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How to Hear God: A Simple Guide for Normal People

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Pete Greig: Yes. But I don’t think I’ve always recognized the voice of God. Right? This is less about theology than psychology. See, the theology is open and shut. God speaks. Like Genesis 1: He speaks, boom, creation happens. John 1: God comes as Jesus, the Living Word. Nothing could possibly matter more than learning to discern his authentic voice, and yet few things in life are more susceptible to delusion, deception, and downright abuse. Christin Thieme: So you’ve divided the book into two parts, God’s Word and God’s Whisper. Why did you separate it in that way? Hearing from God is primarily a discipline that we learn to distil through practice and obedience. The more we say ‘yes’ to Jesus, the more familiar and precious his voice becomes – and in time we will be able to say, like Cleopas, ‘ Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked?’

Christin Thieme: Excellent. Well, thank you for that. And yes, we will link to both the book and the app in our show notes. So if you’re looking for those, search for them, or come find the link right in the show notes. Pete, thank you so much.

The sections on dreams and the unconscious offer practical guidelines which come over as helpful and balanced. The penultimate chapter considers God speaking to his children, not just in religious contexts (including such means as Communion, Solitude and Sabbath), but in the whole of life – not least, Community, Creation and Culture. For ‘ there is no aspect of God’s creation through which he cannot and does not speak’, Greig informs us. ‘Living Word’ and ‘Listening Exercise’ Pete Greig: Yeah, it is one of the expressions Jesus uses more than any other. And so it was like his catchphrase. And it’s crazy when you think that in Jesus’ time he could be walking through your town, like being Jesus Christ, like speaking things that no one had ever heard, doing miracles. And some people were probably just too busy at work to bother to come out in the streets. Most people insist of hearing God’s voice on their own terms. Perhaps we need a newfound willingness to take counsel from a brother or sister, as a mark of humility and surrender. Sometimes he waits for us to humble ourselves. So, let me suggest three practical pointers, drawn from my book How to Hear God, to help you grow in your ability to discern the voice of God: 1. God’s Word in the Bible

Greig assumes that the reader will have heard lots of fellow-Christians say, “God told me this,” or “The Lord said that.” Well, maybe in the churches that Greig frequents. But he remains healthily sceptical about declarations of “What the Lord says” from pulpits and platforms. He notes that psychiatric wards are full of people hearing voices that they attribute to God. So too, he says, is the Christian conference circuit.Bible Gateway interviewed Pete Greig ( @PeteGreig) about his book, How to Hear God: A Simple Guide for Normal People (Zondervan, 2022).

Exploring the story of Christ's playful, poignant conversation on the road to Emmaus after his resurrection, Pete draws deeply from the insights of a wide range of Christian traditions; weaving together the evangelical emphasis on hearing God in the Bible, and the charismatic commitment to hearing God in the prophetic, with the contemplative understanding of God's "still, small voice" within. When I graduated from what you guys would call seminary with a degree in theology, and another one in sociology, what I discovered was I suddenly knew a lot about the Bible, but I’d lost my ability to really hear God personally in it. Because I was just always analyzing what does this mean? What’s the Greek here, and how does it all fit together? The Revd Mike Starkey is Head of Church Growth for Manchester diocese and author of the Stepping Stones for Growth course. Christin Thieme: And you write that it can all be condensed into four words, listen and follow Jesus. So, finally, question for you, what happens when we learn to live in this way? More about what story in Scripture Pete says is a master class for anyone seeking to learn to hear God’s voice.So there’s the Bible. And then they say, “Our hearts burned within us as he spoke to us on the road.” So there’s those times where you just sense God speaking. Maybe it’s a still small voice. And so there’s a whole bunch of ways God clearly speaks in this story. The book comes in two parts: Part 1; vox eterna; Hearing God through God’s Word and Part 2: vox interna; Hearing God through God’s whisper. Part 1: God’s Word Desiring a deeper faith, we need God to say something, anything, to turn the monologue we call prayer into a genuine conversation. One of the most astounding yet possibly confusing acts we can do is enjoy a real, conversational relationship with God, the very creator and sustainer of life itself. How should we be hearing his voice? How can we listen to God more clearly amid the clatter and clamor of daily living? What does the Bible mean when it describes God as having a “still, small voice”?

Pete Greig: Nothing could possibly matter more than learning to discern the voice of God, but few things in life are more susceptible to delusion and deception. That’s why we need to be rooted in God’s Word, living each day in conversation with the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Living Word of God. How do we move from studying scripture objectively and hearing its message generally to receiving God’s word personally in our own lives? The most powerful tool I have ever discovered, one that has revolutionised my own personal relationship with the Bible and has become the model for the devotional I help to write, record and release each day, is the ancient tradition of lectio divina – the slow, prayerful reading of scripture which harnesses the power of imagination and meditation (see 24-7prayer.com/resource/lectio-365). 3. Prophecy Author Peter Greig is perhaps best known his work in forming the 24-7 Prayer Movement. As a movement, they have developed many resources for prayer and started a wave of people who are increasingly committed to intercessory prayer. Additionally, Pete Grieg serves as the Senior Pastor of Emmaus Road Church in Guildford England. As an author, Greig has written several bestselling books – including God on Mute - and he cowrites for the Lectio 365 Daily Devotional. This book, How to Hear God, is meant to follow How to Pray: A Simple Guide for Normal People, but I will say that it also stands well unconnected and on its own. Thirdly, when I talk without listening my prayers become my own personal, subjective perspective (which may not be the same as God’s!). Many people struggle to hear God because they have been taught to listen for his voice in ways that are difficult for them to process. Certain personality types may also find it more challenging. Introverts understandably advocate their own preference for stillness and solitude, but it is equally possible and no less spiritual to discern the voice of God through external interaction, or through visual formats.

When debate about immigration was filling headlines in both America and the UK recently, I quietly posted Leviticus 19:34 on social media: ‘The foreigners residing among you must be treated as native-born. Love them as yourself.’ You wouldn’t believe the outrage this simple, unadorned verse provoked amongst supposed Christians! I was reminded of Mark Twain’s wry observation that ‘It ain't those parts of the Bible I can't understand that bother me, it’s the parts that I do understand.’ The driver who’d seen my thumb and swung into the lay-by offered to take me all the way from Bordeaux to Paris. For a hitchhiker, this is a dream-ride and I settled in for a long journey discussing the pen of my aunt and the price of local cheese in my best schoolboy French. It all seemed to be going rather well until our conversation turned towards homoeopathy and the geology of Scotland (a country my driver apparently loves). Pete Greig: Yeah. And yet it’s one of the things I love most about God, and I think I probably had to unlearn and relearn most. Because you’re right, our assumption is if God speaks to me, it’s going to be a booming voice. It’s going to be unmistakable, angels, dramatic. And yet, mostly he speaks to us quietly and silently. I tell in the book, lots of examples of times that people just miss Jesus completely. They just miss him. There’s the couple on the road to Emmaus. Pete Greig: Oh, thanks so much. And I must just say, if they want to get the app, Christin, anyone can get it. Lectio365, that will really help you to put the book into practice. Why do you say Christ’s encounter with the people on the road to Emmaus is a master class in learning to hear God’s voice?

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