(04/40) A Simple Framework for Hearing God
If you read only one email in this series, read this one.
I shouldn’t do this yet, especially if I want you to stick with me for forty emails, but I’m going to tell you the simple framework for hearing God I’ve been teaching people on napkins, white boards, windows, presentation screens, and, as I’ll share in a moment, on at least one paper plate.
Before I explain it, though, let me tell you the story of how I got here.
In my early twenties, I was reading through Dallas Willard’s Hearing God (one of the top five guides I recommend). Near the end of the book, Willard introduces a set of “three lights” he adapted from others that can help you get a sense of how God might be guiding you: 1) Scripture, 2) impressions from the Holy Spirit, and 3) circumstances.
The simplicity of that framework stuck with me, so I started using it in my life—and, in the lives of the many young adults I was pastoring at the time.
A few years later, as part of a teaching series at my church in 2021, I expanded Willard’s basic framework from three to four and made it into a diagram: Scripture, solitude, community, and circumstances. (I like quadrants more than triangles, so I was happier with this.) But, admittedly, I can be a bit obsessive about making concepts more memorable, and I felt like it still wasn’t sticky enough.
I was stuck, though—until, about six months later on a cross-country flight to San Francisco. It was a long flight, and I was trying to edit that teaching series on hearing God into one talk for a church I would be speaking at soon. At some point on that flight, I tried the acronym: H.E.A.R.
And, it worked.
Over lunch the next day, at a conference with some other church leaders, my friends Brandon and Aly shared a decision they were facing that included the possibility of moving and starting a new venture. I grabbed an empty lunch plate, drew the H.E.A.R. Framework for the first time, and we talked about how they’ve experienced God guide them in some of those ways. It resonated with their own story.
A few days later, I taught the framework at a church my friends Tim and Vanessa started in Sacramento—and, it feels like I’ve been teaching the H.E.A.R. Framework to anyone seeking God’s guidance ever since.
The H.E.A.R. Framework in a Nutshell
Are you ready for it? If you want to hear from God, I recommend paying attention to four of the most common ways that God guides us:
Heart
Experiences
Advice
Reading
It spells the word H.E.A.R.
It’s really simple, but I’ve seen it work over and over again in the lives of people who are seeking to hear God’s voice in a decision that matters to them. Once you know it, you’ll see elements of it in many of the stories people tell about hearing God—including your own.
But, don’t unsubscribe from this newsletter just yet.
This framework is a tool, but like any tool, it’s a tool you have to learn how to use. Giving you this framework this early on in the series is like giving my kids a hammer. They could use it to build something, perhaps with some guidance, or they could use it to destroy everything they know and love.
That’s why, later in this email series, I’ll unpack each letter in the H.E.A.R. framework more in-depth—looking at the biblical foundation for each of these, some common pitfalls to watch out for, stories of real people, and practical tips I’ve learned through experience in each of these four areas.
For now, though, let me introduce you to each letter in the H.E.A.R. Framework:
HEART
Rather than an audible voice, God often speaks through what some call the “inner voice” or the gentle nudge of the Holy Spirit in your heart—like the “soft, quiet whisper” that Elijah heard. But, as we’ll talk about, the heart is also “deceitful above all things,” and if you’re not careful, it can mess you up. In particular, we’ll talk about how to distinguish between the voice in your head and God’s voice.
EXPERIENCES
God will often use what you’re experiencing in day-to-day life to guide you as well. The Bible often calls these “signs,” and sometimes writers like Paul used the language of open and closed doors. As you can imagine, though, signs are susceptible to what psychologists call “confirmation bias,” and if you’re not careful, you’ll start seeing signs everywhere—and, they don’t always mean what you think they mean.
ADVICE
God will often use other people in your life to provide a word of guidance to you—whether you’re asking for it or not. It might take the form of lived wisdom or it might, if you’re open to it, take the form of a prophetic word. Not all advice is created equal, though, and even prophetic words can get misinterpreted.
READING
Finally, the most important place to listen for God’s guidance is in the Bible. It’s not last in the framework because it’s least important, it’s last because it’s the filter for all the other ways that God might guide you. This isn’t about flipping the Bible open at random to see what God might be saying (although that worked for Saint Augustine), it’s about listening for how God might be guiding you through your regular reading of the Bible.
Heart, experiences, advice, and reading (H.E.A.R.). That's it.
In the comments, let me know: Which letter in the H.E.A.R. framework are you most interested to learn more about, and why?
It’s not that God won’t speak to you in some of the other ways in the list of twenty-five ways God guides people in the Bible. But, I’ve noticed that these are the four most common ways people experience God’s guidance.
You might be wondering why the Holy Spirit isn’t listed in this framework. Didn’t Jesus say that the Holy Spirit would “guide” us (John 16:13)? Yes, of course, God guides us through the Holy Spirit, but when you actually think about how the Holy Spirit guides us (and when I’ve asked people), it’s often in one of these four common ways. Rather than put the Holy Spirit into one of these boxes, I believe that the Holy Spirit is at work in each of these. (More on that later.)
But, you might not be convinced that God still guides people and speaks to them (even in the ways described in the H.E.A.R. Framework). In the next few emails, we’ll explore the four main views of God that shape how we think about his guidance—and, the one view that will set you up for a lifetime of hearing God.
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P.S. Here’s the original plate. Brandon and Aly took a picture of it and saved it in a favorites folder. They’ve been sharing it with people seeking God’s guidance ever since. In case you’re wondering, here’s the venture they ended up starting together.
