It is one thing to hear God in a general sense – say in our day-to-day life. But what does it look like to hear God in witness when we are on the move and potentially in some awkward situations? How do we know if he is leading us forward or not?

Here are five things to pay attention to straight out of my book, Beyond Awkward.

Not sure if you believe God speaks today? Read my post on why He does.

Trust that God is speaking and wants to speak

When we assume that God is speaking and wants to speak to us it changes our whole outlook and how we go about witness and evangelistic encounters. God has been speaking to people since the beginning of time, and he still is today. Do you believe that? Do you look to him to give you promptings when you are on the move and even inside a conversation with a friend? I try to keep one ear on the person, and one ear on God, constantly asking, “God what are you wanting to say here in this moment?”

If one person starts their day believing that God is speaking and speaks, the way they look for and listen for his voice will be drastically different than the person who is assumes he isn’t.

When I get invited out the bar with a couple friends who aren’t following Jesus, I use my time driving their 1) declaring that God does speak and agreeing in my Spirit that this is true, but 2) asking God to speak and to make me attentive to their very needs but also his voice during conversation.

I am in faith believing that God speaks and preparing myself for this too happen in the moment and on the move.

Some would argue that if hearing from God were possible, it would be much easier. Dallas Willard couldn’t disagree more!

“We mistakenly think that if God spoke to us we would automatically know who is speaking, without having to learn, but that is simply a mistake – and one of the most harmful mistakes for those trying to hear God’s voice. It leaves us totally at the mercy of any stray ideas we have picked up about what God’s speaking is like.”[1]

We are too comfortable trusting in ourselves and our evangelism methods. We must start to learn to hear God’s voice and hear him on the move!

Pay attention to how you feel 

I know, controversial. But we are holistic human beings and God speaks to us through our whole person. We need to pay attention to how we feel in evangelistic encounters. Different people have different spirits about them, and around them.

My buddy, Ram Sridharan helped me become clearer about this. I tend to feel a burden or weight in my body before God speaks into a situation. A deep sense, that something is not right. Ram, tends to feel compassion. I have learned to recognize in those “on the go” moments that when I feel that, I need to stop and ask God, “What are you doing in this moment? What other spirits are present? What do you want me to say?”

I was with a friend and they were talking about a relationship and I started to feel a heaviness in my body. What this did was caused me to stop and ask God for more clear discernment, but I also asked the person more clear questions. I assumed that more was to this story than they were letting on.

Because of that burdern, I even came right out with it and said, “Is there more to this story than you are letting on to me?”

Wouldn’t you know that truth started pouring out of them, along with tears, as they broke down and told me more of the darkness that was going on.

God uses our body and feelings to get our attention – to speak to us.

Jesus felt physically, in his body, ways that represented the spiritual climate,

“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” – Matthew 9:36

Western Christians, while we are so theologically and reasoned based, need to open up to God in more ways than just our minds!

Listen for the inner voice that is God.

As I start to feel the “burden”, or I get into a tense or awkward moment, or I just want to know how God would move forward in a very normal situation, I will literally ask God under my breath to speak. I know, what a novel idea.

But God is alive and active. His Spirit is literally inside us. He wants to speak and is speaking. Ask him! Listen to him!

Often times the voice of God sounds a lot like ours. As we become Christian, filled with the Holy Spirit, we now have another person living inside of us that is taking up room and recalibrating things…He is called the Holy Spirit. He speaks and just because he doesn’t sound unfamiliar or out of place, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be listening. Often times people have mentioned it sounds like a “redeemed conscience”.

Through trial and error, I have learned to listen to and obey this voice and it has become calibrated for me. As the Willard quote above suggests, it takes practice and learning.

As you read scripture, and lots of it, God’s word fills your soul, spirit and mind and as you are in conversations they will pop up from within you. This is God’s voice handing you things to say and think.

We also learn the tone of God’s voice and character as we read scripture. As we recognize the different voices inside us, we will be more able to parse out God’s when we can tell the nature of his tone and character from reading scripture.

For example, when someone comes to me, as a non believing person, and lays out darkness and sin in their life, I know from stories in the gospels that Jesus tone would not be one of condemnation but invitation. Does Jesus like their sin? No! But at this point, he would be inviting them into relationship with him and his love, and then he will talk to them about their sin. The condemning voice that will jump up inside me is, well, my own voice, and I must listen to God’s and speak from that.

Take risks and learn to trust 

The only way we can become comfortable with hearing God on the move is to take risks and step out. Ask God what to do next time you are in a conversation with someone and do what he says – no matter how crazy it sounds.

It is ok if you fail. Let me say it again – it is ok if you fail. It is how we learn.

As I detail in my book, God asked me to ask a student once if he was struggling with his sexuality – on our first meeting ever! He also has asked me to go knock on neighbor’s doors and bring Jesus up in tense situations. All times I have seen God breakthrough in ways I could have never planned.

My point here is this: if you don’t take some risks and step out on what you “think” is God’s voice, certain encounters will never pop open. God needs to lead you through some of the spiritual strongholds that exist in evangelistic encounters and often times that will come from a prompting from him and we need to obey.

If you do step out and act on what you “think” is God’s voice and nothing happens. Just politely say, “sorry about that, I must have mistaken.” Then spend some time debriefing why you thought it was God and let yourself be calibrated better.

I was just teaching on this to a men’s group last night and I think an appropriate way to practice this is inside groups. I challenged them to use the group to pray for people not yet following Jesus. I gave them the idea to bring a few of their names to prayer each week and listen as a group for scriptures, words/phrases, or images from God. Then to go out from the group and act on what they heard.

See if it creates a breakthrough in the relationship or conversation with the not yet following Jesus friend.

Is this in line with Scripture and God’s character?

I cannot over emphasize the importance of knowing scripture and reading it. I believe God speaks to us more clearly and powerfully as we know his word more. He will never speak things that are not in line with his word and character. If you ever hear anything that goes in the contrary, it must be discredited. Test all words that you hear with God’s word – it is and needs to be the authority in our lives and praxis.

Many of us are worried about the charismania who see a demon behind every door. It’s whey we tend to reject God’s voice and gifts in the every day. Don’t do that. There is a way to be biblically based and believe in the voice and gifts of Jesus.

But as we know the scriptures more fully, and God’s heart and character, the Spirit of God will flow from within us and speak to us willingly and often.

My Hope

I really want to see us become people that can hear God on the move well. I want us to be people that are biblically based, but powerful in the Holy Spirit. I want us to be at dinner, at pubs, at coffee shops and have words from God to speak gently but powerfully into people’s live. What if evangelism could be less about kitchy methods, and more about hearing God and speaking the things that he is saying in a timely manner? It can!

What do you think? What would you add to this list? Comment here

If you want further reading on these brief points and more insight into how I see the Holy Spirit inside of evangelism, pick up my Book Beyond Awkward. These points specifically come from chapter 7, ‘How to Hear God’s Voice in Witness’.

[1] Willard, Dallas. Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1999. 20-21. Print.