{"id":5420,"date":"2019-08-05T22:15:32","date_gmt":"2019-08-06T02:15:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/?page_id=5420"},"modified":"2022-02-17T08:21:33","modified_gmt":"2022-02-17T13:21:33","slug":"hearing-gods-voice-on-the-journey-to-healing-healing-2019","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/hearing-gods-voice-on-the-journey-to-healing-healing-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Hearing God&#8217;s Voice on the Journey to Healing &#8211; Healing 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div align=\"center\" class=\"youtube-responsive-container\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/c2MDxhu7HkI?rel=0&amp;modestbranding=1\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"564\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\" id=\"summary\">Summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Sometimes we are too preoccupied with our lives that we fail to notice how God communicates with us. Jim discusses the different possible ways God can talk to us and reach out to us. He guides us on how we can know and distinguish His voice from the evil one and facilitates a listening exercise that can help us start our journey in finding God\u2019s voice. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you for watching and participating in this retreat!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Not Registered, yet? Don\u2019t miss the rest of the talks! Register for the Pray More Retreat!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-horizontal is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-layout-1 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link\" href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/2019-healing-retreat\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Click Here to Register!<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\" id=\"downloads\">Downloads<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"audio-mp3\">Audio MP3<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/18-Jim-Schuster-Hearing-Gods-Voice-On-the-Journey-to-Healing.mp3\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"undefined (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Click&nbsp;here&nbsp;to download audio file.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"printable-study-guide-pdf\">Printable Study Guide PDF<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Hearing-Gods-Voice-Study-Guide.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"undefined (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Click here to download the printable study guide.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"printable-transcript-pdf\">Printable Transcript PDF<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/18-Jim-Schuster-Hearing-Gods-Voice-On-the-Journey-to-Healing-Transcript.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"undefined (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Click here to download the transcript of the video presentation.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\" id=\"reflective-study-guide-questions\">Reflective Study Guide Questions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\u201cFather, I am seeking: I am hesitant and uncertain, but will you, O God, watch over each step of mine and guide me.\u201d <\/p><cite><em>St. Augustine<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"has-ast-global-color-7-color has-text-color\"><li> Have you ever had a Bible verse pop into your head for no apparent reason? Has this happened recently at all? Maybe with music, or something else&#8230; What do you think God might have trying to been communicate through these things? How could you be more aware in the coming weeks of His presence and His voice in your daily life?<\/li><li>The centurion had enough faith that just one word from God would be powerful enough to heal His servant. God\u2019s voice is healing. How have you heard His healing voice in the past?<\/li><li> Jim reminds us that there\u2019s a need to discern what we\u2019re hearing in prayer \u2014 it\u2019s not always God\u2019s voice that we might be hearing. So Jim gives us a list of qualities as a check-list of sorts so that we can discern whether what we\u2019re hearing is from God. What are some examples of things that came to you in prayer that you thought were from God, but maybe weren\u2019t? Or, examples of things that came to you that you didn\u2019t realize were from God, but might be? <\/li><li> God\u2019s voice calms while satan\u2019s voice obsesses. When have you felt calmed in the last week? When have you felt at peace? Do you think God might have been trying to speak to you in that moment? What do you think He was saying? <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\" id=\"text-hearing-god-s-voice-on-the-journey-to-healing\">Text: Hearing God&#8217;s Voice on the Journey to Healing <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Hi. My name is Jim Schuster, and it\u2019s great to be with you here on this Pray More Healing Retreat. I\u2019m going to be speaking today on the topic of hearing God\u2019s voice more clearly in our lives. And before we start, I just want to begin with a prayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"opening-prayer\">Opening Prayer<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><em>In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Heavenly Father, we thank You that You are a good