“The keynote speaker's list of spiritual qualifications was not lengthy. There were no references to his academic letters, theological acumen, skill at biblical living, or personal holiness. Instead, he was simply introduced as "a man who hears from God." It was the ultimate sign of spiritual competency. The implication for the audience was clear. He listens to God; they should listen to him.
It's hard to think of anything that has captured the imagination of Christians recently as aggressively as the idea of hearing the voice of God. The notion is, to many, so obviously Christian, so undoubtedly biblical, that its truth is beyond question. To challenge it is akin to spiritual treason.”
- Greg Koukl “The Ambassadors Guide to Hearing God”
One would think with the rapid growth of what is called listening or contemplative prayer in the evangelical church we would see revival spreading across North America… that sadly has not been the case. Instead we are seeing multiple Church leaders within the Charismatic and IHOP affiliated churches fall as spiritual and sexual abuse scandals are exposed. This is of course very perplexing - if God is being heard why is there so much abuse?
My wife and I first learned of listening prayer or at that time “hearing God” in the early nineties through the vineyard movement. We were absolutely blown away that we could ”experience” God in this way. Having been raised in legalistic, rules focused denominations where men sat on one side and women on the other it was revolutionary that we could experience God on an emotional level and perhaps even “hear” him.
Around 2008 we started attending a mega church in our area where they taught heavily on listening prayer, largely based on the Henry Blackaby book “Hearing Gods Voice”. For my wife and I this was revolutionary.
What we found over time though was that “hearing God” by itself didn’t seem to make as big a difference in our character as we thought it would. Further to that, the Church leadership that supposedly was so adept at hearing God totally missed the mark often. In the 10 plus years we attended this mega church, hearing God created a class system of people who “heard” him more and those who heard who heard him less. The former received greater platforms while the latter had platform removed - especially if they asked questions of the Church leadership. In many ways the culture became more narcissistic rather than more Christlike.
Before I go further I want to say that I am not a cessationist. I believe we can still receive direction, encouragement and conviction from the Holy Spirit. As such, my intent with this post is to bring balance to some of the teaching on this that has contributed to this unbalanced narcissistic feelings-based strain of faith in the Church. In particular I’d like to focus in on the word-faith or charismatic movement and especially in the 24 hour prayer movement.
Needless to say we have had to do some re-evaluation of what we believed and ensure it lines up with the scriptures. As a matter of fact we have had to explore the very foundation of our faith, and we have come out of that with a solidly evidential faith that is not based on a feeling or a “heard” word from God but still treasures a deep and personal relationship with Christ.
Is listening or contemplative prayer biblical?
Well… that’s a bit tricky. In Scripture and in life God does actually “speak” occasionally to His people. What I’ve discovered is that much of what is considered “God” talking in the modern Evangelical and Charismatic Churches is merely our “culture soaked imagination” speaking what we think aligns with the moment. Many of the scriptures that are used to teach the value of listening prayer are taken out of their context… thus creating a theology that is very shaky and open to all kinds of abuse.
I strongly believe in developing a personal relationship with God… the difference for myself now is that God speaks to me more often through illumination of the scriptures and not so much through a heard “word” that takes scripture and misapplies it to create some sort of self affirmation. Today what I find is that my heart is convicted of sin, or redirected in terms of priorities through my conscience and the Bible itself. In essence it is illumination more than vocalization.
Hearing God as it is taught in many of todays North American Churches is largely a new thing in Christianity. We have all heard of testimonies where it appeared absolutely clear someone heard from God. What seems to happen all to often is that the one who has the greatest imagination is the one who hears from God the most. The litmus test is not first and foremost based on objective reality or scriptures but in what “seems” right to the leadership’s trajectory or the Church culture.
It was probably 3-6 months after my business bankruptcy in 2005, in spring that year I had signed the insolvency documents and saw all my dreams go up in smoke… I felt sure God led me into that business and now it was gone. I was driving home from a men’s prayer breakfast with a friend who I know was just trying to make me feel better… my friend was telling me that he had been struggling for some time about his career because the family business he had poured his life into since he was a child was no longer going to be an option for him. He shared that in this deep struggle it was revealed to him during prayer that he just needed to hand this situation over to God. He did so, and he told me that 30 seconds later he got a call with a dream job offer.
