Hearing God’s Voice
By Cameron Silsbee
Begin with prayer (5 minutes)
Gather together as a Community in a comfortable setting (around a table, on the couch, the floor of a living room, etc.). Have someone lead a prayer asking the Holy Spirit to lead and guide your time together.
As a group, discuss the following questions (5 minutes)
If you are in a Community of seven or more, divide into small groups of 3–4 people each (ideally same gender).
Spend a few minutes catching up on life…
Then talk through the following debrief questions:
- Is the theological paradigm of the Holy Spirit taught in the first three weeks of the series (person, power, presence) new to you?
- Is the idea of the Holy Spirit speaking directly to you a new idea? If so, how does it sound to you?
- What has been your experience of hearing directly from the Holy Spirit?
Discuss the coming week’s Practice (5 minutes)
Over the next week set aside 15 minutes to ask the Holy Spirit to speak and share your experience with your Community the following week.
If you are new to hearing from God’s Spirit, use this guide as a suggestion:
- Make sure to turn off or remove any distractions (soft music can be fine). Have a pen and paper or a Notes app on your phone ready to write down anything you may hear from the Spirit.
- Acknowledge the Holy Spirit’s presence with you and share with him any apprehensions you may have about trying to hear from him.
- Ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you.
- Wait and listen for a few minutes.
- Entertain the possibility that a thought, feeling, word, phrase, song lyric, or picture in your mind’s eye may be from the Holy Spirit (even if it seems “unspiritual”, ie an image of a tree, or the word “ball”).
- If something comes to mind but the meaning is unclear, ask the Spirit, “What does this mean?” Wait and listen again.
- Write down what comes to mind, even if you have low confidence it was from the Spirit. If “nothing” comes to mind, write down your thoughts or feelings in response to receiving “nothing”. (Often “nothing” is actually something)
If you are not new to hearing from the Holy Spirit, use this guide as a suggestion:
- Make sure to turn off or remove any distractions (soft music can be fine). Have a pen and paper or a Notes app on your phone ready to write down anything you may hear from the Spirit.
- Acknowledge the Holy Spirit’s presence with you and share with him anything that may be distracting you from hearing his voice (anxiety, fears, etc.).
- Take a moment to reflect on how the last week has gone, the highs and lows, your moods, and notice any theme emerging in your disposition over the last week (joy, sadness, anxiety, anger, contentment, etc.).
- Ask the Holy Spirit to speak into this theme from the last week.
- Wait and listen for a few minutes.
- Write down anything you believe the Spirit is speaking to you, and your overall experience (even it doesn’t seem the Spirit said anything).
Work through these discussion questions before you call it a night (5–10 minutes)
- Does the homework sound daunting or exciting (or a bit of both)?
- Do you have any apprehensions about listening to God’s Spirit?
- Do you have any apprehensions about sharing it with your Community?
Close in prayer (5 minutes)