Father, that You know how to give good gifts that Your children. And so we invite You, Father, now to speak to us, to speak to our hearts, to open up our minds and our hearts to hear Your voice more clearly in our lives. We pray this through Christ, our Lord. Amen. In the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-to-hear-god-s-voice\">How to Hear God&#8217;s Voice<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>So this topic of hearing God\u2019s voice, it\u2019s so helpful to us to know how to hear God\u2019s voice more clearly in our lives as we go on this journey of healing. You know, the Holy Spirit is ever guiding us towards greater healing, and wholeness, and integration. And the more we can hear His voice, the more we can identify the ways He\u2019s speaking to us, guiding us, leading us, the more we can collaborate and cooperate with what He wants to do in our lives, and the ways He wants to bring about healing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so some examples: The Holy Spirit might guide us to a particular scripture, He might know that there\u2019s something that we need in the book of John, or there might be a verse that comes to mind where God can speak to us in that. He might inspire us to talk to somebody. It could be just a good friend that we need to talk things out with, and they\u2019re just going to be a listening ear and a healing presence for us. Or even, you know, God could steer us towards professional counselling, and guide us towards healing in that arena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You know, one of the things that God will do for me sometimes is He\u2019ll guide me towards a particular movie. A movie will come to mind, and I just can\u2019t get it out of my head. And I\u2019ll go and watch it and I\u2019ll just, as I\u2019m watching, I\u2019m just asking God \u201cWhat is it You have to say to me here? What is You want me to get out of this? How do You want to speak to me?\u201d Or maybe it\u2019s a song. I hear a song on the radio and something just moves in my heart, and I say \u201cOh, Holy Spirit, what is that? You know, what do You have for me there?\u201d And I\u2019ll go and listen to and I\u2019ll pay attention to those lyrics extra carefully, and just let God minister to me through that song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color\">You know, and sometimes God will bring us into an area of <a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/embracing-vulnerability-to-overcome-pain-lent-2021\/\">pain<\/a>. He\u2019ll highlight this area of pain that we\u2019ve been carrying around for a while. And maybe we\u2019ve kind of set it aside for a certain amount of time, or just kind of allowed ourselves to go numb to it, and He\u2019ll kind of resurface that. And as uncomfortable as that might be sometimes, the good news is that God wouldn\u2019t ask us to go there if He didn\u2019t have healing for us there. And so we can follow the Holy Spirit\u2019s lead to go into those places without fear, without hesitation, knowing that He has healing for us through that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color\">You know, so the <a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/growing-in-relationship-with-the-holy-spirit-healing-2021\/\">Holy Spirit will guide us towards healing<\/a>, you know, and we can hear His voice, hear the way He\u2019s leading and guiding us. But another way that this tool of hearing God\u2019s voice will come in helpful in the journey of healing is that God\u2019s voice itself is healing. There\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/the-healing-power-of-the-sacraments-healing-2019\/\">healing power<\/a> in the voice of God. You know, I think of those words that we say every Mass, right before we receive communion: \u201cLord, I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof. But only say the word, and my soul shall be healed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And of course this is taken from Matthew 8, when the centurion approaches Jesus and he\u2019s asking for healing for his servant. And, you know, Jesus praises the centurion\u2019s faith. And, among the reasons for that, we can see that the centurion just had faith that just one word from Jesus was powerful enough to heal his servant, even though that servant was far, far away. And, sure enough, that\u2019s what Jesus does. He says \u201cI do will it.\u201d You know. \u201cHave your healing.\u201d And Matthew records that it was at that very hour, that very moment that Jesus spoke that the servant was healing. There\u2019s healing power in the voice of Jesus. And we see that time and time again throughout the scriptures, right. We see Jesus speaking a healing word, and people receive that healing. He even speaks over a storm and says \u201cPeace, be still.\u201d And again, just with a word He brings peace, He brings calm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color\">I think of Hebrews 4:12. It says <strong><em>The Word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern the reflections and thoughts of the heart. <\/em><\/strong>I just love almost the surgical imagery here. You know, it penetrates between joints and marrow. It\u2019s like God\u2019s going in with a scalpel. He can go in there just like a surgeon, He\u2019s our <a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/jesus-our-divine-physician-healing-2019\/\">Divine Physician<\/a>, right. And it\u2019s like God knows how to bypass all of the confusion and get right down to that specific place in our hearts that needs healing, and speak that word that\u2019s medicine, that\u2019s bond, that\u2019s a salve and healing right into that place. So God\u2019s word itself, God\u2019s voice itself has healing power in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"hearing\">Hearing<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>So, now that we\u2019re excited about hearing God\u2019s voice, the next question is \u201cOkay, what does it look like? What do we look for when we\u2019re looking for hearing God\u2019s voice?