What does it take to hear God’s voice?

(00:01): I don't know how many of you know this about me, but I was a cheerleader from the seventh grade, right up through college. I loved using my big, strong voice to of course, get those athletes to win the game. I mean, after all, it was all head screaming. That is the reason we won. Wasn't it that's clearly what I thought. I took my role very seriously and I would get so hoarse after every game that my nickname was froggy because I had this really froggy voice. And you can probably hear it even today that I have a big loud voice, and I'm not really sensitive about it, but I do every once in a while, hear my mom's voice in my ear. Use your inside voice. Renee, use your inside voice. It's pretty funny. And I have come to be used to it and often try to use my inside voice today. We're going to continue our discussion of how to hear from God and how I've learned to hear my inside voice even differently than those cheerleading days stay tuned, because you're going to want to know how you can use your inside voice to hear from God himself.

(01:28): Welcome to episode 26 of the well-versed woman podcast. I'm Renee Taylor,

(01:34): And I'm Theresa the Morgan. You see Renee and I are two perfectly imperfect women to have a heart to share our life's journeys in our testimonies of faith.

(01:46): And we may be pretty imperfect, but we know that the love we'll be sharing is totally perfect. And if you stayed tuned, you're going to begin to experience that love and peace in your life as well. If you've been listening, you know how we start every episode, because we believe that we are broadcasting through the inspiration of God's Holy spirit. And in order to tap into that creator, we need to be still, we need to engage our ears, our minds, and especially our hearts so that we can hear what God would have to say. Every episode we take 20 seconds, we ask that you be still take some slow, deep breaths and actually invite, invite God himself. It should come inside you and give you peace and open your heart to listen. So here goes the 20 seconds. We'll start right now.

(03:14): [inaudible]

(03:14): That's 20 seconds. I can't tell you what that little bit of time does for me. And I bet it's doing the same for you. And I bet if you've been listening for all of these 26 episodes, you're starting to take more time. And you imagine three times that one whole minute or five whole minutes, just being still and taking some deep breaths and just calming your spirit before you get out of bed every morning. And speaking of that, we're talking these last couple of episodes, and again today about how can we hear God's voice? And if you listened to the last two episodes, we spent quite a bit of time laying the foundation, the foundation of the preparation that we need in order to hear from God, we then followed it in episode 25, with this understanding that the word of God, the Bible was written through the inspiration of the Holy spirit. It says that the word is God. So if we begin to study that word and get it inside of ourselves, we will begin the very first steps Theresa of hearing from God, just by reading a book. Isn't that right?

(04:37): That that's so very true, Renee, you know, especially in the days in which we live, boy, there is a lot going on. There's a lot of voices speaking and unfortunately, a lot aren't truthful, you know, whether they mean to be untruthful or not, but there is. So there are so many voices that I'm hearing. A lot of people say, what is the truth? I don't know what the truth is in the beauty of God's word is his word, his truth, John, I believe it's 17. 17 says of thy word is truth in what God tries to do through his word. And through the leading of the Holy spirit is he doesn't want us to be tossed to and fro I love what Ephesians chapter four verses 11 through 15 says, you know, it says that he wants us to be taught and to be taught by pastors and teachers to also read the word through the teaching of the Holy spirit so that we come in unity.

(05:38): The Bible says totally all come to the unity of the faith in the knowledge of the son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine in, by the trickery of men in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. But in truth, speaking the truth in love may grow up all things into him who is the head Christ. So God's word is so crucial, so crucial in these days because it will keep us steady. So how does God speak? Well, the first way he speaks is through his word, right? The Bible says in second Timothy two chapter two verse 15 says be diligent to present yourself, approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. I love that Renee, because the word is sure it's steadfast in it. It will anchor actually anchor your soul so that you can proceed on a journey in life that is sure. And so you won't be tossed to and fro off the journey that God has for you. So the first way Renee, that God speaks is through his word.

(06:54): I love that Theresa and I want to take a minute and share with everyone, something that I've come to learn from being friends with you honestly. Um, I think about the fact that we, we knew each other long before we both came to Christ. And then when we had reunited and realized that we both found this new relationship with God, maybe around the same time, I've since looked at your journey versus my journey. And one thing that's clear to me and that I want to express to everyone is the route that you took versus mine. And remember, this is a, this is a relationship with a God and it's all very individual. And every single one of us are going to have a different relationship with God, a very personal and very individual one because he made us, he made us all so fearfully and wonderfully, the Psalm says, but so individual that even the fingerprints on our hands are not the same.

