Hearing God Personally
LETTER BY BRIAN MORYKON
When a man in chemical addiction enters the program at Dunklin Memorial in Okeechobee, Florida, one of the first tools he’s taught is how to journal and hear from God.
Why would a recovery program begin with this practice?
Because how you think changes how you live.
And changing how you think begins in the heart — in the seat of affection, to use an old phrase.
And the heart is moved not by platitudes but by personal encounter.
At Dunklin, the recovery program lasts several months and has many rigorous components, all in the context of community. But throughout the program, helping participants learn to hear God, especially about who they are — beloved and broken, in that order — forms a foundation for lasting change.
And the process of transformation is the same for us, recovering as we all are from destructive habits of one kind or another. Our addictions may be well hidden, even respectable. We may strive and strain and practice all kinds of religious activity to improve ourselves and get on God’s good side, only to find we’ve made great progress down a dead-end road. Our hearts need a word from God, at once universally true and deeply personal, to turn us toward the path of life.
Think of Saul on the road to Damascus and how personal the word of Jesus was to him — “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
This personal encounter changes him from Saul, obsessive slave to the God of Rules, into Paul, yielded servant to the God of Love.
Few will encounter God as Booming Voice and Blinding Light, but each of us, as a turning point, needs to hear God say our name in one way or another.
And Paul himself didn’t need to be continually knocked to the ground by God. He learned to discern God’s voice when it came in less dramatic ways, as the Small Voice, as the Gentle Nudge, which is usually how it comes.
What is all his talk of “walk by the Spirit” but a way of saying to learn to hear and respond to the living God who dwells inside you and inside me?
We might wonder why hearing God should need to be learned at all. Can’t the Maker of the ear and brain install a direct and undeniable line of conscious communication? Sure. And we’d resent it. We want to seek. God wants to be found. Even two people in love must learn over many years how to hear one another.
So learning to hear God is essential. It isn’t some advanced mystical practice for super Christians. It is a starting place for the recovering sinner and the long path for all who desire a life of unforced love, joy, peace, patience, and goodness.
Brian Morykon
Director of Communications
Sign up for Renovaré Weekly
Thoughtfully introduced Christ-centered spiritual formation resources.
Thanks for subscribing! We'll send you a confirmation email.
LET’S DIVE IN...
CURATED BY GRACE POUCH
-
1.
Join us for the upcoming free Renovaré webinar, How God Speaks, where Pete Greig and Trevor Hudson will talk with host Carolyn Arends about topics like: Isn’t it dangerous to claim to hear the voice of God? and How do we distinguish God’s voice from our interior dialogues?
-
2.
Evelyn Underhill explains how our three faculties — thinking, feeling, and willing to act— lead us into heartfelt prayer.
-
3.
Our friends at Conversatio offer a free six-part video course on Hearing God, featuring Dallas Willard, John Ortberg, and Richard Foster.
-
4.
Read an excerpt from Frederick B. Meyer’s book The Secret of Guidance with pastoral counsel on how to hear the voice of God.
-
5.
Brian Morykon pointed me to this helpful teaching on how to recognize God’s voice, specifically using journaling as a tool for listening.
-
6.
Lenten Booklet: I partnered with my mom to create a guided journey through selected readings from John’s gospel as a way to help our church family enter into conversation with the Lord during Lent. We’ve turned it into a Renovaré resource so that we could share it with you. From our church community to yours, we hope this will help you draw near to God as you move toward Easter.
Grace Pouch
Content Manager
WORTH QUOTING
“The great movement of the spiritual life is from a deaf, nonhearing life to a life of listening. From a life in which we experience ourselves as separated, isolated, and lonely to a life in which we hear the guiding and healing voice of God, who is with us and will never leave us alone.”
– Henri Nouwen (source)
TO CONTEMPLATE
Christ and Saint John the Evangelist
Unknown 1300-1320
(source)
With his eyes closed, his head on Jesus’ chest, and his ear upturned, the disciple who describes himself as “one loved by Jesus” is shown here resting in the embrace of his Friend and Teacher. It is an image of love, protection, and listening — all elements of the prayer Jesus prayed in the upper room where John reclined against him at the table while they ate their last supper together. Jesus prays, “The words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them…” (John 17:8) May we, too, receive his words.
TO PONDER
What is the first time you can recall God speaking to your heart — through words, nature, or otherwise? How did you recognize it as God?