\u201d And when we talk about this, it\u2019s normally an internal hearing that we\u2019re talking about. You know, obviously, God could speak to us through an audible voice, just like He did for Paul on the road to Damascus when He appeared to him in a blinding light, and the people around him even heard it. But, you know, this is more rare, right. Most of the time, God is speaking from within.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And this can come in a variety of forms and, you know, one of those forms could be hearing God, again, an internal hearing where God speaks to us in phrases and words. He might speak in the first person to us through dialog and a conversation, where He\u2019s saying \u201cI love you.\u201d And He might say \u201cI want to talk about this area of your life.\u201d He might say \u201cBring your concerns to Me,\u201d and have a dialog over that with you. So we can hear God internally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"seeing\">Seeing<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color\">Seeing is another <a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/strange-ways-god-heals-sufferings-advent-2016\/\">way that God<\/a> can speak to us. He can speak to us through images or mental pictures. So right now, I just want you to picture a red balloon. And now that you have that picture of a red balloon in your mind, that\u2019s that place where God can deposit images to speak to us through those. And, you know, there\u2019s that saying that says \u201cA picture is worth a thousand words.\u201d So, you know, sometimes God uses words, but sometimes He can actually say more and do more in that healing process just by giving us images that speak to our hearts more directly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A lot of times when I teach this, there\u2019s somebody who says \u201cYou know, whenever I go to pray or I go to Mass, I always get images, and it\u2019s happened my whole life. And I always thought it was a distraction, I always pushed them away because it\u2019s like \u2018No, I\u2019m trying to pray,\u2019 you know.\u201d And they never considered that that could be a way that God speaks to them. So I just want to open up that possibility for you, that God can speak through images that we receive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"thinking\">Thinking<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Another way that God can speak to us is through thinking, is through thought, giving us thoughts, planting ideas and inspirations that arise in our minds. This is one of the most common ways that I hear from God. It\u2019s making connections, it\u2019s concepts coming together, it\u2019s having a deeper understanding of the faith, or God\u2019s nature, or my relationship with Him. And it\u2019s exciting for me. It just draws me closer to God, and it makes me want to know Him more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so it can be insights, kind of like I was describing just now. But it could also be&#8230; it could just be a memory that comes to mind. It\u2019s just this thought, this memory that jumps to mind, and you say \u201cWell, what is that God? Why? I haven\u2019t thought about that in years. Why are You calling that to my attention right now?\u201d God could also just highlight a person to you. It could be a person that comes to mind, an old friend, and you say \u201cMaybe God wants me to give him a call.\u201d And I\u2019ve heard so many of stories of people who\u2019ve been just faithful to that, and it was either that friend who needed the phone call and needed something, just needed to be known, needed somebody to talk something out with, or even the person doing the calling who said \u201cI don\u2019t know why I\u2019m supposed to call you, but I just felt like I did.\u201d And the other person will have something for them, and they\u2019ll say \u201cWell, this is going on in my life.\u201d So, again, just thoughts. God can speak to us just through thoughts that come to mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"feeling\">Feeling<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>And finally, a final category is through feeling. It could be having a sense of God\u2019s presence, or just having that heart connection to God, heart to heart connection. It could be God stirring up an emotion inside of you. I\u2019ve had friends who have told me they, for a certain stretch of time, every time they got in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament they would just start crying. And they didn\u2019t know why. And they didn\u2019t ever really find out why, but it was because God was just doing a work inside of them. He was doing something inside of them. And, you know, I\u2019ve heard it said one time that sometimes the gift of tears is sort of like God melting the ice