What Does God’s Voice Sound Like?

What If God Has Been Speaking    —
and We’ve Been Listening the Wrong Way?

Learning to Hear Jesus With the Heart

For most of my life,

I had one enormous problem with all the Bible stories where God talked to people:

God never talked to me like that.

Moses heard God.

Joshua heard God.

Samuel heard God calling his name.

Saul encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus.

And me?

Nothing.

No thunder.

No booming voice rolling down from heaven.

No heavenly public-address system announcing:

“BILL BLEDSOE,      HERE ARE TODAY’S INSTRUCTIONS.”

Not even a polite little reminder from a cloud.

And I can confidently report that no donkey has ever spoken to me either.

Although after reading Numbers 22,

I suppose I should leave that possibility open.

Why Was God Talking to Them      —      but Not to Me?

That question bothered me for decades.

If God talked to people in the Bible,

why wasn't He talking to me?

Was God silent?

Was He ignoring me?

Had I done something that permanently separated me from Him?

Or      —

and this was the uncomfortable possibility that followed me for years—

was I waiting to hear from Someone who wasn't really there?

I had unknowingly created a test for God:

“If You are real,      I should be able to hear You with my ears and see You with my eyes.”

The problem was,

God had never agreed to my test.

I was grading Him according to rules I had written myself.

And apparently,

the Creator of the universe had neglected to ask for a copy.

Samuel Heard Something Eli Didn’t

Look carefully at Samuel's story.

Samuel heard God calling:

“Samuel.”

So Samuel ran to Eli.

But Eli hadn't called him.

Samuel heard something that the man lying nearby did not.

That is fascinating.

God's communication with Samuel was personal.

Samuel had to learn what he was hearing.

At first,

he didn't recognize God's voice either.

That gives me tremendous encouragement.

Even Samuel—

one of the great prophets of Scripture—

needed help learning to listen.

So if we don't understand everything immediately,

we're in pretty good company.

Saul Heard Jesus and Asked the Perfect Question

Then there is Saul on the road to Damascus.

A light shines around him.

He falls to the ground.

And he hears:

“Saul,      Saul,      why persecutest thou me?”

Saul asks:

“Who art thou,      Lord?”

Jesus answers:

“I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.”

And then Saul asks what may be one of the greatest Centering Prayer questions in the entire Bible:

“Lord,      what wilt thou have me to do?”

There it is.

Saul does not say:

“Lord,      here are the seventeen things I would like You to do for me.”

He asks:

“What do You want me to do?”

That question changed Saul's life.

And eventually,

it changed mine.

Moses Had to Listen Before He Could Serve

God spoke to Moses and told him to return to Egypt.

God gave him instructions.

Moses listened.

Then Moses acted.

Joshua heard God's direction.

Samuel heard God's call.

Saul heard Jesus.

Again and again,

the pattern in Scripture is remarkably simple:

God speaks.

His child listens.

The child obeys.

God works through that person.

For me,

that pattern is at the heart of Centering Prayer.

We cannot obey instructions we never hear.

And we cannot hear if we never listen.

Jesus Taught Us to Pray in Secret

Matthew 6 became enormously important to me because Jesus gives very practical instructions about prayer.

He tells us:

“Seek first His kingdom.”

He says:

“When you pray,      go into your room,      close the door and pray to your Father,      who is unseen.”

Then He warns us not to keep:

“babbling”

with endless words.

And Jesus gives us the reason:

“Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”

Think about that.

God already knows.

He knows what I need.

He knows what I'm afraid of.

He knows what happened yesterday.

He knows what I need tomorrow.

He even knows what I was going to ask before I got halfway through explaining it.

That raises a question:

If God already knows everything I need,      why am I doing all the talking?

For most of my life,

my prayers occasionally resembled a management meeting where I briefed God on situations He had apparently overlooked.

Looking back,

I admire His patience.

Maybe Prayer Includes Listening

Jesus also tells us:

“Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.”

He tells us not to spend our lives consumed with worry.

He tells us not to make earthly treasure the center of our hearts.

