Implementing rhythms to help us hear God

Implementing rhythms to help us hear God

Nov 15, 2026 | 0 comments

Episode Description:

Are you thriving, striving, or surviving in your relationship with God? What practices are you implementing to help you hear God clearly? Do you have daily, weekly, monthly, and annual rhythms that support your relationship with God? What about pausing at Easter and Christmas or at significant milestones? Join us as we explore this topic and share practices we have found helpful for hearing God.

Episode Notes:

Introduction:

  • Episode 77 – Unpacking the word of the year and for each month – Jane explained her process.
  • Episodes 88 -92 – Hearing God in various seasons – winter, spring, summer and autumn.
  • On our website – we have a free PDF download called ‘Hearing God for the year ahead.’ Great questions to prompt reflection on the past year and changes you may want to make in your life.

Rhythms are a part of life.

  • Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”
  • Solomon spoke about the importance of proper timing. God loves order.  We see it in how the sun rises, and the moon fades.  We see it in how our physical seasons change.
  • There are rhythms in nature. We all have rhythms. More about how intentional we are in our rhythms. Eg at a red light – pelvic floor exercises, daughter kisses husband. When Jane gets in the car, she starts thanking God. On Sunday evenings, Jane likes to plan out her week and month.
  • They reckon it takes 21 days for an action to become a habit – automatic.
  • Looking specifically at rhythms versus seasons, we read in Genesis 1 that God rested after creating for 6 days.
  • Life is full of rhythms and the juggle of the opposites/paradoxes – action/contemplation, pain/joy, silence/noise, work/rest. Finding the balance.
  • Psalm 1:3 “That person is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season and whose life does not wither – whatever they do prospers.”

First Principle: Look at your current lifestyle

  • Are you hurried, chaotic, reactive, distracted, exhausted, always tired?
  • What rhythms do you currently have in place to help you grow in God and hear Him?
  • What daily, weekly, monthly, and annual rhythms do you implement? It can also be helpful to pause at significant milestones and review your rhythms. Also, Christmas and Easter rhythms.
  • Do you have a daily time of reading or listening to the Bible, praying, fasting, journalling, meditation, practising a Sabbath, silence, gratitude, worship, simplicity, solitude, celebration, etc
  • Deuteronomy 8:3 – man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God. A call to stop, read the Bible, listen to God.
  • Matthew 6:16-18 “When you fast…” not “If you fast”
  • Exodus 20: 8-11 – the Sabbath explained – work for 6 days, rest for one. Now, we don’t want to be legalistic like the Pharisees with Jesus in Mark 2:23-28. A weekly Sabbath can be a time to take an intentional break, create space by removing everyday pressures, and listen to God without distraction.
  • Sometimes it is not about having a vision for the huge outcome, but about being faithful in the small, daily practices. I was struck recently when reading about David in 1 Samuel 17. He obeyed his father and set out that day to take lunch to his brothers who were fighting. He didn’t set out to kill Goliath. He took one step at a time. His daily practice had fine-tuned him into an expert killer of lions with a stone.
  • Same with Esther – she didn’t set out to save the Jewish nation. She was trying to stay alive because she had been kidnapped and prostituted to the king.
  • What daily practices are you implementing so you are ready when called upon?
  • Are you currently in a season of thriving, striving, or surviving?
  • Thriving – a season of peace with room for growth.
  • Striving – busy hustling, or the emotional toll of the season makes life seem harder.
  • Surviving – a season of chaos, grief, despair, and a hard slog.

Second Principle: Look at what needs changing in your life

  • As seasons change, our rhythms and practices sometimes need to change.
  • Transitions bring change. Embrace the transition and changes.
  • An invitation to upgrade your relationship with God and perhaps try something new with hearing God.
  • That little bit of extra time may offer an opportunity to hear God through creativity, explore nature, or walk on the beach.
  • Reflect on the past and dream of the new.
  • Use this time to assess what you want to keep, what you would love to change and what you want to experiment with.
  • Sometimes, even just writing down where you’ve come from and where you would love to be can bring clarity.
  • Try a spiritual mentor. Someone who will help you hear God afresh amid life’s ups and downs and daily rhythms.
  • Are there new daily rhythms you would love to instigate?
  • Have an intentional break to create space to listen to God without distraction by removing everyday pressures.
  • Sometimes, we unconsciously avoid these rhythms because we don’t want God to challenge us. It can be easier to coast along in life.
  • What practices do you want to create space for to bring life, peace and joy?
  • How do you best experience rest, restoration, connection and opportunity to create?
  • If you look at the life of Jesus – He intentionally withdrew after times of ministry and intense people stimulation. Mark 1:9-13 – after His baptism, he spent 40 days with God in the wilderness. When crowds followed him, he would then withdraw and retreat to pray. Mark 1:35 – got up early to spend time with God.

Third Principle: Start with the big picture and narrow down.

  • Where are you heading long term?
  • You are the captain of your life’s ship – if you adjusted 1 degree, where could you end up differently?
  • You don’t have to have this all sorted immediately. Take it one step at a time. Like eating an elephant – one bite at a time.
  • Important to carve out time to hear from God.
  • Also, look at where God is currently working in your life, and where God is currently directing you.
  • What rhythms do you need to implement daily, weekly, monthly, and annually so that you can hear God clearly?

Summary:

  1. Look at your current lifestyle.
  2. Look at what needs changing in your life.
  3. Start with the big picture and narrow down.

Prophetic activation:

I encourage you to turn your heart and thoughts to Father God, and ask Him:

  • “God, what’s one rhythm you’d like me to implement or change?”

Time Stamps:

[0:38] – Gary & Jane share how they have heard God this week.

[3:56] – Introduction to implementing rhythms to help us hear God.

[6:27] – Rhythms are a part of life.

[9:10] – First Principle: Look at your current lifestyle.

[15:13] – Second Principle: Look at what needs changing in your life.

[22:14] – Third Principle: Start with the big picture and narrow down.

[23:47] – Summary.

[24:10] – Prophetic activation.

[25:00] – Gary & Jane share a prophetic word for a listener.

[26:47] – Gary prays for you.

Resources / Links Mentioned:

Bible Verses Mentioned:

  • Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
  • Genesis 1
  • Psalm 1:3
  • Deuteronomy 8:3
  • Matthew 6:16-18
  • Exodus 20:8-11
  • Mark 2:23-28
  • 1 Samuel 17
  • Esther
  • Mark 1:9-13
  • Mark 1:35

Connect with Gary & Jane:

Support the show:

  • Please share this podcast with someone who would value hearing from God.
  • Follow and leave a rating + review on your favourite podcast listening app.
  • If God is leading you to donate or support the show in any way, please visit https://buymeacoffee/garyandjanM Thank you so much.
Episode 134: Hearing God in the silence

Episode 134: Hearing God in the silence

Nov 8, 2026 | 0 comments

Episode Description:

How do you react when there is silence? What comes to mind? How do you respond to God when there is silence? Hearing God in the silence is different from hearing God when God seems silent. Join us as we explore this topic and share practices we have found helpful for hearing God in the silence.

Episode Notes:

Introduction:

  • Hearing God in the silence is different from hearing God when God seems silent.
  • Episode 21 – Hearing God when God is silent. Be honest with God – the problem is usually on our end; Go back to when you last heard God; Is God wanting to use the situation to increase your trust in Him? Silence can be a sign of intimacy. It is more about recognising how God is speaking.
  • Episode 11 – What to do when I can’t hear God.
  • Psalm 22:1 “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
  • Episode 111 – Hearing God amidst noise and chaos.
  • Episode 123 – Which voice is louder -God’s or culture’s?
  • Episode 47 – Hearing God when I don’t see evidence in my life.

First Principle: Trust God in the silence.

  • Silence can be a sign of intimacy. Oswald Chambers (an early 20th-century Scottish evangelist and teacher) wrote in “My Utmost for His Highest” – “When you cannot hear God, you will find that He has trusted you in the most intimate way possible with absolute silence, not a silence of despair, but one of pleasure, because He saw that you could withstand an even bigger revelation.”
  • God is near in the silence. Genesis 1:22 – In the silence and void, God’s Spirit was hovering.
  • James 4: 8 “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”
  • 1 Kings 19: 7-12. Elijah had shown up the prophets of Baal and annihilated them, but then got scared and ran for his life. An angel of the Lord gave him food, water and rest because he was hungry and tired, and that was affecting him physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Then he travelled another 40 days and nights and went into a cave. The Lordsaid, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
  • Trust God for His Presence despite how I feel.
  • Keep showing up.
  • Practised it this week. I had to harness my thoughts but, more importantly, trust that it was God even though it sounded like my voice.
  • Not about emptying your mind or achieving nirvana. We need to reframe silence by turning our focus to God and staying open to what God wants us to notice.
  • Focus on God, not yourself.
  • Reflect on God’s character and not your feelings.
  • Have faith that God’s got this and will speak in His timing.
  • Habakkuk 2:1-2a “I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts: I will look to see what he will say to me.” – I WILL. I need to actively participate in the silence.
    • I will turn up.
    • I will remain alert.
    • I will watch and listen.
    • I will hear.
  • Faith verse feeling.
  • Keep showing up and choosing to hear God. To love. To abide. To surrender. To rest in Him. To listen. To obey.

Second Principle: Look at how you view silence.

  • Do you fear silence?
  • Silence can amplify our thoughts, feelings, and desires.
  • Does silence let your thoughts, concerns, and feelings surface in ways that you don’t want to address?
  • Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46 is a Psalm about the world in an uproar with war, chaos, earthquakes, Tsunamis, and heads of nations falling. God is still present and with us. It says stillness precedes God’s revelation.
  • Embrace uncomfortable silence.
  • Isaiah 30:15 “In quietness and trust is your strength.”
  • Lamentations 3:22-23 The Lord’s compassions are new every day. Great is his faithfulness. Then verse 26: ‘It is good to wait quietly for the Lord’ and verse 28: ‘let him sit alone in silence’.
  • Silence is setting aside outer distractions. Stillness is quietening the soul.

Third Principle: Maybe change your spiritual practices.

  • Practice gratitude. Psalm 100:4 “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.”
  • Let what’s buried in your heart bubble up and pay attention to it rather than filling the space and cramming more input into your life.
  • About 30 years ago, we experienced a 48-hour silent retreat. It helped remove everyday pressures and distractions.
  • Turn off your phone.
  • Jesus often spent time in solitude. He chose solitude after the busyness. Eg Mark 1:35.

Summary:

  1. Trust God in the silence.
  2. Look at how you view silence.
  3. Maybe change your spiritual practices.

Prophetic activation:

In keeping with the theme of hearing God in the silence, gather some paper, pens, colouring implements, and, along with Psalm 46:10, quieten yourself for a few moments and turn your heart and thoughts to Father God. Start drawing/doodling and allow God to speak to you during this time. If drawing feels distracting, don’t draw. Just sit and be still. If there are sounds around you, acknowledge them. Invite God to sit with you. Enjoy the silence. Delight yourself in knowing God is beside you, is with you.

