John Piper has written an excellent article on hearing the voice of God. Please, please, please read it if you haven’t already.
Ok. Are y’all ready for some honesty? It’s confession time. Deep breath! Many years ago, for a brief four or five months of my life (maybe more), I totally bought into the whole mystical, spiritual discipline, hocus–pokus, God’s-gonna-talk-to-me-if-I-do-this program. Really! I did. I would get up so early in the morning that there wasn’t a moon or a sun or a star anywhere in sight, and I would light a candle. Sometimes I’d play my favorite worship song on the cd player. I’d prostrate myself on the floor, face to the carpet. I would sit and try to “quiet” myself. Because, you know, “they” say you can’t hear God if you don’t achieve a certain level of “inner stillness.” I tried repeating phrases and saying the names of God and all that. I read one spiritual disciplines book after another, learning and searching for the secret to deep communion with God. I would look for “messages” from God throughout my day. You know all those books that Lighthouse Trails says not to read? Well, I’ve read a lot of them. And some more than once. Why?
I can think of a few things. One, I met several people who just really seemed to have strong, close relationships with Jesus, and they said to do things like that. They talked about their prayer times and how they heard God say things to them. They seemed to “know” more about life and could speak about various situations as though they were more discerning and “in-tune” with God. They had experiences in which the Bible just “jumped off the page” and they knew it was a “word from God” for their particular circumstance. I wanted those kinds of experiences with God.
Two, there are several very popular Christian teachers/speakers who encourage exactly what I described up top: get up while it’s dark (after all, Jesus did), light a candle, play your favorite “love song for Jesus”, sit, achieve silence and quiet, etc. I listened to these people, mostly women, who live the kind of lives Christians are encouraged to live, and I wanted to be just like them.
Three, I wanted to be seen as a spiritual person. I wanted to be able to talk about my spiritual experiences before the crack-o-dawn. I wanted to be lifted up in the eyes of my peers, just as I lifted up those who I thought had an inside track on a relationship with God. I wanted to be described as a woman who “had God’s ear.”
You know what I learned?
First, all of the hoops I created for myself only made me feel more spiritual. Here’s what’s worse: anytime I said anything to anyone about my spiritual disciplines, it only made others feel terrible because they didn’t do them, too. It puffed me up and made my sisters feel like they must be missing something. I get sick at my stomach just thinking about all my empty boasting!
Second, I convinced myself that even though it didn’t seem like anything was happening, God could see my activity and my desire for Him, and would eventually bless me for it. I assumed that I was gaining some ground with God for my spiritual gymnastics. I did not earn myself one inch of favor with God. The only thing I got was frustrated and sleepy by 9:30 in the morning. I cannot make God do anything.
Third, I learned that I’m not going to “hear” anything from God if I don’t OPEN MY B-I-B-L-E! He is still speaking, but it’s not “out there.” He speaks through His word!!
Fourth, He’s not going to massage my ego when He speaks to me through His word. He’s going to magnify Himself!!
Fifth, all of that stuff is nothing but divination. It is rampant in the church, and that is scary!
What made me quit? I have no idea. Maybe it was the need for sleep. Maybe I was hungry. Maybe it was just grace. I don’t know how or why, but somewhere along the way, I just went back to the basics of reading my Bible and praying like a normal Christian should. I got rid of all of those books and bought some classics instead. I quit starving myself to show God that I meant business and started trying to walk in obedience to His commands (much more difficult to do than not eat). I traded in that smelly afghan I used as a prayer shawl and walked boldly to the throne through the shed blood of Jesus. And if you think you’ve got to add something to His work on the cross to “get God’s ear,” then you are sorely mistaken. Or should I say deceived?
Many will try to convince you that these so-called spiritual disciplines are centuries old and were practiced by the early church, therefore, we need to practice them, too. Hogwash! What did Paul say to dedicate yourself to? To studying the scriptures and to prayer. Good works, godliness, care for your family, do not give up meeting together, worship, live sanctified lives. How did Jesus describe prayer that the Father hears? Do it in secret and just talk to your Father, and (please!) no vain repetition. You know what? It is much simpler to commune with God on His terms that it is to put on a one-man-show for your own spiritual vanity. You may feel good about yourself for doing all those activities, but don’t assume that God is paying attention. If you ever come away from a time of prayer and you feel proud of yourself for living on “another level with God”, then something is amiss.
I apologize if this sounds more like a rant. It is. This isn’t one of those posts that I think on and formulate over a day or two. I just sat down and started typing after reading Piper’s article. And if you’re one of those people I made to feel like less of a Christian because you weren’t getting up at ungodly hours of the morning or going hungry, please accept my sincerest apologies and know that I’m still paying off that sleep debt and have been humbled in more ways than one because I sought to exalt myself in your eyes.
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Leslie Wiggins 
16 responses to “Does God Still Speak? And if so, how?”
thanks for your insights and honesty in this post Leslie. And you’re right Piper is spot on.
