Let’s look at “Is God Speaking to Me? How to Discern His Voice and Direction” By Lysa Terkuerst -Chapter 2
Terkeurst, Lysa. Is God Speaking to Me? How to Discern God’s Voice and Direction. Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2007. 60 pages
This is part 2 of a 3 part series. Read part 1 here.
Only 60 pages long, this is a handy little booklet containing 3 “crucial” chapters from her book What Happens When Woman Say Yes to God. In chapter 1 we clearly saw her purpose for writing the book, that those who have a longing for more in their relationship with God should say yes to Him by learning to listen for His voice and obeying what He commands. This she says is the key to experiencing God. And experiencing God happens apart from His written Word. We looked over her claims and questioned her assumptions comparing them to Scripture. So we will continue now to Chapter 2.
Chapter 2 “Hearing God’s Voice: God wants us to live in expectation of hearing from Him.”
In Chapter 2 Lysa’s goal is to give us instruction on HOW to discern whether that nudging, whisper, leading, thought, nudge, etc. is from God. Her claim is that “everyday, God speaks to us”(pg.27) through these nudges, whispers, etc. She has mastered the ability to discern if it is God by asking 5 questions that we will look at in detail. This chapter was quite interesting because it gives us insight into HOW she views Scripture and WHAT she believes Scripture is for.
After telling us of a letter from a man named Neil, who’s been encouraged by her “bible give-away story” to witness more. He relates how he shared his faith to a delivery man deciding then, to listen to the promptings of God. It is here where she starts to discuss the nature of God’s speaking:
“Everyday, God speaks to us. Sometimes He invites us to draw close and listen as He reveals Himself, His Character, and His direction. Other times He calls us to participate in His purposes…Still other times He simply whispers to remind us of His amazing love for us”(pg.27).
She claims that many believers miss out on this because they don’t realize that God talks to them in this way. Because God speaks to us through inner means we must learn how to discern them.
She says:
“How do I know God is speaking to me? How do I discern whether it is his voice speaking or just my own idea? What if I feel God is telling me to do something that doesn’t seem to make sense?…Though I hear from God all the time I’ve never heard his voice audibly. When God speaks to me, it is a certain impression on my heart that I’ve come to recognize as him” (pg.27-28).
We should address this idea of God “speaking” through impressions, nudges and whispers, that we have to learn how to discern them. God is Sovereign and all-powerful. But is God Sovereign and powerful enough to make sure that we know when He is speaking? How in-control can God be if His Will depends on us learning how to discern what He wants us to do? Not a very Sovereign God at all. And not the God that is given to us in Scripture. The God in Scripture does all He that pleases Him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and in all their depths (Ps.135:6).
After clarifying that God speaks through “heart impressions” she will now teach us how to discern God’s voice:
“I’ve… learned to ask five key questions to help me determine if what I’m hearing is from God or not
1) Does what I hear line up with scripture?
2) Is it consistent with God’s character?
3) Is it being confirmed through messages I’m hearing at church or studying in my quiet time?
4) Is it beyond me?
5) Would it please God?”(pg.28)
If we cherish Scripture over our experiences we gain need not ask these questions. We read and we know who God is, what he has done, and what we need to do for righteousness and good works (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Asking questions to discern if God is prompting us one way or another may come from a lack of understanding of God’s Sovereignty, the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives and actions, and the Sufficiency of Scripture to equip us for every good work. Since, to her, God speaks in inaudible ways we have to discern if it is Him by asking these questions. So let’s look at these specific questions and see what she says as to WHY we should ask them.
Question #1: Does what I hear line up with Scripture?
Why ask this? Because:
“God’s word is the language the Holy Spirit uses to help us understand what God is speaking to our hearts.We must get into God’s word and let God’s word get into us. This will transform our mind and prepare it for whatever God wants to tell us” (pg.29).
Now this is very telling. Here is where we get a look at what she believes Scripture is. This implies that God’s word is used to interpret what God says in our heart. The nudges, the impressions are what is important and we use Scripture to figure out if it’s from God. God’s word is NOT used to interpret what God is supposedly personally revealing to you. Scripture itself IS what He personally revealed to her and us, namely Christ. When we read it, by the Spirit our minds are conformed to Christ’s and our hearts agree with God’s Word. This idea that the Scriptures should be used to transform our mind to prepare us for what God wants to tell us makes Scripture a mere tool for what God really wants to say, some personal revelation to you. No. Scripture judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. So that nudge you feel? Scripture stands in judgement over it. Scripture itself is what God desires to tell us and our hearts must conform to it. It is His personal revelation to you, in that it tells you your condition before God and how He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to die for YOU. God gave us His Word and it transforms our minds. We keep God’s Word and it keeps us pure (Psalm 119:9). We keep the Word in our heart so that we might not sin (Psalm 119:11).