Time Stamps:

[0:40] – Gary & Jane share how they have heard God this week.

[4:11] – Introduction to hearing God in the silence.

[5:16] – First Principle: Trust God in the silence.

[10:12] – Second Principle: Look at how you view silence.

[12:39] – Third Principle: Maybe change your spiritual practices.

[16:06] – Summary.

[16:29] – Prophetic activation.

[18:11] – Gary & Jane share a prophetic word for a listener.

[20:32] – Gary prays for you.

Resources / Links Mentioned:

Bible Verses Mentioned:

  • Psalm 22:1
  • Genesis 1:2
  • James 4:8
  • 1 Kings 19:7-12
  • Habakkuk 2:1-2a
  • Psalm 46:10
  • Isaiah 30:15
  • Lamentations 3:22-28
  • Psalm 100:4
  • Mark 1:35
  • Genesis 3:15

Connect with Gary & Jane:

Support the show:

  • Please share this podcast with someone who would value hearing from God.
  • Follow and leave a rating + review on your favourite podcast listening app.
  • If God is leading you to donate or support the show in any way, please visit https://buymeacoffee/garyandjanM Thank you so much.
Episode 133: Hearing God in the interruptions

Episode 133: Hearing God in the interruptions

Nov 1, 2026 | 0 comments

Episode Description:

Do you find you keep getting interrupted? Are they interruptions or distractions? Join us as we explore the idea that God’s pattern is that not every interruption is a distraction. Maybe that interruption is really an opportunity for service. A divine interruption is always a call to a proper focus. Every time God interrupts us, God also invites us to follow Him. We have an invitation to create margin in our lives so we can respond well to God-interruptions and love. Do you have enough margin in your life for love?

Episode Notes:

Introduction:

  • Gary often says Jane has a ministry of availability. That is learnt. Jane has learnt to leave margin for the interruptions.
  • There is a difference between interruptions and distractions.
  • Gary explains what he sees as the difference between interruptions and distractions. An interruption is God-ordained. Distractions can be likened to ‘going down a rabbit hole’ and have a fruitless outcome.
  • Interruptions are not necessarily obstacles. They can be opportunities for us to embrace God’s plan.

First Principle: Interruptions can be divine appointments.

  • Jesus was often interrupted. In Mark 5:21-42, Luke 8:40-55, Matthew 9:18-25, we see two stories interwoven with two people from the extremes of society.
  • Jane unpacks this story on Day 15 of her book ‘Ministering like Jesus: how to grow in healing, deliverance and miracles. A 30-day devotional from Mark’s Gospel.
  • A synagogue leader well placed in society has a 12-year-old daughter. He asks Jesus to come to heal his daughter, and Jesus immediately goes with him, no questions asked. We can only presume that doctors couldn’t do anything to treat her.
  • We then see a woman with bleeding issues for 12 years, who has been ostracised from society. She is considered unclean and cannot touch anyone. No doctors could heal her either. She suffered physically, emotionally, and financially, as she was now penniless from seeking healing. She interrupts Jesus by touching the hem of His garment. An ‘unclean’ woman touching Jesus meant He was now unclean and, by law, couldn’t enter the Synagogue leader’s home.
  • The number twelve was significant for both people. Twelve represented faith, perfection, authority, power, and completion.
  • This woman comes up behind Jesus where He cannot see her and touches Him, making Him ‘unclean’ by doing this. She does not want attention. She wants to remain ‘invisible’. Maybe that’s why she didn’t face Him and ask Him to heal her. Instead, she chose to extend her arm to touch His garment discreetly. It seems she hoped He would not notice. Due to her bleeding condition, which made her an outcast, she was ‘invisible’ to society, and this was no different. She did not want anyone, even Jesus, to ‘notice’ her. Maybe she thought that she was not good enough, rich enough, significant enough, influential enough.
  • The woman in the passage today knew the imbalance of societal value and feeling worthless. Here was Jesus, a powerful man, on the way to another powerful man’s house. Not only was she a woman, and a woman of a lower societal standing, but an outcast due to her bleeding.
  • Yet she persisted.
  • After everything she had overcome, she finally reached Jesus. Immediately, this woman knew in her body that she was healed. Instantaneously. Jesus also felt the difference as the power left Him.
  • What I find extremely interesting is that Jesus could have just kept going about His business. People were crowding Him, jostling Him, pushing Him. But He still stopped and acknowledged this woman. He wanted to meet her face to face, to talk with her. To re-establish her standing in society by pronouncing her healed, thus cleansed, and blessing her with peace as she left.
  • Jesus finishes the interaction by calling her ‘daughter’, a title that indicates intimacy, acceptance and position. All the things she was missing in society due to her illness.
  • Do we take that extra time to ‘finish’ what Jesus is doing? With this lady, the healing and transformation were miraculous, but it was restoring her place in society that was the ‘icing on the cake’, the completion. Jesus was letting her know, face to face, that she was now completely healed in all areas.
  • God’s pattern is that not all interruptions are distractions. There can be divine interruptions. A divine interruption is always a call to a proper focus. Every time God gives us an interruption, God also invites us to follow Him.
  • Often, our view of urgency differs from God’s.
  • Moses tending sheep – burning bush. Exodus 3. Minding his own business. Tending sheep. He had just led them through this huge wilderness, come to this mountain, and was trying to keep them from being distracted, but then he was distracted by this bush on fire that wasn’t burning up.
  • Acts 9:1-19 – God interrupted Saul/Paul on the road to Damascus and blinded him for 3 days. Completely changed his life – from murdering Christians to evangelising for Christ.
  • Different types of interruptions – Abraham & Sarah’s lifestyle was interrupted by having a child late in life. Genesis 21:1-7.
  • Gary explored how to determine the difference between a distraction and an interruption, and emphasised the point that if there is an opportunity to do something that you can only do once in your life, do it. That may be God’s agenda for you at that moment.
  • One of our family’s mottos is that failure is not not succeeding. Failure is not having a go in the first place.

Second Principle: Our attitude is important.

  • View interruptions as God-appointments, instead of frustrating nuisances.
  • Look at how you respond – your heart reaction.
  • Are we willing to be inconvenienced?
  • Gary often says Jane has the ministry of availability – that of being available. When Jane realised that and created margin in her life, she was able to respond appropriately. Don’t get bitter and twisted. Jane has found it important to have enough margin for love.
  • Look at Joseph in Luke 1 – engaged to be married. Suddenly your fiancé shares she is pregnant, yet you’ve never had sex.
  • Proverbs 16:9 “In their hearts humans plan their course but the Lord establishes their steps.” The Message version: “We plan the way we want to live, but only God makes us able to live it.”
  • S. Lewis famously addressed the nature of interruptions in a letter to his lifelong friend Arthur Greeves on December 20, 1943
  • “The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one’s ‘own,’ or ‘real’ life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one’s real life—the life God is sending one day by day: what one calls one’s ‘real life’ is a phantom of one’s own imagination.”
  • Maybe that interruption is really an opportunity for service.
  • A Scottish farmer named Fleming viewed his interruptions as opportunities for service. Fleming was a poor Scottish farmer who was working the land when he heard cries for help from a nearby bog. Running to the bog, he found a boy sinking down into the muck with no possible way to get out. Mr. Fleming threw the boy a rope, and saved his life as he was drowning. Farmer Fleming gave the boy a new set of clothing and sent him on his way without getting his name.
  • A few days later, a fancy carriage pulled up to Fleming’s farm. A nobleman got out and thanked Fleming for saving his son’s life in the bog. The nobleman wanted to pay Fleming for his gesture of kindness, but the farmer would not take any money. Fleming’s son came to the door while his father spoke with the nobleman. “Is this your son?” the nobleman asked. Fleming replied, “Yes.” The nobleman said, “Why don’t you let me take your son and educate him? I have a feeling this boy could turn out to be something great… if he’s anything like his father!”
  • Fleming entrusted his son to the care of the nobleman, and some years later his son, Alexander Fleming, graduated from St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School in London, England. Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin. But the story doesn’t end there. The nobleman’s son got pneumonia and became quite ill. Dr. Fleming’s penicillin saved the nobleman’s son’s life! The nobleman was Lord Randolph Churchill, and his son was Sir Winston Churchill!
  • Wouldn’t it have been a loss for the world if Farmer Fleming had not responded to that interruption? The world might not have had penicillin…or Winston Churchill!
  • Remember… an interruption is an opportunity for service.
  • Are we open to the needs of others?
  • Shifting our posture. Instead of “why?”, ask “What are You wanting to do, Lord?”
  • Gary & Jane share a couple of recent God-interruptions.

Third Principle: Can God trust you in the interruptions?

  • On a recent Saturday evening, about 5 pm, after a busy few weeks with the wedding. Jane was totally exhausted. Looking forward to a quiet evening at home. Got into her pyjamas. Knock at the door. Neighbour anxious about his wife. It was a God interruption. Had to get over the fact that she was in her pyjamas. Listened. Asked a couple of questions. He turned the talk to faith. Explored that a bit. Prayed for him and his wife. A God-interruption.
  • Acts 10:1-7 tells us about Cornelius, a Centurion in the Italian Regiment. Responsible for commanding 100 soldiers. “At about three in the afternoon, [Cornelius] had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, ‘Cornelius!’” Though startled, Cornelius responded, “What is it, Lord?” The angel instructed him to send for Peter. Without hesitation, Cornelius “called two of his servants and a devout soldier” to carry out the mission (see Acts 10:3-7).
  • This was probably a regular day at the office for Cornelius, until an angel appeared out of nowhere. Cornelius could have said, “Sorry, angel. Now’s not a good time. Can’t you see I’m busy training my soldiers?” But instead, Cornelius embraced the “interruption” for what it clearly was—a divine appointment from God. God could trust him.
  • Beginning of the ministry to the Gentiles in Acts. While God was interrupting Cornelius, he was also speaking to Peter about sharing with Gentiles. Both Peter and Cornelius obeyed God; Peter went to Cornelius’ home, where he had invited all these Gentiles – Peter spoke, and the Holy Spirit filled them.
  • An invitation to create margin in our lives so that we can respond well to God-interruptions, to love.

Summary:

  1. Interruptions can be divine appointments.
  2. Our attitude is important.
  3. Can God trust you in the interruptions?

Prophetic activation:

Turn your heart and thoughts to Father God and ask Him:

  • “God, please bring to mind an interruption that I don’t like? Something that happens quite regularly but I don’t like it?”
  • “God, how do You view this interruption?”

Time Stamps:

[0:43] – Gary & Jane share how they have heard God this week.

[3:24] – Introduction to interruptions verse distractions.

[6:27] – First Principle: Interruptions can be divine appointments.

[13:07] – Second Principle: Our attitude is important.

[21:48] – Third Principle: Can God trust you in the interruptions?

[24:10] – Summary.

[24:33] – Prophetic activation.

[25:41] – Gary & Jane share a prophetic word for a listener.

[27:11] – Gary prays for you.

