53. How to Hear God’s Voice: 4 Habits That Help Christian Physicians Listen

Have you ever asked God for clarity about a decision — your career, a patient, or the season you’re in — and felt like you heard nothing?

Many Christian physicians long to hear God’s voice but aren’t sure how to recognize it in the middle of busy medical lives.

In this episode, I share four simple habits that can help you cultivate a lifestyle of hearing from God. Instead of waiting for dramatic spiritual moments, learning to hear Him often comes through daily rhythms that position your heart to listen.

You’ll learn how to guard your heart, anchor yourself in Scripture, pray in a way that includes listening, and stay spiritually attentive throughout your day — even in the middle of clinic, charting, or a busy hospital shift.

If you desire deeper intimacy with Jesus and want to integrate your faith more naturally into your work as a physician, this episode will give you practical starting points.

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Transcript

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Have you ever prayed and asked God for clarity about a decision, a career, a patient, or perhaps your own seasons of life, and you felt like you weren't hearing anything? Many question physicians ask me exactly this question, how do I actually hear God's voice? But perhaps the better question is this. Are we positioning our lives in a way that allows us to hear him? Because hearing God isn't about one dramatic moment and. The sky is splitting open and something dramatic happens, but rather it's about cultivating a lifestyle that makes us attentive to his voice. So today I wanna share one of those teaching moments from the recent Heal the Healers Retreat, where we explored this exact question. Stay tuned for after the music. We'll be right back. Yeah. Hello there and welcome back to the podcast. And if you have been a listener for a while you might have noticed that the podcast name has changed from Heal the Healers to the Christian Physician Podcast. That was done very intentionally on my part to help other. Christian physicians actually find the podcast better. It felt like more aligned and needed a refresh. So this is why there is a change in the name and the title, but you will still find the most wonderful content here, all about Christian leadership, servant leadership about healing ministry. Healing ministry of Jesus, and how we incorporate that into our. Practice as physicians and then all things related to spiritual growth and discipleship. Meaning what are some of the habits that we can do and practice to grow in our relationship with the Lord? If we have not met before, welcome to the podcast. I'm Dr. Inga Hoffman. I'm a physician leadership coach and a follower of Jesus helping Christian physicians integrate their faith and medicine and hear God clearly in their daily lives. So today's episode is all about how we can position ourselves to hear God more clearly. This is actually a part two of a short miniseries I'm doing based on the Healer Healers retreat that I hosted for physicians just at the beginning of the year, and I felt it would be great to just share a few key nuggets and hopefully wet your appetite to come to the next retreat that I will be hosting. I don't have exact dates for that yet, but stay tuned all the way to the end so you can get more information, how you can sign up, how you can stay in the loop. But without further ado, let's just jump right into how to create a lifestyle of hearing from God. And I wanna give you four tangible tips today, how you can do so. in the previous episode we talked about why God speaks and how he speaks, and today we're gonna shift a little bit into something more practical, how we position ourselves to hear from God more clearly. Now, if you have not listened to the last episode and how God speaks, why he talks to us, how we prefer to listen sometimes. Definitely go back to episode number 52 because it's really gonna help you and bless your other leave. Today we're gonna jump in how we can position ourselves in a lifestyle of hearing God more clearly. Because most of our life is shaped by habits and rhythms, we cultivate and I believe that hearing from God is no different. We often make it a bit more complicated than it needs to be, and I have found that a lot of it has to do with just cultivating consistent habits to build a relationship with the Lord, to hear him more clearly. At the retreat, I talked a bit about. Creating a lifestyle of revelation. In other words, creating a life that is intentionally positioned to receive from God, because most of the time God is not shouting from the heaven. Lease with trumpets and thunderstorms. sending a donkey to speak to us more often. He speaks to us in subtle prompts, quiet impressions, scripture by the leading of the Holy Spirit, maybe even friends or just a sermon you're hearing at church. So really the question becomes more so are we actually tuned in what he wants to say? It's like adjusting your radio frequency, right? It requires an intentional. Spiritual rhythm to tune into a relationship with God, so we can hear from you more clearly. So I wanna share four simple practices that I believe will help you position your life to hear from God more clearly. And hey, we all want that. I still want more, and I love talking to the Lord. So if you are not driving. Grab a pen and paper and write some of these down. And at the end I will give you a little bit homework as well to just take