Pete Greig: The apostle Paul says that “the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort” ( 1 Cor. 14:3). The prophetic gift enables us to strengthen, encourage, and comfort other people with God’s Word which is “living and active“ ( Hebrews 4:12). Greig has once again produced an engaging book on an important element of Christian discipleship, drawing on sources from across the denominational/theological/historical spectrum. The section on Lectio was particularly helpful, indeed I started to read this because of the parallel "Lectio Course" which we studied as a church group throughout Lent. Following this week’s AI Global Summit, which is being hosted at Bletchley Park, Chris Goswami looks at how Christian leaders are responding to the threats and opportunities posed by artificial intelligence Each one of us has been born with an extraordinary superpower: an innate ability to hear the voice of God. Discerning God’s voice is one of the most astounding yet confusing things a human being can ever learn to do. Astounding because, well, what could be more amazing? With four words – “Let there be light” – (just two in Hebrew) God created more than 100 billion galaxies (Genesis 1:3). “The Lord merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born” (Psalm 33:6, NLT). What on earth might happen if he were to speak a few words to me?

Pete Greig: Yeah, it is one of the expressions Jesus uses more than any other. And so it was like his catchphrase. And it’s crazy when you think that in Jesus’ time he could be walking through your town, like being Jesus Christ, like speaking things that no one had ever heard, doing miracles. And some people were probably just too busy at work to bother to come out in the streets. More about what story in Scripture Pete says is a master class for anyone seeking to learn to hear God’s voice. This has been a super helpful complementary resource as my church has been talking about knowing God’s voice. It really is “a simple guide for normal people.” Very easy to understand and really helped me make sense of the different categories in which God speaks to us. In 1 Corinthians 12 the apostle Paul lists various expressions of prophecy including words of knowledge (in which God shows us things about other people that we had no other way of knowing), words of wisdom (in which God gives us great insight), etc. Elsewhere in Scripture we see God speaking very regularly through dreams and visions. Christin Thieme: Yeah, exactly. We’re following up our last episode with you where we talked about how to pray, with now how to hear God. So just a small question to start for you: Why is hearing God’s voice so natural and so hard?So he’s still pointing to the authority of Scripture, even though the greatest miracle ever has just taken place in his resurrection. Pete Greig: Nothing could possibly matter more than learning to discern the voice of God, but few things in life are more susceptible to delusion and deception. That’s why we need to be rooted in God’s Word, living each day in conversation with the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Living Word of God. In his latest book, he offers insight and tools to help turn your ordinary, everyday prayers into a real, conversational relationship with the God who is speaking, more than you know. And so when we learn to hear God in all of life, we begin to walk and talk through life like Adam and Eve with God in the garden of Eden. We have a living conversational relationship with him. And so I think the whisper of God is there at the movies, there at the shopping mall, there in the Netflix series, there in the conversation at the water cooler if we have ears to hear. Hearing from God is primarily a discipline that we learn to distil through practice and obedience. The more we say ‘yes’ to Jesus, the more familiar and precious his voice becomes – and in time we will be able to say, like Cleopas, ‘ Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked?’

I believe in general revelation - through the world around us, and common grace. Also the once for all sufficient Word in the old and new testaments. Most people insist of hearing God’s voice on their own terms. Perhaps we need a newfound willingness to take counsel from a brother or sister, as a mark of humility and surrender. Sometimes he waits for us to humble ourselves. When generals speak, soldiers listen! While Pete won't like me saying this about him (humility will cause him to recoil), every generation has generals of the faith that command the church's attention. Not necessarily because they shout and orate with passion and skill but because the fruit of their lives and ministries demands that we listen. Pete is such a leader, and the truth contained in his book answers one of the most common questions: How do you hear God? Pete has the answer.' Glyn BarrettI am so thankful that my church introduced me to Pete Greig and specifically to this book. God spoke to me through it time and time again. It is simple, yet profound. I will never read about the two disciples on the road to Emmaus and see them the same way again. In many ways, this is the aim of this whole book: that we become so familiar with the word of God in its most obvious forms—in Scripture, in prophecy, in dreams, and in soul friendships—that we are enabled to hear God speak in all the earth through people and things that are not in any way consciously Christian.” In largely focusing on Lectio as a means of "Hearing God" in scripture there was a tendency to dismiss other means of reading the Bible devotionally, particularly reading larger sections that give us a greater sense of the narrative, and which would have been, in the absence of personal Bibles and chapter and verse, to original way in which scripture would literally have been "heard" rather than the atomised, bite-sized approach that has been the norm of too many evangelical Bible notes, and into which Lectio can easily descend. The L ectio Course is a free small group resource from 24-7 Prayer which will equip you and your community to learn how to hear God by praying the Bible. My work on earth isn't done yet' Two evangelists on facing serious illness, praying for healing and divine joy