Resources / Links Mentioned:

Bible Verses Mentioned:

  • Mark 5:21-42
  • Luke 8:40-55
  • Matthew 9:18-25
  • Exodus 3
  • Acts 9:1-19
  • Genesis 21:1-7
  • Luke 1
  • Proverbs 16:9
  • Acts 10:1-7

Connect with Gary & Jane:

Support the show:

  • Please share this podcast with someone who would value hearing from God.
  • Follow and leave a rating + review on your favourite podcast listening app.
  • If God is leading you to donate or support the show in any way, please visit https://buymeacoffee/garyandjanM Thank you so much.
Episode 132: Hearing God about your past unfulfilled dreams

Episode 132: Hearing God about your past unfulfilled dreams

Oct 25, 2026 | 0 comments

Episode Description:

When you were younger, did you have dreams and desires that you wanted to achieve? Did you feel God asking you to do something, but it never happened? Join us as we share our past unfulfilled dreams and some principles to keep in mind.

Episode Notes:

Background:

  • Jane – going to a closed country.
  • Gary – driving to country towns, visiting the Pastors and praying for them.
  • Episode 127 in ‘Contending with what we thought we heard God say’, I shared a dream I had when our kids were younger about their future life. Recently, God clarified it for me.
  • Explanation of prophetic acts.

First Principle: Revisit the unfulfilled dream

  • Is it still applicable, or have things changed?
  • Did God put that dream in your heart?
  • Is the desire still there?
  • Life happens, but if it is still something that you eagerly desire, a longing, do something about it. Talk about it with God.
  • Proverbs 13:12 “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”

Second Principle: Look at what you do with it now.

  • Do you need to put it aside?
  • You may need to grieve disappointment.
  • Let every dream you currently have be purified by God’s will.
  • Although your dream may appear dead – your God is not!!
  • Augustine said (or commonly attributed to him): “God had one Son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering.” The cross always precedes the resurrection. Do you need to press through?
  • Not every closed door means stop. Not every open door is from God to walk through.
  • Perhaps your unfulfilled dream/desire needs to be adapted?

Third Principle: Surrender your expectations to God

  • Ask God to either take it away, redirect, or reignite your passion.
  • Your identity is not in what you do. It’s in who you are.
  • Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”
  • Live life to the full. We are made for more. John 10:10 Jesus said, “I have come that you may have life and have it to the full.” (Message version – a more and better life than you ever dreamed of)
  • I think of John the Baptist. In John 1:29:31, at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry: “The very next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and yelled out, “Here he is, God’s Passover Lamb! He forgives the sins of the world! This is the man I’ve been talking about, ‘the One who comes after me but is really ahead of me.’ …… and I’m telling you, there’s no question about it: Thisis the Son of God.”
  • A while later, we read in Matthew 11:2-3: “When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” – unfulfilled expectations of Jesus.
  • Imagine how John the Baptist then felt later in Matthew 14:1-12 when John, still in prison, had the guards fetch him to take him to have his head cut off and served up on a platter because Herod, the ruler, had a huge feast, got drunk, had his daughter dance before his guest so enticingly that he promised her anything. Her mother, Herod’s wife, wanted John the Baptist’s head on a plate – so the wish was granted. Jesus could have performed a miracle for him but wasn’t around.
  • Spend time with God. Make time to hear from God about your situation.
  • Pause and be still and listen to how God is trying to speak to you.

Summary: Today we have looked at hearing God about our past unfulfilled dreams.

  1. Revisit the unfulfilled dream.
  2. Look at what you do with it now.
  3. Surrender your expectations to God.

Prophetic activation:

Turn your heart and thoughts to Father God and ask Him:

  • “God, if my life were a blank cheque, what would You write on it?”
  • “God, what are Your desires for me currently and in this next season?”

Time Stamps:

[0:44] – Gary & Jane share how they have heard God this week.

[6:39] – Introduction to our past unfulfilled dreams.

[11:14] – First Principle: Revisit the unfulfilled dream.

[13:23] – Second Principle: Look at what you do with it now.

[14:45] – Third Principle: Surrender your expectations to God.

[18:42] – Summary.

[19:12] – Prophetic activation.

[20:25] – Gary & Jane share a prophetic word for a listener.

[22:41] – Gary prays for you.

Resources / Links Mentioned:

Bible Verses Mentioned:

  • Proverbs 13:12
  • Psalm 37:4
  • John 10:10
  • John 1:29-31
  • Matthew 11:2-3
  • Matthew 14:1-12

Connect with Gary & Jane:

Support the show:

  • Please share this podcast with someone who would value hearing from God.
  • Follow and leave a rating + review on your favourite podcast listening app.
  • If God is leading you to donate or support the show in any way, please visit https://buymeacoffee/garyandjanM Thank you so much.
Episode 131: The simplicity of hearing God

Episode 131: The simplicity of hearing God

Oct 18, 2026 | 0 comments

Episode Description:

Sometimes we make things harder than they need to be. This can happen with hearing God. We can believe that it is hard to hear God, or that we can’t hear Him. Join us as we share our thoughts and experiences, along with some principles to keep in mind.

Episode Notes:

First Principle: Fall in love with Jesus

  • Hearing God means recognising His voice and the ways He tries to get your attention.
  • Sometimes you may be in a relationship with someone, but not in love with them.
  • When you love someone, you want to spend time with them. You can recognise their voice across a room full of people, or if your eyes are blindfolded. You may not be able to see God physically, but you can still recognise His voice.
  • Episode 3 – the different voices we can hear.
  • Episode 4 – the different ways God talks to us.
  • How far away do you see God right now? Is He in the same room as you, behind you, beside you, in a different room, etc.?
  • Gary shares tips for falling in love with Jesus, namely, spend time with Him. Talk to God. Listen to Him. Read His Word. Look at God’s attributes and focus on the one most helpful to you now.

Second Principle: Pause

  • Take a breath. Relax. Pause and allow God to speak. Live in a rush with instant everything – food, gratification, etc.
  • Do we expect God to speak to us?
  • Do we allow God time and space to speak to us?
  • Gary shares what pausing looks like for him. He shares about disconnecting from his phone, people, business/work and allowing minimal distractions by closing his eyes and putting in EarPods while he tries to tune into God.

Third Principle: Quiet the noise externally and internally

  • To hear and recognise it is God, we need to be able to hear His voice.
  • Episode 123 – Quiet the noise externally and internally.
  • Block out/minimalise external and internal noise so we can hear God’s voice.
  • Gary shares practical examples of what he does to quiet the noise.

Summary:

  1. Fall in love with Jesus.
  2. Pause
  3. Quiet the noise externally and internally.

Prophetic activation:

Turn your heart and thoughts to Father God and ask Him:

  • “God, what do You like the most about my daily life, and why?”

Time Stamps:

[0:37] – Gary & Jane share how they have heard God this week.

[5:35] – First Principle: Fall in love with Jesus.

[11:16] – Second Principle: Pause.

[13:35] – Third Principle: Quiet the noise externally and internally.

[16:34] – Summary.

[17:01] – Prophetic activation.

[17:51] – Gary & Jane share a prophetic word for a listener.

[20:08] – Gary prays for you.

Resources / Links Mentioned:

Bible Verses Mentioned:

  • Psalm 46:10
  • Isaiah 61:1-3

Connect with Gary & Jane:

Support the show:

  • Please share this podcast with someone who would value hearing from God.
  • Follow and leave a rating + review on your favourite podcast listening app.
  • If God is leading you to donate or support the show in any way, please visit https://buymeacoffee/garyandjanM Thank you so much.
Episode 130: Why do some people hear God and others don’t?

Episode 130: Why do some people hear God and others don’t?

Oct 11, 2026 | 0 comments

Episode Description:

Have you ever heard God’s voice? If you haven’t, why do you think that is? Why do some people hear God and others don’t? Join us as we share our thoughts and experiences, along with some principles to keep in mind.

Episode Notes:

  • Gary shares why he believes some people hear God and others don’t. Sometimes we are so busy dealing with issues that we feel overwhelmed, and we don’t actually ask God. We can also be distracted. We may even think something is wrong with us.

First Principle: Our expectation that God wants to, and is, speaking to us.

  • Can I say upfront that if you haven’t heard God speaking to you, it is not because you are not good enough. Don’t let Satan trip you up with guilt, etc.
  • Relates to our identity in God.
  • Episode 70 “Can anyone hear God?” – Muslims in their dreams. Don’t have to be a Christian. A donkey in Numbers 22:21-34 heard God.
  • John 5:37-40 – you have never heard his voice for you or seen him because you don’t believe him, and then especially verses 39-40: “You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren’t willing to receive from me the life you say you want.”
  • Sometimes it’s about perspective.
  • We have the right and the privilege of hearing God’s voice.
  • 1 Corinthians 2:9-16 – the Spirit of God in us helps us understand.
  • Ephesians 4:23 – to be made new in the spirit/attitude of our mind.

Second Principle: Recognising how God is speaking to us.

  • Often, we don’t realise that God wants to speak to us. We may have grown up in the church and faithfully have a Quiet Time, pray, serve, etc but don’t recognise God speaking to us.
  • Episode 112 – What if I don’t recognise it’s God?
  • Episode 4 – The Different ways God talks to us.
  • Episode 3 – The different voices we may hear.
  • Episodes 8 & 9 How can I grow in my ability to hear God?
  • Episode 11 What to do when I can’t hear God?
  • Episode 13 – Recognising how God speaks
  • Episode 16 – How else can God speak to me?
  • Episode 67 – What’s the best way to hear God?
  • Parable of the seeds and weeds Matt 13:1-9; Mark 4:2-9; and Luke 8:4-15. Four different places the ‘seed’ lands –
    • Hard ground/path – birds eat it. Closed to things of God.
    • Rocky ground – shallow roots, give up
    • Thorny ground – crowded out with weeds, things of this world.
    • Good soil – fertile ground, different amounts of crops
  • Ephesians 1:17-19 “I pray the eyes of your heart may be enlightened.”
  • We don’t have to be special to hear God. The Pharisees knew all the rules but never heard God’s voice. It’s about our heart posture.
  • Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 – heard God say Leave your family and go to this land. Why didn’t other people around him hear God?
  • Moses saw physical evidence of God (Exodus 3), e.g., the burning bush – stopped and turned aside to watch the strange phenomenon – had time/margin in his life plus acknowledged something strange. Why didn’t others around that time hear and see God?

Third Principle: Our lifestyle to allow time to recognise God speaking to us

  • We may be unaware of how God can speak to us.
  • We may be living such a busy life or distracted that we don’t pay attention.
  • Romans 8:5. Is our attention on the flesh or the things of God?
  • Colossians 3:1-2 commands us to set our hearts on the things above and not to get absorbed in earthly things. Yes, there is a balance here – we need to live in this world but not let the world live in us. Don’t let competing voices take over our time and thought life.
  • Romans 12:2 – don’t conform to the patterns of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
  • To guard the heart: Proverbs 4:23 “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Other translations, because it is the wellspring of life.
  • Look at how your brain is wired, how it works, your giftings and strengths.
  • Make time and space. Quiet the noise externally and internally.
  • Episode 123 “Which voice is louder?”
  • John 10:10 “I have come that you may have life and have life to the full.”
  • John 10:2-16: We can hear God clearly and know God’s voice. It’s all about intimacy and relationship.
  • Do we position ourselves?
  • Do we tune into the right channel? Dial into the right frequency?
  • Our desire and readiness play a huge part too.