I sat there as a captive audience, I responded in a way that surprised me… I can’t remember exact words but it was something like this “is it faith when God answers your prayers immediately and you feel His presence, or is it faith when your prayers hit the ceiling and you remain committed to Christ?”. It would be 4 more years before I would have any sense of “feeling” close to God though I sought for it. To be honest, I felt nothing except a sense of worthlessness.
Feelings are so fickle…
One can “feel” in love but it might only be infatuation. In marriage one can feel like it’s all going well even when there is deception in the relationship. I know several people who went through horrible separations who were totally caught off guard by their former partner. In friendship as well one can feel secure even as they are taken advantage of as another acquaintance found out when their “friend” took a picture of their credit card… racking up tens of thousands of dollars on it.
Feelings are often wrong.
Going back to my feelings during that drive with a friend, as I said… I felt worthless!
Was I worthless though?
I had a family that loved me deeply.
I had friends that cared for me.
The feelings were wrong, and in my times of prayer those feelings were amplified largely because I believed something was wrong with me… not with me as a sinner saved by Christ but that I was being a rejected by God because for a season I did not “feel” his presence at all. I literally felt like my prayers hit the ceiling and bounced back.
This brings me to my first concern with the way conversational or contemplative prayer is taught today. The doubt created when someone does not “hear” God is substantial. They hear the passage from those who embrace this teaching from John 10 saying “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” It creates a whirlwind of doubts about how evil and hopeless they are because they don’t hear Gods voice like others do. God may whisper as some might suggest, referencing listening prayer… but He largely doesn’t.
Additionally, when we believe someone is hearing directly from God… as in personal revelation, it elevates them in an unhealthy way. This was a big part of the reason why so many in IHOP and Gateway did not see the serious character flaws or sin in Mike Bickle or Robert Morris. You can’t question someone if you believe that the person is getting a connection to God that is considered “anointed” or more direct than others.
Biblically, God does not have to “try” to speak with us. If God wants our attention he will get it. It won’t likely be through some individual claiming they have a word from “the Lord” for you. He used a donkey with Balaam. If God wants to get your attention He will!
Let’s go back to John 10, what is Jesus saying here? What is the context? As I write this I know many of you, like myself can’t remember what the context is.
John records 4 times in John 10 verses 3, 4, 16 and 27 about Jesus sheep hearing his voice. Verse 6 is the key to understanding these references. John explains these words saying “This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.”.
Jesus started out by talking about the Shepard and the sheep in verses 1-6. He describes how the thief will not break in and steal the sheep because they won’t listen to his voice. He says he is the door for the sheep in verse 7, those who pass through him find eternal life in verse 9-10, unlike the hired hand the Shepard lays down his life for the sheep in verses 11-13, 15 and 17-18, and he says the Shepard and sheep know each other in verse 14. After all this they still did not understand according to verse 19-21. Jesus makes clear why they didn’t understand in verse 26 when he says “you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.”.
With all this in mind. We should answer two questions:
What does it mean to hear his voice?
What causes us to hear his voice?
We need to go back to verse 6… John says that Jesus words here were a “figure of speech”. As such the reference of voice is not an actual voice. It cannot be a metaphor of itself.
What could Jesus be referring to?
Jesus voice draws sheep to himself, his voice is leading us to salvation. Greg Koukl, author of numerous books and well known apologist says in his book “The Ambassadors Guide to The Voice of God” says this:
“What "voice" is it that draws us to Jesus and results in our salvation? It is the ineffable drawing by the Father through His Spirit of those who are His. This is a concept John has already introduced and developed in earlier chapters of his Gospel, using the same metaphor in the very same way (5:25, 5:31-34, 5:37-38, 6:35-40, 6:44-45, 6:65, 8:18, 8:47). It is a figure of speech for the inner working of God "calling" us to salvation.”
Further on he writes this:
“There is an unavoidable consequence of blending the wording of John 10 with this author's definition of hearing Jesus' voice. He writes, "Those who do not have the relationship ('do not belong to God') do not hear what God is saying (John 8:47)."" In the verse quoted, Jesus is castigating the Jews for unbelief, calling them the sons of Satan (8:44). This places a tremendous burden on the believer who questions his spirituality-and even his salvation-if divine messages are not forthcoming.