around our hearts. That\u2019s just a beautiful image there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So God can work through just emotions on that level, and sometimes it\u2019s just allowing God to do it. We don\u2019t even have to do anything but receive in that moment. And God could speak to us even through physical sensations. You know, it could be like the sensation of having a hand on your back, or of Jesus holding your hand, something like that. So all of these are valid ways that God can speak to us. And sometimes we don\u2019t know exactly what to look for, but these are some broad categories that we can think about in terms of hearing God\u2019s voice. And it\u2019s not an exhaustive list, but I find it to be some of the more common ways that God speaks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"truth-and-love\">Truth and Love<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, not everything that comes to us when we\u2019re in prayer, or trying to hear God\u2019s voice, is necessarily from God, right. It could be from God, it could be just our own thoughts, or our own stuff coming into this. But it\u2019s also important to acknowledge that we have an enemy who wants to interfere with our conversation with God, who wants to inject his own doubts, his own concerns, fears, and worries in there. And so sometimes, or always, there\u2019s a need to do some discerning about what we receive and what we\u2019re hearing in prayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And as we think about how do we distinguish God\u2019s voice from the other possible voices that we might be hearing, I think there\u2019s these just two basic standards that we can appeal to: Truth and love. God always speaks in truth. So what we hear in prayer has to align with God\u2019s revealed truth. God never contradicts Himself. And so if what we have received, if it\u2019s clearly at odds with what God has spoken through scripture and through the authentic teaching of the Catholic Church, then we know that it\u2019s not God. We can dismiss it, set it aside, and listen again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then the other criteria is that God speaks to us through love. You know, John says God is love, so God will always speak to us in the voice of love. So what does love look like? I love this almost poetic section of Paul\u2019s letter to the Corinthians in chapter 13, I\u2019m sure you\u2019re familiar with it. \u201cLove is patient, love is kind,\u201d etc. etc. Well, if God is love, then we can replace the word \u201clove\u201d in this passage from Paul with \u201cGod,\u201d and we can see that God is patient, God is kind, He is not jealous, He is not pompous, He\u2019s not inflated, He\u2019s not rude, He does not seek His own interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You know, that\u2019s so amazing. God doesn\u2019t need anything from us. All of His interactions with us are for our sakes. So He\u2019s, whenever God\u2019s interacting with us, He\u2019s not even seeking His own interests; He\u2019s seeing our best interest out of love for us. It goes on. God is not quick-tempered, He does not brood over injury, He doesn\u2019t rejoice over wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. So God speaks to us with the voice of love always, always, always. Love and truth go together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-does-it-sound-like\">How does it Sound Like?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>So again, as we unpack this, what does God\u2019s voice sound like, let\u2019s go a little further and how do we distinguish God\u2019s voice from Satan\u2019s voice? What does that look like? There\u2019s a&#8230; something you might have seen that goes around on social media sometimes &#8211; and if it\u2019s on social media you know it\u2019s got to be true, right? Well, obviously that\u2019s not the case. But, jokes aside, this is what I believe is just a really beautiful way of contrasting the voice of God with the voice of Satan. So it goes down in two columns, and it says \u201cGod\u2019s voice calms. Satan\u2019s voice obsesses. God wants to bring calm and peace into our life. Satan\u2019s voice wants to get us wrapped up into our issues and problems. But God\u2019s voice calms us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Going on, \u201cGod\u2019s voice comforts, Satan\u2019s voice worries.\u201d You know, St. Paul wrote and he says <strong><em>Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. And then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.<\/em><\/strong> What is Paul saying here? Paul\u2019s saying God does not want us to be steeped in worry and anxiety. That\u2019s not His heart for us. And when that worry and anxiety comes up, we\u2019re to bring it to Him with all of our petitions and lay them before the feet of God. And in exchange, receive the peace of God that surpasses all understanding. That even when the circumstances haven\u2019t worked out, that we have peace from God in all circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color\">So God\u2019s voice comforts, Satan\u2019s voice worries. God\u2019s voice convicts, Satan\u2019s voice condemns. This is so important. Obviously, when God speaks to us in love, there are times when He is going to address areas of <a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/letting-go-of-sin-for-the-hopeful-life-lent-2021\/\">sin in our life<\/a>, He\u2019s