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Wonderful article. Honest post. This is something that I find few people are willing to talk about. I spent years struggling with that early morning “necessary” prayer time and truthfully felt like if I spent time in His word later in the day (like naptime) it was actually *less* meaningful to Him. I did spend years attributing “my” effort to His blessing or His working on my behalf in my life. It was foolishness on my part and I am beyond grateful for the truth that His work is dependent on No One.
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Convicting and brutally honest…thank you for sharing the wisdom!
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Really appreciated this. My favorite quote: “It is much simpler to commune with God on His terms that it is to put on a one-man-show for your own spiritual vanity.”I really enjoyed Piper’s article too. I think this “hokey pokey” pursuit of God makes us feel so much better about ourselves….it isn’t about us!I have had God speak to me in the past. I wrote it down and waited. I was fairly sure it was him at the time but didn’t trust myself. It proved to be him BUT he speaks to me every single day in his word. I much prefer that…it’s more reliable :o)If you don’t mind I am going to link here from my blog. You have the gift of articulation!
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Thank you for speaking the truth in love, for demonstrating the boldness grace brings, and for humble submission to the Word of God.
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I read Piper’s article last night then e-mailed it to my husband so he could read it too. I agree it was so good. Thanks for your honesty. Recently another blogger has suggested giving priority to reading her Bible during the first “free” time in her day. As much as I love having my day start off with time in the word, with young kids, sometimes that first “free” time is late at night! That really freed me from feeling “guilty” about not having my first moments of the day as quiet time.
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you said:”Fifth, all of that stuff is nothing but divination.”i disagree. your personal experience and practice may have been divination, but the practice of repeating prayers (for example) is for many believers a truly meaningful form meditation with God. I see no edification in labeling such devotion as divination or mocking it as “hogwash.”We must be mindful not to make our personal experience with God the gold standard by which all are measured—that road only leads back to spiritual vanity.
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Thank you for this very timely post. I read some time ago a message by Greg Johnson called “Freedom from quiet time guilt” that helped me in this area. Nice website!: )
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Thanks for sharing your experience with us. “Rant” is sometimes an excellent writing style. :)I’ve bookmarked the Piper article to read later, my computer time is up for now. Thanks for pointing it out.
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Elizabeth–I sincerely appreciate your comment. I was beginning to wonder if anyone would disagree with anything that I wrote. The point you mentioned is the one I’ve been thinking about since I wrote it. I didn’t back up that statement at all. I need to do that in another post.I don’t think our personal experiences should be the standard, either. I think the Bible should be our standard for life and how we approach God. As far as its teaching on repetitious prayers goes Jesus said do not use vain repetition. One could argue the definition of “vain” and still make a case for repetitious prayers, but that’s too much semantic maneuvering to persuade me.Thank you for commenting. I love the ladies who almost always agree with me, but it is also fun to have dissenting comments. They help to make me a more careful thinker and writer.
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I appreciated this article,too. So much wisdom…Kim
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This is an excellent post,by the way… I appreciate your honesty about your own pridefulness…aren’t we all like this at times? Thankfully God has opened our eyes to our own sinfulness and we can listen to Him Through His Word.
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“…all of that stuff is nothing but divination. It is rampant in the church, and that is scary!”This post was spot-on Les. And, you’re right. This heresy is rampant in the Church and all manner of believers are embracing it without batting an eye. The most frightening aspect of it is that this practice is common throughout all of man’s religions. I submit that contemplative prayer may introduce a one-world religion. Scary indeed.
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Hi Leslie–thank you for so graciously receiving my dissenting opinion. An honest examination of the issue sometimes requires the good-natured sparring of ideas.That said, another thought came to me:As with all devotional practices, it is the state of our heart that is most important to God, right?The issue here is not the prayer itself, per se, but the manner in which it is prayed.God knows our inward motives. He knows an honest prayer from one being said out of spiritual vanity.He will not despise a broken & contrite heart. But I daresay He will not accept even the most Scripture-filled/evangelical/original prayer when said in a spirit of spiritual vanity.Prayer method is not the issue. The issue is the heart. A prayer that is prayed in accordance with God’s will ought not to be dismissed merely because it is repetitious in nature.Sometimes, especially in the midst of the dark night of the soul, the repetitious prayer is all I can remember. That, and Psalm 23. Since some here have been making thinly veiled references to Catholics, I feel compelled to defend some of my Catholic brethren. I have known Catholics who live an exemplar life of love to Christ. Certainly there are criticisms to be made about the Catholic church, but don’t you think it’s going too far to suggest that contemplative prayer might usher in a one-world religion? That’s just ridiculous fear-mongering, in my opinion.
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Leslie- I’ve been reading a couple of blogs about this Piper article and yours hit me where I’m at.I’m new to your blog but I’ve enjoyed your point of view immensely. Thank you for your honesty and your willingness to rant!
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Rant on, sister! 🙂
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