How To Hear God's Voice

hi there my name is crystal evans hurst and i am coming to you to talk about how to hear god's voice do you ever wonder how you can ensure that you're making good decisions that you're headed down the right path that you know what to include in your life what to release in your life to feel confident that you're moving in the path and purpose and plan that god has and and how to not feel insecure about making decisions in your life i mean everybody that i know that wants to be on the right side of god wants to know what god is saying about their life and i want to talk about that today so i'm glad you're here listen if you are watching me on youtube or facebook i want you to make sure that you are subscribed to my youtube channel and that you've liked my facebook page so that way whenever i go live or when i upload videos like this one you will catch them and be in the know i go live every monday morning in my membership it's called the inner circle where we have a little bit of foolery and fun and then we shave that off and then i put the buttoned-up stuff here for you all if you'd like to join me for every monday in advance of the sunday night videos being released uh check out the inner circle crystal evanshurst dot com forward slash inner circle now we have multiple levels in the inner circle and while the first level is always open for you to join me for those monday morning lives the other levels if you want to work on you see transformation and change in your life get instruction and coaching and community that will help you make changes in your life that will stick then you want to jump into the inner circle on october the 1st the doors are open for all the levels they close for all the levels on october the 4th so if you want to jump into really really seeing change and transformation in your life if you're willing not just to hear me talk but you want to actually see yourself make positive uh and and definitive moves forward in your life well that's what the coaching connection and coffee levels are for in the inner circle and we open the doors on october the 1st so mark your calendar and jump in i have been talking about what it looks like to let go of things that you no longer need to hold on to in your life we've talked about when you need to let go we've talked about what it looks like to let go like the practical steps for how to do it but often one of the things that gets in the way the barriers that get in the way of us letting go is because we're not sure what to let go of what to keep and let go of and we want to keep the things that god wants us to keep we want to release the things that god wants us to release we don't want our efforts of releasing and keeping to be haphazard we want them to be ordered and divinely inspired and obedient to god and walking in the path that he has for us and the shaky feeling of am i supposed to keep this or let this go am i supposed to stay on this job or you know let it go is it my time to move on am i supposed to stay with this guy am i supposed to release him am i supposed to stay in this neighborhood or in this house am i supposed am i supposed to stay in this church is this the church god for me like when you're catching and releasing in your life there is this sense of wanting to do the right thing and wanting to move in the path that god is creating but oftentimes if you're like me you feel unsure is god saying keep this or leave this i'm not even sure so i wanted to talk today about some ways that you can know that you can hear god's voice and then how you can act on that so that you are not just hearing but that you are using what you heard to make decisions in your life because your life is chaotic and one of the reasons why we need to release the junk in our lives is because amidst the junk and you know this if you've got a junky car a junky closet a junky house a junky mind a junky heart is that when there's too much in your space you can't think straight you don't have a clear head you feel chaotic not just on the outside with what what's around you but chaotic on the inside because of what's in you that shouldn't be there so this idea of letting go is to bring peace to release the chaos but you want to do that if you're like me in accordance with god's design for your life you don't want to mistakenly let the wrong thing go and mistakenly hold on to the wrong thing too so i wanted to talk about especially in this season where i've been talking about catching and releasing what it looks like for you to to know god's voice and to hear god's voice for yourself so here's the thing you do have to be intentional about hearing and listening and discerning god's voice in your life period period but especially when there's chaos because there are other competing voices am i going to need this am i going to regret this is this time is this bad enough is this okay enough to keep there are all of these voices inside your head in your heart that are competing for the stuff that you have access to in your physical life or in your head so you do have to be intentional about even through the noise looking for god's voice and listening for god's voice amidst your life so now there are some really basic ways that you can um be intentional about hearing god's voice and a lot of times y'all we over spiritualize it like seriously we're making up all these things that we can do in our lives to make sure that we can hear uh from the holy spirit