Pentecostal vs. Evangelical: God’s Silence & The Twilight Zone

Last installment in HEARING THE VOICE OF GOD series

How has speaking in tongues affected your relationship with Jesus, especially in hearing His voice?

I wrote about speaking in tongues and my experience growing up in a Pentecostal church. And also how I speak in tongues today.

The Lord showed me years ago that He wanted me to pray in tongues concerning dreams. When I woke up, I’d write down the dream. Then I spent time praying in tongues specifically regarding that dream. I also dug into the Bible. By pairing both praying in tongues and the Bible, I received a lot of revelation about dreams that way.

Over time, I slowly drifted away from praying in tongues about each dream. I still spent a lot of time seeking the Lord about them. But I kind of felt like I had gotten to a place with God where I had understanding. Most often when I had a dream, I already understood what He was saying. So, there wasn’t this pressing need like, “I don’t understand this! God help me!”

Tongues & Dreams

A couple months ago, the Lord took me back to praying in tongues regarding each dream. He reminded me of the importance. Not just of praying and seeking God about each dream. But specifically to pray in tongues for each one. I still don’t think I do it enough.

Here’s my thinking about why praying in tongues is important connected with dreams. God told me that “dreams are the beginning of the prophetic.” So, then when God speaks by dream, there are two things going on.

First, He’s revealing something. Revealing plans, roots, spirits, etc. He’s communicating.

But that’s not all He’s doing.

Second, He’s setting you up to advance in the Spirit. Because to understand more, you need to seek Him. In seeking Him, you’ll grow in intimacy, faith, confidence, trust in Him. Which leads you to access, see and experience more of Him.

People who start with the assumption that God does not communicate with humanity, or that if He does, it is only to a certain type of person, have already limited God to their own understanding. - Decoding Cody: Secrets of the Spectrum from People with Autism Who See, Hear, and Smell in the Unseen Realm by Joseph Infranco

My “goal” now with a dream isn’t just to understand what it means and what He’s saying. It’s for Him to give me His viewpoint. To hear Him say what He wants to say. So, this is about purposely going deeper in the Spirit. Growing more intimate with Him. More connected and proficient in hearing and speaking what He says.

I don’t always get to pray like this about every dream because of time constraints. But that’s where I’m headed.

I think the key for me is that speaking in tongues takes me to a deeper plateau with Him. In Routed to Heaven, I talk a bit about deep diving, and how it can take you to the Twilight Zone (mesopelagic or mesophotic zone). Spanning from 200 to 1,000 meters below the surface, it is a freezing, high-pressure region. Human exploration requires advanced submersibles or extreme technical diving, making it a challenging frontier, but one that remains vital to Earth through the planet’s largest nightly biomass migration and significant carbon storage.

There, the sea creatures generate their own light.

The Deep Deep Sea

At extreme depths, high water pressure forces higher concentrations of oxygen into the bloodstream, making normal oxygen levels toxic to humans. To prevent fatal oxygen poisoning, deep divers must use specialized gas mixes or electronic rebreathers to continuously dial back and precisely regulate oxygen levels—sometimes down to under 5%—to keep the gas breathable and safe.

Why would anyone go there? Well, that is a mystery to me, except for reasons of research and an ever-growing desire to go where we are not yet intended to go. You know, like Heaven. :-)

My point is, when I am forced into the Twilight Zone, which can come from fasting, intense prayer with tongues, and constant immersion with Him, I lose my own oxygen, so to speak, and must rely on His. In this space, I hear His voice more often and more clearly than outside the zone. He literally holds my hand, meeting me with each step, and guiding me around the right corners. He also brings me incredible peace in the midst of heartbreaking, panicky, and questioning times, as long as I stay in that zone with Him where I both cling and remain completely safe. I also have seen that my prayers for others in tongues are more effective, which is part of the reason God allowed that to be activated in me.

Are there situations when you notice His voice is restricted or that you don’t hear Him like you think you should?

When I saw this question, I thought of three different situations when God’s voice may seem kind of silent. The situations are vastly different but can feel a little similar when you’re in the middle of it.

The first situation is when God is taking me through a process. There are times when He’s spoken to me about something. And so I already know what He’s doing. I know what is happening in the situation according to God’s perspective. Maybe it’s a test. Maybe it’s a place where I’ve already prayed and He’s heard me. But it hasn’t happened yet.

It used to bother me that He didn’t say anything to me. I got worried that somehow I was missing something. Or I did something wrong. Some kind of sin that I didn’t know about. This is why I said it can seem similar as the second situation I’ll talk about in a minute. There’s times when I asked the Lord, “what did I do wrong?”

Now, I’ve learned that if He wants to speak to me, He knows how to get my attention. So, if He’s not speaking, I focus on what He already said to me. The instruction hasn’t changed. This is why I value my journals including what He shows me from the Bible and dreams, etc. I refer back to those notes and dreams a lot. The Bible says David encouraged himself in the Lord (1 Samuel 30:6). I do the same thing with His Word and the words, visions and dreams He’s provided to me.

So, when He seems “silent,” you may be going through a process and He wants it to continue.