Summary:

  1. Our expectation that God is speaking to us.
  2. Recognising how God is speaking to us.
  3. Our lifestyle to allow time to recognise God speaking to us.

Prophetic activation:

Turn your heart and thoughts to Father God and ask Him:

  • “God, if I were an animal or a bird, what animal or bird would I be, and why?”

Time Stamps:

[0:40] – Gary & Jane share how they have heard God this week.

[4:19] – Introduction.

[5:28] – First Principle: Our expectation that God wants to, and is, speaking to us.

[8:33] – Second Principle: Recognising how God is speaking to us.

[14:09] – Third Principle: Our lifestyle to allow time to recognise God speaking to us.

[18:21] – Summary.

[18:51] – Prophetic activation.

[19:46] – Gary & Jane share a prophetic word for a listener.

[21:57] – Gary prays for you.

Resources / Links Mentioned:

Bible Verses Mentioned:

  • Psalm 46:10
  • Numbers 22:21-34
  • John 5:37-40
  • 1 Corinthians 2:9-16
  • Ephesians 4:23
  • Matthew 13:1-9
  • Mark 4:2-9
  • Luke 8:4-15
  • Ephesians 1:17-19
  • Genesis 12:1-3
  • Exodus 3
  • Romans 8:5
  • Colossians 3:1-2
  • Romans 12:2
  • Proverbs 4:23
  • John 10:2-16

Connect with Gary & Jane:

Support the show:

  • Please share this podcast with someone who would value hearing from God.
  • Follow and leave a rating + review on your favourite podcast listening app.
  • If God is leading you to donate or support the show in any way, please visit https://buymeacoffee/garyandjanM Thank you so much.
Episode 129: How do I know if I’ve prayed enough?

Episode 129: How do I know if I’ve prayed enough?

Oct 4, 2026 | 0 comments

Episode Description:

How do you know when you have prayed enough about a certain issue? How does hearing God relate to knowing if you’ve prayed enough about that issue? Join us as we share our experience and some principles to keep in mind.

Episode Notes:

Background:

  • Earlier this year, a friend asked me the question, “How do I know if I have prayed enough about this medical issue I have in relation to hearing from God? When do I just leave it to God?”
  • Luke 18:1-8: the parable of the persistent widow.
  • Episode 122 – God never answered my prayer. (Looked at disappointment with God)
  • Episode 127 – Contending for your situation with what you’ve heard God say.
  • A word of caution: We are not experts, just fellow travellers. Ultimately, it is a step of faith.
  • It’s a lie when we think, “If only I had prayed more, this ‘bad’ thing wouldn’t have happened. Eg Mum dying of cancer.

First Principle: When you have peace.

  • Philippians 4:6-7 “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
  • Message version: “Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the centre of your life.”
  • Galatians 5:19-22: fruits of the Spirit and the flesh. Guilt and worry are from the enemy, NOT from God.
  • Gary shared what trusting God and God’s peace look like for him, especially in relation to hearing God.
  • Sometimes you need to do a prophetic act.
  • Gary shared about putting your prayers on a platter and giving the platter to God.

Second Principle: When you feel a shift and no longer feel a need to pray.

  • I felt God telling me to pray for a certain leader back in 2016. I did not enjoy praying for this person. Thankfully, after 3 months, the burden lifted. A shift occurred. It didn’t seem like anything in the external had changed. But 10 years later, there has suddenly been a massive change. I don’t know if my prayers made any difference, but the outcome has been what I was praying for.
  • My friend felt a shift in emotion regarding her medical issue. Initial frantic praying. Then a peace, but then frantic again whenever she had spare time on her hands. Then felt God say, “I’ve got it in my hands.”

Third Principle: Ask God

  • It’s about relationship, not rules.
  • Intimacy is the goal.
  • There are no formulas with God, but there are some methods that work more effectively, e.g., Josh hearing about the RAAF and the young guy hearing about the Police Force.
  • Traffic lights – no, not yet, or yes.
  • Are you a ‘random’ prayer?

Summary: Hearing God about how do I know when I have prayed enough?

  1. When you have peace.
  2. When you feel a shift and no longer feel the need to pray.
  3. Ask God.

Prophetic activation:

Turn your heart and thoughts to Father God and ask Him:

  • “God, is there an area in my life I need to give over to You and not worry about, to leave in Your hands, to almost not even pray about anymore?”

Time Stamps:

[0:43] – Gary & Jane share how they have heard God this week.

[4:51] – Background to this episode.

[7:17] – First Principle: When you have peace.

[10:38] – Second Principle: When you feel a shift and no longer feel a need to pray.

[13:35] – Third Principle: Ask God.

[16:26] – Summary

[16:51] – Prophetic activation.

[17:54] – Gary & Jane share a prophetic word for a listener.

[20:11] – Gary prays for you.

Resources / Links Mentioned:

Bible Verses Mentioned:

  • Luke 18:1-8
  • Philippians 4:6-7
  • Galatians 5:19-22

Connect with Gary & Jane:

Support the show:

  • Please share this podcast with someone who would value hearing from God.
  • Follow and leave a rating + review on your favourite podcast listening app.
  • If God is leading you to donate or support the show in any way, please visit https://buymeacoffee/garyandjanM Thank you so much.
Episode 128: Hearing God about praying for big events

Episode 128: Hearing God about praying for big events

Sep 27, 2026 | 0 comments

Episode Description:

What do you pray for the big events in your life? What is God’s heart for those events? Do you limit God by what you are praying for? Join Gary & me as we share what we’re hearing from God about what to pray for various big events in our lives, along with some principles to keep in mind.

Episode Notes:

First Principle: Submit our desires to God

  • Don’t want to be controlling.
  • Share everything with God – He already knows anyway.
  • Psalm 37:4 “Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”
    Heart transformation: the more we focus on God and take delight in Him, the purer our desires become.
  • Jeremiah 29:11-12 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.”

Second Principle: Stop and ask God what He wants as an outcome

  • Stop. Quiet the noise around and within.
  • Inner peace.
  • Align with God’s desires.
  • Do I limit God working in my life?

Third Principle: Learn from others’ prayers.

  • I initially would have said, ‘listen to others praying’, but we can learn from the ancient fathers of the faith.
  • Dr Roland Ashby (@dr.roland_ashby), e.g., praying for our daughter’s marriage –
    • not to repeat our mistakes
    • against anyone coming between Sarah and Cooper

Fourth Principle: Pray BIG prayers

  • James 5:16b-18 (The Message version): “The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. Elijah, for instance, human just like us, prayed hard that it wouldn’t rain, and it didn’t—not a drop for three and a half years. Then he prayed that it would rain, and it did. The showers came and everything started growing again.”
  • Going to Cambodia on a mission trip. Prayed that the temperature would drop 10 degrees Celsius. It did for a week.
  • 1 John 5:14 “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”
  • John 14:12-14 “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
  • You get what you expect. Expect BIG things. God created the universe. He raised the dead. He healed the sick, made blind eyes see. He can do anything.
  • Ephesians 3:20 “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” Message version – “God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!”
  • George Müller once said, “Faith doesn’t operate in the realm of the possible. There is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible. Faith begins where man’s power ends”. This was a man who ran an orphanage in One day the housemother came to inform George, “The children are dressed and ready for school. But there is no food for them to eat.” George asked her to take the 300 children into the dining room and have them sit at the tables. He thanked God for the food and waited. George knew God would provide food for the children as he always did. Within minutes, a baker knocked on the door. “Mr Muller,” he said, “last night I could not sleep. Somehow, I knew that you would need bread this morning. I got up and baked three batches for you. I will bring it in.”  Soon, there was another knock at the door. It was the milkman. His cart had broken down in front of the orphanage. The milk would spoil by the time the wheel was fixed. He asked George if he could use some free milk. George smiled as the milkman brought in ten large cans of milk. It was just enough for the 300 thirsty children.”
  • Do I limit God’s work in my life?

Summary:

  1. Submit our desires to God.
  2. Stop and ask God what He wants as an outcome.
  3. Learn from others’ prayers.
  4. Pray BIG prayers.

Prophetic activation:

Turn your heart and thoughts to Father God and ask Him:

  • “God, can You please bring to mind a big event I’m involved in in these next few months?”
  • “God, can You please reveal to me Your heart for that event?”

Time Stamps:

[1:20] – Gary & Jane share how they have heard God this week.

[5:18] – First Principle: Submit our desires to God.

[7:46] – Second Principle: Stop and ask God what He wants as an outcome.

[8:44] – Third Principle: Learn from others’ prayers.

[11:11] – Fourth Principle: Pray BIG prayers.

[17:14] – Summary

[17:38] – Prophetic activation.

[18:40] – Gary & Jane share a prophetic word for a listener.

[20:42] – Gary prays for you.

Resources / Links Mentioned:

Bible Verses Mentioned:

  • Psalm 37:4
  • Jeremiah 29:11-12
  • James 5:16b-18
  • 1 John 5:14
  • John 14:12-14
  • Ephesians 3:20

Connect with Gary & Jane:

Support the show:

  • Please share this podcast with someone who would value hearing from God.
  • Follow and leave a rating + review on your favourite podcast listening app.
  • If God is leading you to donate or support the show in any way, please visit https://buymeacoffee/garyandjanM Thank you so much.
Episode 127: Contending with what we heard God say

Episode 127: Contending with what we heard God say

Sep 20, 2026 | 0 comments

Episode Description:

Do you know how to fight your battles using what you have already heard from God? How do you use your prophetic words to contend with your current situation? Join Gary & me as we share personal experiences of fighting various ‘battles’ using our prophetic words.

Episode Notes:

Introduction:

  • Our experience with our daughter being extremely sick
  • Episode 115 – What do I do with what I heard God say?

First Principle: Check that what you heard from God is true.

  • Check the source.
  • Does it bring peace or chaos?
  • Test it. Does it line up with the Bible, wise, trusted people, etc?
  • Look for confirmation. Ask God for confirmation.
  • 1 John 4:1 says to test that it is the Spirit of God.
  • What is the fruit, the outcome, etc?

Second Principle: Wield your weapon.

  • What you heard from God is a weapon. Prophetic words are a weapon to use to fight the battle.
  • Eg friends struggling with relationships within their family imploding despite prophetic words about their family being united and all with a close relationship with Jesus. You don’t need prophetic words about that unless you don’t have unity, etc. Prophetic words would have been nice but irrelevant.
  • Write a declaration about the outcome and speak it out regularly.
  • Isaiah 55:11 “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” Message version: “So will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. They’ll do the work I sent them to do; they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.”
  • Challenge: What assignment are you giving your words?
  • What you heard from God is not an empty promise. Pray it into being.
  • 1 Timothy 1:18 “Timothy, my son, I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well.”