or from god himself y'all and it's really i mean it's it's not easy all the time because life is noisy but it is pretty simple simple okay first of all god has taken the time to put together a letter of love for you thousands and thousands of pages that's what the bible is it's a long letter that says here has been my heart for the people i created for thousands of years and if you do not prioritize the reading of the bible okay then you're not going to hear from him clearly because there's so many things that you may be asking about that he's already answered my kids come to me all the time and they say mom can i do this mom can i do that they ask me the same questions over and over again and sometimes y'all i just look at them like this because i already answered them they're asking me a question i've already answered and sometimes the silence that my kids are getting from me is because think honey think you just asked me this 15 minutes ago i already answered you sometimes that's my answer to them i already answered you you already asked me that so they're all stressing out because they need an answer from me that i already gave them so reading god's word is your way to ensure that whatever answer you need from god if he's already answered it that's your first look okay god also speaks to us through other people we know this if we go to church and we've ever been pierced through to the soul the bone of the marrow and the pastor preaches the sermon and we feel like it's just for us he can talk to us through our pastors he can talk to us through our mentors other people he speaks to us through our own hearts the holy spirit lives in us which means that when you're wanting to hear from god the spirit of god in you connects with the mind of christ in you to inform you and that's why sometimes you'll be like i sensed or i felt god leading me okay god can speak to you through your heart now the the bible tells us in jeremiah that the heart is deceitful above all things so you don't want to be led by your feelings and by your heart without being informed what by the word and by the spirit of god okay so it's not that god can't use the soul of you to lead you and guide you but the soul of you has to be influenced by the word of god which has already been given to you it has to be influenced by the work of the living holy spirit in your life so you can't just think thoughts and have feelings on your own it needs to be informed by something it needs to be life breathed by something okay if i said to my kids what happened in history that they may have some spotty things that they have learned throughout the time but in order for them to have a full grasp they've got to go through the full course the full scope and sequence of knowledge so that they're actually attaching their thoughts about history to correct information so through god's word through other people through your heart through prayer there's times y'all we are asking other people like what should i do what do you think and there's nothing wrong with seeking wise counsel but often y'all if we would shut it down and actually ask god what he thinks and let him know my husband says to me all the time sometimes he's like i hear you on the phone you're talking to your friends you know asking your sister you know i'm here hello or he'll say you know the answer why are you asking everybody sometimes the answer that we seek is we're skipping the person who has the answer the conversation that we have with god in prayer is our way to unlock some of these answers that y'all want because there is a way that god comes when we are making place at the table for him not just to read his word not just to you know to to desire to hear from him but like the discipline the spiritual discipline of prayer of writing down the questions that you have and looking at how god answers your prayer to clear the path because sometimes the answers that you seek right are doors that god can open and close for you and he's looking at you stressing out he's like all right she wants to figure this out on her own when if you would just come to him in prayer he would open or close a door for you in the old testament they said stand still and watch the lord fight your battles be still the bible says be still and know that i'm god like i actually am god i actually have power i have the ability to control things but you're running around like a busy bee trying to do it all on your own and ma'am if you would just pause for a second and seek me through prayer i actually have something to say hibiscus tea for the win so those are the some of the ways that god can speak to us but what i also want to tell you a little bit about this morning is how you can make room to hear god's voice because the the issue is we know many of us know you've got to read the bible many of us know okay i got to pray many of us know i should seek wise counsel i mean you know we kind of had that idea so then why why are we so concerned that we're missing god's voice i'll tell you why because we're not leaving room to listen to god's voice you need to live and this is the meat of what i want to talk about today that's beyond what you can you know if you've been a believer for any length of time read the bible read your bible we got that but you need to here's your part okay here's your part as you read god's word listen to wise counsel let the holy spirit move in your heart and pray you need to live a listening life okay so yes