Question:
Mark, even though it’s biblical to look for signs to confirm God’s voice, is it considered more mature to simply trust His voice rather than depending on two or three witnesses to confirm His voice?
My response:
Good question. Let’s assume that most people would truly like to know the will of God. That’s good! Unfortunately, most of us haven’t perfected our hearing skills… or developed a satisfying track record. And quite frankly, many haven’t practiced that level of intimacy, yet. It’s very likely that our hearing is limited by religious traditions and compromised by lethargy, fear or ambition, so we’ll probably need a method more objective and tangible as we start on this project. Our hope is that eventually we could be certain that we’ve heard His will through something as simple as the “still small voice.”
So my response is, “If you’re having 100% successful results on hearing the voice of God… and the decisions that you are making based on your way of hearing are working out satisfactorily, then don’t stop what you are doing!!!!!!”
BUT if you are having trouble hearing… or when you think you have heard and yet you’re torn with doubt and second guessing, then you may want to try my Fleece Template (click here), which works 100% of the time for me.
I have a question to those who are just trusting that they’ve heard His voice through their subjective-impression-antennae-system; “Where do you give God the opportunity to be sovereign… and what way have you created for God to be able to say in an indisputable ‘black and white’ way, “Yes” or “No”?”
I know my own humanity, and if I don’t have a way for God to interject His sovereignty, then I’m vulnerable to ‘tricking’ or rationalizing myself into hearing anything I may want to hear… or not hear.
My Fleece Template (based on Gideon’s fleece in Judges 6:36-40) gives that kind of opportunity for God to speak clearly.
As I use my Fleece Template, I always take note of my initial impressions and compare them against the outcome of my Fleece Template. If, over time, my impressions AND the outcome of my Fleece Template are the same… then I learn that I can trust my impressions more and more. As a result, I become more confident in my hearing process and that process becomes increasingly more simple. After a while I use my impressions for the smaller decisions, but I still use my Fleece Template for the ‘big ticket’ items.
It’s kind of like a conversation I had with a friend who is a Missouri state trooper. I asked him one day, “How much over the speed limit I can drive and still be OK?” He quickly replied, “How much can you afford?” Hmmm!
So it is for me, regarding my decisions. For small ticket items, I use my impressions, because I’ve been comparing my subjective impressions against the outcome of my Fleece Template for decades and have developed a certain measure of trust in my impressions. But even so, since I don’t want to have to pay for the consequence of an erroneous and embarrassing outcome of a ‘big ticket’ decisions, I still use my Fleece Template.
We’re all in a process of growing in God… which requires growing in hearing. This is a learning curve for us all. The important thing is to be conscientious and truthful about our hearing and decision-making process. I can’t just ignore my bad decisions that I made when using my subjective ‘warm-fuzzy’ impressions. I must get ruthless with myself and identify the faulty method from which I made that bad decision. I must determine that the next time my method of hearing will be much more strict… and less easy to ‘fudge’ (rationalize).
This is the way we grow. If we don’t grow in hearing, we’ll just end up circling around the same ‘mountain’ again and again. But the good part is that after implementing objective hearing methods we become confident in our impressions and in our decision making.
Now where could that kind of confidence take me? It could take me out beyond the gunwales of the boat… out onto the water… out where the fun begins. Now that’s livin’!
Hope that helps.
— MLH
Mark Hendrickson
Beyond the Map 
Thank you Mark. I appreciate hearing this. I hear so many people that are so sure of what they are hearing all the time. It kind of makes me nervous for them. I appreciate you so much! I get so much practical wisdom from you.
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Thanks Collette. I think most of my learning was inspired by embarrassing outcomes… 😦 So I realized that I had to analyze my processes… and came up with some better practical protocols. And I get less egg on the face now!!! 🙂 That’s definitely moving in the right direction. You are definitely a great inspiration. Really love watching you and Jamie export the ‘Goodness’ of God!!!!
I appreciate how clearly you help to understand to discern God‘s voice Mark. Thanks for taking the time to explain how we can understand the ways we can distinguish his voice over the many “other” voices.
Mel, as you said, there are a lot of other voices out there. Our voice, the devil’s, the popular conventional wisdom (just to name a few)… all of those voices will leave us ‘bankrupt’. There are even well-meaning church leaders who just say, “Just do it and God will bless it”… which flies in the face of Jesus’ model for us when He said, “I only do what I see my Father do.” This sad reality requires that we find a way to hear His voice. A proven way. A way the leads to “life and life more abundantly”, without egg on the face. Blessings to you and Denny