And He teaches us to pray:

“Your kingdom come,      Your will be done,      on earth as it is in heaven.”

Notice whose will Jesus tells us to seek.

Not mine.

God's.

That means prayer cannot merely be about persuading God to do my will.

Prayer must also involve discovering His.

And how can I discover God's will

if I never stop talking long enough to listen?

I Was Listening With the Wrong Equipment

Eventually,

I began wondering whether the problem wasn't God's silence.

Perhaps I had been listening with the wrong equipment.

Paul gives us an extraordinary statement in Galatians 4:6:

“God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts.”

That verse changed everything for me.

Instead of continually asking:

“Why can't my ears hear God?”

I began asking:

“What if I need to become attentive to what God is doing within my heart?”

That was a completely different question.

And suddenly,

Centering Prayer began making sense.

What Does the Bible Mean by “Heart”?

When Scripture speaks about the   heart,

it often means much more than the organ pumping blood through our bodies.

The biblical heart is associated with our deepest thoughts,

intentions,

desires,

understanding,

choices,

and commitments.

So when I talk about listening with the heart,

I am not suggesting that Jesus has moved into the left ventricle.

If your cardiologist discovers the Holy Spirit on an echocardiogram,

I suspect several medical journals will want exclusive publishing rights.

I'm talking about the   inner person.

That deep interior place where we:

think,

discern,

love,

choose,

believe,

and respond to God.

God’s Voice May Not Arrive Through the Ears

This became extremely important to my understanding of Centering Prayer.

I stopped requiring God's guidance to arrive as audible sound.

During quiet prayer,

I began paying attention to what I describe as:

word-thoughts,

persistent convictions,

mental images,

and callings impressed upon my heart.

A word-thought is something I experience inwardly      —

not as sound waves entering my ears,

but as words or ideas appearing clearly within the mind.

Likewise,

a vision does not necessarily mean our physical eyes suddenly see something standing in the room.

An image may appear within the mind.

And a calling does not require the heart monitor to start producing unusual readings.

The biblical heart is not a telephone mounted beside the aorta.

A calling can be a deep conviction toward something God may be asking us to do:

Help someone.

Forgive someone.

Encourage someone.

Call someone.

Create something.

Go somewhere.

Serve.

But Not Every Thought Comes From God

This brings us to one of the most important words in Centering Prayer:

discernment.

Every thought that enters my head is not automatically a message from God.

Thank goodness.

If that were true,

God apparently spends an astonishing amount of time discussing where I left my glasses.

Our minds constantly produce thoughts.

Memories.

Imagination.

Fear.

Desire.

Habit.

Emotion.

Intuition.

Impulse.

So listening prayer cannot become:

“I thought it,      therefore God said it.”

We listen.

But we also discern.

Test What You Hear

What we believe we are receiving should be examined in light of:

Scripture,

the character of Jesus,

His teachings,

the fruit of the Spirit,

prayerful wisdom,

and when needed,

wise Christian counsel.

If an inner message tells me to hate someone,

seek revenge,

deceive somebody,

glorify myself,

or deliberately hurt one of God's children,

I have an excellent reason to reject it.

The Holy Spirit is not going to spend thousands of years teaching God's children to love one another

and then whisper on Tuesday morning:

“Bill,      I've reviewed the situation and decided hatred is fine this week.”

God's character matters.

God is love.

And what we believe we hear should increasingly lead us toward:

love,

truth,

peace,

humility,

forgiveness,

and service.

The World Is Very Good at Making Noise

This is why silence became so valuable to me.

We live surrounded by stimulation.

Televisions talk.

Phones chirp.

Computers demand passwords.

Emails arrive.

Advertisements follow us across the Internet like bloodhounds with excellent Wi-Fi.

Our minds rarely get five quiet minutes.

And somewhere along the way,

silence began feeling almost unnatural.

Then we wonder:

“Why can't I hear God?”

Perhaps the problem isn't always God's volume.

Maybe the room is simply too noisy.

Centering Prayer Creates Room to Listen

Centering Prayer deliberately creates that room.

I become still.