(08:08): I mean, it's, that's so amazing in and of itself. So when I speak of the difference between Teresa's journey and my journey, of course, it's different. But what I want to emphasize is Theresa's grasp very early on that the word was going to be crucial to her. I was someone that didn't really like reading books to be perfectly honest. And I think I've even shared that in some previous episodes. And I want to be in community with people. I want to be taught. I want to, I want to listen, but that doesn't preclude by need to be in the word that I've since come to realize so deeply and Theresa, I remember you sharing a story with me once about, you said, Renee, the words jumped off the page. When I heard you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. So you were in a situation where, you know, you, you felt like, you know, you needed to be free and was so clear to you that the word of God was going to give you that freedom that you were searching for. Right?

(09:23): That's absolutely correct. You know, as a, a young adult, I was going about my life without God. I did not know God. And through his drawing, uh, I came to know the Lord and we've talked, we've talked about that in previous previous episodes that the Lord brought a current day disciple that shared the gospel. I invited Jesus into my heart. I became born again in the very first time I opened the Bible. The very first time my eyes laid on to John chapter eight, verse 32. And the words of that scripture says that you will know the truth and the truth shall set you free. And it was like the words leaped off the page that they were superimposed onto my eyes. And it was amazing. And it was God communicating to me that I am going to be leading you into a path of truth that is going to set you free from the anxiety in the pains of the past, the things that came to bring you down during your childhood, the hurt, the hurts, the wounds, the wrong thinking, the dysfunctional thinking.

(10:38): I am here in through the truth of my word and the power of the Holy spirit. You are going to be set free. And boy, that was 26 years ago. And I'm here to tell you it's apt. He's absolutely correct. I have been set free in so many areas of my life. Probably the biggest one being is that I know how to think, right? I know how God thinks because I've studied his word. And it's the word that I stand on when I see turbulent times, because I know that he who promised is faithful, Hebrews 10 23. He who promised is faithful. So just like the Bible says in Ephesians four I'm, I'm not tossed to and fro because I know the steadfastness and the faithfulness of God and his word.

(11:31): It's so beautiful. And I, I again want to remind even myself Theresa, because I want to eat myself up and we all do, but geez, I, I wish I, I wish I took Teresa's. I wish I got that sooner that I needed to be more in the word for me when I really in it was when I was going through divorce. I mean, those of you who've been through that know how devastating it is. And especially, you know, I had a little two-year-old three-year-old little boy, and it isn't what I wished for my life, but I got into a Bible study. So I was in the word I got into a great Bible study with a bunch of women who were going through the same thing. And we studied the word and we studied what God had to say about it. And that was, that was incredible.

(12:28): But when we're talking

(12:29): These episodes about how to hear from God, it, this point in my life and what I've journeyed through in the last good six years, I'd say since really my kidney tumor,

(12:44): Where Theresa

(12:45): Came alongside me and got me into the word so deeply and what it did to free me, like you say, Theresa, and to bring

(12:55): Peace was

(12:57): So encouraging, and we're all going to do it different. I am never going to be Theresa. I am never going to be able. And so many that I got around Theresa say that like, Oh my gosh, look at the way that she knows God's word. And she knows God, she knows God, because she knows his word. We're all gifted differently. So let's not chastise ourself about that. But for me, it's a reminder and I hope encouraging to you that you are going to hear from God by being in the word. And that's what this podcast is all about. Well, versed woman is versed in the word of God, and that's what we're trying to bring. So these episodes alone, and these show notes that we've included where we print out or type out for you, the word of God, so that you can have these experiences of, of ours coupled with what God says about it.

(13:59): It's just a beautiful thing and a beautiful difference, Theresa, between your journey and mine. And yet the bottom line is that the word of God? It's the word of God. Like when we say at the end of every episode, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Yeah. Theresa. That's great. And thank you for sharing. And we did spend a lot of time on that in the last couple of episodes, but we do also want to talk Theresa about these other ways that we do here. Once you got to know him, like you do explain the still small voice and the nudging and some of those things that came along after that,

(14:47): Very,

(14:47): Very true, very true. God is, you know, God is a three-part being

(14:52): Right. So he's, uh, he, he's a spirit. He speaks, you know, the Bible actually says that when he speaks, we hear his voice. But before you know, going there, I do want to talk about the, this, the nudge we call it the leading of the Holy spirit. And of course, we're always going to begin with scripture because we don't want to fall off base on anything that we say here. So we always want to underpin it and undergird it with scripture. The Bible says in Romans chapter eight, verse 14, for as many are led by the spirit of God. These are the sons of God. Romans eight 16 says the spirit himself, himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God. So there's an inward witness. There's the leading of the Holy spirit. In addition to reading God's word and receiving revelation and instruction from the word of God, there's also the inward witness, the leading of God.

