Discussion #6 - Hearing God's Voice

Today we piggybacked off of our discussion last week by talking about hearing God's voice.

These were the different ways that we have "heard" God before (although we all agreed that it hasn't happened often):

- a feeling of overwhelming calmness or peacefulness - an insistent, calm voice that repeats with no change in tone or dynamic (much like one uses to parent a child) - unbidden thoughts that come from nowhere

- actions

- comes in the quiet

I found an interesting paper about hearing God's voice that I shared with the group, and we discussed about half of its contents. The first section of the paper wrote down a set of instructions about how to hear His voice.

1. Believe that you can hear His voice.

2. Have listening ears and an obedient heart. The author explains that people have several different heart conditions based on the parable of the sower. It mentions rocky hearts, thorny hearts, and good hearts. Busy hearts are the people on the path who are not able to hear anything because they are "too busy." The rocky hearts are those who are not serious about God's word or His calling to them. The ones with thorns are those who know God's wishes but choose to not to live like Christ asks. Lastly, the good hearts are the ones who are humble and doing God's will (feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, helping the sick or poor, following the commandments, etc.)

3. Pay attention to God's voice.

We are easily distracted by other things in our lives to listen.

4. Listen in silence.

5. Ask the Holy Spirit questions.

If we are unsure, then we need to ask the Spirit for guidance and clarity about God's wishes.

Then we moved on to how God speaks, and we only got through the first bullet point: "through His servants." We all agreed that it feels like God uses this method most often before we had to dismiss.

Questions to consider:

Have you heard His voice?

How did it appear to you?

Do you agree with the author's points about how to listen to God? Why or why not?

Do you believe that you can hear His voice? Explain.

Do you find it easy to hear Him? Why or why not?

Has God spoken to you through others?

Leave your questions and comments in the comment section below!