Here’s the thing: the Scriptures are God’s very breath (2Tim 3:16-17). They are His Words that we would do well to pay attention as to a light shining in a dark place (1 Pet.1:19). They are so effectful that they do not return to God void (Isa. 55:11), they separate the spirit from the soul (Heb.4:12), and they thoroughly, perfectly equip us for, not some, not most, but EVERY good work. So slight a switch is there in her wording. The main focus is what God is speaking to our hearts while the scripture is merely a type of litmus test of God’s voice in our hearts.
Question #2: Is what I’m hearing consistent with God’s character
Here is where she will nudge us to look to God’s Word, not because it is His revealed word to which we can learn all we need for righteousness and godly living, but so we can take note of what it says about God’s character to which we can judge our inner impressions to answer this question. So we ask this question because:
“God will not say things that are inconsistent with His character. ..Paul writes ‘Those who live according to their sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live according to the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.’ (Romans 8:5). What is it that God’s Spirit desires? Answering this question helps understand God’s character.” (pg. 30)
If she had kept reading on in Romans she would see how Paul tells us that, because of Christ giving us His righteousness there is no condemnation for us. And that the law is now fulfilled in us, who “walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit”(vs.1-4). He contrasts those who “set the mind on the flesh [are] hostile to God, and do not submit to God’s LAW. [We], however, are not in the flesh but are in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in [us]. And anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him”(vs. 6-9). The verse in context is about having Christ’s righteousness and thereby being led by the Spirit to submit to God’s LAW. We have His Spirit and we will desire to submit to what God has revealed to us in Scripture (His Law) if we are truly Christ’s. So let’s answer the question: what does God’s Spirit desire? To trust in Christ for righteousness and submit to God’s Law. Can we understand God’s Character by this? Sure. But we can see when we put this verse in its context walking in the Spirit means obeying what God has revealed to us in Scripture, then we will walk in what is consistent with God’s character because we are in Christ.
Again, if we are in Scripture, letting it “speak to us” we learn about God’s character and will have no need to ask this question. It gives us all we need to see if what we are doing is consistent with His character. It will teach us about Him, rebuke us when we are wrong, correct us, and train us to be like Him (2Tim. 3:16-17).
Question #3: Is what I’m hearing being confirmed through other messages?
Why ask this question? She explains that if God is trying to communicate with us there will be other signs such as sermons, podcasts, conversations with friends, etc. And in quiet time communication with God shouldn’t be a one way street:
“We shouldn’t be doing all the talking. God wants us to pour out our hearts to Him and then He wants to respond to us. Jesus shared this parable:
The watchmen [Jesus] opens the gate [a way for us to have direct communication with God] for him, and the sheep [you and ] listen to his voice. He [Jesus] calls all his own sheep by name [he speaks to us personally] and leads them out [providing us with direction]. When he has brought out all his own he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice [they know his voice because they have spent time with him] (John 10: 3-4)...Jesus is the one who provides a way for us to talk with God and hear from God”(pg 32-33).(note: this is her clarification of the parable)
This parable is not about God speaking or responding to us. It is about how one enters into the kingdom of heaven. They enter through the door, and the door is Christ (John 10:7). The door is NOT the way to have direct communication with God. We are the sheep. God calls and we enter through the door, Jesus. The purpose of the parable is to contrast the sheep being called and entering the fold through the door versus the thieves and robbers who try to enter through another way. He was contrasting the Pharisees who He poses as entering the sheepfold by another way than through Him, the Door. Besides that, if she had kept reading she would see that Jesus explains the parable to the disciples in verses 7 to 10.
She believes that:
“This verse is telling us that the way God wants to connect with us is to provide direction for us in life” (pg.33)
But this is not what Jesus says John 10:3-4 is about. The parable is NOT about direction but Salvation. John 10:9-11 says: “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Jesus is how we are connected to God. In fact, if we have been baptized, the Holy Spirit through Paul tells us that we have been clothed with Christ (Gal.3:27) and that we were buried with Christ and raised with Christ. I don’t know how much more of a connection we can get than that. Do you?
She goes on to use an example of a parent providing their children with direction and love for their best to describe quiet time as a time for God to give us direction. Her purpose is to encourage us to spend a long time with God and to listen to Him when he speaks to us in that time so He can give us direction and guidance like a parent does for their child. But, again, God already has given us direction in His word. If we read them we will come to know Him and His Will. We do not need quiet times, times of listening to our inner impressions, to do that.
Question #4: Is what I’m hearing beyond me?”
We are to ask this because:
“… sometimes God calls us to do something big that we feel we can’t do in our own strength- either it is beyond our ability or beyond our natural human desire. It is not something we can strategize and manipulate into being and of ourselves. It can only happen by God’s divine intervention”( page 34).
