of business people lots of
people in their careers
are worried about like I was saying
earlier making payroll going bankrupt
losing their job having somebody climb
over them and and so if we’re if we’re
set in this place with the Lord that we
are loved Sons and Daughters first and
nothing that we can do is going to
change that then we get this peace that
comes in Walking In partnership with God
Sean and I spend a lot of time talking
about
um
planning for different things and it’s
the same with the Lord we can have
physical conversations my wife and I can
have physical conversations we can have
the same thing with the lord it’s a
little different because normally
we don’t hear an audible voice but like
Sean was saying earlier we get
impressions we have Instinct we have
intuition we have discernment at TBN our
mission is to use every available means
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life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ
thank you for helping make the gospel of
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you