- This facet of our faith
is what separates our faith from every other so-called faith on the face of the earth. - [Interviewer] Okay. - That our God lives. He's alive and He speaks to us. We have an actual relationship with Him and that's so casually thrown around, this whole relationship thing, but what good is any relationship if nobody's talking to each other? - Right
- If there's no communication, if there's not a connectedness that is ongoing and continual. So this issue of discerning
the voice of God, first of all believing that He does speak, but second of all, trusting in the fact that as His kids, we have the privilege to actually discern and have a distinction of His voice between all the other voices that also want to get a word in edgewise. That's something that really can change and transform the trajectory of your entire Christian experience. - Okay. Let's lay a little bit of the ground rule in your, in your world. You're our guests today. You and Jerry, Jerry, jump
in anytime you want to. You're much bigger than
I am. You can do that- - You can jump in anytime
you want to (laughs) - You know that you're a miracle worker that you got him on the
show. Jerry doesn't want- - He's my buddy, come on man - I know y'all are buddies. - You guys are just
gonna have a good time. - We're gonna discern the voice of God. Let me ask you a question. In the Priscilla-Jerry world - [Priscilla] Yeah - Does God speak audibly? Does He only speak through His Word? Does He speak, how, what are the different ways
that you certainly know of that God speaks to you?
- yeah. - I've never heard the audible
voice of God, babe, have you? - I have not - Did I miss something? - I have not. - No, not yet? - No, no, not yet. But I think there is something internal - Yeah. - In you that you, that
you feel the presence of God and it lines up with
scripture, which confirms, okay this is what I'm hearing - That's right So the Holy spirit of
God, illumines scripture the book is alive and He
causes the old presets of scripture to have a nowness
and a newness that applies and intersects with our
personal experience. So as Jerry mentioned, the
Holy Spirit in us confirms and corroborates and
connects with the Word of God and causes it to intersect
with our experience. So that verse that has something to do with David and Goliath, all of a sudden it's not about David and Goliath. It actually applies to what you're facing right then in your life. And you understand it as a directive straight from God. And then there's the conviction, you know the conviction of the Holy Spirit that green light of ease
and peace that says go that yellow light of warning
and an easiness that says hold up a minute, till you get clarity. And then that red light,
that is a straight up no, there's no peace. there's confusion. There's dissension. That's the Holy Spirit's
way of telling you. No, don't go there. There's a better yes for you. If you'll just wait and be patient - Have you ever heard the
still small voice of the Lord in a phrase in an impression
what, describe some of what is in discerning the voice of God, how the Lord speaks or how this conversation unfolds with you - Yes, well most of the time most of the time God speaks
to me through His Word. It is exactly what I described. It is reading through
a portion of scripture. And on that day, it's like
the Holy Spirit has taken out a highlighter and it
has highlighted this verse. You have seen a million
times before, but on that day it leaps up off the page and it grips you. That's the only way I
can really describe it is that it grips you in
the depths of your soul and causes you to pause for a moment because it seems to be literally speaking to something that's
happening in your life. Most of the time, that
is the voice of God. We have discounted, I think
the power of scripture because if we say we want to hear from God and we never
actually read the love letter that He wrote to us, we don't
want to really hear from God. And we rarely will because
the Canon of scripture is not only, it not only
provides the boundary into which everything God
says to us will fall, because He'll never say anything that
manipulates the scriptures or His character as
revealed in the scriptures. So it not only gives us the boundary but it also provides for
us the number one mechanism through which we have the privilege to hear Him in the first place - Start us out on. Cause I know so many
people wonder, Oh, you know how can I hear God's voice for ourselves? And I know,
- or trust it - Or trust it How can I trust God's
voice when I do hear it? Is that really Him? Is it me? Is it? - Yeah. Well, let me just
start by putting a little grace over this entire situation. The reality is that sometimes you do not know until hindsight, that what you heard was the voice of God. - There you go - And the reality is that
there is grace and mercy to cover our missteps - Thank you Jesus - and that the Lord in His
graciousness toward us, His knowledge of our
frailty and our humanity for the willing heart who
desires to do His will even when we make
mistakes, He allows them to become our greatest teachers for hearing Him correctly in the future. He does not hold it against us because we've misstepped along the way. So just grace for those of us, - Yes
- who've ever heard God wrong (laughter) and wished we could get it right. One of the people I sort of interviewed when I was first writing
that book many, you know over a decade ago now I interviewed Henry Blackaby
who wrote Experiencing God. - yes - And I, you know, had
my notebook out my pen. I was going to take a seminary class from Henry Blackaby, you know? And I said, how do you know
when you're hearing God? And he gave me lots of incredible
answers to that question but really he summed it up this way. He said, the more you know God the more clearly you can hear God. - hmm
- hmm - And there was really nothing for me to write down
because it boiled down to Priscilla, it's simple. He said, the more you know Him the more clearly you can hear Him. So the reason why we go to the scriptures the reason why we have quiet time the reason why we fellowship
with other believers who are going to help us remain
encouraged in our faith is because we're just trying
to get to know God. - Yeah - when you know His character,
when you know the nuances of what He does say and
what He wouldn't say because of how He spoke to our forefathers because of how He handled
circumstances previously with people in the scriptures
who were going through some of the same scenarios
we're going through now when you see His personality
and His character then you know, when you
hear the voice of fear uh uh, that don't sound like my God. When you hear the voice of your ego, pride, jealousy, divisiveness stepping in all of that stuff that
in our flesh is also trying to get a word in edgewise. We can quickly pinpoint the voice of a stranger because if we know God the more clearly we can discern and divide His voice from a stranger - Okay, now you talked about
seeking God's provision and His blessings on our life. And then knowing who,
what His character is. Talk about that, because
I've found that fascinating. - Yes. So God's blessing, And I believe His
provisions are corroboration of His word to us. So in other words, while
in the Old Testament there were external means as a primary way for folks to hear God. In the New Testament, and
now in this timeframe as well we have something they didn't have. We have the Holy Spirit. So the primary way He has speak to us is that He speaks to us has
changed, but His goal hasn't His goal is still for His
kids to hear His voice. So He's chosen the Holy
spirit of God to be the way that we hear and know what it is that His will is for our life. But He still uses external means. His provision, His blessings,
His aligning, a Providence. Some people would call
it luck or coincidence. No, it's the aligning of God's handiwork in our life to confirm
that what we're sensing on the inside is indeed how
He's aligning the direction for our life to just F.B.
Meyer is a great theologian. Put it this way. When a big 747 is getting
ready to land on a runway. Well, the plane better
not just be looking for one light somewhere to land better not just look for two
lights somewhere to land. There better be several lights that are that are aligning a runway. So that that 747 knows
exactly where to land. The bigger the decision
that you have to make. The more you need to trust in the mercy of God's external confirmation
that aligns for you where to land that plane in your life. - Beautiful - And so that's important that we have external blessings, provision coincidence that really shows us the sovereignty of God aligning
