Category Archives: God speaking

An Example of Hearing God’s Voice

by Scott

In the past, I posted an article giving an everyday example of prophecy – God revealing or unveiling something, even if it’s not in Scripture, but not contradicting Scripture. And this is all done for exhortation, encouragement and the building up of the body of Christ. Sometimes it’s hard to bring prophecy ‘out of the clouds’ and make it part of real life, for I believe God wants these things to be a part of our lives, not just super-spiritual gatherings. So it’s good to get a real-life, down-to-earth example.

I also recently posted an article of how God specifically spoke to me to help guide my praying for our neighbours. You can read it here. But, in this article, I wanted to post an example of hearing God’s voice today.

These past couple of weeks, I’ve been reading through a book by John and Stasi Eldredge called Love & War, a book about marriage. I like the Eldredge’s and their understanding of the role of the male and the role of the female, and now they have shared some thoughts on marriage. I am not going to give any kind of review on the book right now. But rather I wanted to share something I read the other night, an example of God speaking, God revealing His heart in the present day.

So here it is…

I [John] gave a talk on learning to hear the voice of God to a group of youth pastors. Afterward there was a book signing. I’m standing at my table – feeling a little bit like some guy selling Florida swampland – hoping that I don’t stand here and no one comes up when a man finally approached the table. “I don’t need a book signed,” he says. I try to keep a smile like it’s no big deal and I say, “That’s okay,” but he goes right on to say, “But I wanted to tell you a story.” “I’d love to hear it.” He looks right and left, sort of like You’re not gonna believe this. “So, I’m sitting there listening to your talk, and not real sure what I think about the whole thing. Then you invite us to listen to God.” I nod, eager to hear what happened for him, but also sort of dreading that nothing happened and he’s here to tell me God doesn’t speak to him. Too many dear souls have come to that conclusion because of a bad experience, or because no one has helped them learn to hear.

“Look, I’m not a mystic,” he says.

I smile but I’m thinking, Since when did hearing God’s voice become something reserved for mystics?

“But I decided to give it a try,” he continues. “So, I quiet down and just sit there. After a minute or so I asked God, What do you want to say to me? And what I hear is this: Take Janet to St. John.” “Janet’s my wife,” he explains, and I think, Well that’s a relief. “We’ve been wanting to take a trip together for a long time but we haven’t been able to pull it off. Anyhow, that’s what I hear – Take Janet to St. John.”

I’m thinking that’s the end of the story, so I say, “Well, she’s going to be delighted to heart that!”

He says, “No – the story’s not over.”

“After you end the talk everybody’s getting up to go to lunch. I turn to the guy next to me – we didn’t come together or anything – and tell him, ‘God told me to take my wife to St. John.'”

The way he tells this part of the story is sort of in a spirit of, Yeah right – Can you believe it? What am I supposed to do with that? I simply listen.

“And this guys says to me, ‘Well. I have been holding two tickets to St. John for a year, and God has told me they are not for me, that I’m to give them to someone else. So, there you go. I have your tickets.'”

Needless to say, Mr. I’m-Not-Much-of-a-Mystic became a believer in hearing the voice of God.

And you know what? This is actually pretty normal for the Christian life. Over the years we’ve heard a jigawillion stories like that. Ordinary folks, learning to listen for the voice of God and how he blesses them for doing so. God loves to speak, he loves to surprise us, and he has hundreds of adventures in store.

So – ask him.

End of excerpt.

Very beautiful. A man who was not open to the Spirit of God speaking today gets spoken to and has it confirmed immediately. Beautiful.

Now, Eldredge (and possibly most of these youth pastors, though I don’t know) is no self-pr0claimed charismatic or Pentecostal or Third Wave or whatever. He is simply a guy reaching out to other guys, his wife reaching out to other women, and he has become convinced of the reality that God still speaks today.

And this story is a very simple story. The man who heard God speak for the first time was not glorified. The other man with the tickets to St. John was not being glorified. John Eldredge was not even trying to glorify himself. But God was at work, drawing one of His sons into the inheritance of hearing His voice.

God is that good.