I set aside my plans.

I stop presenting God with my agenda.

I quiet the 1,000 squirrels in the attic.

And I ask the question that changed my life:

“Lord Jesus,      how may I serve You today?”

Then I wait.

Sometimes nothing dramatic happens.

That's important.

Silence does not mean failure.

We don't have to manufacture an experience because we're afraid God isn't performing on schedule.

Sometimes resting quietly in God's presence is enough.

Sometimes we wait because God's timing involves other people,

circumstances,

and plans that we cannot yet see.

God's plan is always larger than the tiny piece visible from where I am standing.

Then Comes the Hard Part

Listening can be difficult.

But sometimes the next part is harder.

Obedience.

Samuel eventually learned to answer:

“Speak,      for your servant is listening.”

Saul asked:

“Lord,      what wilt thou have me to do?”

Those are not requests for entertainment.

They are declarations of availability.

“Lord,      I am listening.”

“Lord,      what do You want?”

“Lord,      I am willing.”

That,

to me,

is Centering Prayer.

We Are Not Hunting for Supernatural Experiences

We are not becoming quiet merely because peace feels pleasant.

We are not hunting for visions.

We are not trying to collect spiritual experiences like merit badges.

We are certainly not trying to become more important than everybody else.

Centering Prayer is not a spiritual talent show.

We become quiet because:

we want to know Jesus.

We want to discern His guidance.

We want to trust Him.

We want to obey Him.

And we want to become willing servants in His Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.

I Spent Seventy Years Waiting for God to Get Louder

For seventy years,

I waited for God to become loud enough for my ears.

I expected Him to communicate according to my rules.

I wanted proof that fit neatly into my physical world.

I wanted a sound.

A sight.

Something I could point toward.

Something undeniable.

But eventually,

I began asking a completely different question:

What if God had been calling me all along?

What if the Spirit of His Son really was within my heart?

What if the gentle nudges I ignored,

the persistent convictions I dismissed,

and that lifelong feeling that there had to be something more

were invitations to listen?

I spent seventy years wondering why God wasn't speaking.

Now I sometimes wonder how many times He was speaking

while I was busy doing all the talking.

Jesus Came for People Like Me

That is why I especially want this article to reach the skeptics.

The doubters.

The people who hear someone say:

“God put this in my heart”

and immediately think:

“Sure He did.”

I understand you.

I was you.

For seventy years,

I had not seen God.

I had not heard God.

And I had plenty of logical reasons for not getting up at 4:30 in the morning to listen for Someone I wasn't even sure existed.

Jesus came for people like me too.

He came for sinners.

He came for doubters.

He came for people who don't understand yet.

He came for people whose hearts haven't learned how to listen.

And sometimes,

the first act of faith doesn't require understanding everything.

It simply requires becoming quiet enough to ask:

“Jesus...      are You there?”

Then listen.

Maybe God Was Never the Quiet One

Today,

Centering Prayer begins my morning.

I become still.

I close my eyes to reduce the distractions.

I quiet my thoughts.

I remember that God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts.

And I ask:

“Lord Jesus...      how may I serve You today?”

Then I listen.

Not with the expectation of thunder.

Not with the expectation that my neighbor will hear God's answer through the wall.

Not demanding a voice from heaven.

I listen with my heart.

I discern what I receive.

And when I become convinced that Jesus is calling me toward His love and service,

I try to obey.

For seventy years,

I thought the problem was that God wasn't speaking loudly enough.

Looking back,

I think the problem may have been much simpler.

I was doing all the talking.

Maybe God didn't need to get louder.

Maybe Bill needed to get quieter.

And perhaps that is where Centering Prayer begins for all of us:

Become still.

Open your heart.

Ask:

“Lord Jesus,      how may I serve You?”

Then      —

for once      —

don't finish the conversation for Him.

Listen.

Questions for prayer:
          What do these passages reveal about God?
          What response does it ask of me?
          Is the impression I receive consistent with the character and teaching of Jesus?
          What loving and faithful action should follow?

Daily prayer:

How may I serve You this day?”