Third Principle: Grow into becoming the person needed to win the battle

  • Grow your identity and authority. We defeat our internal giants before we can take on external giants. E.g. if we’re afraid and haven’t gone after inner peace with God, then we can’t expect to come against fear in the atmosphere.
  • Spend time in the Bible, solidifying your identity. Our identity affects our authority and the way we pray.
  • Practice hearing from God.
  • Make a song playlist to fight your battles. I have a list on Spotify called ‘warfare,’ e.g. Raise a Hallelujah, Praise Before My Breakthrough, Way Maker, Promises Never Fail, Prophesy Your Promise, Goodness of God, etc.
  • Renew your mind on the things of God.

Fourth Principle: Get help

  • Ask a couple of people to be prayer partners with you. Uphold you in prayer.
  • List your strategies.
  • Praise and worship. Armies in the OT went into battle with the trumpeters out the front. They heralded that the army had a battle plan, was on the offensive, and would win. The trumpeters and musicians broke the path. Our worship and praise break strongholds spiritually. Never underestimate the power of praise and worship.
  • Practice gratitude.
  • Speak life over your situation.

Summary:

  1. Check that what you heard from God is true.
  2. Wield your weapon.
  3. Grow into becoming the person needed to win the battle.
  4. Get help.

Prophetic activation:

Turn your heart and thoughts to Father God and ask Him:

  • “God, what weapon would You like to give me today?”
  • You might like to ask God further questions about that, e.g., how to use the weapon or what the weapon is for in your life, etc.

Time Stamps:

[0:42] – Gary & Jane share how they have heard God this week.

[6:01] – Introduction.

[10:55] – First Principle: Check that what you heard from God is true.

[11:29] – Second Principle: Wield your weapon.

[19:28] – Third Principle: Grow into becoming the person needed to win the battle.

[22:09] – Fourth Principle: Get help.

[23:18] – Summary

[23:45] – Prophetic activation.

[24:39] – Gary & Jane share a prophetic word for a listener.

[28:05] – Gary prays for you.

Resources / Links Mentioned:

Bible Verses Mentioned:

  • Proverbs 31:25
  • Jeremiah 29:11
  • 1 John 4:1
  • Isaiah 55:11
  • 1 Timothy 1:18
  • Psalm 100:4

Connect with Gary & Jane:

Support the show:

  • Please share this podcast with someone who would value hearing from God.
  • Follow and leave a rating + review on your favourite podcast listening app.
  • If God is leading you to donate or support the show in any way, please visit https://buymeacoffee/garyandjanM Thank you so much.
Episode 126: The purpose of hearing God

Episode 126: The purpose of hearing God

Sep 13, 2026 | 0 comments

Episode Description:

What is the purpose of hearing God? Why do we want to hear God? Join Gary & me as we share that hearing God is about intimacy with our Heavenly Father, and we unpack what that can look like.

Episode Notes:

Introduction:

  • I sometimes feel that we can lose sight of the purpose of hearing God. I’ve been guilty of this when giving prophetic words (hearing from God for someone else). We can get slick with the delivery, etc but lose the ‘heart’ in it.
  • Episode 5 – purpose of hearing God in relation to prophetic words. Today we are looking at it in relation to hearing God for ourselves.

First Principle: It’s all about intimacy

  • It’s not about what we do, but who we are and how we relate to God.
  • Matthew 22:37-39: “Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’”
  • Message version puts it: “Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.”
  • What does loving God look like?
  • What does intimacy with God look like?

Second Principle: Learn to hear God in a multitude of ways

  • Yes, it is also about divine guidance, spiritual insight, but more importantly, relationship.
  • 1 Corinthians 2:16b we have the mind of Christ.
  • Drawing closer to God.
  • Gary shares what intimacy with God looks like for him and how he hears from God.
  • Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23.

Summary:

  1. It’s all about intimacy.
  2. Learn to hear God in a multitude of ways.

Prophetic activation:

Turn your heart and thoughts to Father God and ask Him:

  • “God, can You please bring a song to my mind?”
  • “God, why did You bring that song to mind?”

Time Stamps:

[0:36] – Gary & Jane share how they have heard God this week.

[5:41] – Introduction.

[7:03] – First Principle: It’s all about intimacy.

[11:20] – Second Principle: Learn to hear God in a multitude of ways.

[15:00] – Summary

[15:24] – Prophetic activation.

[16:28] – Gary & Jane share a prophetic word for a listener.

[19:11] – Gary prays for you.

Resources / Links Mentioned:

Bible Verses Mentioned:

  • 1 Corinthians 14:3
  • Matthew 22:37-39
  • 1 Corinthians 2:16b
  • Galatians 5:22-23 (fruit of the spirit)

Connect with Gary & Jane:

Support the show:

  • Please share this podcast with someone who would value hearing from God.
  • Follow and leave a rating + review on your favourite podcast listening app.
  • If God is leading you to donate or support the show in any way, please visit https://buymeacoffee/garyandjanM Thank you so much.
Episode 125: Hearing God about our Fathers

Episode 125: Hearing God about our Fathers

Sep 6, 2026 | 0 comments

Episode Description:

Today, on Father’s Day in Australia, we acknowledge the wide range of emotions we feel about our fathers. When our earthly fathers leave needs and expectations unmet, we can project that lack onto God. Join Gary & I as we unpack how our relationship with our earthly father can affect how we hear our Heavenly Father, and what we can do about it.

Episode Notes:

Introduction:

  • We acknowledge the wide range of emotions around our father and Father’s Day.
  • You can’t out-sin God’s love.
  • Your past doesn’t define you. Your mistakes don’t define you. If you have made some bad choices, your mistakes don’t define you. Some of God’s best players are His imperfect, broken prodigals. God specialises in short-tempered, reckless, flawed people. God constantly uses broken, messy people to bring glory to Himself and to reach others.
  • Nun working in a men’s prison. Bought Mother’s Day cards for prisoners to write a letter to their mums. Had to get heaps more in. Father’s Day was coming up, so she contacted Hallmark to arrange a bulk delivery of Father’s Day cards – none taken. Not one single card. A lot of father issues.
  • A father’s role is to love, protect and keep safe, provide for, and give identity to their children.
  • Unfortunately, we live in a fallen world.
  • A lot of heartache.
  • Honour our fathers and mothers. Fifth commandment Exodus 20:12 – “Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lordyour God is giving you.”

First Principle: See your dad through God’s eyes

  • My dad – unmet expectations.
  • Had to accept that he was incapable of meeting my expectations and functioning as a healthy dad.
  • His early years were horrific.
  • Ask God to show you His view of your father, His love for your father, His compassion towards you for what you may have missed out on by having your father as your father. You may need to deal with your baggage and hurt first so you can hear God clearly. Eg SOZO / prayer ministry
  • Minimise judgement.
  • Recognise we are not perfect either. See our dad through God’s eyes.
  • Sometimes through unmet expectations of our father, we project our father’s lack onto God.

Second Principle: Don’t carry baggage – deal with it.

  • Hurt people hurt people.
  • Love and forgive.
  • It can help to write a letter to your dad – even if you never give it to him.

Third Principle: Our Heavenly Father is the perfect Father.

  • Romans 8:15-16 Message version: “God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children.”
  • 2 Corinthians 6:18 “I will be a Father to you,and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
  • Ephesians 1:4-5 “Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago, he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ.”
  • 1 John 3:1 “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”
  • The Old Testament doesn’t talk much about God being a father.
  • Exodus 4:22 Lord talking to Moses, “Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lordsays: Israel is my firstborn son.”
  • Psalm 103:13 “As a father has compassion on his children,so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.”
  • Isaiah 64:8 “Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.”
  • Psalm 68:5 “A father to the fatherless, a defender/protector of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. Verse 6 – God sets the lonely in families,
  • Luke 15: 20-24 – parable of the lost son and the father’s response when he returns home.
  • Song, “Good, Good Father”
  • The beauty of God being a Good, Good Father is that if there are areas we feel as though we’ve missed out on from our own father, God can fill the gap.

Summary:

  1. See your dad through God’s eyes.
  2. Don’t carry baggage – deal with it.
  3. Our Heavenly Father is the perfect Father.

Prophetic activation:

Turn your heart and thoughts to Father God and ask Him:

  • “God, what have I missed out on from my earthly father?”
  • “God, what do I need from You as my Heavenly Father?”

Fathers provide presence, protection, provision, love, and identity.

Time Stamps:

[0:40] – Gary & Jane share how they have heard God this week.

[6:39] – Introduction.

[8:27] – First Principle: See your dad through God’s eyes.

[11:49] – Second Principle: Don’t carry baggage. Deal with it.

[14:42] – Third Principle: Our Heavenly Father is the perfect father.

[16:52] – Summary

[17:15] – Prophetic activation.

[18:31] – Gary & Jane share a prophetic word for a listener.

[20:43] – Gary prays for you.

Resources / Links Mentioned:

Bible Verses Mentioned:

  • Exodus 20:12
  • Romans 8:15-16
  • 2 Corinthians 6:18
  • Ephesians 1:4-5
  • 1 John 3:1
  • Exodus 4:22
  • Psalm 103:13
  • Isaiah 64:8
  • Psalm 68:5
  • Luke 15:20-24

Connect with Gary & Jane:

Support the show:

  • Please share this podcast with someone who would value hearing from God.
  • Follow and leave a rating + review on your favourite podcast listening app.
  • If God is leading you to donate or support the show in any way, please visit https://buymeacoffee/garyandjanM Thank you so much.
Episode 124: Do I limit hearing God?

Episode 124: Do I limit hearing God?

Aug 30, 2026 | 0 comments

Episode Description:

Have you ever thought you needed to do something significant with your life to make it count? Are you so busy you don’t intentionally take time to stop and hear God? Is your faith big enough to handle anything God might share with you? Join Gary & I as we unpack how we limit hearing God, share personal examples, and bring wisdom in these areas.

Episode Notes:

Background:

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been musing on the fact that when I was younger, I believed a lie – that I have to do something hugely important and big with my life that will live on after I die, i.e., for my name to continue down through the generations. I now realised that that was incorrect. For sure, a limited number of people do do something with their life that has huge implications, good and bad, for the world, but most of us are trying to make the best of our daily life.

How does that equate to hearing God?

First Principle: Am I believing the lie that I have to do something big for God to make my life count?

  • Sounds a bit harsh – is my mindset full of doubt or unbelief?
  • Always looking for more or devaluing what I am doing.
  • Confess that lie.
  • Gary & Jane share how they think they limit hearing God
  • It is not wrong to ask, “God, what am I meant to be doing with my life?” and regularly assess that.
  • Episode 123 “Which voice is louder?”

Second Principle: Am I living life too small?

