Whisper: How to Hear the Voice of God

by Mark Batterson

Nothing has the potential to change your life like the whisper of God. Nothing will determine your destiny more than your ability to hear His still small voice.

Simply put, God often speaks loudest when we’re quietest.

“If we had better hearing,” said physician and researcher Lewis Thomas, “and could discern the descants of sea birds, the rhythmic timpani of schools of mollusks, or even the distant harmonics of midges hanging over meadows in the sun, the combined sound might lift us off our feet.”18

“Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.”19

A. W. Tozer pictured paniym this way: “God is above, but He’s not pushed up. He’s beneath, but He’s not pressed down. He’s outside, but He’s not excluded. He’s inside, but He’s not confined. God is above all things presiding, beneath all things sustaining, outside of all things embracing and inside of all things filling.”36

Catholic priest Desiderius Erasmus coined the Latin phrase vocatus atque non vocatus, Deus aderit. Translation: “Bidden or not bidden, God is here.”

Let me be clear about one thing before we go any further: God can show up anywhere, anytime, anyhow.

The way we submit to one another is by genuinely, thoughtfully, patiently, and carefully listening. And a relationship with God is no different.

“A Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.”9

We tend to think of desires in a negative light, but C. S. Lewis had the opposite opinion. “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us.”6 According to Lewis, “Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.”7

The last thing God wants is for His Word to feel like a chore. Do you read it for enjoyment? If not, you’re reading it wrong.

In John Piper’s words, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”18

It was the students’ passion for music that inspired greater risks and gave them the intrinsic motivation to persist in the face of adversity. At the end of the day, passion wins the day.

The word generously comes from the Greek word haplotes.23 It’s going above and beyond the call of duty. It’s the extra mile. The word cheerfully comes from hilarotes,24 which means whistling while we work. It’s an A-game attitude. And the word diligently comes from the Greek word spoude.25 It’s having an eye for excellence, attention to detail.

First, check your ego at the door.

Second, if you want it too much, you might want it for the wrong reasons.

Third, emotion is a great servant but a terrible master.

Fourth, one key to discerning whether a desire is God ordained is deciphering whether it waxes or wanes over time.

And fifth, a little emotional intelligence goes a long way.

Before detailing the language of doors, let me remind you that we don’t interpret Scripture via signs; we interpret signs via Scripture.

Faith is taking the first step before God reveals the second step.

Discerning the will of God is about so much more than doing His will. Discerning His will is about knowing His heart, and that happens only when you get close enough to hear Him whisper.

The first test is the Goose-Bump Test.

The second test is the Peace Test.

The third test is the Wise Counsel Test.

The fourth test is the Crazy Test.

I call it the Released-from and Called-to Test,

And Jesus is in the business of opening impossible doors and leading us to impossible places. It’s one of the ways He whispers.

But Scripture doesn’t get us from Bithynia to Macedonia.

First, test your motives.

Second, delayed obedience is disobedience.

Third, set specific parameters in prayer.

God gets in the way to show us the way.

His timing is impeccable, but His methodology is unpredictable.

First, God loves doing miracles in different ways.

Second, God loves surprising us when and where we least expect it.

Every thought that fires across our eighty-six billion neurons is a tribute to the God who knit us together in our mothers’ wombs.

We tend to be skeptical of experiences we’ve never had, and that’s especially true when it comes to things such as night dreams. If we aren’t careful, we dismiss people as being a little crazy if they experience God in ways we haven’t.

First, God-given dreams won’t contradict Scripture.

Second, God-given dreams will confront prejudice.

Third, the meaning of dreams isn’t always immediately discernible.

Finally, if you want to establish God’s reputation, you might have to risk yours.

In fact, accomplishing the dream is of secondary importance. The primary goal is who you become in the process. Big dreams make big people because we have to trust a big God. Nothing keeps us on our knees like God-sized dreams. They force us to live in raw dependence upon God.