How to Hear God: A Simple Guide for Normal People

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Christin Thieme: Yeah, exactly. We’re following up our last episode with you where we talked about how to pray, with now how to hear God. So just a small question to start for you: Why is hearing God’s voice so natural and so hard? The main sections of this book are on hearing God speak in the person of Jesus, in the Bible, in prayer, in prophecy, in whispers and dreams, and (to cover all other bases) in community, creation, and culture. Examples are drawn from a wide range of sources: from St Ignatius of Loyola to the prophetic Pentecostal missionary Heidi Baker. Each chapter ends with a suggested Listening Exercise. Pete Greig explains in a simple but deep sense what it really is to hear the living God speak today. I'm amazed by how humble and down-to-earth he is. There's really no sense of him telling us how it's done, but an invite to explore it with him. Many people struggle to hear God because they have been taught to listen for his voice in ways that are difficult for them to process. Certain personality types may also find it more challenging. Introverts understandably advocate their own preference for stillness and solitude, but it is equally possible and no less spiritual to discern the voice of God through external interaction, or through visual formats.

The Revd Mike Starkey is Head of Church Growth for Manchester diocese and author of the Stepping Stones for Growth course. The sections on dreams and the unconscious offer practical guidelines which come over as helpful and balanced. The penultimate chapter considers God speaking to his children, not just in religious contexts (including such means as Communion, Solitude and Sabbath), but in the whole of life – not least, Community, Creation and Culture. For ‘ there is no aspect of God’s creation through which he cannot and does not speak’, Greig informs us. ‘Living Word’ and ‘Listening Exercise’ Pete Greig: The apostle Paul says that “the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort” ( 1 Cor. 14:3). The prophetic gift enables us to strengthen, encourage, and comfort other people with God’s Word which is “living and active“ ( Hebrews 4:12).Hearing from God is primarily a discipline that we learn to distil through practice and obedience. The more we say ‘yes’ to Jesus, the more familiar and precious his voice becomes – and in time we will be able to say, like Cleopas, ‘ Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked?’

The driver who’d seen my thumb and swung into the lay-by offered to take me all the way from Bordeaux to Paris. For a hitchhiker, this is a dream-ride and I settled in for a long journey discussing the pen of my aunt and the price of local cheese in my best schoolboy French. It all seemed to be going rather well until our conversation turned towards homoeopathy and the geology of Scotland (a country my driver apparently loves). And so I’ve had to learn how to recognize the voice of God. And the good news is you do get better at it. It’s a bit like when someone first calls your cell phone. Your phone doesn’t recognize the number. Right? And then you get to know them a bit and you program it in. And after a bit, you don’t even need to read their name on the screen. You just recognize their voice. Most people insist of hearing God’s voice on their own terms. Perhaps we need a newfound willingness to take counsel from a brother or sister, as a mark of humility and surrender. Sometimes he waits for us to humble ourselves. One of the most astounding yet possibly confusing acts we can do is enjoy a real, conversational relationship with God, the very creator and sustainer of life itself. How should we be hearing his voice? How can we listen to God more clearly amid the clatter and clamor of daily living? What does the Bible mean when it describes God as having a “still, small voice”? Each one of us has been born with an extraordinary superpower: an innate ability to hear the voice of God. Discerning God’s voice is one of the most astounding yet confusing things a human being can ever learn to do. Astounding because, well, what could be more amazing? With four words – “Let there be light” – (just two in Hebrew) God created more than 100 billion galaxies (Genesis 1:3). “The Lord merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born” (Psalm 33:6, NLT). What on earth might happen if he were to speak a few words to me?