  • Am I stepping out of my comfort zone and being courageous?
  • Is my faith big enough?
  • Do I have unbelief or doubt that God will speak to me?
  • Start from a faith-filled position.
  • Do I understand how God is trying to communicate with me?
  • Episode 4 – How does God talk to us?
  • Episode 8 – How can I grow in my ability to hear God?
  • Episode 13 – Recognising how God speaks to us.
  • Episode 75 & 76 – How can I grow in hearing God?
  • Colossians 3:1-2 “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”
  • Gary & Jane share how they have intentionally grown their faith.

Third Principle: Do I intentionally set aside time to hear God?

  • Like dating – initially you can’t get enough of spending time with this amazing person. Hang on their every word. Fast-forward: married for 7 years, take each other for granted. Prioritise spending time with other people over time spent with them.
  • Am I filling my time so I don’t have to be still and confront my demons?
  • Episode 20 – Making time to hear God.

Summary:

  1. Am I believing the lie that I have to do something big for God to make my life count?
  2. Am I living life too small?
  3. Do I intentionally set aside time to hear God?

Prophetic activation:

Turn your heart and thoughts to Father God and ask Him:

  • “God, where do I need to take a step forward? In which part of my life would You like me to step outside of my comfort zone?”
  • It might even help to draw a mind map of your life and ask God, “What are Your thoughts on my work here, on how I spend my time here, what are Your thoughts on… this?”
  • Take some time with God and ask Him questions about the different areas of your life and where He would like you to step forward intentionally.

Time Stamps:

[0:39] – Gary & Jane share how they have heard God this week.

[4:28] – Introduction.

[5:33] – First Principle: Am I believing the lie that I have to do something big for God to make my life count?

[9:17] – Gary & Jane share how they think they limit God.

[10:31] – Second Principle: Am I living life too small?

[14:12] – Gary & Jane share how they have intentionally grown their faith.

[16:27] – Third Principle: Do I intentionally set aside time to hear God?

[17:47] – Summary

[18:14] – Prophetic activation.

[19:42] – Gary & Jane share a prophetic word for a listener.

[22:43] – Gary prays for you.

Resources / Links Mentioned:

Bible Verses Mentioned:

  • Colossians 3:1-2

Connect with Gary & Jane:

Support the show:

  • Please share this podcast with someone who would value hearing from God.
  • Follow and leave a rating + review on your favourite podcast listening app.
  • If God is leading you to donate or support the show in any way, please visit https://buymeacoffee/garyandjanM Thank you so much.
Episode 123: Which voice is louder – God’s or culture’s?

Episode 123: Which voice is louder – God’s or culture’s?

Aug 23, 2026 | 0 comments

Episode Description:

Do you find it hard to hear God’s still, small voice? Does a lot of ‘noise’ fill your day and compete for your attention? Join us as we unpack this topic, share personal examples, and offer wisdom to help you create space and quiet to hear God’s voice.

Episode Notes:

Introduction:

  • Our culture today is very demanding.
  • Social media and noise can fill our day and compete for our attention.
  • FOMO – Fear of missing out.
  • Instant gratification.
  • Absorb culture and don’t seem to question it because everyone else is doing it.

First Principle: Regularly stop and assess

  • Take stock. What is the loudest, most influential voice in my life right now?
  • Look at what is filling your days, your mind, your thought life, the ‘down’ times of your day.
  • What is keeping you awake at night? What do you think of first thing in the morning?
  • Look at your social media access. Try fasting from social media or whatever is grabbing your attention and see how it goes.
  • Don’t just coast along, but make a habit of asking questions.
  • Learn to question your choices, decisions, lifestyle, e.g., education system, way you spend finances, holidays, buying a house, what fills your time, e.g., work/study, etc.
  • Romans 12:1-2 “Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” The Message version is “Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.”
  • Conform – take on the shape. Don’t live in a fortress out of fear, though.
  • Surround yourself with ‘truth-tellers’ – people who will be honest with you. Not just ‘yes’ people.
  • Proverbs 13:20 “Become wise by walking with the wise; hang out with fools and watch your life fall to pieces.”
  • I am prompted to get back into the habit of reading a chapter of Proverbs each day, e.g., on the 7th day read chapter 7, etc.

Second Principle: Pause. Be still.

  • Quiet the ‘external’ voice.
  • Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God” It’s in a chapter about chaos. Verses 1-3 “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”
  • Selah – stop and catch your breath. Pause. Usually used in the middle of chaos. A reminder to stop, pause, take a breath, settle your mind, heart, and thoughts. E.g. Psalm 3 when David is fleeing from his enemies. Not a time to take a break and rest. But it is built into the narrative – don’t turn your mind off God during those times.

Third Principle: One way God speaks is in a still, small voice.

  • 1 Kings 19: 7-12. Elijah had shown up the prophets of Baal and annihilated them, but then got scared and ran for his life. An angel of the Lord gave him food, water and rest because he was hungry and tired, and that was affecting him physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Then he travelled another 40 days and nights, went into a cave where he heard in verse 9: “And the word of the Lordcame to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
  • Nature can calm us.
  • John 10:27 “My sheep listen to (or recognise) my voice. I know them and they follow me.”
  • John 17:15-17 “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”

Summary:

  1. Regularly stop and assess.
  2. Pause. Be still.
  3. One way God speaks is in a still, small voice.

Prophetic activation:

Turn your heart and thoughts to Father God and ask Him:

  • “God, is there something I could take a break from or fast this week to spend more quiet time with You?”
  • “God, can You please show me how or when I can take a break this week?”

Time Stamps:

[0:37] – Gary & Jane share how they have heard God this week.

[5:41] – Introduction.

[7:09] – First Principle: Regularly stop and assess.

[16:28] – Second Principle: Pause. Be still.

[19:39] – Third Principle: One way God speaks is in a still, small voice.

[22:47] – Summary

[23:11] – Prophetic activation.

[24:23] – Gary & Jane share a prophetic word for a listener.

[26:51] – Gary prays for you.

Resources / Links Mentioned:

Bible Verses Mentioned:

  • Romans 12:1-2
  • Proverbs 13:20
  • Psalm 46:10
  • Psalm 3
  • 1 Kings 19:7-12
  • John 10:27
  • John 17:15-17

Connect with Gary & Jane:

Support the show:

  • Please share this podcast with someone who would value hearing from God.
  • Follow and leave a rating + review on your favourite podcast listening app.
  • If God is leading you to donate or support the show in any way, please visit https://buymeacoffee/garyandjanM Thank you so much.
Episode 122: God never answered my prayer

Episode 122: God never answered my prayer

Aug 16, 2026 | 0 comments

Episode Description:

You may be wondering how the topic, ‘God never answered my prayer,’ relates to hearing God. Heaps. When we become disappointed with God because He never answered our prayer, it impacts our willingness, openness, and ability to hear God. Join us as we unpack this topic, share personal examples, and bring wisdom in this area.

Episode Notes:

Our experience:

  • Jane’s experience of Ruth dying, her mum dying, and infertility.
  • Gary’s experience with disappointment, especially around career changes.
  • Disappointment with God – unmet expectations, when something we have hoped for, prayed for, expected didn’t occur. Sometimes we can put up walls of protection to prevent further hurt. This can become a blockage to hearing God.
  • Be honest. Don’t become offended with God. Don’t let bitterness begin.
  • Practice gratitude.
  • Anchor myself in the promises of God. God’s truth, not my experience.
  • Episode 21: Hearing God when God is silent.
  • Episode 17: When I thought I heard God, but it didn’t come true.

First Principle: Deal with your disappointment.

  • Forgive. Then change your thinking.
  • Proverbs 13:12 “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” The Message version: “Unrelenting disappointment leaves your heart sick.”
  • Don’t critique God. Lean into Him. Now is not the time to pull away from God. Don’t allow the enemy to fester disappointment, offence, and bitterness.
  • Psalm 34:18 “The Lordis close/near to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” The Message version: “If your heart is broken, you’ll find God right there; if you’re kicked in the gut, he’ll help you catch your breath.”
  • Psalm 27:13-14 “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lordin the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”
  • Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
  • Hebrews 10:23 “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.”
  • Romans 12:2 “Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The Message version – “Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognise what he wants from you and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
  • Psalm 34:1 “I will praise the Lord at all times.”
  • Just because we’ve experienced disappointment does not mean that God’s character has changed.

Second Principle: Accept the mystery.

  • Life’s not fair. Accept it.
  • God’s character hasn’t changed because we’ve experienced loss. In his sermon several days after his wife died of cancer, Bill Johnson said, “God doesn’t owe us an explanation.”
  • We can be so busy asking God why that we don’t listen to what He is saying.
  • It’s not helpful to ask God ‘why’. Accept the mystery. Job in the Bible – God never gives him an answer to why. Instead, “I’m God, and you’re not”. Sometimes that has to be enough.
  • God’s not a fairy godmother who will fix everything.
  • We are not called to live an easy life. Luke 9:23 – we are called to deny ourselves and follow Christ.
  • Saw a quote – “Be so rooted in God’s love that even disappointment feels like divine protection.” @jenessawait (IG)

Third Principle: Move forward.

  • Can I say, “I still keep showing up”? “I still want to hear God”. This becomes my new normal.
  • Our purpose in life is not to reach a destination but in the journey.
  • Don’t be like the Israelites in the wilderness, whinging about everything despite seeing God turn up and do miracle after miracle. Be thankful, obedient and faithful.
  • Practice gratitude.
  • Isaiah 60:18 “No longer will violence be heard in your land nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates, praise.” We give God praise.
  • Psalm 100:4 – Enter God’s courts with thanksgiving and praise.

Summary:

  1. Deal with your disappointment.
  2. Accept the mystery.
  3. Move forward.

Prophetic activation:

Turn your heart and thoughts to Father God and ask Him:

  • “God, can You please show me any areas in my life or my thoughts that are not in agreement with You, Lord?”
  • “God, are there any walls of protection I’ve built in my life, or any bitter roots I’ve allowed to develop from past hurts?”
  • “God, is there anyone I need to forgive?” (Maybe even yourself. If a person immediately comes to mind, take that as a sign that forgiveness is still required.)

Time Stamps:

[0:45] – Gary & Jane share how they have heard God this week.

[5:38] – Gary & Jane’s experience.

[10:22] – First Principle: Deal with your disappointment.

[13:40] – Second Principle: Accept the mystery.

[16:44] – Third Principle: Move forward.

[18:50] – Summary

[19:10] – Prophetic activation.

[20:45] – Gary & Jane share a prophetic word for a listener.

[22:43] – Gary prays for you.

Resources / Links Mentioned:

Bible Verses Mentioned:

  • Ruth
  • Proverbs 13:12
  • Psalm 34:18
  • Psalm 27:13-14
  • Romans 8:28
  • Hebrews 10:23
  • Romans 12:2
  • Psalm 34:1
  • Luke 9:23
  • Job
  • Isaiah 60:18
  • Psalm 100:4
  • Joshua1:6-9

Connect with Gary & Jane:

Support the show:

  • Please share this podcast with someone who would value hearing from God.
  • Follow and leave a rating + review on your favourite podcast listening app.
  • If God is leading you to donate or support the show in any way, please visit https://buymeacoffee/garyandjanM Thank you so much.
Episode 121: What if God asks me to do something bizarre?

