Hearing God's voice - part 1

The first few podcast episodes I did were primarily based on articles I’ve written either here or on my website. Going forward and starting with episodes 8-10, I’ll be writing an article / post related to the topics I talk about. In some cases I may post an article before I do a podcast about it, we’ll see how it goes. And I won’t be writing exactly what’s in the podcast, though they’ll be very similar.

So, in episode 8 I mostly discussed why would we want to hear God’s voice? I know that before I became a believer, I was afraid of hearing from Him because I was afraid he’d yell at me. I think some of that is based on how we’re raised and our relationship with our earthly fathers. My father was great in some ways, and very critical and not so great in other respects. He passed away in 1990, which is part of what put me on my spiritual journey. I considered myself agnostic through the latter part of the 1990s, but then decided I did believe in God but not in “organized religion”. I’m still not a big fan of “organized religion”, but I am a Christian.

I saw this image on social media and saved it. It gives the attributes of God’s voice vs that of the devil. It can be helpful for discernment, and is one way to see that it’s “safe” to want to hear from God.

By way of a couple personal stories on this topic, I believe that I have heard the audible voice of God (or Jesus, or the Holy Spirit) a few times, but the last time was 19 years ago. Back in the late 1990s I was exploring some new-age teachings and every now and then I would hear a male voice behind me, like in the next room or somewhere close by would call my first name. I’d look around and didn’t see anyone there. It didn’t happen often, maybe 3 or 4 times I guess, over the course of a couple years. Then, I don’t remember exactly when it was, but I had started to read the New Testament and I got to the passage in the book of John where it says: “But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. John 10:2-3 (ESV). “ When I read that I realized that was who had been calling my name! I never had that happen again after that.

Then on May 27, 2007 I was at church (a Calvary Chapel church) and while we were singing something, which I didn’t make a note of, I heard a booming male voice inside my head that said “Cia, hope!”. That was it, just those 2 words. I wrote it down in a diary I used to keep, that’s how I know the date it happened. It was SO LOUD that I thought surely other people had heard it, so I looked around and apparently no one had. I believe at the time that I needed hope, and while thinking about doing a podcast on the topic of spiritual warfare I realize that’s probably the top thing that the devil tries to steal from us: hope. I have never had that happen since, though I do hear his voice now as thoughts or sometimes I’ll just “know” something, which I believe is from Him. A recent example was that I would hear some good news about someone I had been praying for (which did happen).

Sometimes I’ll have visions, just a single image like a picture, usually when my eyes are closed. Here’s a link I posted on Truth Social in 2022 when that happened. I believe that it was prophetic, and we are now in the time of the 2nd image, which is of a waste pipe with dirty water coming out of it. The 3rd image was the same pipe with almost black, filthy water gushing out of the pipe as fast as it could. The dirty water was an image for the political and other fraud and corruption that was going to, and now is, being revealed. https://truthsocial.com/@ciawatson/posts/109451284827880710

And hearing from God is one area where I think EFT Tapping helped me a lot. For some reason, when I was tapping on some negative emotion that was tied to a negative belief, when the emotion was gone I could sense God revealing the truth of His love. I’ve had some people I’ve coached say similar things, where they heard Him say something that revealed the truth about what they had previously believed. Something like they’ll say “God just told me it wasn’t my fault!” and they’ll believe it, even though intellectually someone can tell you that, but it doesn’t get to your heart so you still believe the lie that it was your fault.

Below is an image from a video by Jess Parker with the Church of Glad Tidings, teaching on hearing God’s voice. It also shows why we’d want to be able to hear His voice; namely: He will lead, guide, instruct, correct and warn you of sin and danger at critical times in your life.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9: (ESV)

In part 2 I’ll talk about different ways God speaks to us as well as some of the nuts & bolts of hearing God’s voice, with examples I found from other teachings.