you listen by reading the bible but you listen by taking the time in your morning walk to turn down the volume on your spotify playlist to get off the phone and pray you listen because you journal and write down your prayers and you journal and write down god's responses you don't forget you don't forget to make a note of his whispers to you in your life sometimes god answers prayers and we like in micro answers but we're not it's like clues we're not writing down what he's saying to hear the whole picture he downloads it bit by bit you live a listening lifestyle by living a lifestyle that allows you to have enough rest in your mind enough rest in your body to reconnect with him and to not fall asleep in prayer and not fall asleep when you're reading your bible it is the lifestyle of listening that you drive to drive to work in your car and not busy yourself with uh you know sitting in traffic and getting on your phone to answer a couple of texts it is listening in your life as you go it is setting reminders to pray to be grateful to worship there's nothing wrong with that listen if i want to listen to my husband or my husband wants to listen to me if i want to listen to a friend and i've been moving too fast you want to know what i do i set a date my husband and i can go out on a date because in the busyness of every day we may or may not be listening well to each other and friends who i know i love them and they love me we know it but somehow we never really have time to talk so if i want to prioritize that relationship i set a date hey on this date let's pick a new restaurant in dallas and let's just go talk let's pick a date you know and do something different setting aside the time to listen setting reminders setting your phone picking a time where you say this is my appointment with god my appointment to read the word my appointment to pray my appointment to be still my appointment to journal my appointment to take notes if you prioritize anything in your life you make it an appointment right you want to have that special time to go see your doctor and don't want to get sandwiched in at that lunchtime hour when you're going to wait for two hours in the in the uh in the waiting room i like to set my appointments with my doctor er first appointment because i want to be there first i don't want to get behind anybody else and they're long drawn out stories and then i'm in the waiting room because they have a million problems they need to talk to them with my doctor i want to be number one and i set those appointments in advance to make sure they're on my calendar to make sure they fit in my life where i need them to the things that you value you make room for them you put it on your calendar because you don't want to forget about it so i'm telling you to live a listening life you've got to make roo you've got to you've got to look at your life and say this is how i make room for listening to god this means you put on your playlist of worship bethel hillsong uh travis green coffee vibes instrumentals uh you know just whatever works for you for you to have a heart of worship and be called into a space that space that you get into when you go to church you create that at home you create that environment every morning my children get up there are a handful of playlists that they can choose and i'm like turn on the music turn on some carrie job turn on some anthony evans turn on some travis green turn on and they're like do we have to listen to that yes you want to know why because i'm creating an atmosphere of worship so that god knows that he's welcome you got to learn how to create stillness and pockets of of of listening in your life and it doesn't have to be you know you don't have to pray for an hour you'd have to read the bible for two hours you just have to say i prioritize this i'm gonna get up in the morning and leave myself enough time or i'm gonna put my kids to bed so i leave myself enough time or i'm gonna turn off my tv so i leave myself enough time to hear a lot of us are saying we want to hear god's voice what does he want me to do i don't know what to do i don't know what do you think god is saying and god is like i've been talking the whole time you cannot hear me so being intentional to hear god's voice means living a listening life prioritizing the time that you're going to set aside to hear god through the way he speaks his word other people your heart prayer so living living a listening lifestyle means you're going to have to shut some things off social media might be one of them the other thing i want you to learn how to do is to linger so even as you start see we we want to move we want to move yesterday my sister that she's waiting on me to clean out my mother's closet so the first time we went i was like i don't want to clean out her clothes and my sister was on a mission because she's a get it done kind of person and i wanted to linger over her clothes you know i wanted to slowly do that i want to look through some photo albums and remember have a vision in my mind for where she wore them it's not just about getting my life in motion and checking it off the list it's about an experience and that means moving slower so when you live a listening life that's going to be accompanied by the discipline of living with a linger moving a little slower that when you sense change coming you don't need your jump into it but you listen and linger pay attention when i got married i read this book um that i