"Hearing" God

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KingdomBuilder
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"Hearing" God

Post by KingdomBuilder »

Let me start this post by saying I'm relatively young, and I'm even younger as a believer. Needless to say, I don't have everything figured out. This is something that has perplexed/ troubled me a lot:

I often hear people say something about "hearing God", "listening to God", or waiting to "hear God's small, still voice". Now, maybe these people don't mean a literal, auditory hearing (though I've met plenty who mean exactly this), but to a verdant believer this can be a real point of confusion.

I fell under the impression that these teachings were saying that I must, somehow, "silence" my own thoughts enough to the point that some deliverance of wisdom/ guidance will occur. No where in the NT have I found anything about "hearing God" along these lines. In fact, I've felt incredibly frustrated and disheartened as I faced important decisions and every time I had a thought, I'd quickly shoot it down and try and push it aside as I thought I was doing something wrong.

Maybe my past experiences have altered how I interpret people's message about how to "hear God", but I really don't get it. The whole "silence your mind" seems like Eastern Mysticism, at best.

I'm sorry, but when people say they "hear God" or something along those lines, I just don't get it.

What is meant by "hearing God"?
Why do people refer to it as "hearing" God?
How is it properly discerned?
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RZehr
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Re: "Hearing" God

Post by RZehr »

This is a really good question, I'd like to know this as well. I can share what it means to me.
For myself, I usually don't hear, or at least recognize, it as God right away. It never is an audible voice. It is a reoccurring, persistent thought that comes to me unprompted, regarding something that I need to repent of, or do. Perhaps it is this way for me because I'm not in tune with God as I ought to be, or perhaps sometimes I am unsure if it is the Holy Spirit or if it is my random thought. If it is the Holy Spirit, I may become convicted by my inaction or action.
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Bootstrap
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Re: "Hearing" God

Post by Bootstrap »

For me, it starts with putting it completely into God's hands, asking him to show me if I have wrong attachments that I need to repent of to hear him clearly, and letting him decide how to speak. The answer might come through Scripture or through something my wife says or through something someone in church says or through circumstances ... and it usually comes in more than one way.

If I think I'm seeing something, I ask God to show me if this is really his revelation, and I involve brethren in seeking God's will for me in this matter. If I think I'm hearing something that is at odds with the discernment of my closest brethren, I really need to question myself. Not that it can't happen - and it has - but I think that's rare. When it did happen, it turned out that the church was in a downward spiral with sin, and it was time for me to leave.
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lesterb
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Re: "Hearing" God

Post by lesterb »

It's pretty subjective, and it can happen in a multitude of ways. I would suggest that emptying your mind of everything is going to do exactly the opposite of what you are after. God can speak through a sudden impulse or burden. He can speak through my wife and my brothers in the church. I think, normally, we know when God wants us to stop and listen.

I remember last fall seeing a man laying out some blankets to sleep under the shelter of a pine tree in Lethbridge. I had a sudden impulse to stop and give him a $20 bill. I normally don't carry that much cash but that time I did. But I shrugged it off, and I've been sorry ever since. Would it have been the wrong thing to do? Maybe it wasn't God speaking, just my heart? I don't really care, I still wish I would have followed my impulse. :-|

My father gave a man a tract on the street about 40 years ago. That man gave his heart to the Lord and still treats my father as his father. When my mother died most of his children came to her funeral. He's a member in a Mennonite church and has done his best to be a faithful Christian all these years. He fell away several times, but always ended up coming back (usually to my father). Just suppose that my father had shrugged of the impulse to give him that tract.
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KingdomBuilder
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Re: "Hearing" God

Post by KingdomBuilder »

RZehr wrote:This is a really good question, I'd like to know this as well. I can share what it means to me.
For myself, I usually don't hear, or at least recognize, it as God right away. It never is an audible voice. It is a reoccurring, persistent thought that comes to me unprompted, regarding something that I need to repent of, or do. Perhaps it is this way for me because I'm not in tune with God as I ought to be, or perhaps sometimes I am unsure if it is the Holy Spirit or if it is my random thought. If it is the Holy Spirit, I may become convicted by my inaction or action.

Appreciate the response, RZ.
Your thoughts seem consistent with some teachings I've heard lately. In fact, they're the ones that really sparked this question.