If this is your worry, fret not. The notion of hearing the voice of God is completely foreign to the text of John 10. To Jesus, hearing His voice is not a skill to be developed. It is not a spiritual discipline opening up lines of personalized communication with God. Rather, it is a figure of speech depicting the Father drawing the non-believer into Jesus' arms. If you have come to Christ, you've already heard the voice Jesus is talking about. If not, you would not have come to Him in the first place.”
Wait what?
That means there is no expectation that a believer would actually hear God speak after being called to salvation? If you believe in Jesus Christ you heard his voice and responded!
Does this mean God never speaks? Absolutely not. He certainly does… just, perhaps he does not speak as often as we pretend he does.
The early Church was certainly not praying or hearing God based on feelings during personal prayer time as a central component of their walk with Christ. The Church was largely persecuted, scriptures were written on scrolls and distributed by hand throughout the land. These scriptures were destroyed whenever they were found by the Roman Government as they were considered “atheist” or heretical against the emperor and other Roman gods.
The Church, like today struggled deeply with regards to containing heresies. One such heresy was called Gnosticism was extremely prevalent… I have written several articles on this already and those links are below.
Gnosticism was a belief in “hidden knowledge”, it focused largely on the unseen world. It developed into weird sects such as Manichaeism which was taught by Augustine before he came to Christ. Manichaeist’s believed that the world was a mix of spirit and matter, the original principles of good and evil, and that the unredeemed soul was trapped in the evil, material world and could reach the transcendent world only by way of the spirit through prayer.
As we grasp this it becomes evident that a great deal of the modern Charismatic movement and the 24 hour prayer movement are at least partly influenced by Gnosticism more than by scripture. Gods whisper ends up being a status symbol of spirituality - of “hidden knowledge” instead of good character when we over-emphasize the supernatural or the heard “word” of God.
How then shall we pursue our relationship with Christ?
The one who follows Christ… who seeks to become aligned with Christ must choose to do so in “spirit and in truth” as it says in John 4 verse 23. We are called to be wholly devoted followers of Christ.
Roman’s 12 starts out with these verses:
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world,but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will”
We can see here that the goal of the follower of Christ is not to “hear” God but rather to become transformed by Him… actually the word here is the Greek word “metamorphoó”, which means roughly “to change into another form”.
This means our time in prayer is meant to change us, to transform us by a deep heart change as we study the Bible and meditate on His word. Our time with God is not defined by what we hear from Him… rather it is what we learn from our study and pursuit of Him and by Him!
I have found more peace, more grace, more joy in the pursuit of an evidential faith that I ever did by a perceived or real “heard word” or a “word of knowledge” from someone praying for me. My faith today is more unshakable than I’ve ever known it to be… I’m not saying this from a place of pride but rather as a man who’s looking back at his past and has realized that my faith used to be vastly more experiencially focused whereas today it is much more evidential. This change has resulted in a man that is not tossed to and fro by feelings and not swayed as much by an emotional argument and more able to discern what is based in biblical truth than I have been in the past.
I still practice conversational style prayer sometimes… but it is not a core part of my walk. I spend much more time in deep dives for truth in the scriptures as well as history as it connects to it. This meditation on the word of God has showed me Gods character in ways that a spiritual high never could… but such a walk with Christ requires effort on my part!
The charismatic and modern day 24 hour prayer movements will tend to create opportunities for narcissistic control through manipulation by leaders who are convinced by their own importance - since they have “heard” from God and are perceived as “above reproach” because of this. This is a lazy faith… one that produces Christian’s that are tossed by every wind through wrong theology because their “heard word” convinces them of their rightness.
So my advice is that the believer stop trying so hard to “hear“ God… rather press in, study hard, read the great works of past theologians and scholars and dig into historical references to the Bible! As you genuinely seek Christ in this way He will indeed become more real to you! His word will come alive! He will speak to you through his written word and it will transform… rather metamorphosize your heart and mind by a deep search for Gods truths - especially as you add godly community to this!
We’ll talk about Godly community and more about this another day!
Be sure to like and follow our social media posts on X, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok as well as here. If you find these posts encouraging or informative I’d love to hear from you as well.
Gnosticism links:
Previous blog post:
Comments