Hearing God’s Voice

Chuck on December 8th, 2008

I’ve been teaching a new series called, “Tuning in to God’s Voice.”  It’s based out of the book of Jeremiah.  The series is seeking to answer some basic questions that, I think, we all have:

  1.  How can we know it’s God speaking and not someone else?
  2. What sort of things affect our decision making, other than God, but we think it’s actually Him?
What role does outside counsel play versus our own personal prayer life?
What role does circumstances falling into place have?
How can we sift through all our cultural influences and tune in to Him?  Is this possible?
With all the emotions that life brings us through, can we even objectively hear God?
I think this type of series is HUGE for college-age people!!!!!  As they are searching for God’s will for their life, the first step is learning to listen.  Most desire to know what it is God wants them to do or be a part of in their life, but have no clue how to determine what that is.  The majority are stuck, with little guidance on how to incline their ear to hear God’s voice.
What sort of things do your students listen for?  How are they trying to hear His voice?
To shepherd college-age people in the right direction, you may want to think about how you’d answer these questions yourself.  Think beyond religious routine.  There’s more to it than just reading Scripture, praying, and going to church.  It’s a life of faith.  A journey.  It’s a…get this…personal relationship.

Related posts:

  1. God’s Voice, Or Mine?
  2. What’s God’s Will For My Life?
  3. Question:
  4. Great Question!
  5. 30k Foot View of God’s Will

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Mark at 7:48pm December 8

Here is an example from my experience with hearing God:

Hugh and I had briefly worked together in San Francisco on a four month project for a large computer company. He liked my work and asked me to fly in from Dallas, where I was living at the time, to do some more work for him in London for a week or two. I eagerly accepted, who wouldn’t want a trip to London, England?

In the office in London I was quietly sitting next to a Hugh, minding my own business, when that small internal voice from God impressed upon my mind that Hugh was sick.

So I started reasoning with God in my mind: “So what if he is sick?”
But then I asked the question that was to set in motion a whole chain of events, “God if you are telling me that Hugh is sick then why did you tell me and what should I do about it?”
God responded instantly, “Tell him”.
“I can’t do that”, I replied.
“Yes you can”, replied God.
“I can’t do that”, I replied.
“Yes you can”, replied God.
So in the end I gave in and called Hugh aside into a deserted hallway to ask him if he was sick. I had no idea what the response would be and didn’t want anyone else around to hear what I had to say.

“Are you sick?” I asked Hugh.
“No” he calmly replied.
“Are you sure?” I responded.
By this time my heart had sunk and I was trying to redeem the situation.
“Do you have a cold?” I asked him.
“No” he replied quizzically.
“Are you sure?” I responded.
“Yes, why?” he replied.
I then proceeded to tell him outright that God had told me that he was sick. He gave me this “you must be crazy” look and told me that he didn’t believe in God.

I asked him if he would go with me to the cafeteria and there we had an open talk about Christianity for about 30 minutes. He left stating that he still didn’t believe in God. I flew home thinking that I had now gone crazy for sure, was hearing voices, and I certainly couldn’t expect any more work from that company.

Unsurprisingly I heard nothing more from Hugh for the next nine months. Suddenly and unexpectedly I got a phone call from a secretary of his in California. Hugh was dead – he had died suddenly from pancreatic cancer. They had found my name and phone number in his diary and were calling me to let me know just in case I was close to him.

I hope that as his last days approached Hugh remembered what I had told him in London and that he had come to believe in Jesus and to gain eternal life through that. But as much as I hope that, I must confess that I just don’t know what happened in the final days of Hugh’s life. What I do know now is that this is no game – the consequences are eternal.

For more on this topic see http://www.godandemail.com