Just as a side note, please don’t think Eldredge and this story is somehow being used to proclaim an extreme prosperity gospel because God spoke about a holiday to St. John. I suppose that in the larger picture, this was one way God wanted to reveal His Father-heart to the man, and it was specifically for that man. I, too, have a story of God’s provision for my family to head to the Canary Islands for a week’s holiday this coming summer. And God wants to bless His children. But we have to be careful in embracing an over-the-top prosperity gospel. So, just making sure that is clear.

This is a clear, yet down-to-earth, example of God speaking today.

And, you know what, this is also an example of experience shaping theology. I’ve shared about this before, that it’s ok to recognise that our experience shapes our theology. God is not bothered by this, so we should not be. Now, of course, our experience is not the only thing that informs our theology. And it’s not even the foremost factor. But it is a reality and we need to both remember this and accept it.

Read the Scripture. Every single person’s theology was shaped by their experience with the living God. Every single one.

And so, in this example from Eldredge’s book, this one man shifted from a place of not believing that God speaks today (or being very cautious about it) to a place of truly believing that God does speak. And it wasn’t even in the midst of a ‘Thus saith the Lord’ statement. It was very simple, but very direct, and in this situation, His voice was confirmed immediately by another brother. Beautiful. And biblical.

But you know what. I really believe this happens more often than we think. Not just with charismatics and Pentecostals, though maybe more for those who are continually looking for and listening for God to speak (remember Eldredge is not charismatic or Pentecostal, per se). But I believe even the cessationist (or cautious continuationist) can give testimony to the reality of God’s voice. There might be a carefulness in labelling it as ‘revelation from God’ or ‘ hearing the voice of God speaking’. But the terminology matters less in the bigger scheme of things.

Of course, I would say it is God’s voice, and thus, His revelation. But, in the end, this stuff happens regularly for the sons and daughters of God. Yes, I will even go so far as to say this is normative, part of the normal Christian life.

It’s not to create a two-tier of have’s and have not’s, of those who hear God’s voice and those who don’t. It’s just to encourage us of the availability of God’s voice in everyday life. He is constantly revealing Himself. He never stopped and He won’t ever stop until the consummation of all things (1 Corinthians 13:8-12).

It could be through a reflective devotional time, through reading the Scripture, through a walk amongst the beauty of creation, listening to a song, reading a book, a prophetic word from a brother or sister, or a whole plethora of other things. But our Father is just that good – to continue to communicate with us.

None of this is to be contradictory to Scripture, contradictory to the nature of who God is, contradictory to being accountable to the body of Christ and the leaders of our local church. Rather, such will be a blessing as we are seekers of our God who breathed out Scripture, who has shown Himself in those pages, and who has connected us to His body. And this is how God designed it.

So let us be encouraged to draw in to listening. Let us draw into His heart.

Strangeness and Subjectivity

by Scott

There are a lot of strange things that happen in this world. Our televisions, newspapers, magazines, radio and internet help remind us of this. Such things not only happen in ‘the world’, but they also happen amongst Christians. Again, televisions, newspapers, magazines, radio and internet help remind us of this reality.

And sometimes it hurts. It can really hurt!

And the branch of the church that can easily get hit with this is the charismatic-Pentecostal branch. We have a lot to be ashamed of and apologise for.

Such strange occurrences in charismatic and Pentecostal circles are highlighted in places like Hank Hanegraaff’s book, Counterfeit Revival. This book was handed to me by my college pastor (and friend) from my former Baptist church back when I was first entering into a charismatic church. As someone new to the gifts of the Spirit, at least from the 1 Corinthians 12 sense, this book did scare me a little. Not a big fear, but questions did arise.

Roaring like lions, slain in the Spirit, Holy Ghost bartenders, holy laughter?!

Some ten or eleven years later, I’m at a place where nothing really surprises me or catches me off guard anymore. I still shake my head at some things that I see on ‘Christian television’, but there is not much shock value anymore.

Even more, what I have come to realise over the past decade is that strangeness does not disqualify something as being from God.

Some will continue to point out the strange happenings in the Pentecostal and charismatic churches. And I agree, some of it is just plain weird and shameful. But, again, strangeness does not automatically determine that something is not of God.