it a step further and actually have a practical application. So the first one, number one, tip number one, guard your heart. You might say what does that have to do with anything? Scripture tells us, above all else, guard your heart because everything flows from it. So when we guard our heart, it is actually a key posture to position ourselves in the best way, in a correct way to hear from the Lord. Because our heart condition directly affects how we can hear from God, or if we even can hear. It could be things like that. If there are bitterness, unforgiveness, sin, regret, unresolved wounds or habitual type of sin in our lives, it can cloud our spiritual sensitivity. It's not because God. Just stop speaking. Although sometimes he might for a season because we are living in sin. But I feel like it has often a lot more to do with that we are not postured in a way that we have so much internal noise and distraction, maybe even sitting in these wounds or bitterness or unforgiveness. That it becomes a much louder voice than hearing the voice of God. And that's why it becomes difficult to hear. So I want you to reflect on that. And, sometimes it can look totally innocent. It doesn't have to be some major sin that is in our life. It's just our overall restriction. Perhaps we are living in, let's say, regret. And we look at our life just in the rear view mirror and we look back and wonder, what if I would have done this differently? And I think as physicians we actually do that a lot. We ruminate on how could I have done this differently or have spent so much time in my career? And therefore, our perspective kind of shifts from. Him to other things maybe in our past that we cannot see clearly. So that's just one example. Think about Joseph in Genesis. He could have defined his life as a life of betrayal based on what happened to him, gets sold into Egypt by his brothers, and he gets put in prison, but instead he. Persevered and had then the perspective to say what you meant for evil. God meant for good. So how you tell your story, how your heart is postured really is a big part, and how you can attune your ears to hear from God. So if our heart is not in the right place. that means our emotions, our thoughts, our feelings are off and not under the alignment of the Holy Spirit anymore. And that makes it much harder to hear from God. So a simple tip, just check your heart and your heart posture and see where you are at and be very honest and vulnerable with the Lord. Number two, no surprise, be anchored. In scripture. Now, I know I say this around here a lot, but it is so important. You cannot discern God's voice if you don't know his character. In the primary place where we learn about the Lord, where we learn about God, his character, his will his multifaceted characteristics, emotions, et cetera, is from scripture. And one of the biggest challenges I see today is biblical illiteracy. And sadly, I have to say, as physicians, we are not immune. We are really smart people. We are very well read, but busyness has often taken over to study the scriptures more deeply. And that's unfortunate. I recorded many podcast episodes about reading your scripture and getting in a habit, but I want to underscore this over and over again because if we stick to scripture, if we just read the word over and over again on a daily, regular basis and really being. Open to what the word says and trying to understand it deeper with the fellowship and instructions and teaching and mentorship of the Holy Spirit. We are gonna walk on pretty secure waters. And I think why we see a lot of a mess in the Christian communities is that people don't understand the word of God anymore, and we all are on different levels of understanding. I just wanna put a hunger in you. My prayer is that you have such a hunger and desire for a deeper understanding of the word of God, that is really literally overtaking you. And that's probably a whole nother teaching, but that just pops into my spirit. That's really my desire and my prayer for you. So daily time in the word becomes a foundation for discernment. Again, if you spend 15 minutes a day in the word, you can get through the entire Bible in a year. I strongly encourage you to do that. I challenge you to do that if you're not already having that habit. And once you do that, something very powerful begins to happen. You start to recognize the Lord's voice, his tone of voice, his character through the reading of the word, and there will be stuff he won't understand and that's okay. That's where you end up communication with him. Actually, another great way to just practice and learning to listen to him because the Holy Spirit when he speaks to you will not ever contradict what God has already spoken in his word. So if we don't know his word, we are in trouble because we have no way to. Test and approve the board and measure it up against anything if we don't know the word. So that's a key part. So know your scriptures. Spend time in them. Number three. Prayer that includes listening. Prayer is not just talking to God, not just putting your request or your questions before him, while he wants to hear about those and while he cares and why he is gracious to help. Prayer is really communion. It's fellowship with God. So it's not just bringing our request or our questions, it's actually being okay. And sitting with the word quietly and listening, and it can be very uncomfortable because there might be times you actually don't hear anything and you wonder if it's working and what