cannot remember the name of it but it was talking about preparing yourself for your wedding day and one of the things that it said was when the doors open and it's time for you as the bride to walk down the aisle linger look keep your eyes open during the prayers look at all the people that are there to celebrate you on your special day look at your groom look at your bridal party take it in because most women get married and they don't remember they don't have a visual imprint when you linger you give yourself room to listen and learn give yourself margin stop rushing everywhere she says to herself be patient with yourself when you thought you heard god correctly and obviously this wasn't right linger a little bit and say what did i learn instead of jumping from one relationship to the next relationship releasing that one just so you can catch another one linger what do i learn what did i learn feel free to take your time to change with the changes of your life so live a lingering lifestyle too that even when god is saying it's time to release that even the way you release that thing that person that position you linger over it you're just not quick to cut quick to change think about david and saul david knew he was supposed to be king saul knew he was supposed to be replaced and david even though the the letter of the law said you're supposed to be king and he had opportunities to kill saul he said i'm gonna wait i'm listening i'm listening i'm waiting for the right time i know that he's supposed to release and i know that i'm supposed to catch but because i want to do this in god's timing i'm going to linger through this process of kingship from the time god told david he was supposed to be king to the time he was actually king was a long time and you want to know why he took his time because he had heard god speak but the process of engaging with god's next step was not supposed to be a fast one and he lingered and waited and looked and listened responding to the change god was putting in his life slowly creating margin for him to learn how to be king slowly for him to be patient with himself and others on his way to being king slowly and often what god wants to do with you in your life is not about who you become when you arrive when you cross the finish line it's what he's doing with you along the way so you shortcut the process of his of his tweaks and turns in your heart and in your mind when you rush the process some things you just need to linger over it's like a good meal have you ever said to somebody oh my gosh slow down and taste your food i say i have growing children i say that to them all the time slow down my sister-in-law loves if she goes out and gets anything a burger a you know dinner protein just whatever she eats bj's cotton patch papados wing stop she will wait until her kids go to bed she won't warm her food up in the microwave she warms it up in the oven because she wants it to be heated all the way through she doesn't want the texture to change in the microwave and then y'all she enjoys her she sets her plate she sits down and she lingers over her meal because she wants to enjoy every flavor that that meal has to offer her if you're moving too fast between god speak to me what do i need to change what do i need to let go of okay great bam now now don't get me wrong obedience and quick obedience is important but sometimes god is not asking you to jump ship today he could be telling you and you could be sensing my time at this job is job is coming to a close but just because you sense it's coming to a close doesn't mean you walk into your boss's office today and say i'm out you linger through that god when when is the timing you know what do you want me to say did i get everything you wanted me to get it's asking god questions and letting him answer those questions he loves your questions so lingering through these life changes okay are are one of the ways that you can grow in hearing god's voice because it's in the living slower and listening and it's in the lingering that you actually get clarity so live the listening life linger a little bit i'll give one more example on linger if i know there's going to be a traffic jam if i know there's going to be chaos i will choose to hang back so that i miss the morning traffic either that or go earlier but i don't want to get caught in the chaos so i choose a time that allows me to go at my own pace at a pace that i've determined sometimes in life there's a traffic jam there's chaos everybody has an opinion there's a million youtube videos about what you should do you know a million uh a b or c's that you could could choose from and the way that you linger through life is by avoiding the traffic jam where is the traffic jam in my life so let me avoid that by getting up early staying up later let me avoid that by slowing down and moving this at a pace that's sustainable for me you you look at where there's traffic in your life and you avoid it don't try to have your bible study or pray at the five o'clock dinner hour i can get in good prayer after dinner after the kids have gone to sleep or they're doing their homework because the kitchen is ghost nobody wants to be caught dead or i could say help me clean up the kitchen i have some good prayers over doing the dishes how do you know that you are rooted in the right decisions how do you find peace in your decisions well you need to give yourself room to learn so don't feel bad if you made a decision