I’ve written before on the scandalous nature of God (post 1, post 2, post 3). But let me just list a few weird activities found in Scripture:

  • Isaiah walked around naked for 3 years as a prophetic action pointing out what would happen to the Egyptians (Isaiah 20:1-4)
  • Hannah prayed so fervently for a son that Eli thought she was drunk (1 Samuel 1:9-16)
  • When Nehemiah and Ezra read the Law to the Jews, they mourned and wept (Nehemiah 8:9)
  • Jesus had a spitting ministry, or He healed people by use of saliva, sometimes mixed with mud (Mark 7:33; 8:23; John 9:6-7)
  • Following the outpouring of the Spirit, the onlookers declared that those speaking in tongues must have been drunk (Acts 2:1-13). As a side note, the behaviour identified with drunkness might have not been the activity of tongues, since the people understood what was being said in their own language, and no one speaks in another language by getting drunk. Rather, other behaviour must have exhibited other forms of strangeness.
  • Not to mention the varied reactions during exorcisms (i.e. Mark 1:23-28; Luke 4:33-35)

My goal is not to say that things must be strange, nor to glorify strange occurrences. Such is unnecessary, even unhealthy. But my point is to show that strangeness does not mean that something is ungodly or evil.

I know that a lot of these activities is equated with emotionalism. We live in a day and age, and have for a while, where emotions are seen as weak. Any show of emotions and it is automatically assumed that something is ‘wrong’. So, someone cries out in a gathering or begins to laugh out loud and the action is branded as emotionalism, or even worse, of the flesh or of the devil.

Of course, such could be. I’ve seen it before. It’s worse when such has been manipulatively contrived. And I believe responsible leaders will approach the person(s) and graciously instruct them. If it carries on, a godly firmness might need to be employed.

But I don’t believe we need to be so scared of emotions, or strange occurrences. As Jack Deere points out in his book Surprised by the Power of the Spirit – We are more willing to give the devil the ability to deceive us than God to work amongst us. Specifically, he states:

‘I frequently encounter Christians who have no difficult at all in believing that demons can speak in an audible voice, prompt thoughts, produce physical sensations and other bodily effects, but they don’t believe God can or would do these things today. Anytime they see one of these physical manifestations, therefore, they automatically assume that it is a work of the devil.’

But the testimony of Scripture itself is that God can do and does do strange things at times. This is not THE characteristic of God’s acts, but His acts are, at times, characterised by strangeness.

In the end, a large portion of Christians do not like the idea of subjectivity. For something to be objective, this means it is factual and, thus, not influenced by opinion or feeling. An objective statement would be that I wear glasses. It’s a fact (and you would know if you could see my face right now). Another objective fact is that I live in Belgium. These statements are true fact. They really cannot be disputed

So, for many Christians, we stand on the objectivity of the Scripture, since we can be certain of the God-breathed nature of it and that it is truly God’s revelation. But this cannot be established through subjective experiences, which can simply boil down to a person’s feelings or opinion, rather than what is real and true. So, a prophecy could be of God or it could be either someone’s personal feelings or even a false prophecy. Subjectiveness creates a quagmire.

And I’ll just be completely honest. It would be much easier to cast off all subjective experiences, bodily manifestations and the notion that God still speaks today. It would be much more simple for me, as a pastor, to say it’s all found in the Scripture and, therefore, everything else is subject to extreme scrutiny. I’d be saved from a lot of awkward situations (or awkward situations for the congregation). I’d be saved from a lot of, ‘I believe the Lord is telling me to….,’ when I know that is just a bit out of bounds, yet I don’t have a Scripture to quote to bury the suggestion.

I’m not saying that every cessationist chooses to hold to cessationism because of the possible awkardness or false manifestations that could appear. I’m simply noting that, for practical purposes, I know it would be easier to move towards cessationism.

But I also know it would be much easier to join the Roman Catholic church where everything is dogmatically defined for me already. There seems even less room for subjectivity than in evangelical cessationism. But I’m not sure that is God’s desire.