I just want to take a second to point out that in all Christians God has already done a work that was beyond our abilities or our natural desire. We were born with the nature to sin and knowing and being with God was beyond our ability. So by His grace, He sent His Son to become sin and give us righteousness, a new nature, and the ability to be in God’s presence. And now, by His Spirit, and through the Scripture we can know and obey what He commands us to do.
But she goes on… and tells us about the time she had doubts when writing her first book. She wants to encourage us to ignore our doubts of accomplishing big things. She quotes Rick Warren who stated how God used people in the Bible who were insecure, unattractive, abused, etc. to say God can use us too. She then says “if you answer yes to the question ‘ is this beyond me?’ chances are God is speaking“(pg. 36).
While God does use sinful, even troubled people to do His will this is not the norm. 1Thessalonians4: 9-12 instructs Christians to receive from the Apostles how to walk and please God. These instructions found in the Epistles, given to us through the Lord Jesus, are the will of God, our sanctification, that we “love one another, and aspire quietly to mind our own affairs, working with our hands, so we may walk properly for outsiders and dependent on no one.” Specifically for women, God instructs us to train our children (Proverbs 22:6), love our husbands and children, be self controlled, pure, working from home, kind, submissive to our own husbands (Ephesians5:22-24), adorn or hearts with gentleness and a quiet spirit (1 Peter3:4) and to teach the younger women the same (Titus2:4). God in his Providence might use us to do something we may wonder if we are equipped for, but we shouldn’t assume that because something is “beyond” us that it is God speaking.
Question #5: “Would what I’m hearing please God?”
At this point I feel like a broken record. If we are reading Scripture, we don’t have to ask if what is written pleases Him. It tells us what does please Him and all we need to do is submit ourselves to it.
So asking these questions will help us discern God’s voice apart from Scripture. If you are someone who is already regularly in the Scriptures I hope I’ve shown how you don’t need to ask these. Isn’t Peter right in saying how the Scriptures are a more sure word (2Pet.1:19)?We read and we know who God is, what he has done, and what we need to do for righteousness and good works (2 Timothy 3:16-17). And if you are not in the Scriptures, can you begin to see the constant insecurity and constant burden it would be to be answering these questions daily to see if God has really spoken? Asking questions to discern if God is prompting us one way or another comes from a lack of understanding of God’s Sovereignty, the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives and actions, and the Sufficiency of Scripture to equip us for every good work.
“Here’s the best news of all: God wants you to hear Him. He wants your faith to grow. He has told us over and over in Scripture” (page 36).
She then lists 5 verses that reveal Jesus’ (John 15:8) and the Apostle’s (Phil.1:9;1Thess.4:1; 2Thess.1:3; 2Pet.1:5) desire that the Church grow in faith. But in none of these verses do they describe faith growing from hearing God through nudges and heart impressions.
First, we know He is Sovereign and all powerful. God is powerful enough that if He wants you to hear Him He will make you hear him. It will never be that He speaks and we will not be sure.
Now let’s think if our faith’s growth is dependent on us being able to discern when He speaks. How does Scripture say our faith grows? We know that it is faith in Christ Jesus that saves us. Our faith is placed on Him, so the more we look at Christ the more our faith grows in Him.The Holy Spirit says that Christ is the Author and Perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12:2). He is the one that makes it grow, He perfects it. And it is Jesus that the WHOLE of Scripture is about. So why do we even need to discern nudges and impressions to see if they are from God? Let us look to Christ for He will cause our faith to grow whether we know if those inklings are from God or not.
She goes into an example of her life when she used the five questions to filter a calling she believed God was nudging her to do. Of course, she says yes to God and claims she hears a strong and gentle voice from God which is a direct quote from A.J. Russell’s book ‘God Calling’. I would not recommend this book to anyone. It teaches one to look outside of Scripture to inner voices, nudges, and heart impressions supposedly from Jesus and spoken in first person. I will not relay the story here as my goal is not to analyze her experiences nor her decisions, but to go through the claims and compare them to Scripture.
I think it’s clear that she has a very low view of Scripture. She may say she believes it is infallible, without error, and His very breath, but to her the inner nudges, thoughts, and heart impressions are His REAL Word that we should pay careful attention to. God, to her, doesn’t seem powerful enough to say what He wants to say in a clear distinct way, since His voice needs to be discerned. He also is not Sovereign enough to do His will, but needs you and I to discern His leadings so He may accomplish it. Scripture to her, is merely a language to learn so we may understand the REAL message: our feelings and experiences. And it is a wonder at how she misses the beautiful message Jesus gives in the parable of Good Shepherd.
But perhaps it will get better? Next time we will look at Chapter 3 where she goes into the whole reason WHY we need to discern God’s voice: so that we can Radically Obey. Till next time…
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