Hearing the Voice of the Lord

This coming Sunday, Pentecost, is when we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit--the tongues of fire in the upper room and the disciples speaking in languages that were understood by those from different countries. The season of Pentecost is a time when we focus on the Holy Spirit's role and open ourselves to His work in our lives.

But the first and obvious question, I think, is: How do we know it's the Holy Spirit?

How do I know it's not just my own desire that I've spiritualized? How do I know if it's a word from the Lord to me for a specific situation, or just another Bible verse? What if I think it's the Holy Spirit, and I'm wrong? What if I never "hear" anything?

Let me share my own experience with coming to know the voice of the Lord. As a young Christian, I had a lot of intellectual knowledge about God, about the Bible, about doctrine and even some theology. But I would make a decision by first praying for God's help; then I would list pros and cons, make a rational decision, and ask for God to bless it. As I matured, and through circumstances, I learned that God wanted not just my mind, but my heart--my emotions and my desires--to be involved in listening to Him too.

For me, getting in touch with my emotion and desires was a huge thing--a healing, in fact. And through that healing, I began to learn that my imagination could be blessed and submitted to God too--that in fact, the Holy Spirit could speak to me through my imagination. I met Christians to whom God often seemed to speak in pictures or images, even dreams. They emphasized that these visions needed to be tested against Scripture and confirmed by other believers, but that God could and did use the imagination to speak.

I remember one simple exercise that Leanne Payne, in her conferences, used to take us through. "Ask God to show you the garden of your heart," she would say. "Take His hand and enter it and see what is there." In the silence, prayerfully, I asked God to show me the garden of my heart and without striving, just opening my interior eyes, I saw it. The first time, it looked nothing like a garden--more like a cave, and there were cobwebs over the entrance. The ground was cracked and dry, parched for water, and the Lord showed me that He was sending rain--a gentle, softening rain--on this barren earth.

That was the perfect metaphor for what He was doing in my life at that time, with the opening up of my heart--my emotions, desires, and imagination. I had become a parent too, and that experience unlocked a greater capacity to nurture, to love, to sacrifice and to imagine. That rain took the form of Scripture, of books I read, of conversations, sermons and prayers prayed, by me and for me by others.

I wrote regularly in a journal for years beginning at that time, to practice God's presence and to practice listening to the Lord. I also began to listen to my own heart and sort out my anxious thoughts and fears from my true and God-given desires. As C.S. Lewis wrote, "The prayer preceding all prayers is 'May it be the real I who speaks. May it be the real Thou that I speak to.' " Journaling helped me sort out the real I and the real Thou, for the first time.

(And I am forever grateful to my husband who practically pushed me out the door, a couple afternoons a week, while the little ones were napping--he worked from home at that time--to go to the Acorn Coffee Bar and Folk Lore Center, with nothing but a Bible, a devotional book and a journal. I would never have spent the time that way if I had stayed home, and without his urging!)

The most important books I read during that time were Restoring the Christian Soul and Listening Prayer, both by Leanne Payne. She directly addressed this question of: What if it's "just me" that I "hear"? She said, among other things, that it's okay to listen to "just me," that we need to hear what "just me" knows. Especially if it's the "real I" that is speaking, the real I is in touch with passions and desires that God himself planted there when He created me. And if it is just my fleshly desires that are speaking, it's okay--that will soon become apparent.

This was a news flash for me, and it gave me permission to trust my heart--to listen to my intuition and even my feelings--as I never had before! Over time, I learned from experience what it felt like when my heart seemed to be united with God's desires--which I would call a prompting from the Holy Spirit--and when my heart was prompted more by selfishness or sinful fears. It takes great honesty with oneself and with God, but I think any believer can learn the difference.

So, how do we hear and recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit?

In my experience:

It is usually a still, small voice. We have to quiet ourselves to hear Him.

He often speaks through the Word--rarely in a random way, but usually by calling to our minds a verse or a concept from Scripture.

He often speaks through our imagination--with a metaphor, a detailed picture, a half-seen image, a dream, or a single word or phrase planted in our minds. Usually the significance is immediately apparent.

He often fans the flames of the desires He has planted in our hearts.

His voice will never contradict Scripture.

If it's a true message from the Holy Spirit, there will be some kind of confirmation from other believers.

Yes, we can deceive ourselves into thinking we are listening to the Holy Spirit when really, we are justifying what we want. But with experience and a commitment to honesty with God and ourselves, we can learn to sort out God's voice from our fleshly desires; in fact, the Holy Spirit can help us do that.

Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. ~Psalm 51:6

(It's not too late to submit your post for the Pentecost Blog Carnival! The deadline has been extended through Friday.)