Hearing God Chart, Part 1

What does God’s voice sound like? How do you know the difference between your voice and God’s voice? What do you do when the thoughts running through your mind sound like something God would say, it could even be Scripture or a quote from a great message, but the “voice” behind it seems more like fear than the love of a good Father?

The Hearing God chart has been a teaching tool we’ve used for years. It helps answer these questions in a way my brain understands and can reference easily!

I’ll share it with you today and remind you what each part represents. It’s a fantastic tool to help our brains process the thoughts we think. The key is taking the time to slow down, become aware of the thoughts we are thinking, check them using the chart, and ask Jesus to clarify what He is saying to us.

The hallmark of God’s voice is love. The whole of the Bible is filled with stories that tell us again and again not only that God is loving, but that God is love. When it’s God, even if it’s a hard thing that is said, you will feel loved by it. Love comforts, protects, honors, encourages, frees and strengthens us. It never fails. The words, thoughts, and ways of God will never come from a place that isn’t full-on unfailing love for you and the world that God made.

The base shape of the chart is the cross. Jesus showed us God’s heart and made it clear throughout His life and death that He is the way to the Father. His way gives us full access to God’s voice, God’s spirit, and God’s loving life.

You too have a voice and always a choice. You and I can live on the left side of this chart in conversation with God’s voice or we can, if we choose, live on the “other” side. There have been times that I have aligned my voice and my choices with fear to the extent that the “God” side seemed so distant. Seemed is the key word because the “other” voices, as real as they feel, are false. A simple question to Jesus brings clarity: Jesus, I feel distant from God—but what’s your truth? “I have never left you and I never will, my love.”

We get to live from life, love, belonging, peace, freedom, conviction, and the type of kindness that leads us to repentance (literal meaning: to re-think).

This basic hearing God chart has blessed my own life and helped many others. I can’t wait to share a new chart with you! Next week we’ll look at the “Hearing God Chart, Part 2!” You’ll be the first to hear about it and see it!

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Expressing thoughts, feelings, needs and wants

Ever struggle to express what you think, feel, need, or want? My hand is in the air. I have certainly struggled with even knowing what I’m feeling, much less what I’m needing and wanting. Forget expressing that consistently in healthy ways!

A Land Flowing with Milk & Honey

The phrase “land flowing with milk and honey” is used 21 times in the Hebrew Bible to reference the place on the earth that God’s family would dwell. This land was promised to Abraham, pursued by Moses, and entered into by Joshua and the Israelites. This land is nothing if not a stage set apart for God to display what it is to be the people of God, the family of God. Why flowing with milk and honey?

Rosalind Hervey

Flow

A while back I was on my way to ONE, and as I neared my destination, I entered the roundabout that is half a block away. I’ve only seen a handful of them in San Antonio, and my trip around that one is usually uneventful. But that day, I encountered a driver who didn’t seem to know how this type of traffic flow works. He made some gestures I won’t describe and appeared to be saying some choice words, as well.

Cayce Harris

What’s God’s favorite story?

Nothing draws me in as quickly as a “real life” story. I love hearing the real deal, straight from the horse's mouth. I don’t want a secondhand story—sure there’s a part of me, like you, that is tempted by the latest secondhand gossip at times. The deeper, more mature part of me would rather just hear it straight up or not at all. I’m tired of secondhand storytelling. We live in a day where there’s little trust of even professional secondhand storytelling. Real stories directly from real people are powerful.

Cayce Harris

Who are you? What are you doing here?

There was a rabbi who found himself wandering the empty streets of a Russian city early one morning. His rambling walk reflected the state of his heart and mind—many questions, few answers. In some despair, paying little attention to his surroundings, he strolled upon a Russian military compound off limits to civilians. “Who are you? What are you doing here?” a voice demanded from the darkness.

Rosalind Hervey

Slipstream

One night during hospital stay about a year ago, I was up all night preparing for testing early the next morning, I noticed a text from a friend who was up late (two hours earlier in another state) who urgently needed prayer for his family. I usually don’t get his texts until the next day, but since I was up, I began praying for him and his family. Each text he sent, brought a scripture to mind that I readily shared with him. None of this would have been possible had I been asleep as usual.

Cayce Harris