Hey girls, Tiffany Dawn here, and as you're watching this video, James and I
are actually in Norway, which is super fun! So you can follow my Instagram for
pictures each day. I can't even wait! But I want to talk with you today
about how to hear God's voice. And this is a question that I've had written in
like over and over for the past year and I have been too intimidated to do a
video on it. I'm still super intimidated, and I was like, "I don't really want to
film this video," just because like God is huge and He can speak to whoever, however
he wants to, whenever he wants to. And there's no formula. Like it's so easy to
want to like put Him in a box or create a formula to understand how to like
connect with Him, but He's so big, He's way out of any box. He's not a genie in a
bottle. He just doesn't work that way, like He's
just so much bigger than that. And so I I don't have for you ten steps
to hear God's voice, but what I do have are nine thoughts for you that have been
really helpful for me as I've been learning over my life to hear from God
more and more. And they're just things that have been true for me, and I hope
that they can help you too. So let me just pray as we get started. L
Lord thank you so much for this day and thank you that you are so huge and you're,
you are this crazy amazing God and yet you want to communicate with your people,
and with us. Like David said, what is man that you're mindful of him? Like we're so
tiny and yet you want to be a part of our lives, and have us invite you into
every detail of our lives. And I pray that you would just teach us how to get
to know you and how to begin to hear your voice? And just open our ears
to that, in Jesus' name, amen. Okay so thought number one is, it's so
important to get to know God's character by reading your Bible. So if someone came
up to me and said, "Your husband James told me that you're a terrible cook,"
I would never believe that he had said that. Or if I thought that he said that,
I'd be like, "I must have misheard him, because he would never say something
like that." It's not in his character. He's kind, and he's told me he loves my
cooking, but he's just kind and encouraging. I know it's out of character
for him to say something like that. But if I didn't know James well, then I would
believe that. I'd be like, "Oh maybe he does hate my cooking," like if I didn't
know James's character, I would be open to believing that. So it's so
important to get to know God's character through the Bible, because it's a
reflection and expression of God's heart, and so many of the things that He has spoken
throughout history. And so we get to see a piece of who He is what He's like, what
His character is, what kinds of things He would say or wouldn't say. That becomes
like your measuring stick for everything you think you're hearing God say to
you -- you can look back at the Bible and be like, "Is this something that God would
really say?" And also God speaks to us a lot of times through the Bible. Like have
you ever been reading along and all of a sudden this word or this phrase
just jumps out at you, and it's like the verse just jumped off the page? You're
like, "That is for me." That is God speaking to you just as much as hearing something
out of the blue. Like that is also a huge way that God speaks to His people is
through the Bible. Okay so thought number two is take time
to listen. We live in a culture that is so busy and full of noise, like constant
media, whether that's social media on our phones or music playing in our cars or a
talk show or a podcast, we're constantly filling our minds with all this noise
and all this busyness, and that makes it so much harder to hear God's voice. I
think one of the biggest disciplines to develop as you're learning to hear God's
voice is to take time in silence, to learn how to meditate. And actually I'm
creating this video series on Psalm 23 where we practice a little meditation
each day during the series. That should come out in a few weeks, and it's really
cool. But practice that meditation, like sitting quietly before God, having a
verse of the Bible that you're just thinking about, mulling over, talking to
God about in your head, and just taking that time in silence. I actually love
driving in silence. When I was on my speaking tours across the U.S., I would
drive from place to place and that was my processing time. I literally hardly
ever played music or listened to anything, like no books on tape, nothing,
while I was driving for up to 17 hours a day. Like I would occasionally put on
music but I would go hours in silence just to pray, to talk to God, to hear from
God. And it's in the silence, like as I make silence a huge part of my life and a big
discipline in my life, I feel like I can hear from God more and more, because I'm
not filling my head with all this noise. So thought number three is
look for His voice in unexpected places. Like God can speak to us through
anything, so it doesn't have to be just like a thought that came to your mind
out of the blue -- that's not the only way God speaks to us. It could be through an
image that you suddenly get in your head. Some people are super visual and they'll
get like a picture in their head, some people it's like a thought or just an
impression -- like almost like this really, really strong gut feeling that's like
different than a normal gut feeling. Sometimes it's you're reading a book, not
even necessarily a Christian book, and something jumps out at you, and you're like,
"Oh my goodness, God wants to tell me something through this." Sometimes it's
reading the Bible, listening to music, it could be taking a walk in nature...
whatever it is, like God speaks in so many ways. He's huge, He's creative, and
we're all different and so I think we're all going to interact with God a little
differently. Like there's no like, "This is how you hear from God for everyone,"
because I really think that different personalities experience God differently
than others. And it's not that God is different, it's just that we're different.
The way I interact with people is different than how James interacts with
people, because we're very different personalities, and the same thing, like
how I interact with God is different than how James interacts with God
because again different personalities. So there's no like one-size-fits-all,
there's no formula, it's just like, be on the lookout because God will speak to
you through all sorts of different things. Though number four is having some
different mentors or trusted people in your life who are like older and wiser
who can kind of, you can share things with them, especially as you're getting
started in hearing God's voice, you can kind of like share with them,
"This is something that I really think God's putting on my heart, like what do
you think about this? Does this seem to line up with God's character? Does this
seem to line up with what He's doing in my life right now?" And you can kind of
get some feedback from them. I think that's huge, especially anytime you feel
like God is speaking something huge to you, like a really big decision. It's so
important to get the advice of outside people. Like when I decided to quit my
job and start traveling and speaking, and also when I decided to marry James, both
times I really felt in my heart like, "I think this is the right decision that
God's calling me to," but that's -- it's a huge decision! So both times I asked like
maybe like a dozen people that I was really close with, like a mixture of best
friends, my parents, and my mentors, and just was like, "What do you think about this?"