(15:51): So what does that mean? It means he wants to lead us right by his presence. So the Bible says that there are many voices in the world. So God's better. Leading is not through a voice. His best leading is through his witness in our hearts so that we know it's him. Because if you are born again, then you're a child of God. He leads in your spirit. You know, we've talked about in previous episodes, that one, a person is born again. The Holy spirit comes into their spirit. He takes up residence in your spirit. So he leads spirit to spirit because we are a spirit. So I can remember first this in the Bible and saying, okay, tree, he's going to lead you by his spirit. You know, what am I so such simple stories. Renee is my eggs stories, right? I love the story about the eggs because years ago, when I saw the God wants to lead me in my spirit, I was on my way to my mom and dad's they were going on a trip and I wanted to say bye to them.

(17:00): But before I went to mom's house, I stopped at the grocery store. I needed eggs. Clearly I needed eggs. So I can remember going over to the refrigerated section that had the eggs. And I went over inside something in my heart, nudged me. And it was not a voice. It was a leading that put the X back. I don't need you. You don't need eggs. And I thought to myself, wait a minute. I knew I had my brain said, you know, you need eggs. My heart said, otherwise, not in a voice, but just in a, in an inward witness. So I thought to myself in this is where I mixed my faith. I thought, okay, Lord, you, I believe this is a leading from you. So I went back to the section. I put them back in the refrigerated section. I turned my card around in my head said you need eggs.

(17:51): So I turned my car back to go get the eggs. And again, that Ted gentle inner witness just said, no, you don't need the eggs. And finally, I just mixed my safe with the word that I knew on the printed page in Romans. And I said, Lord, I think this is you. So I paid for my groceries. I stopped to my mom's home. The first thing my mom said when I walked in the door was hi, honey, Hey, by the way, before you leave today, I've got two dozen eggs in the refrigerator. I want you to take because we're going to be a way I don't want them to go bad. So that was the journey that started. God is reinforcing his word and saying, yup, that's me inside. So there is a place where we have to mix faith with the word we hear. And then the Holy spirit brings it to pass.

(18:42): I love that. And going back to the story, we told about the difference between Teresa's journey and mine, Theresa knew what God's word said so that when she was open-minded open-hearted listening, she could hear. So oftentimes when people say, geez, I don't hear from God. You know, kind of, I thought you'd be, are you listening, Renee? Are you listening? If you listen to last week's episode, where I talked about hitting the snooze button at 4:15 AM every morning, and then finally getting up, kissing my three-year-old in the crib and rushing to a 5:55 AM meeting. And that went on for 12 years listening. I mean, I couldn't even hear myself think, let alone be trying to be open and listen to God. So we cannot Teresa what you're saying and mix the faith in. So you knew the word and then you mixed the faith in. And I love that.

(19:53): I love that, that understanding and that revelation for us, all that you begin to open your eyes, your heart, your mind. Like we start every episode with this stillness. And I have come now to be a forensic about my, my quiet time. My still time, I will not let go of that because it is my only lifeline, you know, to the Holy spirit and you know, some mornings I still, all these years later, we fight our flesh as we call it. You know, I have have developed such a habit of hitting the ground running and Oh, by the way, being very proud of myself that I'm not lazy and I hit the ground running. It. I'm just a great worker. All my goodness. If I could share anything, any one thing that changed it all for me, it was learning to slow down and understand that I would get more by slowing down, being still and listening to God than I ever could do in my own strength as a human being Teresa.

(21:13): Hmm. So true. That's so beautifully. Put God is such a loving, generous, graceful, merciful God. And when we give him an inch, Oh my goodness, we just look his way. He is ready. You know, the Bible says that when you seek him and search him for him with all your heart, you will find him. You know, God is a gentleman. He's just waiting for an invitation to say, Lord, help me with my day to day. And boy, he is there in a flash in an instant giving you exactly what you need. You know, there's a scripture in the book of Philippians that says in God, shall provide all of my need according to his riches and glory. And I have found in my journey in life, whatever you need, do you need emotional security? Do you need, um, some exhortation encouragement? Do you need prosperity in your, in your bank accounts so that you can be a generous giver?