Episode 121: What if God asks me to do something bizarre?

Aug 9, 2026 | 0 comments

Episode Description:

How would you respond if God asked you to do something bizarre? Do you have a ‘grid’ for how you would make your decision? Join us as we give both Biblical and personal examples and share guidelines and a caution to keep in mind if, and when, you hear God ask you to do something bizarre.

Episode Notes:

Previous episodes:

  • Episode 57 -Ezekiel

God asked Ezekiel to do prophetic acts – physical acts that have implications and change things in the spiritual world. A prophetic act is something done (at God’s direction) in the natural (physical) realm that supports God’s work in the spiritual realm and brings forth results manifested in the natural realm. It opens a channel for God’s presence, power, and victory to affect the physical realm and change outcomes. Examples of Ezekiel doing this include eating the scroll, taking a block of clay and building siege works, lying on his left side for 390 days to bear the sin for the number of days that represent the years of Israel’s sin and then lying on his right side for 40 days – the number of years of Judah’s sin. He took wheat to bake barley bread over human excrement for fuel – symbolising Israelites eating defiled food among the nations. Ezekiel said he would not defile himself that way, so God allowed him to bake it over cow dung instead. Shaving head, burning 1/3 of the hair, scatter 1/3, cut 1/3 with the sword, representing 1/3 die by plague/famine, 1/3 scattered to the wind and 1/3 fall to the sword.

  • Episode 34 – Hosea to marry a prostitute
  • Episode 39 – Esther – go before the King uninvited – beheaded if not accepted
  • Episode 40 – Noah in Genesis 6-9 when God asks him to build this 3-storey boat. He built this huge boat when there was no rain. Even more bizarre when you realise they were tent dwellers and had no grid for rain and floods.
  • Episode 51 – Mary in Luke 1:26-56 – angel said you will conceive supernaturally
  • Episode 53 – Jonah – to go to the most depraved city and tell them God is bringing judgment. 7th Century BC, Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire. No love between Israel and the Assyrian Empire. The Assyrians would conquer cities and rape and take captive the women and kill the men and children. The Assyrians would tear off the lips and hands of their victims and skin them alive. Nahum 3:1-4 tells us what Nineveh was like – a city of blood, full of lies and plunder, war, fighting, corpses in the middle of the street, prostitution, and witchcraft. Jonah thought they would kill him. Likened to a Jew during World War 2, hearing God say to go to Hitler and tell Nazi Germany to repent.

First Principle: Check if it is from God

  • Ask wise, trusted people. Does it align with Biblical principles?
  • Mark 3:21 – Jesus’ family saying, ‘He’s out of his mind’. Jesus had broken the law by healing on the Sabbath, attracted great crowds, picked his disciples, and then his family came along to ‘save’ him.
  • Our view of how and what God expects of us is not always right.
  • Examples of Gary & Jane hearing bizarre things from God and how they obeyed.

Second Principle: Will it bring good or harm?

  • Will it harm someone or harm God’s witness?
  • Acts 8:26-40 – An angel told Phillip to leave the crowded area where he was having great success sharing the Gospel and instead go to a deserted road running through the desert. A chariot with a Eunuch from Ethiopia (in charge of the Treasury of the Ethiopian Queen) came along, reading the book of Isaiah. Phillip explained the Gospel, the Ethiopian Eunuch believed and was baptised in a bit of water on the side of the road, and Philip was taken away in the spirit. The Eunuch went on his way and started a huge expansion of the Coptic church in Africa.
  • A word of caution: Our thinking and other people’s reactions can limit what we perceive God may be saying, and that can impact on us never reaching our full potential in God.

Third Principle: You have a choice

  • We’re in charge of our obedience to God.
  • Our expectations or our limitations don’t limit God.
  • 2 Corinthians 5:10-15 – when we appear before the judgment seat of Christ, we will each be called to give an account for how we lived our lives.
  • Genesis 6:22 “Noah did everything just as God commanded him.” Wouldn’t it be great to be able to say that at the end of your life.
  • If God asks impossible things of us, He plans to do the impossible for us.
  • You still have a choice whether you obey God, but you don’t really have a choice because you are a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Summary:

  1. Check if it is from God.
  2. Will it bring good or harm?
  3. You have a choice.

Prophetic activation:

Turn your heart and thoughts to Father God and ask Him to show you a way you can share His love this week through food.

  • Ask God what to make / what food.
  • Who to give it to.
  • How to present the food.

Time Stamps:

[0:38] – Gary & Jane share how they have heard God this week.

[4:03] – Introduction.

[7:15] – First Principle: Check if it is from God.

[12:24] – Second Principle: Will it bring good or harm?

[18:08] – A word of caution.

[18:23] – Third Principle: You have a choice.

[19:51] – Summary

[20:11] – Prophetic activation.

[21:19] – Gary & Jane share a prophetic word for a listener.

[23:17] – Gary prays for you.

Resources / Links Mentioned:

Bible Verses Mentioned:

  • Ezekiel
  • Hosea
  • Esther
  • Genesis 6-9
  • Luke 1:26-256
  • Jonah
  • Nahum 3:1-4
  • Mark 3:21
  • Acts 8:26-40
  • 2 Corinthians 5:10-15
  • Genesis 6:22

Connect with Gary & Jane:

Support the show:

  • Please share this podcast with someone who would value hearing from God.
  • Follow and leave a rating + review on your favourite podcast listening app.
  • If God is leading you to donate or support the show in any way, please visit https://buymeacoffee/garyandjanM Thank you so much.
Episode 120: Is it me or is it God?

Episode 120: Is it me or is it God?

Aug 2, 2026 | 0 comments

Episode Description:

Have you ever wondered if it was your own thoughts instead of God’s voice? This is very common, as God speaks to our spirit and our soul, so God’s voice can sound like our voice. Join us as we unpack this topic, give practical examples, and share guidelines to keep in mind as you explore whether it is God’s voice or your own thoughts.

Episode Notes:

First Principle: It requires a step of faith.

  • Have to trust that God wants to speak to you, is speaking to you, and you are worthy of hearing God.
  • First thought principle.
  • Intimacy with God – what God sounds like. Get stuck into reading the Bible, praying, and listening to God.
  • His sheep hear His voice: John 10:27“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”
  • John 10:2-4 “The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.”
  • John 10:14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me.”

Second Principle: First thought principle.

  • 2 Corinthians 1:5 – We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
  • Romans 12:2 -renewing of our mind. – Our thoughts will begin to sound Christ-like.
  • God speaks to our spirit but also to our soul and our mind. So, God can sound like our own voice.

Third Principle: Guidelines or parameters.

  • Like guard rails on the road.
  • Does it align with Biblical principles?
  • Would following it bear good fruit?
  • Do I bear inner witness ie peace?

Fourth Principle: Does it really matter?

  • If the fruit is good, does it really matter?
  • Caution – don’t say ‘God told me’, especially when prophesying.

Summary:

  1. It requires a faith step.
  2. First thought principle.
  3. Guidelines or parameters.
  4. Does it really matter?

Prophetic activation:

Turn your heart and thoughts to Father God and ask Him to show you whom you could buy a present for, what to buy, and how to give it to them.

Time Stamps:

[0:50] – Gary & Jane share how they have heard God this week.

[4:20] – Introduction.

[7:15] – First Principle: It requires a faith step.

[11:11] – Second Principle: First thought principle.

[13:58] – Third Principle: Guidelines or parameters.

[14:43] – Fourth Principle: Does it really matter?

[15:30] – Summary

[15:54] – Prophetic activation.

[17:06] – Gary & Jane share a prophetic word for a listener.

[18:49] – Gary prays for you.

Resources / Links Mentioned:

Bible Verses Mentioned:

  • John 10:27
  • John 10:2-4
  • John 10:14
  • 2 Corinthians 1:5
  • Romans 12:2

Connect with Gary & Jane:

Support the show:

  • Please share this podcast with someone who would value hearing from God.
  • Follow and leave a rating + review on your favourite podcast listening app.
  • If God is leading you to donate or support the show in any way, please visit https://buymeacoffee/garyandjanM Thank you so much.
Episode 119: Hearing God for myself

Episode 119: Hearing God for myself

Jul 26, 2026 | 0 comments

Episode Description:

Do you struggle with hearing God for yourself? Do you second-guess what God may be saying to you? Do you find it easier to hear from God for others? Join us as we unpack this topic and share practical examples of how God can often sound like our own thoughts.

Episode Notes:

First Principle: The truth is, we can hear Good for ourselves.

  • It is a lie that we can’t hear God for ourselves, or that it’s harder to hear God for ourselves.
  • God created us for relationships.
  • God desires intimacy with us.
  • Psalm 139:13-18 – God created us and knows our innermost thoughts and desires.
  • Jeremiah 33:3 – God wants us to call to Him, and He will always answer us.
  • Often, we are not listening or are unaware of how God is speaking to us.
  • If you want God to speak to you, He will always answer you.
  • Romans 12:2

Second Principle: Explore the different ways God speaks to you.

  • Get to know God’s voice.
  • John 10:14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me.”
  • John 10:27 “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”
  • Episode 3 – What God’s voice sounds like.
  • Episode 4 – How does God talk to us?
  • Episode 11 – What to do when I can’t hear God for myself? (ask a different question, thank God, check obedience (have you obeyed the last thing God asked you to do?), etc.
  • You may think God’s not answering because it might be different to what we think – a preconceived idea or expectation.

Third Principle: Have a mentor or someone you’re accountable to.

  • It can help to chat things through with someone.

Summary:

  1. The truth is we can hear God for ourselves.
  2. Explore the different ways God speaks to you.
  3. Have a mentor or someone you’re accountable to.

Prophetic activation:

Turn your heart and thoughts to Father God and ask Him to bring to mind a Bible character. Grab hold of the first person who comes to mind. If you don’t know your Bible that well, Google the first name that comes to mind and see if they’re in the Bible. Then read about them in the Bible and learn about them. Explore how you can experience God by how they experienced God. Then ask God:

  • How can that apply to my life?
  • Is there something I can learn from them about experiencing God?

Time Stamps:

[0:37] – Gary & Jane share how they have heard God this week.

[5:57] – Introduction.

[10:28] – First Principle: The truth is, we can hear God for ourselves.

[13:30] – Second Principle: Explore the different ways God speaks to you.

[15:21] – Third Principle: Have a mentor or someone you are accountable to.

[16:09] – Summary

[16:31] – Prophetic activation.

[18:06] – Gary & Jane share a prophetic word for a listener.

[20:27] – Gary prays for you.