These are not gifts that have died out in the church. They have not been “replaced” by the Bible. We weigh prophecy against Scripture, but the Bible itself teaches us that prophecy is a gift of the Holy Spirit for all Christians essential for the building up of the church. In How to Hear God I give some important guidelines as to how we can hear God in this way and how we can handle this gift appropriately (because tragically it has often been abused). Don't we all want to hear from God? How much easier our lives would be if we could hear his voice and follow his direction. I love Pete's writing because it is easy to understand. The simple way he handles difficult subjects in How to Hear God makes this book compelling. If you really want to grow on this journey of hearing God, here is the book that will help you grow immensely.' senior pastor of Jesus House London Agu Irukwu How we hear God speak is about how our neural pathways have learned to receive and process data, and this varies from person to person 2. THEOLOGICAL Learning to recognise the voice of God is one of the most astounding yet confusing things a human being can learn to do And then part two, you get into God’s Whisper. What does it mean that the Creator of the universe whispers? I mean, that’s not, I think, what most of us would expect to hear from God, a whisper.

So he’s still pointing to the authority of Scripture, even though the greatest miracle ever has just taken place in his resurrection. One individual may indeed be flooded with feelings of peace when they propose to their girlfriend, whileanother may be utterly terrified. This probably says more about the way that person is wired than it does about the will of God for their lives.Christin Thieme: Yeah. I love that analogy that you give of the window frame and the picture frame, moving beyond seeing Scripture just objectively, but how do you receive it personally and make it that conversation? So there’s lots of really practical tools in the book, and that is a great one to start with. When praying for justice, I try to begin by sitting quietly, wordlessly holding the situation before the Lord. In these moments of stillness I may sigh deeply, allowing the situation to affect my own heart and becoming aware, as I do so, that God is neither distant nor dispassionate. This is an expression of lament.

Pete Greig: Nothing God says in any other way, in any other context, will ever override, undermine, or contradict what he has said in the Scriptures. Ultimately, the Bible is the language of God’s heart because it communicates with us its very nature. In reading the Bible we receive truth and sound doctrine, but we also encounter the love and life of God himself. It is a “ living book.” On the topic of prayer, there are few writers to rival Pete Greig. Widely known as being one of the Christian world’s most visionary communicators, and having led a non-stop prayer movement for over twenty years, his books on prayer have sold in the tens of thousands. Since it first published in 2019, How to Pray has been one of Hodder’s fastest-selling books and shows no signs of slowing down while The Prayer Course has been used by millions of people around the world to enrich their relationship with God. How to Pray also featured in 2021 as a lead title for The Big Church Read, which introduced the book to hundreds more people across the country, who have since recommended the book to their friends and family in turn. So a huge number of people are waiting for the follow-up to How to Pray… So, yeah, it’s about reading slowly. It’s about reverence for the text. It’s about using your imagination. It’s about turning the Bible from being a picture frame to a window frame. Okay? So too often we look at the Bible like a picture that you study and analyze. It’s fixed. It’s there in the picture frame. But what if instead we treat the Bible like a window frame? So through the Bible, we kind of open the window and look out on the world. I am learning to listen for the ‘still, small voice’ of God in the quietness. (1 Kings 19:12) For instance, as I sat in silence recently feeling overwhelmed by news of conflict, I was reminded of Jeremiah 31:15: ‘Rachel is weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.’ The despair I was feeling found a focus in that verse. 3. God’s Word for in the wider cultureHow do we make sense of it? Where was God when we cried out for loved ones dying in overcrowded ICUs? And where is he now for the people of Ukraine? Is our faith relevant when things get tough? Does God have anything to say? Moments of revelation may not happen over night. Sometimes these moments are scattered out over the better part of a year. Ask God to breathe life into your prayers, the embers you have spread before his altar, and that you may perceive his answer with open eyes and ears, and a softened heart. And Lectio is much more that approach. It’s less about exegesis and more what is God whispering to me through this? And there are four steps to doing it that I outline in the book. The Latin phrase is Lectio Meditatio. That’s just meditate on what you’ve read. Find the 24-7 Prayer Lectio 365 app, a free daily devotional resource that helps you pray the Bible every day.