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

And how you can hear His voice too

Welcome to TWO PATHS-ONE VOICE. If you put the two of us in a room, you might assume we learned to hear God’s voice the exact same way. But we didn’t.

One of us grew up steeped in Pentecostal culture—speaking in tongues early, surrounded by the gifts, but only truly grasping the depth of it all as an adult. The other grew up conservative, had an unexpected visit to Heaven, received tongues just recently, and still wouldn’t call herself Pentecostal ‘per se’. We come from two different countries, and two differing generations.

Although our spiritual backgrounds vastly differ, we’ve landed in the same place: a deep, daily desire to hear the voice of God. In this series, we’re taking the exact same questions and answering them side-by-side. No cookie-cutter answers, no church jargon—just two raw, honest perspectives on what it actually looks like to tune in to Heaven.

When is the first time you remember hearing God speak to you? What happened?

I had to think about this for a while. Here are three instances I remember clearly. The first one was an instruction to get my heart right while on a missions trip in North Dakota. At 15 years old, I had an encounter with God. The short version is, my dad made me go on a mission trip with my youth group. And while I was there, God completely rocked me. Several times throughout that week, the Lord showed me I had things in my heart He wanted me to repent of. Things like unforgiveness, bitterness and anger. I was thinking or praying about these. I had no idea they were in my heart. But while I was in God’s presence, Holy Spirit convicted me. The experience injected in me the fire and passion to seek God with abandonment. This caused me to go farther and deeper spiritually and begin to hear God’s voice with regularity.

Cutting My Hair After Being In The Presence Of God

Another time, my family went to some church meetings in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I was 16 years old, I believe. The presence of God was very strong. One service was at night at a church. We sat up on the balcony.

After the night service, we went back to the hotel. But I couldn’t sleep. The whole night, the Lord dealt with me about my hair. He showed me that I grew long hair to rebel against my dad. To be honest, I didn’t know the reason I did it. I just thought it would be cool. But lying there in bed that night, it was clear to me. When God showed me, I couldn’t deny it. When we got back home, I went to the barber and cut it.

Called To Preach

One other time, I was maybe 17 years old. I remember I felt so strongly that God was calling me to preach the gospel. A friend of mine from church and I both went up front together. We told the church that God was calling each of us into ministry. And today we both are preachers.

Those are the first times I remember God speaking to me. They weren’t “spectacular.” But they were powerful and meaningful to me.

I had to think too. I recounted my first hearing from him out loud in Routed to Heaven, but I definitely remember Him speaking to me in various ways as a youth. Sometimes, His voice pointed me in the right direction when I was trying to make a decision, and at other times, directed me to speak about Him to someone nearby. It happened through a thought, a quiet voice, dreams, a song, the scriptures or a God-focused book, nature, or even via another person.

He Spoke Aloud

The time in my twenties that He spoke, it resonated around in my head like an emphatic declaration, and then I discovered that it wasn’t in my head at all. I suffered from a lot of back pain from a car accident and wound up on disability for two years with bulging and herniated discs. My husband at the time was also disabled, we had two children, and I greatly struggled in my role of mom/caregiver/breadwinner all at once, while in tremendous pain.

As much as possible, I waited for the covering of the shower to express my emotions on the days I felt fragile. One day, after a shower, I wiped off the mirror. I not only felt at the end of my rope that day, but the cord seemed to be fraying, slowly letting me go inch by jolting inch. Sobbing, I glanced in the mirror, and He said, “Julie, you are going to be OK.”

Then one of my kids knocked on the bathroom door. They’d heard a man’s voice and wanted to know who was in there with me!

What helped you hear God’s voice & how can others hear His voice too?

I have three things. Coming from a Pentecostal background may be a little bit of an “advantage.” A Pentecostal could be more open to the things of the Spirit of God because the teaching supports it. Including hearing God speak. I didn’t have to overcome contrary teaching like “God doesn’t speak today.” I already believed He spoke.

But then, at age 15, I encountered Him. This helped me hear His voice later. I’ve seen a difference between a Christian who encounters God personally and one who doesn’t. There is a different level of passion and dedication to the Lord. They have an inner fire and drive to seek to know Him more. And this includes hearing God’s voice.

Thirdly, I structured my life to hear God’s voice. I made room to seek the Lord. Even as a teenager, I spent time with God in my room, in worship and reading the Word. When I went to college as a high school senior, that increased. Because I made it my habit to seek Him daily. Passionately. In my dorm room, I entered deep into the presence of God.

Spending Time with God

In 2009, I made it my goal to spend time seeking God every single day. And my relationship with Him took off even more. So, when I structured my lifestyle to seek the Lord, hearing His voice increased.