you're doing. But I encourage you, get in the practice of shutting your mouth into your mind and actually sit there quietly and listen and see what happens. Ask the Lord questions and then pass and say nothing, just like you would. In a conversation, like for example, if you take a history with a patient, right? You not keep on talking. No. You ask a question and you sometimes have this uncomfortable pause of silence and you wait for an answer. So that is how we should be approaching this. Enter a conversation with the Lord versus just a monologue. I often say, Lord I need help with this. Please help me with this. I wonder about this. Can you help me with this decision? I don't know if I should take this job or not. And then we dump all the stuff. In front of his feet, and then we run away and go about our day because we're busy. That's not how it works. How do you expect anything to happen in a conversation with others if we would approach it that way, right? We would never do that, but we do that very willingly with the Lord, and that's where communication breakdown usually happens. So just sit quietly, pray pray the scripture, read the scriptures, then quietly and ask the Lord. Jesus. Is there anything you want to highlight for me today? Is there anything you wanna tell me about my day today, or anything you wanna highlight in those scriptures? Ask him one question and then just wait. See what comes to mind. I encourage you if something does come to mind, write it down. Journaling helps to begin, recognize patterns, how God speaks to you, and also provides a track record. And over time you are able to record God's faithful guidance in your life. So make sure you're praying. In a way that you're communicating, not just having a monologue, but that you enter a dialogue and that you're okay with the uncomfortable quiet pauses, just sitting there and keeping your mouth shut. By the way, this is a side note, not a my note, but I encourage you to pray out loud because in our heads we easily get distracted. Pray out loud, especially when you're quiet time, like you can do it. Nobody's really listening. You don't have to yell, but speak it out. There's actually power in that also. It helps you focus and keep your attention. And then the last tip, number four, encourage you to stay spiritually alert throughout your day. Hearing God's voice and getting instruction from him isn't just about your quiet time. That's where it starts. That's where we lay foundations for the day, but really anything can happen throughout the day while seeing patients, driving to work, walking between meetings, eating your lunch. God often speaks in small promptings or impressions that can happen in random moments. Think about it. You have probably some of your best ideas if you would think about it, and I ask you, Hey, when do you have your best random ideas? Ideas, like whether it's for work or maybe a research project or whatever it might be. A lot of you would probably say, oh, I have great ideas in the shower, or, while driving a car, driving is for me a good one, for example. It's not any different with communication with the Lord. He will speak to you in those random, mundane moments of the day, and that's one key point for you to remember. It has nothing to do with time. We often say we don't have time, but the Lord can speak between the dishes and the diapers and on your commute to work and yes, even while you're charting. So please, see that there is a bigger picture here and just have that this hard posture of I hear the Lord, I speak to him throughout my day, not just at. A sacred appointment in the morning and that's it. Now both are important. I believe. I do believe you have to have that quiet time to be having a designated time, but you also want to pay attention throughout the day. But he is the issue and I know what the challenge might be. There are a lot of distractions. There's a lot of noise going on. There's phones, media distractions, there is interruptions. There's just the busyness of our day if you're working in the clinical environment, right? But again, I want you to be encouraged in those moments, have these quiet pauses. I used to do that, have this. Quiet, menopause before I walk into a patient room in the clinic or in the hospital. Lord help me or Lord give me inside or Lord just help me see them as you see them. Something very simple. And you can do that quietly in your head or quietly praying that under your breath. But basically invite him into those moments even as you're busy running around in the hospital on the clinic. And then you can certainly insert short moments of quiet throughout your day. One of my favorite things to do is, I like to take a walk every afternoon, and I really started that I think during COVID. I have to confess though, that often I take my phone with me, but I'm encouraging myself. For example, leave the phone at home or leave it in your pocket and just go take a quick 10 minute walk. And have that mental break. And provide an opportunity for the Lord's presence to meet you where you are at. So these are the four tips. Quickly to recap, number one, posture your heart, guard your heart. Number two, anchor yourself in scripture Having real solid Bible reading. Number three. Prayer that induces listening, meaning praying to be in communication and relationship with the Lord. Nurture to have a monologue. And number four, stay spiritually, all Lord, throughout the day. Now, this is just it, big overview, but what I want you to do is I don't want