going to confront us on some things. But there\u2019s a big difference between the way that God highlights our sin and the way that Satan highlights our sin. You know, the book of Revelation calls Satan the accuser of the brethren, who stands night and day accusing them before God. And so, with that accusation, he\u2019s going to take anything that he can level against us and try to dig in and try to tell us that, because of these things, we\u2019re not worthy of the love of God. That God could never love us because of these areas of sin in our life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So he condemns. What does condemnation look like? Condemnation diminishes us. It pushes us into shame and into hiding, just like Adam and Eve in the garden. They were ashamed of their sin, and they hid from God. But when God talks to us about sin, it\u2019s completely different. He talks to us, He brings conviction to our hearts about sin in our lives. What is conviction? When you think about people who live with conviction, these are people who are passionate, who are moved to action, who live by a higher standard. They have conviction in their lives. And so when God convicts us, He\u2019s calling us higher, and He spurs to action, He gives us hope. The conviction of God always comes with hope that we can rise to that new level of living that He\u2019s calling us to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I think of the story of Zacchaeus, when he encountered Jesus and Jesus says \u201cHey Zacchaeus, I\u2019m going to come and dine with you tonight.\u201d And what is Zacchaeus\u2019 response? Of course he\u2019s a tax collector. He\u2019s made his riches off of extorting the Jewish people, collecting taxes for the Romans. And so Zacchaeus\u2019 response, he says \u201cEverything that I\u2019ve stolen, I\u2019m going to pay back double.\u201d And he has this joy, right. He\u2019s making amends for the wrongs that he\u2019s done in his life, but he\u2019s doing it with joy and excitement and enthusiasm, because it\u2019s the conviction of God that\u2019s been working in his life, not the condemnation that diminishes us, that pushes us into hiding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So God\u2019s voice convicts, Satan\u2019s voice condemns. God\u2019s voice encourages, Satan\u2019s voice discourages. And, as Jesus said, with God all things are possible. Satan wants us to believe you can\u2019t do that, you\u2019ll never make it, you\u2019ll never be enough, right, he discourages us. But God\u2019s voice is always coming from this place of encouragement. God\u2019s voice enlightens, Satan\u2019s voice confuses. God brings clarity to situations, but Satan wants to get in there and muddle things up and bring confusion. God\u2019s voice leads, Satan\u2019s voice pushes. God leads by invitation, right. He honors our freedom, He goes ahead of us and He says \u201cWill you follow Me? Will you come with Me?\u201d And He gives us the opportunity to respond in freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Satan, on the other hand, pushes us, right. He wants to be controlling in our lives. He tries to make us feel powerless and push us like there\u2019s nothing we can do, like there\u2019s not even a choice that we have. So God\u2019s voice leads, Satan\u2019s voice pushes. God\u2019s voice reassures, Satan\u2019s voice frightens. You know, there\u2019s no fear in love, scripture says. And how many times does, in the bible, do we see this phrase, God saying \u201cBe not afraid.\u201d So God doesn\u2019t speak to us through fear, He speaks to us through reassurance, in the reassurance of His love, and that He\u2019s for us, not against us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And finally on this list, God\u2019s voice stills, Satan\u2019s voice rushes. This is something that I have just been learning more and more. It\u2019s a lesson that\u2019s been&#8230; God\u2019s driving home for me, that when I start to feel this sense of rush and of panic, and I start to act out of that place, that things go wrong. That it\u2019s not&#8230; that\u2019s not God leading me. He leads me from a place of stillness and rest in His heart, of confidence in His leading. And, you know, sometimes God does ask me to move quickly on something. But even as I\u2019m moving quickly, I don\u2019t feel rushed; I just feel that place of stillness in my heart as God leads me. So God\u2019s voice stills, Satan\u2019s voice rushes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-ast-global-color-8-color has-text-color\">So, I hope this helps you to unpack and to get greater clarity on what it looks like for God to speak to us, and how we can discern His voice in our lives. You know, God desires to speak to us, as a father desires to speak to his beloved sons and daughters. And He\u2019s trustworthy. We can trust that what He has to say to us, we\u2019re going to want to hear. He\u2019s a good Father. And there\u2019s healing in His heart, you know. <a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/trusting-god-in-the-unknown-healing-2019\/\">God is always leading us into greater measures of healing<\/a>, wholeness, and integration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so I want to end just by calling to mind this scripture passage from Zephaniah 3:17. It says <strong><em>The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty savior; He will rejoice over you with gladness and renew you in His love; He will sing joyfully because of you, as one sings at festivals.