and you were like i don't even know if that was god you know encouraging me or directing me just know that one of the reasons why people that are a lot of times older and full of faith is because they've walked with god long enough to learn from him to linger and get clarity and so they've lived this listening life and now they've they've learned it like that's why they can look at you and they look deep in your eyes and you know and they're just like um you know you should consider and you're just like god just spoke to me there is a learning that's taken place over time right now you can speed up that clock the bible says paul was telling timothy a study to show yourself approved a workman who doesn't need to be ashamed you know how to rightly divide the word of truth you're young but you've learned so paul was telling timothy you can learn how to do this earlier if you will apply yourself but there is a learning even the best student a straight a student has to learn has to know that i'm gonna make some mistakes on my homework that's how i learn i'm gonna take the study guide home and wrestle with the questions that's how i learn if the reason why teachers give cumulative tests at the end of the semester or midterm is because one by one they've been teaching concepts and they want to see did you learn and at the end of the semester they come back and say but did you really learn this this idea of hearing god's voice listening to him lingering through the growth and development is a learning process which means don't beat yourself up if you're like oh my gosh i thought i heard god right i totally got that wrong it's okay it's okay i just had a whole knock down drag out with my uh son who's in college because he did something it wasn't horrible that i did not necessarily approve of i'm like i've sent you to college we're spending all this money and you didn't even have the courtesy to call me and he said but i didn't know i said yes you did you've known me for 18 years you knew what i was saying he said but mom and he walked me through and he i was assuming so our communication just got better because we worked through something that he saw one way and i saw another way well god is the only right way so you're the person who has to learn to learn that you know i i thought god was speaking to me through this pastor and then i realized that what that pastor was saying was unbiblical and then i had to go and find a bible teaching church that's a part of learning you learn how to trust the plans that god has for you your faith gets built as you put one foot forward and then see that your faith in god that your trust in god that he is trustworthy and that your faith in him is not ill-placed and then that gives you the freedom to put a little more weight on that you know we test things out when we're unsure if they can hold us and that's what learning to listen and linger in your relationship with god is all about can you trust him to wait until he speaks to obey what he tells you to do it's a matter of trust so you learn how to trust god more and more as you give yourself the grace to do that so you pray specific prayers you trust god to lead you you talk to other people that you can learn to trust you learn you learn in the context of community who is in my circle who are the mentors that i can ask their opinion look at their life and i'm learning based on how they live their life if i should be following their counsel it's a learning experience who i chose to to befriend me and to mentor me when i was a youth worker or when i was in the youth all of those people who were there to lead the youth are not people who i should have been following after and there are two people who still to this day i would call them for advice but i've learned over time who can be trusted and who cannot who knows god's word and who can speak life-giving words into my life who cannot so give yourself the room to learn um talk to other people who are like you who are in your season who are trying to figure out how do i hear from god when you live a listening life when you slow down and learn to linger through the things that you need to do when you are able to give yourself grace to learn that you know what i didn't get this right but i'm going to go i'm going to pray more i'm going to ask god for guidance because i believe that i serve a god who wants to speak to me he wouldn't have put together this love letter that took thousands of years that's thousands of pages if he didn't want me to hear from him but maybe i'm just not positioned correctly and i need to do my part to do what i need to do read the word allow the holy spirit if sin is in your life you're not hearing from the holy spirit like willful ongoing he already told you that i'm gonna do it anyway sin if you're shacking with your boyfriend i can tell you right now you are muting the holy spirit's voice in your life if you are stealing from your employer you are muting the holy spirit's voice in your life if you were disrespecting those in authority over you not honoring those people you are not going to hear clearly the voice of god you living a righteous life is how you live with your antennas fully up to receive the signal of the holy spirit if your antennas are not up you'll miss it you'll know something's happening but you won't get clarity so you need to be clear as well let me just say that so listening with your life also lingering in your life making room slowing down