(22:14): Do you need healing in your flash? All of these beautiful, beautiful things that God provided through his death, burial and resurrection, they're ours for the taking through faith. So I am like a dog with a bone. When I see something in the word of God, I know he died to provide it and I stay with it until I see the blessing manifest in my life. And it's a beautiful thing. So, you know, going back to how we hear from God, you know, primarily through his word, then through the inner witness or the leading of God, you know, then there's also the still small voice of God. We can see that in John chapter 10 verses 27 to 28, and this is Jesus speaking. He says, my sheep hear my voice. And I know them and they follow me and I give them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand.

(23:13): So there is a still small inner voice that I say I can catch it at times. That's God speaking particular information into my spirit. And it comes into then my human brain to give me information, to give me a vital information of something that I may need some encouragement so that, uh, whatever I'm believing him for, I can do it, uh, with, with faith. You know, one example I'm thinking of is there was a time when I was married in my then husband was selling an office building, and boy, we were praying for it, praying for it to be sold. And on one particular day, um, the Holy spirit led me to fast in, through the fasting and through my praying, I can remember exactly where I was driving and I caught the still small voice that said the deal's going to fall through. I have another one right behind it.

(24:11): So what happened was I stopped home and, uh, my husband at the time sad tree tree, the deal just fell through and I was able to say, yep, but there's another one right behind it. So again, through God's goodness and knowing the future, he encourages us many times through that still small voice. There's a scripture in the Bible in first Kings chapter 19, where the Lord was interacting with the prophet Elijah and the short of the long was that God's still small voice was not in the great strong wind. And the Lord was not in the quake. The word was not in the fire and after the fire, a still small voice. So it was when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. So there are numerous times in the Bible where we see the God's still small voice comes to anchor a person to encourage a person. And what it does is really build your faith for the next time that you're believing something for, from God.

(25:28): Yeah, I think that's exactly right. This is again about developing a relationship with God and it's no different than what we understand. Any relationship. Again, I love to bring up our children and the relationship with them the day they were born and how the relationship changes the day they got married and, you know, became extremely independent and their own family and their own life. Developing a relationship with God is the same. It takes work and attention. And I love consistent focus. If we were developing a relationship with anyone Theresa and we did it once a week, showed up once a week, it would be at one level. If we showed up every day, every single day, it's a whole nother level. I feel like once I got extremely consistent and focused and even had my special place, my special time in the morning, I would actually feel like, talk about being the old Renee, running to the meetings.

(26:47): I run to my meeting with God now, because I know he's waiting for me. And I am so excited to hear what he's going to say to me today, where he's going to direct me, what he's going to want to share, or just comfort me in. It is it is so incredibly beautiful, but it comes with work on our part with working out our salvation and our faith in him. And as you were just saying, Teresa, those experiences allow us to grow and develop no different than our, our friendship has grown and developed because we know and have experienced being there for each other through thick and thin. I mean, the drove all the way to Boston. We live in upstate New York and drove to Boston to sit outside the waiting room while I was in my surgery, my family being there, those are the experiences that tell me, she loves me. She's there for me. She's my, my conduit, you know, to Jesus when I'm under anesthesia and not, not, you know, praying for myself, she intercedes. Those kinds of things are the same that God wants with us. Like, I love what you said recently, just a minute ago on he's a gentleman he's not pushing himself in. He's waiting for us to show up. And that's, that's the biggest secret Teresa, right? That we can share. You want to hear from God, you, you show up, you show up consistently. She will speak to you.

(28:45): Yeah, he does. You know, Renee so beautifully put again. Yeah. He's just, he, the Bible says he's the lover of our souls. You know, his thoughts about us are more than the sand on the seashore. He dances when he thinks about us, you know, that's the loving God who just is so enamored. He's so enamored by his creation. And you know, I do want to tell the listeners that the Bible says he's no respecter of persons, meaning that his grace and his love is for all. Um, you just, you know, look his way in, give him the time. And boy, he's just so faithful to give his love back. You know, I'm looking at a scripture here in the book of acts chapter 13, verse two that says as they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy spirit said now separate to me, Barnabas and Saul for the work which I have called them.

(29:40): And what I like to focus on here is these were a group of his disciples in the early days. It's, this is in the book Kovacs. And, you know, it says as they ministered to the Lord and fasted, right? So, you know, we have a ministry unto the Lord of praise and worship and adoration. The Lord loves that. So, and they said, and they were fasting also, you know, we could probably do a whole episode on the benefits. It's a fascinating, but you know, in a nutshell, what it does is it puts your flash off so that you are in a place of particular concentration to the Lord. And as I had mentioned, you know, that's when I heard the, Lord's still small voice, that one time about the sale of that office building. But, um, I just love to minister to the Lord. And there are times when I, you know, get into deep worship with him that he starts revealing some things to me that I've questioned him about, you know, God is such a good God.