you to just have head knowledge. I want you to actually do this. If you're driving, you can do that right now in your car or if you're doing something else, just to take a few moments of reflection and ask the Lord, go ahead. What is going well right now? I know we are very quick to see the things that we need to fix, but there are probably things that you're already doing well, maybe you're like, I have my quiet time down, or, Hey, I'm pretty good in chatting with the Lord throughout the day in the car. Celebrate that and praise the Lord. And then do more of that, what's already working? And then the second part, just ask the Lord, show me places where I can grow. Show me where you want to speak to me, where I can listen to you more deeply. And he might 0.1 of those four factors out to you. Maybe it's something else that I hadn't mentioned. So sit with God in prayer for a few minutes and ask him and see what you hear. And then I would also in this busy world, ask him very specifically, is there anything that's clouding my ability to hear? You clearly. Are there specific distractions you want me to be aware of? And these could be, distractions with media, social media, et cetera. These could be distractions in our mind, or maybe old wounds or emotions. I just feel like that deserves a little extra attention. So ask the Lord, are there any things that are standing between you and me that could be internal? Things like thoughts, wounds, et cetera, emotional things, or that could be outward things like distractions. All right, that's it. So go do that homework. Spend some time, a few minutes in reflection if you are. Able to journal those things. That's fantastic. And then really, if the Lord lays something on your heart, I only wanna encourage you to be obedient and follow through and be grateful when he speaks to us and when he put something on our heart, then it's our time to say, wow, I heard something. Let me follow through with that. Even if you are not sure, that's okay. The Lord is gracious and then for next time we're gonna close out that mini series on the retreat recap. Next time we're gonna talk a little bit more about things we talk about at the retreat. And one of the things that comes up all the time when we talk about hearing from God is actually touching on prophetic gifting. If you are a prophetic person, you will really enjoy this. And if you have questions about the prophetic, then this is perfect. I just wanna give a very baby introduction on basically prophetic gifts because it plays directly into hearing God's voice because that's part of it, right? As a prophetic person, person in and Bible talks about prophecy a lot. It's really a key part to hear from God clearly and without our own filters. So I wanna give just a very basic introduction to what are prophetic gifts what is spiritual discernment? How's it. Different men maybe from prophecy. And the reason why I think it is important to at least briefly touch on that because I see a lot of confusion with that, especially in physicians. I think we are very intellectual driven people, and this is an area of great confusion. In general, in the body of Christ, there's a lot of bad stuff happening. We sometimes get it wrong and then things that are in the word of God get a bad rap. I also think because of our intellectual wiring, we shy away from some of those supernatural things, but we are talking about. Hearing God's voice and asking the Lord to speak into our lives through scriptures and other ways and prayer. So this is totally part of that, and I think it is important to just bring things out in the open and see what does the Bible actually say so that you can read the scriptures and ask the Lord, Hey, help me understand this and not be afraid of things that we don't understand with our highly intellectual scientific brain. That are actually in the Bible. So enough said, I hope this is a teaser for you to tune in next time. And if you ever wondered is hearing from God the same thing as prophecy to all the leavers here from God? That's a question that comes up. Quite often actually. Eh, then this is really gonna be a great conversation for you, so stay tuned. Also if you are like, wow, this is really amazing. I do actually I wish I would have been at the retreat. Then I wanna tell you this definitely stay in the loop. There's a lot of things that the Lord has put on my heart. For this year that I will be doing just to serve the physician community better. And one of those things that I've been really passionate about that the Lord put on my heart is hosting events, conferences, retreats, equipping Christian physicians to really bring the kingdom of God into the medical area. If that is something you are interested in, I encourage you, get on my wait list. For future wins, you go to inga homan.com. That's one F two ns slash retreat waitlist. I will put that in the show notes and really encourage you. Go and get on our wait list so you can stay informed because some of these events will be a very small, and also I understand we need to plan as physicians, we have complex schedules. Lastly you wanna make sure. That you also joined my Facebook group. I have a free Facebook group. I'm gonna be a lot more active in there, giving you encouragement and some teaching in there. And that's a great place to get started for free. That's a way you can support the ministry and receive support. And so check that out, link us in the show notes. With that said, God bless you. I wish you a wonderful day. Talk to you soon.