Per the IVP Bible Background Commentary:
...Paul speaks of the "mind of the Spirit" as well as the "mind of the flesh". Instead of opposing reason and inspiration, he contrasts reasoning that is merely human (and thus susceptible to sin) with reasoning that is directed by God's inspiration.
That threw me for quite the loop. I, like you, often wonder"if it is the Holy Spirit or if it is my random thought"... But could it be that, when our focus is on God and his Kingdom, such thoughts which aren't merely human reasoning are indeed directed by the Spirit? Not saying I'm convinced of this, but it's something I've never thought much on. The idea that the Holy Spirit works within the reasoning and processes we put forth as long as they are not driven by the flesh.

This isn't to say I believe things are dictated by our intellect or understandings... that would discount "spontaneous" pressing by the Spirit.

As you mention, I believe conviction ( a convincing of the conscience ) is a "fruit" of sorts when it comes to things like this- which either affirms of denies our understandings.
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KingdomBuilder
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Re: "Hearing" God

Post by KingdomBuilder »

lesterb wrote:I would suggest that emptying your mind of everything is going to do exactly the opposite of what you are after.
I'll agree with you here. My "faith" started out being a harsh, (dare I say..) legalistic form of self-denial, and occasionally I come across things like this, consequences of that twisted view of Christianity, that need to be addressed.
I long grappled with the notion that if something is going through my carnal mind, it can't possibly be of God.
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KingdomBuilder
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Re: "Hearing" God

Post by KingdomBuilder »

http://www.pilgrimministry.org/sermons/ ... oly-spirit

Here's a sermon I just heard called "Hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit"
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Bootstrap
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Re: "Hearing" God

Post by Bootstrap »

I wonder if its helpful to list the things that make it hard to hear God.

- It's hard to hear God when I'm speaking so loudly he can't get a word in edgewise.
- It's hard to hear God when my allegiances to other things are too strong to let him challenge them.
- It's hard to hear God when I'm not convinced that he is speaking to me.
- It's hard to hear God when I want to decide what he should say and how he should say it.
- It's hard to hear God all by myself, without help from other listeners.
- It's hard to hear God with just my analytical brain.
- It's hard to hear God with just my feelings.
- It's hard to hear God just by paying attention to circumstances.
- It's hard to hear God if I don't want to obey anyway - and he might not bother trying to speak.
- It's hard to hear God if I'm trying to suppress my mind and my feelings and circumstances.
- It's hard to hear God if I'm not already taking the steps he has told me so far - and he rarely tells me the next step until then.
- It's hard to hear God if I want to be in control.
- It's hard to hear God if I'm not looking straight in his direction and listening.
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RZehr
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Re: "Hearing" God

Post by RZehr »

Bootstrap wrote:I wonder if its helpful to list the things that make it hard to hear God.

- It's hard to hear God when I'm speaking so loudly he can't get a word in edgewise.
- It's hard to hear God when my allegiances to other things are too strong to let him challenge them.
- It's hard to hear God when I'm not convinced that he is speaking to me.
- It's hard to hear God when I want to decide what he should say and how he should say it.
- It's hard to hear God all by myself, without help from other listeners.
- It's hard to hear God with just my analytical brain.
- It's hard to hear God with just my feelings.
- It's hard to hear God just by paying attention to circumstances.
- It's hard to hear God if I don't want to obey anyway - and he might not bother trying to speak.
- It's hard to hear God if I'm trying to suppress my mind and my feelings and circumstances.
- It's hard to hear God if I'm not already taking the steps he has told me so far - and he rarely tells me the next step until then.
- It's hard to hear God if I want to be in control.
- It's hard to hear God if I'm not looking straight in his direction and listening.
Really good stuff.
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JimFoxvog
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Re: "Hearing" God

Post by JimFoxvog »

One thing that helps to hear God is to seek to hear God. Pray, "What do you have to say to me, Lord?" Expect an answer. Sometimes a thought comes to mind with the conviction that the thought is coming from God. Often a scripture comes to mind.

If the word (the thought) is in accord with scripture and low risk, accept it and follow it. If it is contrary to scripture, you can safely judge the thought did not come from God. If it is doubtful or of more high risk, seek counsel from other believers.

[bible]John 10,27[/bible]
As we practice this we get better at hearing God's voice.

Sometimes we may get the conviction we are to speak out what we believe we have heard. This is called prophecy in the New Testament.
[bible]1 Cor 14,29-32[/bible]
It is to be weighed by others.
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