Two Hindrances Regarding Hearing From God

Two things that hindered me from hearing His voice as I look back.

Distractions.

One thing that has hindered me at times from hearing God speak is distractions. I think I could break those distractions into two basic categories.

• Urgent distractions. Things that are urgent in life. Like work, cleaning the house, taking care of kids, etc. Obviously, these are things we need to do. But if we’re not careful, we can spend all of our time on the urgent things and never spend time with Him. This is why I structure my lifestyle to seek Him. Sometimes with young kids it is difficult. I set time either early in the morning or late at night to be with Him.

• Meaningless distractions. Things that take time but produce nothing. We have a lot of these in our modern world. I chose to keep myself in a place of seeking the Lord. I want to be sensitive to His voice. So, I purposely limit these. I don’t have a TV. I don’t have social media apps on my phone. I’m not telling you what to do. I only share decisions I made to reduce distractions.

  

Another hindrance to hearing the voice of God is an inconsistent walk. An inconsistent walk can be....

• inconsistent time with the Lord.

• living an inconsistent life (sometimes hot, sometimes cold).

Consistency in seeking the Lord and living for Him will help you hear God speak with much more consistency.

Sometimes when I hear His voice, it is born of pure desperation, but not always. He remains very in tune with our emotions and loves us above everything else, except for His Father. His desire is to comfort us and give us the answers we seek. Even when we don’t agree with those answers.

To be fair, I heard some from Him in the years that I struggled, didn’t make great choices, maintained a sometimes lukewarm spiritual walk and barely could fit in time with Him. Because of where I was, I did not always attribute it to Him—I found something else to explain it instead. But no doubt, I have heard exponentially more from Him in the years I walked close.

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. James 4:8

His Voice Has Increased

I had no idea His voice would increase as I pulled close to Him and finally got consistent. I held no clue He would also take me to Heaven for a visit (two now, actually!). Sometimes, I even hear Him a few times a week now, as long as there are no blocks between Him and me.

It Unfolds Like This:

• Daily Shoveling The Path. I learned early in my Christian walk that sin blocks Him out, as He cannot affiliate with it, and this remains true today. James 4:8 says to purify my heart. Many additional verses say to love Him with all of my heart. This means daily cleansing if needed and making Him the highest priority over everything else.

• Deep Prayer Times. I not only schedule deep prayer time, but I talk to Him throughout the day, as I drive and often as I lay in bed before sleeping. He is the first I chat with when I open my eyes in the morning as well. Lately He has moved me into the importance of praise and pre-praise during this time, including via song.

• Immersive Study. In the past several years, I have become much more consistent with setting aside time for deep diving into the scriptures. I truly want to KNOW HIM as intimately as He knows me. For the first time, I have added journaling and sketching (although sketching is not in my skill set. LOL). Before I finish one study, God has already told me where He wants me to dive next and many of my insights end up here in Notes and Blog Posts.

• Connecting With Others Who Walk Close & Hear. God brought Eric’s post on speaking in tongues across my feed at just the right time. While he isn’t the first Pentecostal to enter my journey, he has been uniquely helpful and open to my questions as I explore this path. Believing that every connection has a divine purpose, I spent time in prayer asking how we should proceed. The Lord put it on my heart to create this series—a space where we can serve as a helpful guide for fellow searchers and beginners looking to learn more.

• Community Immersion. If you’ve read ‘Routed to Heaven’ and its companion Study Guide, you also learned that God steered my husband and I to a church with some Holy Spirit jive four years before sending me to Heaven. The people who activated the gift of tongues in me also told me that I needed more immersion in the world of those who believe and experience the miraculous. This has been an extremely important step in this process of hearing more from the Lord.

  In the Book of Acts, during a time of Holy Spirit second fillings and after the disciples had witnessed the miraculous event of Jesus ascending back to Heaven, the disciples gathered and stayed together. Acts 1:12 says, “They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary, mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.” The word ‘together’ is homothymadon, which means

  ‘of one mind.’ In Acts 2:44 it says, “All the believers were together and had everything in common.” The word used here is koinonia, which means an intimate bond of fellowship, brought about by the Holy Spirit.

  I also seek out additional trusted learning materials. I enjoy my Spirit-Filled Bible and my friend Sally introduced me to an amazing book on God’s Prophetic Symbolism. I love Eric’s quote from the same blog post: “It was there, standing on a corner in the city of Antigua, Guatemala, that I decided...If I was ever going to learn a language, I’d move someplace and immerse myself in it.” Smart, well informed, discerning and very WISE!

Despite all of this above, I still had to believe that He could and would speak to me. So I ask you this today: Do you believe that He wants to talk to you? Do you have faith that He will (and may already be)? And are you listening? If so, how has He spoken to you? Share with us below.

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