and then also giving yourself grace to learn to hear god's voice in your life because it does take time he does not speak to us like he did in the old testament loud and audible he comes to us with a still quiet voice often from the thoughts that we've gotten from his word or from our relationship with him are in our hearts does he speak 100 absolutely there are two times i can tell you that it it was still and small but it was his voice giving me very specific direction i just heard about a friend the other day who was at the gas station and there was a gentleman who was talking to her and she said the holy spirit said right now take your gas nozzle out of your car put it up get in your car and as you get in the car lock your door shut the door she followed the instructions that she said i heard the holy spirit telling me what to do and i was like what but it was it was just i it was so impressed upon me to obey right then and right there y'all she got in her car closed her door and within five seconds not even five seconds three seconds that man had rushed over to her car and pulled on the door pulled on the door there was a white van over there she's like i really believe i would have been it would have been abducted if i had not heard god's voice and listened to it and responded to it right away but you don't get to that kind of hearing if you don't have a listening lifestyle a lingering lifestyle and a willingness to learn and then when god speaks and you obey his voice gets clearer the bible says don't cast your pearl before swine guess what god's not going to cast his best communication to somebody who's not listening have you ever worked with an obnoxious rebellious person who no matter what you're trying to tell them they just won't listen you get tired of trying to talk to them you get tired you're like why am i even wasting my breath i'm willing to talk to you but are you willing to listen god is looking for people who will listen noah built the ark right god said build the ark tell all the people come get on the ark noah's the only one who listened but god was speaking the whole time they weren't listening john the baptist came and said i'm preparing the way for the lord jesus said i'm the one you've been looking for they weren't listening they were hearing what they wanted to hear doing what they wanted to do not living a listening life not lingering they had their own agenda and they weren't willing to learn they were obstinate so if you know because god has been convicting you if the holy spirit lives in you he's going to convict you so if you've been convicted of something you need to get right and on the other hand you're like i'm trying to figure out what god's design is for my life and what's my purpose and god i want you to direct my steps but you already know you've been convicted about something in your life that your tongue is causing murder and death because of how you slice people with what you say and every time you say something crazy you're like i know i shouldn't have said it like that but you know no listen obey because the same god who's convicting you is the same god who wants to speak and breathe life into you but you don't have room to receive if he can't trust you with his words it's one of those that i got goosebumps can you tell i get a little preachery when i get goosebumps but everybody wants to hear from god and nobody's willing to listen to what he what they know he already said so there's that listen chaos around you doesn't have to mean chaos in you you can hear the voice of god you can't understand what his will is for your life you can move forward in boldness and confidence but it does mean that you have to listen and linger and learn and know that if you're not willing to do the work of listening and lingering and learning then you basically have a root ball on the bottom of your life as a believer that is not healthy and if you don't take care of the roots at the root of the thing listening and lingering and learning those weeds will continue to grow all right y'all so that's my input on how you hear god's voice and i hope you listened to me today i hope you crack open the word i hope you get some spiritual mentors in your life i hope you slow down i hope you obey what he's already told you and i hope that you give yourself grace when you thought you heard him and it wasn't quite the right answer but you give yourself grace to say you know what just like a child has to learn the voice of their mother like a kid has to learn the voice of their father i have to learn the voice of my god and give yourself grace on the journey but here's what i want you to know for sure he does speak if that was helpful to you and i hope it was i hope you will share this video with someone else and don't forget if you'd like to join me live every monday morning and also not just listen but actually get in to your own life with transformational work that will change your life consider joining me in the inner circle especially while the doors are open october the 1st to the 4th so you have access to all the goodness we put in there to help you grow here's to your growth and here's to you listening i'll see you next week [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Chrystal Evans Hurst

Views: 8,622

Rating: 4.9281769 out of 5

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Id: nJ8v8WkODKg

Length: 33min 12sec (1992 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 03 2021