And I wanted that feedback, I wanted to know, "Am I totally off right now or not?"
Because that brings us to thought number five, which is, it can be easy to confuse
our emotions with God's voice. So this is big when you're talking about like love
or thinking about like who do I want to be with for the rest of my life.
It's so easy to meet someone, and he can seem great, and you can think, "I really
think this is the person God has for me," or even, "I really think God told me this
is the person He has for me," and sometimes it's actually just our
emotions. Because our emotions can be so strong, it can almost be like a mimicking,
like it can almost feel as though God is talking to us. And so it's important to
again have those people who aren't emotionally invested, who can kind of be
observers on the outside and speak into it, and be like, "I don't know if this is true." It
could also be that you just see traits in that guy that you really want your
husband, but that doesn't necessarily mean that that guy is the one. Like I remember
one of my aunts married my uncle, and she said, "Yeah when we got engaged there were
like three other ladies in the church who all really thought that God had told
them that he [my uncle] was gonna be their husband." And that's so easy to happen! There were
some times I thought some other guy was like the one God had for me, and it
wasn't at all. So that brings us to tip number six, is that God doesn't always
give us direct answers. At least this has been true in my life. Like sometimes I'm
like, "God, I really want to know like a specific answer, like what college do I
go to? Or like what job do I take?" And sometimes God clearly directs me, but
sometimes He doesn't, and I think sometimes He's almost, it's like He wants
us to kind of make a decision, and He's like, "I've put desires in your heart; I
put dreams in your heart, like go with what I've put in you to do, and just kind
of make the decision for yourself, and walk by faith in it." And if God
doesn't specifically direct you, I think that's okay. And in those situations I
think it's important to look at your options, make a wise decision, and make one
that you just connect with, you're like, "Yeah I really I like this college, I
like this job, I connect with this," and kind of make that decision in faith, and
trust that if it's not the way God has for you, that He will show you. There's
this verse, I think in Ezekiel, that says, "You'll hear the voice behind you saying,
'This is the way, walk in it.'" And I think that's cool because as we kind of step
out in faith -- we're like, "I think this is what God has for me to do" --
as time passes, we'll hear that affirmation, like, "This is the way, walk in it; you're
making the right choice." But I think a lot of times what specifically we're
doing or where geographically we are is not actually what's important. What's
important is what God is doing inside us, and a lot of times he can do that
anywhere. Thought number seven, we don't always have to hear something. I think
sometimes when I come to God in silence, it's just like this companionable
silence. It's not like I'm always hearing these things constantly in my head. Just
like I think in marriage, I'm not always talking with James. Like a lot of times
we're just kind of there together in silence, or cuddling together, or
we're just like doing whatever we're doing, but we're together. And there will
be times throughout life and seasons in life when it seems just like silence,
just like, "Where did God go? Like why don't I hear anything? Why don't I feel
anything?" And I think in those moments we're just called to keep walking
forward by faith, with whatever God had already given us to do. Just keep
going and if He wants you to stop, trust that He'll make that clear to you.
And my last thought for you is: It takes time to develop a real recognition of
God's voice. Like I know for me, I get like this certain feeling that I don't
really get with anything else except when I feel like God is speaking
something to me, and it's just like -- it just clicks, I don't know how else to
describe it. It's just like, "Yes, that I think is really God." But that didn't come right
away. Like I remember when I was 11, I was so
jealous of this lady in our church who I felt like heard from God so much, and I
wanted that, and I was like, "Why can't I figure out how to hear from Him?" But just
going on a journey with God, just asking Him for that over and over, like that's a
desire that God delights in. Like, "Lord, I want to hear from you" -- I think He
delights in that desire. And He will teach us and over time we'll start to be
able to recognize His voice more and more, just like when James walks in a
room now, I can recognize his voice immediately. As you get to know
people, you get to develop that real sense of like, yes, recognition, and I
think over time you develop that more and more with God. So in closing, I know
one of you had written in recently saying, "I really felt like God shared
this, something, with me, and spoke this to me, and then it didn't happen, and now I
wonder, like, am I not hearing from God? Like I feel like I can't trust that
anymore." And I think that happens to all of us.
I think as we get to know God, we all experience that. We're human, and
that's okay. Like hearing God's voice isn't like a pass or fail thing; it's a
process and a learning experience. And the whole point of it is to come closer
to God. It could be that He hasn't answered yet,
it could be that the answer is "wait," it could be that maybe you misunderstood
what He was saying and down the road it'll make sense what He was really
saying. Like you just you never know. So even when Jesus came to earth as the
Messiah, like all these people who had studied the Scriptures for their whole
lives, these very religious people who wanted to honor God, they didn't
recognize Jesus, because he did not look like how they expected the Messiah to
look. And I think that can be true for us too. Sometimes we'll hear things and we think
they're gonna pan out one way, and they don't, and we're like, "Did I totally miss
God? Like did I not hear from Him correctly? Like what happened?" And
sometimes we just misinterpret. Like it's it's not always super clear, I think, when
God puts something on our heart. Sometimes it'll look differently than we think. But
it's not a pass or fail class; it's a relationship and it's a journey and
you're just getting to know His voice a little more each day, and that's amazing.
So girls I hope that this can encourage you in some way. And please leave your
comments below: What helps you hear what God has to say to you? Love you girls and
I'll see you Tuesday. Bye!