Voice

A Conversational Relationship with God

In his book Hearing God, Dallas Willard shares a story from his early days in ministry.  During Sunday dinner, his family discussed the morning’s sermon.  The pastor laid out all the ways God had spoken to him and given him a new vision for the church.

Dallas remembers his wife’s grandmother, Mema, sitting deep in thought before quietly saying, 

“I wonder why God never speaks to me like that.”

He recalled, 

“This simple comment, which came like a bolt out of the blue from the heart of this woman of unshakable faith and complete devotion, forever changed my attitude toward glib talk about God’s speaking to us…Mema, in fact, had a richly interactive life with God, as we all knew.  But for whatever reasons, she had not been able to relate her experience of God’s presence in her life…to the idea of God’s speaking with her.  This left her at a loss for how to deal with the conversational side of her friendship with God.”

Have you ever wondered if God speaks to you?  We want to hear from God but it all seems so mysterious.  And many of us believe we’re not one of those people who “hears from God.”

You may have heard Christians say that they’ve “heard God’s voice”, but what does that actually look like in real life?  Is it audible?  Is it obvious?  Is it something I think or feel?  If I’ve heard from God and then talk about it, will people think I’m crazy? 

The truth is, God does speak to us.  This is central to our faith.  You might have heard prayer explained as “talking to God,” but prayer is meant to be a conversation with God.  

Prayer isn’t just talking to God, it’s hearing from him too.

In fact, prayer happens any time we interact with God; through his Word, through conversations with people, or even through seeing a beautiful painting or sunset and saying, “Thank you.”  

The fact is, you might be hearing from God a lot more than you think.

We read about people in the Bible talking with God and assume they had some special line of communication with him.  But it’s not as though God only speaks to a select few with special abilities to hear him. God made each one of us and knows exactly how to speak to us so we can understand.

In John 10, Jesus describes himself as the Good Shepherd.  He knows his sheep and they know him.  They know his voice above all the others.  In Matthew 28, Jesus tells his disciples, “…surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Jesus is with us—always.  That means wherever you are, Jesus is too.  And when he talks, you can hear his voice above the noise. 

We can be confident that God is here, and that he individually cares for us and speaks to us every day. We just need to stop and quiet ourselves long enough to listen.  The more we do that, the easier it gets to hear him.

A vibrant prayer life isn’t just about asking God for things or getting help with making decisions.  Prayer is about talking back and forth with God and getting to know him.  A great prayer life happens as you live life with God.

Yes, admitting you have conversations with God might look strange to the world.  But here’s my question for you:

Would you be willing to look a little crazy if it meant you were caught up in an incredible life with God? 

Experimenting with prayer might seem a little silly or awkward at first.  It’s humbling.  But getting humble is actually a great place to start.  It means we’re ready to let God be God, and to hear what he has to say.

I’m inviting you to start experimenting more with prayer.  This will be easier for some of us than others— again, let’s just be honest.  Prayer can be a huge roadblock.  

But I’m challenging you to embrace this practice, and to continue to talk with God as a habit.  We often have no idea what we’re missing out on, if we’d only be willing to get a little uncomfortable.

What is the difference between talking to God and talking with God?

How would our everyday lives change if we spent our days in a back and forth conversation with God?