<\/em><\/strong> I love this picture, and I believe it just captures the heart of God for us. That He rejoices over us, that He sings over us with gladness. That\u2019s His heart for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"listening-exercise\">Listening Exercise<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>And so I want to end by just entering into a simple listening exercise, where we open up our hearts to God and we say \u201cFather, would you reveal to me what it looks like when You rejoice over me?\u201d So go ahead and do that now, and ask Him in your heart \u201cFather, what does it look like when You rejoice over me? What does it look like when You sing over me with gladness?\u201d Maybe you see His face, maybe you see the look on His face, maybe you hear Him saying some particular words to you, maybe there\u2019s just this thought that comes to mind, or a memory of a tender time, a precious time with a relative, a parent, that God is saying \u201cThat\u2019s what it\u2019s like when I rejoice over you as well.\u201d And maybe it\u2019s just the sense of God\u2019s presence, and He\u2019s just touching your heart in a particular way. Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank You Father. Yeah. Now, if there\u2019s anything that you\u2019re receiving that doesn\u2019t look like love, that doesn\u2019t feel like love, you get to just reject that and place that aside and say \u201cGod, I know that\u2019s not Your heart for me.\u201d And so you can just set that aside, and go in and listen again in confidence in who God is, and that He\u2019s going to speak to you in a voice of love. So, I want to pray for you now. Maybe you didn\u2019t hear anything right now, but we\u2019re going to wrap up this video here. And maybe you just need a few minutes alone with God to continue listening to hear His heart for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I pray that God blesses you, and that He opens up the eyes of your heart and the ears of your heart to hear Him, to see Him, to know Him more deeply and intimately. Yeah. I bless you to hear God\u2019s voice more clearly in your life, so that He may lead you to greater measures of healing and intimacy in Christ, our Lord. Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\" id=\"about-jim-schuster\">About Jim Schuster<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"310\" height=\"382\" src=\"http:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Color-headshot-Jim.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5313\" srcset=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Color-headshot-Jim.png 310w, https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Color-headshot-Jim-243x300.png 243w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 310px) 100vw, 310px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/speaker-jim-schuster\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jim&nbsp;Schuster<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;is co-founder of&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/www.catholicrevivalministries.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Catholic Revival Ministries<\/em><\/a>, which exists to help Catholics step into the fullness of their identity and gifting as sons and daughters of God. He also serves as a ministry coach with&nbsp;<em>The Evangelical Catholic<\/em>, helping ministries to equip leaders and launch strategic small group evangelization movements.&nbsp;He believes in utilizing the collective wisdom of ministry, business, and entrepreneurial thought-leaders, while maintaining a dependence and responsiveness to the indispensable action of the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jim&nbsp;holds an M.A. in systematic theology from Mount St. Mary\u2019s Seminary, and a bachelor\u2019s degree in mathematics from the University of Illinois. He has more than a decade of experience working in full-time parish ministry, previously serving within the diocese of Arlington, VA as a Director of Evangelization and as a Director of Youth Ministry.&nbsp;Jim&nbsp;and his wife, Jonna, currently reside in Northern California.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/The-Pray-More-Healing-Retreat-bottom-box.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1544\"\/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Summary Sometimes we are too preoccupied with our lives that we fail to notice how God communicates with us. Jim discusses the different possible ways God can talk to us and reach out to us. He guides us on how we can know and distinguish His voice from the evil one and facilitates a listening [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5366,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"plain-container","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Hearing God&#039;s Voice on the Journey to Healing - Healing 2019 - The Pray More Retreat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praymoreretreat.org\/hearing-gods-voice-on-the-journey-to-healing-healing-2019\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hearing God&#039;s Voice on the Journey to Healing - Healing 2019 - The Pray More Retreat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Summary Sometimes we are too preoccupied with our lives that we fail to notice how God communicates with us. 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