Sin As A Deterrent

The second situation that can affect His voice is sin. Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5 “quench not the Spirit.” Sin doesn’t affect God. It affects us. It affects our ability to hear Him clearly. Jesus told the parable of the man with a plank in his own eye versus a man with a speck in his. Jesus said, “take the plank out of your eye so that you can see clearly” (Matthew 7:5). So, these things can affect how we see and hear in the spirit. We want to purify our lives. This may be easier said than done. But a closer, more intimate connection with the Lord is worth it.

The third situation is when the voice of another spirit is speaking. I was not originally thinking of this. But when I finished the second situation, the Lord prompted me. The voice of another spirit can be many things. But specifically, I saw shame and guilt. If you are dealing with shame and guilt, it can affect you hearing His voice. Because you are looking at something He’s not looking at. I think this is something that many believers can deal with. And it’s not their fault. There’s an enemy accusation that is loud and obnoxious. Rebuke shame and guilt. The blood of Jesus was shed for you.

Sin, for sure, is number one for me and I suspect it is because I struggle with always being obedient and sin-free like we all do. Ain’t no perfect people readin’ this Heaven blog. :-)

Pride As A Deterrent

Lately, I’ve noticed pride is dangerously deceptive. Pride will cause you to reject hearing God’s voice instead of embracing humility. This can affect our relationship with God and others. The Bible says He fights against the proud but gives grace to the humble. We all want and need the grace of God. Pride is a monster! Be careful to be humble and receive what He says. I think that shame and guilt are definitely up there too, as Eric stated, but pride plays a very close third in terms of satan’s successful stunts.

And then other affecting blocks, which are also sin for me include: not meeting with the Lord regularly, not praying much, getting distracted from my spiritual priorities/Mission Manifesto and not making a solid Christian community a priority. When I place other activities in front of these, it shows that I am not walking close and often adds muscle to the tools that pull me away.

What are ways you have found to be more sensitive to His voice?

There are things that I’ve found that can make a difference in sensitivity to His voice. Two that I’ll talk about although they may not be what you think. And they are connected.

The first thing I’ve found to help sensitivity to God’s voice is fasting. That’s not a super exciting topic. But I’ve experienced it. Repeatedly. There are different ways to fast. Some more “gentler” and others more “radical.” And different types of fasts accomplish different things. But generally, when I’ve fasted, spiritual sensitivity increased. For me, dreams can go through the roof. Like 3, 4 or 5 a night. And very vivid. When I fast, I also pair with it a greater focus on God. So, I’ll make a point of more time in prayer, more time in the Word and worship. Etc.

Food Plays A Role

The second thing I’ve found to help sensitivity to God’s voice is what I eat. Fasting is usually a short time period. Eating is every day. The types and how much food you eat can also affect sensitivity to the voice of God.

Think about it like this: a man who only plays football with his buddies at the park on Saturday isn’t highly invested in his body. If he stuffs himself with food during the week, it doesn’t affect him playing football. It really doesn’t matter. On the other hand, a professional football player highly regulates his food. He disciplines what he eats so that he can train and execute his job to the best of his ability.

Fasting and disciplining your eating is like the professional football player who does what he can to perform at his best.

I promise you, I never, ever heard anything like what I’m sharing with you in the Pentecostal church I grew up in. In fact, if they talked about food and fasting, they joked about eating too much fried chicken on Sunday after church. Fasting and regulating your eating wasn’t something I learned from my Pentecostal background. God showed me this in my own relationship with Him to improve my walk and accomplish the mission He has for me.

I find Eric’s answer very interesting because I am also very careful about what I take in. I admit that my motivation is more allergy/medically induced. But on another hand, he drinks coffee and I do not. LOL!

Now that God has brought me to (my adapted version of) fasting, it appears that food, or lack of it, DOES affect my communion and communication with Him. I will also be honest with you and tell you it took a major upheaval in my life to get me on any extended form of it.

When I Returned From Heaven

When I first returned from Heaven and missed Jesus so much, I felt His close presence for the next week. It was like I turned around and bumped into Him each time, even though I couldn’t see Him. His presence was that strong. Sometimes I even said, “Oops! Sorry, Jesus!” or “Excuse me.” One person who heard my interview with Randy Kay posted, “…but that would be the Holy Spirit that she felt, right?”

My reply: Nope. I know the difference. And that was Jesus, but invisible. I have certainly felt Good ‘Ole HS many times too.

These days, the Lord talks to me daily. In fact, when I ask Him a question, He answers! Although this mode of limited fasting, study and prayer that I am in was (in a way) forced on me, this is the closest I have felt to Him since that week-long companion dance after returning from Heaven. I am completely relishing that feeling!

It also seems to give me more discernment. I deeply feel His presence (even online) when I am meeting with, watching or reading words from someone who also walks close. Satan’s influence sticks out like a stubbed toe and it wasn’t quite that strong until I entered the Twilight Zone.

Dear Jesus, may I always seek the Twilight Zone and this incredible closeness with You. Amen.

Other posts in this series:

Pentecostal vs. Evangelical: How We Hear God's Voice

Pentecostal vs. Evangelical: How Do You Turn Up The Volume On God?