And I am not sure it’s God’s desire that we lay aside all subjective experiences for the sake of ease. I love to be in control. Really I do. Ask my wife. But I’m willing to let go of control of this one. And He does promise that when these things are truly stirred by Him, they are for the common good and edification of His people (1 Corinthians 12:7; 14:3-5). Not too mention how true activity of spiritual gifts glorifies Jesus and can draw people to Jesus.

I know a favourite verse to combat subjective experiences is found in 1 Corinthians 14:33:

For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.

This verse is par excellence in the rhetoric of many cessationists. And I don’t want to disregard it. I don’t even want to deal with it flippantly. But can I make a couple of suggestions:

1) This is one verse in the midst of a whole tenor of Scripture. Can I not keep this verse in connection with the other examples I listed in the bullet points above? Examples where God did some strange things?

2) It is amazing how true works of the Spirit bring peace out of confusion. One person is uncontrollably weeping over their ungodly practice of sin. Weeks later they are walking in fruitfulness and godliness not known before in their life. That’s a work of the Spirit.

Listen, please know I am not wanting to put all my eggs in the basket of strange and subjective experiences. I don’t want to glorify them, as they are not THE point and not THE determining factor of the real work of God. But they are also not THE determining factor of what is NOT of God.

I would challenge us to be open to the expression of the emotions. Check out the beauty of the Psalms. I’d ask us to allow for strange occurrences, not as the template, but as acceptable and possibly coming from God. Weigh these experiences with Scripture and amongst godly leadership. But don’t just make a judgment from the get go. Give time. Allow for fruit, for not all fruit comes forth in 3 minutes.

In all, allow for the work of the Holy Spirit via the activity of all His gifts. It will be a blessing in the end, even if some people get their panties in a wad (or knickers in a twist) and head out the door. Jesus is the great shepherd of His sheep, not the few that might get offended. He will be faithful to build His church. Jesus is much more faithful to lead than Satan is to deceive.

More On Prayer

by Scott

In my most recent article, I shared what I believe is one of the most important aspects in regards to prayer – being led by the Spirit.

For the Christian who is called to walk in the Spirit (i.e. Galatians 5:16, 25; Romans 8:4), we should look to see the Spirit active in all aspects of our lives, even in our praying. I pointed out that it is the Spirit of God who knows the will of God, and He also loves to step in and intercede on our behalf when we know not what to pray (Romans 8:26-27). I suppose that, along with Christ, the Holy Spirit has the most fruitful prayer ministry. Such truth stirs me to see Him more active in my prayer life.

But in this article, I wanted to take some time and clear up possible confusion or feelings that I have somehow set aside other kinds of prayer.

When I, or we, speak of Spirit-directed prayer, I suppose what can come to our minds is spontaneous prayer. And that’s not a wrong idea. Matter of fact, with most of the Spirit’s activity, there is a spontaneity, at least from our human perspective. Along with the Father and Son, the Spirit is well-aware of the bigger plan of what they are looking to accomplish in seeing God’s glory fill the earth (i.e. Habakkuk 2:14). Nothing ever catches these three off-guard.

But from our human standpoint, I think it quite easy to recognise the Spirit’s work as spontaneous, almost as if He is Lord over the ‘all of a suddens’. We are not always ready for nor do we normally plan for His workings – with the activity of His gifts, His power, His regenerating life, His directing of our prayers, etc.

Yet, I also want to note that, from our perspective, not everything the Spirit does has to be seen spontaneous, even in our praying. The greatest example is found in places like the Psalms. Though we consider the Psalms the song-book of the Bible, and it is, it also stands as a book of prayers. Many of the Psalms were to be prayed aloud by the congregation in varying settings. They had first been written by David and many others, but were written for the benefit of the community of God’s people in the coming generations. They were a kind of liturgy for the saints of old.

The word liturgy should not scare us. It simply refers to the order or form of our corporate worship gatherings. And, lest we misunderstand, even the most Pentecostal of churches have order to their corporate gatherings – prayer, song, song, singing in tongues, song, prayer, song, sermon, offering, song (or something similar).

Yes, the Psalms were originally written as directed by the Spirit, probably some of them spontaneously coming from an overflowing heart of praise or pain. So there is still the impromptu-ness of these prayers. But in the generations that followed, there would have been a planned reading aloud of those songs and prayers. And I believe this to be a beautiful thing. Shoot, I benefit from reading aloud these prayers, both individually and corporately.

