Sligo22: A God of relationship and conversation
How can we hear God in a noisy and distracting world?
With Susan Heaney
Susan is from Redcross, Co Wicklow where she ministers and leads church alongside her husband Roly. She is passionate about training equipping and empowering others to fulfil their God given potential and to see them released in the gifts and fullness of the Holy Spirit. This is a summary of her seminar at New Wine Ireland’s summer conference (NB: notes taken in Week A)
We are all here because we want to grow in our ability to hear God. We want to move beyond talking about God, talking at God or talking to God and getting to a place where we are talking WITH God.
Nothing can ever be more wonderful than the human capacity to hear God’s voice. – Pete Greig
People don’t live by bread alone but “by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4).
In John 10:27, Jesus says, “My sheep listen to my voice, I know them and they follow me.”
God has created you for a close relationship with Him.
God created us to enjoy an intimate relationship with Him. The more we know Him, the more we recognise His voice. So often we want to hear God when we are worried, or anxious, in times of crisis or when we need guidance. We miss out when we only listen to God in those times.
I could be in a room of 100 people but if Roly, my husband, spoke or laughed, I would recognise his voice because I know him and I delight to spend time with him. You’ll be disappointed if you are coming here looking for gimmicks or a formula to hear from God. It would be great if you got a text or a WhatsApp from Jesus but it is not the way that God works. He wants us to develop the kind of relationship with Him that will empower us to hear Him regularly and enjoy conversation with Him. And that will be life-changing.
Motives Matter
Why do we want to hear from God? Sometimes we want to hear because it makes us feel good or we want God to validate our own agenda, choices or lifestyle. What we really need is to hear God so we can become spiritual mature. Mature disciples hear the master’s voice and they are open to whatever it is God has to stay to them.
God speaks through the Holy Spirit
The first disciples never had to struggle to discern God’s voice because they were with Jesus. But when Jesus was leaving, He promised God’s presence with them in the person of the Holy Spirit John 16:12 - 14
The Holy Spirit always connects us with God the Father, with his plans and purposes and brings revelation.
God speaks through the Bible
The Bible is where we encounter the person, the character and the nature of God. It is the primary means by which God speaks. If we are disciples, we need to be committed to reading His word. We read the Bible with our minds. But we also need to read with our hearts.
If I read only with my head, I will gain information but no revelation.
If I only read with my heart, I will only hear what I want to hear and I could abuse God’s word.
We need to invite the Living Word to help us as we read the written Word. We read it in the light and context of Jesus and His resurrection. God’s story is from Genesis to Revelation… we live on the right side of the cross and we see everything through the lens of Jesus.
Over the last couple of months there has been one verse that the Holy Spirit has been impressing on me. Mark 6:31 For me, it is like the Holy Spirit has taken a highlighter and coloured in this verse. I understand the context of Jesus and His disciples but God is also speaking to me about invitation. “Come away with me…” it is a personal invitation to me to be with Jesus by myself. Just Him and just me.
Don’t bring any of your stuff with you; leave it all behind. That includes your worries and concerns. Go to a quiet place. Not necessarily off into the Wicklow hills but a place of quiet, safety, rest and trust. The invitation is to move into a more intimate place with Him.
Read this passage and ask: Lord what are you saying to me in this passage? Take time to listen now.
John 6: 35 – 40: Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
We want you to be equipped to hear God for yourself.
God speaks through prayer
Prayer is a conversation with God. He wants you to come to Him and chat. Thank him. Worship Him. Focus on Him. Eagerly desire to be with Him, because you love Him. So often we come to prayer as if we are going to a supermarket with a list of needs.
In Jeremiah the Lord says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” God never leaves us but He responds more when we desire more. He deserves our complete attention. Sometimes we are coming to our prayer and our phone is in our other hand. If we really want to hear God’s voice, we need to get rid of distractions.
