Episode 119: Hearing God for myself

Episode 119: Hearing God for myself

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 112: What if I don’t recognise it’s God?

Episode 112: What if I don’t recognise it’s God?

Episode Description:

Do you ever have a thought pop into your head that may be God speaking to you, but you go, “No, that’s just me”? In this episode of the Hearing God Podcast, we unpack this, consider whether it really matters, and explore how we can make sure we recognise that it’s God speaking to us.

Episode Notes:

Background to this topic:

  • In Darwin, we were running a session on hearing God, and one of the people gave the Bible verse – Joshua 1:9 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lordyour God will be with you wherever you go.” Thought it was just her own thoughts.
  • Episode 18 – Am I hearing God or is it just me?
  • Episode 4 – The different ways God can talk to us.
  • Episode 27 – Times when we can easily miss hearing God
  • Episode 3 – The different voices we can hear.

First Point: When we don’t recognise it’s God, we usually give ourselves the credit.

  • We can think it’s our own thoughts.
  • It seems a natural progression in our thoughts.
  • Faith quotient comes into play here – are my desires overpowering God’s voice?
  • Am I aware of how God can speak? Episode 4 – the different ways God talks to us.
  • Sometimes we don’t recognise God because we have an incorrect theology and don’t think God would be interested in talking to us. It can tie in with our self-worth.
  • Do we sometimes not recognise God because it’s not what we think God would say? i.e., we are praying for a different answer or a different method of achieving that answer.
  • Trusting God wants to talk with you and that He is talking to you.

Second Point: Does it really matter if we don’t recognise it’s God?

  • I suppose it depends on what it actually is. If God is trying to ‘hit us over the head’ with telling us something and we don’t recognise it’s God, then that’s an issue.
  • Eg Balaam and the donkey Numbers 22-24. Episode 49 (If a donkey can hear God, then what about me?)
  • Balaam got on his donkey, and 3 times the angel of the Lord stood in the donkey’s way. 1st time the donkey turned off the path to the field. Balaam beat the donkey. 2nd time was in a narrow path, and the donkey pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot. Balaam beat the donkey again. 3rd time, the donkey lay down. Balaam beat the donkey again. Then the donkey said to Balaam, “What have I done to make you beat me 3 times?”
  • Balaam responded, “You have made a fool of me. If only I had a sword, I would kill you right now.”
  • The donkey said, “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden? Have I ever done this to you before?”
  • “NO”, said Balaam. (Notice how he was so intent on sinning that he didn’t notice the strange phenomenon of a talking donkey??)
  • Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn. Balaam bowed low and fell face down.
  • The angel said, “Why did you beat the donkey? I came here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one. The donkey saw me and obeyed. If the donkey hadn’t turned away and tried to stop, I would have killed you, but I will now spare your life.”
  • Be alert both to watch for God and against the path of sin.
  • The Disciples were with Jesus 24/7, yet they still didn’t recognise Jesus after He rose from the dead and walked and chatted with them on the road to Emmaus.

Great question: how can we make sure we do hear God?

  • Intimacy with God.
  • Accountability
  • Journal
  • Prayer points – sometimes don’t thank God for answers to prayer as we forget we prayed for that.
  • Wise people in your life.
  • Read the Bible
  • Read autobiographies of Christians who did great things.
  • Hudson Taylor’s secrets to his ministry.
  • Reduce sin. Obey quickly.
  • Don’t try to shortchange God, e.g., Abraham and Sarah, with having children. Abraham slept with Hagar. Genesis 16. Episode 62 Abraham and Episode 48 Hagar.

Summary of what we’ve looked at today:

  1. When we don’t recognise it’s God, we usually give ourselves the credit.
  2. Does it really matter if we don’t recognise it’s God?
  3. Looked at how we can make sure we hear God.

Prophetic activation:

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

  • “God, can You please bring someone to mind in the next few moments that I could contact today to encourage?”

Time Stamps:

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

[3:43] – Background to this topic.

[7:31] – First Principle: When we don’t recognise it’s God, we usually give ourselves the credit.

[9:36] – Second Principle: Does it really matter if we don’t recognise it’s God?

[15:27] – How can we make sure we hear God?

[17:38] – Summary

[18:06] – Prophetic activation.

[19:03] – Gary & Jane share a prophetic word for a listener.

[22:03] – Gary prays for you.

Resources / Links Mentioned:

Bible Verses Mentioned:

  • Joshua 1:9
  • Numbers 22-24
  • Luke 24
  • 1 Corinthians 14:3
  • Genesis 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.