So, I definitely wanted to clarify that, with regards to the direction of the Spirit in our prayings, this does not always refer to the ‘all of a sudden’ and the unplanned.

Another example centres around walking in the fruit of the Spirit. This is not always unplanned for me. I awake in the morning [most of the time] wanting to live as Christ lived, which includes living out those nine fruits mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23 – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Yet, at the same time, I can find myself not necessarily  contemplating the fruit of the Spirit, but an opportunity presents itself for me to show the patience and kindness of God. Both are Spirit-directed, but one was planned and one was impromptu. Neither one is better and both are Spirit-directed.

Therefore, by no means do I want to negate nor set aside our prepared and planned prayers, or any aspect of God’s planned activity in our lives. Such would over-simplify things and over-spiritualise our life in God. It can’t be done. Both have their beauty.

But, however we know the leading, direction and guidance of the Spirit of God Himself – planned or unplanned – we are called to know this leading, direction and guidance. We are called to keep our hearts, ears and eyes attune to the One who indwells and empowers God’s people. It’s not easy nor is it safe, but it’s good and right.

Spirit-Directed Prayer

by Scott

One of the most common means of communication with God is through prayer. As God’s people, we are even called to pray continually, or without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

I suppose most are aware that this kind of call to prayer does not intrinsically include the necessity of closing our eyes, nor folding our hands or bowing our knees. These actions aren’t wrong, but they are not the way of prayer. Life doesn’t allow for such postures at all time, but because God Himself resides within believers, the door has been opened for constant and consistent prayer.

Still, at times, prayer simply becomes something like a rote response or simply a cognitive exercise (whether we are praying aloud or not).

What I mean is this: When we go to pray about a situation, many times we just launch straight in. ‘God, thank you for today. Thank you for life and new life. Right now I ask that you reach out and touch Brian’s mother as she is going through this time of pain and suffering.’

That’s one scenario, but the ‘prayer response’ can be very similar across the board.

And I do believe there is a problem if our prayer life simply consists of a cognitive response.

Please don’t mishear me nor misunderstand me. I’m not asking us not to use our brains or our minds in prayer. As one friend reminded me once, ‘If we turn off our brains, then we would be dead.’

But what I sense in a lot of our prayers, or at least my prayers, is that we launch into praying without ever looking to be directed by the Spirit. Our prayers are simply our words and our words alone. I’m not sure that is a very healthy way to approach prayer.

A possible sign of this is when we start our prayers off with some statement like this: ‘God, thank you for this day.’ There is nothing wrong with such a statement. Matter of fact, we should be thankful for this day. That’s a good place to start. There is plenty of Scripture to back up a statement.

But, usually when we make such a statement, I find that we might not really be engaging with God in the activity of prayer. There’s nothing much there, if you will. And if that is the case, we need to be challenged.

Yet for a people looking to pray without ceasing, we need to consider how we can be better directed by the Spirit in our prayer. Didn’t Paul say it like this:

26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:26-27)

If anything, the Holy Spirit knows how to pray, since He knows the will of God, the heart of God. It might be good that we be specifically directed, led, guided and stirred by Him in our prayers.

Matter of fact, I think we are called to being directed by the Spirit in all matters of life. That might just be what walking in the Spirit is. And a good place might be to start with our praying.

But, to try and clarify even more, I will give a personal example in my life that happened in recent weeks.

Some will know that I live in the Brussels, Belgium, area. Here, my family and I live in an apartment. But, whereas in America there is lots of space, there isn’t so much here. So everything is crammed together and everything is smaller. While in America they build their buildings outward, in Europe they build their buildings upward, so as to conserve space.

In our apartment, on the other side of my wife and I’s bedroom, we have our neighbours. Actually, it is the bathroom of the neighbours (which is mainly the bath-shower, sink area).

For some unknown reason, our neighbours love to congregate in their bathroom. It seems they have their deepest discussions there. I’m not saying you can’t do that, I’m just saying it seems like all the time, especially since we are right on the other side. And they both don’t have the quietest of voices. So, at times, my wife and I have joked about joining in their conversation, answering a question through the wall to see what might happen.