Still small voice – God’s whisper
Sometimes we are looking for the dramatic. Yet, He is whispering. There is an inner prompting that tells you to go to a place or call a friend. The bedrock of all of this is a close relationship with Jesus. If we know His voice we will hear the whisper and when we hear it, we will obey. Whatever He tells you… do it.
God speaks through Dreams and Visions
We all know from the Bible that God speaks through dreams (although He doesn’t speak to me that way!). If you find that you are having a recurring dream, write it down. Pray it through and seek wise counsel. Dreams come to you when you are asleep, visions come when we are awake.
God speaks through other people.
This can be through the wise advice of a friend or through a word or picture. In the early days of our ministry, I was lost. I just felt completely overwhelmed and unworthy. I was having a tough time. We had a visiting preacher, after that he became a close friend (he went home to be with the Lord last year). In his visit, he said, I believe the Lord wants to tell you something. He quoted a song, “I will change your name. You shall no longer be called lonely, outcast or afraid…” I can’t tell you the impact that had on my life.
God can speak to us through anything
Moses – burning bush
Stone – At a vital time in his ministry journey, Roly found a stone on the beach with the cross on it, that powerfully spoke of God’s calling on his life.
God can speak just as powerfully through very ordinary things. I was watching a TV programme about Irish lighthouses. In the programme they explained how each stone was unique and that the lighthouse was built like a giant jigsaw puzzle. Because it was built in that way, it had withstood everything that had been thrown at it. A few days later God reminded me about it. He showed me that we are like that lighthouse. We are living stones and He wants to shape each of us to fit together. He wants to build us strong. God can speak to us through everything and the Holy Spirit enables us to hear.
How do I know it’s really God?
Weigh it – nothing God says will ever go against scripture. Does this sound like Jesus? Does it look like Jesus – His character and His heart? Even His challenge will come in love, there will be no condemnation. Think ABC: Is it Affirming? Is it Biblical? Is it Christlike?
Wait – God isn’t in a hurry. Wait for Him. Pray it through. We cannot rush God because His time is perfect. When we first came to Redcross, He spoke to us through Isaiah 42:8-9. We waited for ten years before God did anything. It taught us that God speaks but He acts when He chooses and asks us to trust Him. When God speaks, His voice carries a weight of authority. As we waitt on God, He continues to speak it to us. He reinforces His word.
Walk in it – sometimes God speaks to us and He is waiting for us to do something. God usually speaks for a purpose.
Location, Location, Location – when it comes to hearing God you need to be where God is. Be intentional about the physical space. Maybe it is a church, a quiet room or outdoors. Be still and know that I am God. Not all of us are going to be comfortable sitting in a forest. Some of us need to walk and move and some of us hear God equally in public spaces. For some reason, this last few months, every time I go to the recycling centre I hear God. Free yourself from distractions and focus on Jesus.
There is also an emotional location. If we want to come into God’s presence, we need to lay down things like our fear, our anger, our anxiety.. sometimes we bring in so much baggage that we cannot hear God through that. He says, |Come to me all who are weary and burdened.” We also have authority in Jesus to silence those voices and those thoughts. We can tell the enemy “Go away.. I’m having time with my Jesus.”
Spiritual – we need to come with a clean heart and a right spirit.. we need to get rid of bitterness, envy, unforgiveness…
Here are some reminders
Develop your relationship with God
Be in the Word
Make Listening to God a regular habit
Be intentional – make time to listen to him
Find your place
Focus on Jesus and ask Him to speak to you
Pray in Tongues so the Holy Spirit will begin to work
Wait and Listen
Don’t talk, just be still
Be aware of the many ways that God might choose to speak to you
If he speaks, write it down of pictures, scriptures and impressions.
Weigh everything
Wait on it
Walk it out
There is no formula… or a “to do” list. This time has been more about stirring up a desire in you for a fresh encounter. God will speak to you in a unique way. He is issuing you a unique invitation to come away with Him to a quiet place.