(30:46): And sometimes we see things in his word that we don't completely understand, and God knows that. But at the right time, he's wanting to answer your questions. He's wanting to, to give you the keys to the car, like, like, you know, my four year old grid. So when love to start driving, even at four, I want to give him the keys to my car. But right now, you know, we allow them to sit on our lap and move the steering wheel. And, uh, we know he's not ready for the keys. And the word of God is a little bit like that too. So at times we see things, but God knows exactly when we're ready to receive the information. And sometimes it comes through praise and worship or through fasting, but we were made to worship and adore God. And that's our ministry unto him here on the earth.

(31:37): I can remember Renee when I was first saved and I was doing some planting of a garden in the summertime. And, and just out of my heart, I started worshiping God. And it was really, probably the first time that I tapped into that place of honor with my mouth open wide, just, uh, just loving him. And I can remember feeling a sense of this is my place. This is what I impart was need to do is to minister unto the Lord. And you know, it's, it's a beautiful you minister to the Lord. He ministers back to you, you minister to the Lord, he ministers back to you. You know, the Bible, there's a scripture that I really love. The Bible says, as you water, so you shall be watered. So, you know, as we give unto the Lord, he's constantly giving back to us and it's a beautiful way to live when you know that you're in, God's perfect will, and God's perfect plan.

(32:37): Then you have the tenacity and the revelation from which to step out and do his well. So Renee and I, probably his podcast is one of the testimonies Renee that we could say that we, uh, you know, I felt years ago, God had given me a title of well-versed Renee felt through her spending time with the Lord that now was the time called me and together with talking it over with the Lord. And with each other, we felt this was the time in, that was to be in the title. So that came from our interaction with the Holy spirit. So you can see it stems from his word because we want to stay sure. And steady. If I didn't see in the Bible that God speaks and the Jesus, you know, didn't, if Jesus, didn't say my sheep, hear my voice, then you know, some of the things that I write down in my, in the notes of my phone, when I think it's him, I would question, but because I know what's in the word and the Holy spirit bears witness that it is correct. I go forth and out of faith, these things to come to be,

(33:45): Oh, that's great. I hope this really helps everyone understand how to hear from God and what our role is. I think about your discussion of worshiping God, and just want to set that reminder from those very early episodes, Theresa, God is love. We were created so that we could share love. And you said once, how do you aptly explain love everyone has experienced it. I believe at some point in your life. And depending on the depth of the love relationship that you've been in human to human, you can only imagine how much God loves us. He created us in his image because of the great love that he wanted to share. He knew love was this most amazing thing, but it's nothing. It's absolutely nothing. If you can't share it, I have a extremely wonderful husband, as you've heard me talk about, and we've been able through the grace of God to create an amazing life.

(35:09): That is not thing. If we can't share it, if we can't share the experiences that we've had, the, the blessings that have been given to us by God, they're all meaningless. If we can't share it. And it's, it's just the tip of the iceberg of what love is. And that's why Theresa's in the garden worshiping God. That's why roaming around my house. When I'm doing anything with music in the background that gives him glory for, for every piece of my life, because he loves that. And, and we, and when you love him, you love worshiping just like you said, Theresa. So I hope this was as amazing for you as it's been for me. I, I love this episode, Teresa. I love sharing how we can hear from God and reminding us all to be still, to be still every single morning and ask God to come in. And he will be there.

(36:23): He's faithful. Renee, Hebrews 10 23. He who promised he is so faithful, so faithful and in every aspect of our lives and to walk with him, there's just no greater joy in this life than to walk with the Lord.

(36:37): Perfect, perfect ending Teresa. But we would be remiss without sharing our foundational well-versed woman's script.

(36:46): Sure, absolutely. Romans 10 17. Faith comes by hearing

(36:52): By the word of God. Thanks for listening. Thanks so much. We love you. Now don't forget. You can subscribe to this channel rate and review, and we will send you a journal, a well-versed woman journal that really quite beautiful. They're small enough to carry around with you to write down some key reminders every day, or just keep track of what God is doing in your life. I love that we also have a wonderful Facebook community called a well-versed woman, and you can ask to join that group and we will approve you right away and last, but certainly not least every single episode includes show notes. So whatever platform you're listening on, there's usually like a details button. If you click on that and scroll down, you'll see where you can download the show notes. You can print them out. It can stick them on your mirror because as we testified to today, you're going to hear God most clearly by studying the word of God. Thanks so much. And we'll see you next week.