Resources / Links Mentioned:

Bible Verses Mentioned:

  • Psalm 139:13-18
  • Jeremiah 33:3
  • Romans 12:2
  • John 10:14
  • John 10:27

Connect with Gary & Jane:

Support the show:

  • Please share this podcast with someone who would value hearing from God.
  • Follow and leave a rating + review on your favourite podcast listening app.
  • If God is leading you to donate or support the show in any way, please visit https://buymeacoffee/garyandjanM Thank you so much.
Episode 118: Hearing God as a group

Episode 118: Hearing God as a group

Jul 19, 2026 | 0 comments

Episode Description:

Hearing God as a group can get messy, but depending on your focus, that can be great. Join us as we unpack guidelines and expectations for hearing God as a group and explain how to pray in a flow, so the group stays on the same track during the prayer time.

Episode Notes:

First Principle: Have clear guidelines and expectations for the group.

  • The group’s culture is important. Have clarity about the culture of the group you’re creating and will continue to create.
  • Is it an open or closed group? If it is an open group, it can be great to have an empty seat and pray for the next person to fill that seat.
  • You may need a limited membership depending on the group’s focus, and try to stay on track as you pray.
  • Legalism can stifle the flow of the Spirit. When you have rules that you have to ‘be’ or ‘do’ to be in the group, then that can stifle the flow of the Holy Spirit.
  • Respect others.
  • Safety is important. Have safeguards in place. Look at the group’s membership. Is it open to everyone? Are there requirements to join? Has there been conflict or members expelled or judged unfairly? This will affect hearing God as a group. So look at any blocks within the group re hearing God and praying. Don’t surround yourself with ‘yes’ people – that can be dangerous.
  • Trust is important. If you are seeking God for an answer to a particular question, and you are beginning as a group or trust isn’t evident, then write anonymously the answer you get. Otherwise, it can be consensus instead of discernment.
  • Basically, build trust and safety. Confidentiality – what is said in the group remains in the group, etc. You’re also not there to ‘fix’ people or share your similar experience. You don’t want advice givers.
  • A great group is where everyone feels valued and can contribute.
  • Variety is great in prayer styles – beginners, seasoned pray-ers, authoritative prayers, list prayers, decreeing and declaring. Know your authority in Christ and pray accordingly.

Second Principle: Go with the flow.

  • Nothing worse than praying on one topic and someone then changes it, like being on a train heading North and suddenly going West.
  • Be okay with silence.
  • Look for confirmation. Pay attention to themes and overlaps.
  • 1 Corinthians 14:40 “But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.” Or as The Message version puts it: “Be courteous and considerate.”
  • Romans 8:16 – the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit.
  • Minimise doubt by acting quickly.

Third Principle: Community is important.

  • Hearing God as a community safeguards against individual bias or extremes.
  • We always emphasise that part of our discernment process in hearing God is to run it past wise, trusted, discerning people.
  • Provides accountability and confirmation so as not to go off on a tangent with personal bias, etc. Part of the testing and weighing process.
  • 1 John 4:1 & 1 Corinthians 14:29 both encourage testing of what you hear.
  • The responsibility to test it lies with the person/people who are responsible for the outcome, e.g., Acts 10 & 11 are a great example of taking the Gospel to non-Jews/Gentiles. Both Cornelius and Peter had separate visions. Then Peter went to the Jewish Council to confirm the way forward. This was a major change, as it opened up the whole world to the Gospel.
  • Deuteronomy 18:15-22 talks about how in the OT, if what a prophet said came to fruition, you knew it was from God. But that could take years. The Spirit of God only came on the prophets back then under the old covenant. Since Jesus was on earth, died, and was resurrected, the Holy Spirit came (Acts 1), and we can all hear God speak.
  • We are called to be in community. No man is an island.
  • Don’t chase prophetic words. A prophetic word only confirms what God has already been showing you.

Summary:

  1. Have clear guidelines and expectations for the group.
  2. Go with the flow.
  3. Community is important.

Prophetic activation:

Because we’re talking about hearing God as a group today, ask a friend to join you. Grab envelopes, paper and pens. Each write a name on the front of an envelope, then hand it to your friend without them seeing the name. They will ask God what to write for that person, while you ask God what to write for the person your friend wrote on the other envelope. After you have finished writing a letter to them from God, place the letter in the envelope and give it to the person named on the front.

Time Stamps:

[0:47] – Gary & Jane share how they have heard God this week.

[3:34] – Introduction to topic.

[4:34] – First principle: Have clear guidelines and expectations for the group.

[9:39] – Second principle: Go with the flow.

[112:03] – Third principle: Community is important.

[16:38] – Summary.

[17:02] – Prophetic activation.

[18:19] – Gary & Jane share a prophetic word for a listener.

[20:30] – Gary prays for you.

Resources / Links Mentioned:

Bible Verses Mentioned:

  • Joshua 1:6-9
  • 1 Corinthians 14:40
  • Romans 8:16
  • 1 John 4:1
  • 1 Corinthians 14:29
  • Acts 10 & 11
  • Deuteronomy 18:15-22
  • Acts 1

Connect with Gary & Jane:

Support the show:

  • Please share this podcast with someone who would value hearing from God.
  • Follow and leave a rating + review on your favourite podcast listening app.
  • If God is leading you to donate or support the show in any way, please visit https://buymeacoffee/garyandjanM Thank you so much.
Episode 117: Hearing God when I am desperate and stressed

Episode 117: Hearing God when I am desperate and stressed

Jul 12, 2026 | 0 comments

Episode Description:

When life seems to be falling apart, an important decision needs to be made, or you are really stressed, do you struggle to know God’s thoughts and what He would have you do? This is often a time when we doubt we can hear God, even though we are desperately seeking Him. Join us as we flesh out these thoughts and offer practical strategies to help you hear God’s voice the next time you feel desperate and stressed.

Episode Notes:

First Principle: Ask for help

  • Ask for help/prayer from others.
  • Ask God to break through any clutter and noise.
  • Romans 8:34 Jesus is at the right hand of God interceding for us. I love the following verses 37-39, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
  • Run to God – Psalm 46:10 – “Be still and know that I am God.”
  • Matt 11:28 – 30 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
  • Philippians 4:6-7 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
  • Psalm 63:8 David stated, when facing being killed – “I cling to you. Your right hand upholds me”.
  • Luke 6:12 – Jesus prayed all night before making the major decision of choosing his 12 disciples.

Second Principle: Look at why you are desperate and stressed

  • Is it an internal or an external lack of peace?
  • Is it related to a major decision or a sin?
  • Will it matter in a few months/year?
  • Address physical issues, e.g., tired / sleep deprived, workload,
  • 1 Kings 19 – Elijah had just had a massive victory of showing up the prophets of Baal, and then next minute he’s scared and running for his life. He was tired and hungry. He prayed to God to kill him. God sent an angel to give him something to eat and to rest.
  • Is there an ‘end in sight’, e.g., end of study, etc?
  • Write down all the stuff stressing you – go from the abstract to the concrete. Seeing it in black and white can help. Chase inner peace.
  • Then ask God, “What are your thoughts, God, about this?”
  • May need to ask God a different question.
  • What are the things I can’t change?

Third Principle: Cultivate your relationship with God before stuff happens.

  • When kids were small, we would brainstorm what to do in adverse circumstances, e.g., at a party – code word.
  • Practice hearing God’s voice.
  • Practice turning first to God in all things.
  • Brainstorm scenarios and strategies/responses.

Summary:

  1. Ask for help.
  2. Look at why you are desperate or stressed.
  3. Cultivate your relationship with God before stuff happens.

Prophetic activation:

Turn your heart and thoughts to Father God and ask Him:

  • “God, can You please bring to mind any decisions I need to make in the next few days?” (You may want to write them down.)
  • “God, can You please give me Heaven’s perspective, or the view from Heaven, on these decisions?”

Time Stamps:

[1:13] – Gary & Jane share how they have heard God this week.

[5:11] – Introduction to topic.

[6:28] – First principle: Ask for help.

[10:21] – Second principle: Look at why you are desperate and stressed.

[20:01] – Third principle: Cultivate your relationship with God before stuff happens.

[21:39] – Summary.

[22:21] – Prophetic activation.

[23:34] – Gary & Jane share a prophetic word for a listener.

[25:16] – Gary prays for you.

Resources / Links Mentioned:

Bible Verses Mentioned:

  • Romans 8:34,37-39
  • Psalm 46:10
  • Matthew 11:28-30
  • Philippians 4:6-7
  • Psalm 63:8
  • Luke 6:12
  • 1 Kings 19

Connect with Gary & Jane:

Support the show:

  • Please share this podcast with someone who would value hearing from God.
  • Follow and leave a rating + review on your favourite podcast listening app.
  • If God is leading you to donate or support the show in any way, please visit https://buymeacoffee/garyandjanM Thank you so much.
Episode 116: What if God asks me to do something I don’t want to do?

Episode 116: What if God asks me to do something I don’t want to do?

Jul 5, 2026 | 0 comments

Episode Description:

Have you ever thought that God might ask you to do something you didn’t want to do? Have you been hesitant to listen to God in case this occurs? Join us as we discuss this topic and share examples, unpacking what might be behind this line of thinking.

Episode Notes:

First Principle: Need to look at our view of God

  • Can I trust God to have my best interests at heart?
  • Is your God a good Father?
  • Can I put my faith in Him?
  • It could be likened to having a filter/blockage between God and me. Sometimes we don’t get the full picture.
  • Sometimes we don’t realise what we need, but God does.

Second Principle: Why wouldn’t I want to do what God is asking me to do?

  • Is it too hard? Scary? Do I dislike it?
  • Need to look at my motivation. We are Christians. Jesus Christ is my Lord and Saviour. Therefore, we obey Him and what He wants.
  • Theological question – Is my life my own? 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, especially 19-20 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything—but I will not be mastered by anything…. (verse 19) You are not your own; you were bought at a price.”
  • What does God have for you on the other side of your fear?

Third Principle: Check out what you’ve heard.

  • Ask wise, trusted people.
  • Is your interpretation true?
  • What does the Bible say?
  • Intimacy with God is important.

Summary:

  1. We need to look at our view of God.
  2. Why wouldn’t I want to do what God asks me to do?
  3. Check out what you’ve heard.

Prophetic activation:

Turn your heart and thoughts to Father God and ask Him:

  • “God, can You please show or tell me a colour?”
  • “God, what is that colour representing?”

Time Stamps:

[0:40] – Gary & Jane share how they have heard God this week.

[3:42] – First principle: Need to look at our view of God.

[7:12] – Second principle: Why wouldn’t I want to do what God is asking me to do?

[10:05] – Third principle: Check out what you’ve heard.

[12:07] – Summary.

[12:32] – Prophetic activation.

[14:03] – Gary & Jane share a prophetic word for a listener.

[17:01] – Gary prays for you.

Resources / Links Mentioned:

Bible Verses Mentioned:

  • 1 Corinthians 6:12-20
  • Daniel 5:5

Connect with Gary & Jane:

Support the show:

  • Please share this podcast with someone who would value hearing from God.
  • Follow and leave a rating + review on your favourite podcast listening app.
  • If God is leading you to donate or support the show in any way, please visit https://buymeacoffee/garyandjanM Thank you so much.