How can I hear God? What do you do to listen to God? Will God be giving me explicit instructions for my life, like He seems to be doing for so many other women?
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| Beth Moore book: Jesus, the One and Only, p. 48. |
Personalized whispers are not scripture, nor are they equal to scripture. “Personalized whispers” is not a teaching method Jesus uses. Yet women are being taught consistently and for decades that it is.
The concerning part is that this generation of younger women has been raised on a steady diet of women in celebrity positions who, for decades, have ‘taught’ the above, that they regularly hear the voice of God. Therefore, women coming up now believe it is the norm to have a personal God in your pocket whispering instructions to you for every little thing, from career moves to audible instruction in theology. But this is most assuredly not the case.
What these celebrity women leaders have done is create a discontent among female congregants who do not have a personal God and wonder what they are doing wrong because they don’t. Because of the poor teaching and constant eisegesis in their celebrity lessons that they, unfortunately, have relied upon, many younger women now realize they lack the skills to understand Gods will in a biblical way.
The will of God is to repent & believe, be baptized and participate in communion, and obey Him all your life.
We know how and where to obey in specific life choices because we read the Bible.
For example, as far as day-to-day choices go, like where to live, what college to go to, whom to marry or whether to marry, the more we obey, the more we’re conformed to Him, which means the more we can confidently decide for ourselves, knowing God prevents bad choices and ordains all things, AND makes all things work to the good of those who love Him. This is where trust comes in. We pray, (not to ‘hear back’ but to repent and submit and praise His sovereignty over all things), we understand the generalities of God’s will for our lives (Matthew 22:36-40). Then we pull up our big girl panties and we just decide.
Should we expect to hear from God? NO. Here are two scriptural explanations why. I repeat, we should NOT expect to hear God audibly, or in a still small, voice, or even in signs or omens, tell us specifically what to do or where to do at any given moment.
Ladies, expect to find God’s will by reading the Bible, whereupon the Spirit can conform you to His image and likeness and renew your mind. Don’t expect to hear a personalized whisper, an impression on your heart, or an audible voice directly telling you. Ultimately the reality of our sanctification is more delicate, mysterious, and beautiful than any whispers could ever be.
RESOURCES
“God told me…?” a 90-second video.
The Blazing Center has an essay titled “Listening to God without Getting All Weird About It“. HT Michelle Lesley
Two other resources for you on God’s will
Here is GotQuestions with a short answer to ‘What is God’s will?’
Know God’s will
And John MacArthur with a longer answer-
Taking the Mystery out of God’s Will
Sola Sisters, from 2012-
False Teachings About Hearing Audible Words From God Taking Even Deeper Root in Today’s Church
Grace To You blog from 2016
That’s Not Jesus Calling
the-end-time.org 