49 Religious Lies Jesus Told Me to Stop Believing - #23 The Voice of God Is Not for Today

Summary

Mark Virkler argues against the belief that God’s voice is unavailable to Christians today. He says he held that belief for his first ten years as a Christian, so he did not deliberately seek God’s voice or recognize it when he experienced it. In his view, God’s guidance may come as spontaneous thoughts that “light up” in the mind—not necessarily as an audible or booming voice. He says learning to attend to those thoughts transformed his Christian experience.

Main Ideas and Lessons

• God’s voice is for today. Virkler says the Bible depicts people hearing God throughout its story. He rejects the idea that the present church era is spiritually inferior or a “dumpster age.”
• Christians may fail to recognize God’s voice because of their expectations. He says he had heard God without knowing what to listen for because he expected a dramatic, audible voice rather than thoughts arising inwardly.
• Journaling can help explore this experience. In a dialogue recorded in his journal, Virkler asks whether thoughts and writing that sound like his own could really be from God. The answer presented in the journal is that God can work through a person’s distinctive personality rather than erase it.
• This idea connects to union with Christ. Drawing on Galatians 2:20, Virkler says Christians should understand themselves as joined to Christ, with Christ living and expressing himself through them. He describes this as a partnership: a person’s voice, personality, gifts, and style remain, while the Spirit works through them.
• Inner obstacles can distort this flow. In the journal dialogue, “pebbles” in the stream are identified as unconfessed sin, unhealed hurts, spiritual strongholds, divided attention, and the enemy’s influence. Virkler says these can divert the flow of spiritual impressions.
• Reflecting on Scripture can develop conviction. Virkler describes gathering and pondering biblical passages about being “in Christ” and having Christ within, then praying and journaling about them. He says this helped him form a lived understanding of the idea, which he explores in Naturally Supernatural and the workbook The Great Mystery: Christ Within.
• Christians should replace what he calls “vain imaginations.” Virkler contrasts viewing oneself as entirely self-contained with viewing oneself as a vessel through whom Christ works. He believes the way people picture themselves affects how they understand and experience their spiritual life.
• Hearing God is a promise and an ongoing possibility. Citing Jesus’ words, “My sheep hear my voice,” Virkler argues that believers can expect to hear God rather than merely hope it might happen.

Practices He Recommends

1. Quiet yourself.
2. Picture Jesus beside you, at your right hand.
3. Put a smile on your face.
4. Pay attention to spontaneous, flowing thoughts.
5. Treat those thoughts as possible communication from God.
6. Journal by asking God what he wants to say about hearing his voice.
7. Look up and reflect on relevant Bible passages, praying and journaling about them.
8. Consider whether personal obstacles—such as unresolved hurts, sin, divided focus, or strongholds—may be affecting your spiritual attention.

Virkler concludes that, in his view, God’s rhema—a word or message received from God—is spirit and life, and that living in such revelation brings abundant life.

Speakers and Sources Featured

• Mark Virkler — The speaker and teacher presenting these ideas and recounting his experience.
• “The Lord” — Presented by Virkler as the other voice in excerpts from his two-way journaling; this is a reported devotional dialogue.
• Biblical sources cited or alluded to: Galatians 2:20; Jesus’ statement that his sheep hear his voice (John 10); and John 6:63. The video also refers broadly to examples of people hearing God from Genesis through Revelation.
• Works mentioned by Virkler: Naturally Supernatural and the workbook The Great Mystery: Christ Within.