And, not only do they have deep conversations in their bathroom, but they also have their loudest and most intense arguments there. Well, even if it weren’t in the bathroom, we can normally here it wherever it takes place, due to their extremely loud voices.

So things had reached a pinnacle of frustration. I had tried visiting them one day to graciously let them know we have a small baby and that we are just on the other side of their bathroom. All I was able to obtain was speaking to them through the intercom system (a typical instrument in apartments over here). And, even more recently, we had knocked and I mean knocked hard on the wall to let them know we are just on the other side. One night, with an argument just beginning about 2.00am, I knocked as hard as I could and ended up injuring my knuckles. I had had enough!!

Now, here is the thing. We had been praying. But, as you can probably guess, our prayers were more along the lines of, ‘Lord, please help them shut up be quiet tonight so we can sleep.’ We were struggling because we hadn’t had too many good nights sleep in the past months with a newborn and we were simply at our wits end.

One night I was sitting in bed. I could have been reading, I could have heard our neighbours at it again, I could have been praying. I can’t remember the exact details of the situation. But I remember the exact details of what happened following that initial moment.

Clear as clear can be, I heard God say, ‘You’re praying wrong, Scott. I want you to pray for them, their blessing, their lives, their hearts.’

Again, it was so clear. I could not mistake the voice of God, His communication to me.

I was so sure it was Him that I changed my prayer right then and there, praying as He had shown me how. I also shared with my wife and we began praying according to what God had spoken from that moment forward. I didn’t just one to pray once and that be it. I was looking to pray regularly for them with my wife.

The most fascinating thing unfolded over the next couple of weeks. No, unfortunately, I cannot report that they both came to Christ, at least not yet. But the story is nonetheless encouraging, at least for me if no one else.

That next Friday, while I was at the office, there was a ring at the door of our apartment. My wife wondered who it could be. She answered the door and the person, a female, said, ‘Hi, I am your neighbour. Can we talk?’

My wife is thinking, ‘Is this THE neighbour?’

Well, it was. She apologised for all that had been taking place over the past months and how her partner had treated me when I tried to come over. She said she had not realised that this guy was as much of a problem as he was. She was from Poland (he was Belgian) and she would be heading back to Poland the next day. Her partner thought she would be going for a week’s holiday, but she was going for good, not to return. She had come over to get the readings on the metre for the electricity and gas, since it was actually in our part of the building. She was going to have things cut off since it was all in her name.

My wife invited her in for some tea, hoping to interact more with her. But, unfortunately, she declined the invitation saying that her partner did not know she was at our place and that she had to get back before he became suspicious.

Well, we prayed into the situation, again remembering how God had asked us to pray, and the next day she went back to Poland. We didn’t see here again and we’ve never met the guy. But, ever since then, there has been solid peace for the past 3 or 4 weeks (from whenever she left). Complete peace and quiet, even so much that the guy has only come home about 2 days in this whole time. I don’t know if he has moved out or what, but there have been no arguments, no yelling at 2.00am, none of the sort.

Interesting what happens when you pray in accordance with what God is saying. Our prayers were being specifically directed by God. I wasn’t just praying how I thought I should or how I wanted it to go. I was praying as He was leading and speaking.

Listen, this is not about boasting in me and my great prayer spirituality. Remember, I wasn’t really even looking for God to speak to me in this. It was simply in a moment when God spoke, communicated and directed me towards change. If anything, this was about His rich grace and mercy. He was fathering me.

I am still challenged to be praying into the lives of these two people, even now – for God’s blessing, for their lives, for any kind of hope to rebound off another person, for wisdom for them both if there is a desire to get back together, etc. But, I’m challenged even now to be praying as God leads.

Will we always hear God lead us? Probably not, though I wouldn’t put it pass God. But our prayers need to be directed by His Spirit, since the Spirit knows the will of God. I don’t want to just launch in with a nice and eloquent prayer that seems spiritual enough but lacks anything of God’s Spirit at all. What a waste of time.

So, even before we pray one word, maybe we should just listen, listen to Him. I can think of know better way to help us in our praying.