The guide to how I process the voice of God-My podcast story

I have been thinking about starting a podcast for a long time. Looking at my notes today the idea goes back over 5 years ago. Now I am beginning to think more in-depth if God wants me to start one and if now is the time. If you are trying to discern what God is saying to you I hope that me sharing my process and story will be helpful for you. To be completely vulnerable with you, I am still in the process on this decision but that is why I hope that “opening the box” so to speak will be helpful to you as you try and follow Jesus as well.

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3 encouragements when you accept the life changing invitation to listen to the voice of God

I have spoken elsewhere about the amazing prayer of Hannah that brought Samuel into the world. But even with a Godly heritage we still need to journey for ourselves into our relationship with God. J I Packer in his great book, Knowing God, warns about the danger of only learning things second hand about God. Even though I have Christians in my family tree going back at least into the 1800s I still need to personally build my friendship with Jesus.

I love the story of when Samuel begins to hear the voice of God. It can be a great encouragement for me you and I as we learn to hear from God. Here are 3 things to get you started.

There is an invitation of God for us to listen.

God thinks that it is very important for us to have the opportunity to listen to him. God could have made it very hard to hear from Him. But His heart is to be close to us. Actually the Gospel of John say, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (1:14) God went to great length to invite us into conversation. Samuel heard that invitation from God.

God was persistent in His speaking while Samuel is figuring it out.

What a scene it must have been as Samuel ran back and forth to see if Eli was the one that was calling him. I love God’s patience and persistence in this situation. God did not say, “Samuel” once and then say, “I guess he missed it. Time to move on.” He didn’t give up on Samuel in his season of learning and He won’t give up on you if you keep trying.

God wants you to learn His voice more than you do.

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We don’t have to understand everything for God to speak to us.

It is easy in the process of learning God’s voice to get frustrated and give up because everything doesn’t make sense. 1 Peter reminds us that even the prophets didn’t understand all that God was saying because it was those later that would understand (1:10-12) So if God speaks to you and it takes a while to understand you are in good company. Samuel just started the process and grew in his relationship over time.

A key take away for me from the story of Samuel is how much God will work with us if we are willing to listen. It is His desire for us to hear His voice. It is His desire for that conversation to grow and develop over time. He is just looking for people like Samuel who will say, “Here I am.” Will you be one of those people?

6 Facets of Speaking Life To Your Generation

The church needs a group of people who will speak life to this generation. Simply a word from God can totally change a situation. I remind myself of this when I am preaching. One of the Bible passages that come to mind in those situations is Jeremiah 23:21-22 (NIV):

21I did not send these prophets,

yet they have run with their message;

I did not speak to them,

yet they have prophesied.

22But if they had stood in my council,

they would have proclaimed my words to my people

and would have turned them from their evil ways

and from their evil deeds.

The setting of these verses is a reminder of how the prophets of the day were doing it wrong. Then we get these verses that anyone can use to speak life whether you are speaking to a thousand people or to your kids before they head off to school.

Take time to be with God

The biggest danger was that they were not spending time in God’s council. I like to think of this council as a combination war room, court house and throne area of a king. We are invited to come boldly there during our time in prayer and the Word. If we do not we will become like those prophets who had to make something up or simply repeat something they heard someone else say. There is no substitute for our own time with God.

Listen for God to speak

The danger we have when we do take time to be with God is that we dominate the conversation. Not that we shouldn’t speak and bring our needs but we do need to remember that one word from God is more important than anything that I could ever say. Take a notepad or some other way of capturing what we feel that God is saying.

One word from God is more important than anything that I could ever say

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Speak life courageously

If God gives us something to share with someone it will bound to be scary for us. In these verses the person is even called to proclaim a word that would turn people from their evil ways and evil deeds. So speaking will require some courage to be obedient to say what God has given you.

Speak with humility

It is easy for courage to turn into arrogance. As I wrote about when talking about increasing your speed of listening to God, we are going to make mistakes. We will make mistakes by adding to what God has told us to say. We will make mistakes by picking the wrong place or medium to communicate the message. That is just two of the possible mistakes we can make. If we are wise we will give room for our possibility of failure and manage our attitude accordingly.

Speak with grace and love

Anything that God speaks through you must be communicated with love. Jeremiah was known as a prophet of tears. Being prophetic doesn’t give you license to be a jerk. Too many bring “a word from God” but by being obnoxious miss out on anyone hearing what they are even saying. So I must ask myself, “What is the most loving way to say this?”

Being prophetic doesn’t give you license to be a jerk.

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Leave the results to God

Jeremiah spoke the truth and people wanted to kill him. Even if it is a positive response it may take people months or years for people to really digest the message. So as long as you have done the things above, don’t stress out by people’s response. Pray for them and as is possible live at peace with them into the future.

Although all of this is hard and I make mistakes in this all the time it is what our generation needs. It will also bring new life and hope to your adventure with Jesus.