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40. 4 Simple Habits for Hearing God and Living in Your Identity · Believe & Become | Ministry, Biblical Encouragement, God's Will, How to Change, Holy Spirit

• 0:00
  Speaker A: Do you ever feel like I just wish God would tell me what to do so I can do it? We so get that. But here's the thing. God cares more about your identity, about who he made you to be, than actually what you're doing. Hearing God for your identity is so key because that actually allows you to walk in the purpose for which he made you. God made you on purpose for a purpose and today we're going to talk about four practical habits to hear God more clearly and step in to who he has made you to be. Let's get started.
• 0:34
  Speaker B: If you're tired of leading others while secretly battling doubt, discouragement and mental warfare
• 0:39
  Speaker A: and you want practical tools to renew your mind and walk boldly in your
• 0:43
  Speaker B: calling as a leader, you're in the right place. Welcome to believe and become.
• 0:47
  Speaker A: We're Josh and Karina, your spirit filled coaches here to help you overcome those limiting beliefs and lead others confidently.
• 0:54
  Speaker B: If you're ready to hear God's voice more clearly, to step into your purpose and find joy and strength in the
• 0:59
  Speaker A: everyday silence those Bible app reminders judging you from your lock screen and let's jump in.
• 1:11
  Speaker B: Are you feeling stuck? Unsure of where God is leading? You're worried that there's something wrong with you because you just can't seem to hear him clearly?
• 1:19
  Speaker A: We spent years stuck in patterns of frustration and disappointment because we just didn't have the clarity or the courage we needed to step forward. We felt like we needed God to part the sky and tell us what to do. We knew God had more for our lives, but we didn't really know who we were in Christ or believe it enough to step into it.
• 1:37
  Speaker B: Friend, you don't have to stay stuck. You were made to hear God's voice. We invite you to come and learn the simple process we use to overcome the limiting beliefs holding you back and hear God clearly for your next steps.
• 1:51
  Speaker A: When we were able to see ourselves as God does and break free from the enemy's lies, our lives changed completely. Where we once walked in fear and discouragement, now we walk in victory. Instead of waking up depleted before the day even starts, we wake up ready to walk in the fulfillment of our calling.
• 2:11
  Speaker B: So head right now to joshandkarina.com coaching and get started on your path to freedom. Today we are talking about four simple habits for hearing God and living in your identity. It is so important to be able to hear God's voice, what he is leading us in every single day and to be able to live out from who he says we are not what we think we are, not what the world tells us we are. Those are all that's a recipe for disaster. We need God's voice to speak into our lives. And we know sometimes it feels so hard to hear God's voice. But there's a few simple things that you can do to make it so much easier to hear God consistently for your everyday purpose. I was thinking about the story of Samuel in the Bible when he was a little boy serving in the temple with Eli. And the story is he hears someone calling his name and he goes to Eli and Eli says, go back to bed, basically. But the third time Eli realizes this is actually God speaking to Samuel, he's calling Samuel's name. Wow, that is so incredible. It says in there, Samuel didn't know the Lord yet, but God was calling his name. And we've all had that experience where we didn't know the Lord and then he called our name. So if you feel like I never hear from God or he's not speaking to me, you heard from him at least once. No one can accept Jesus without hearing God call their name. And you did that. You responded to him. And guess what? He continues to speak to you day after day. His sheep know his voice. You are designed, you are created to hear from him. And so Samuel responded. Eli told him what to do. He says, speak, Lord, your servant is listening. And so many times I think that is a key to hearing God's voice, is to just listen, to stop when God's saying something. When you need to hear his voice, just stop, pause, take a second and say, God, I'm listening. What is it that you're trying to say to me right now?
• 4:16
  Speaker A: And Jesus was always going off by himself to pray. Jesus, even Jesus had to stay connected to the voice of the Father. And it's so important, we think that we can just live our lives and invite God along for the journey. But really he's presence is vital. His voice is everything. And if even Jesus had to stay connected, how much more important is it for us to get alone with God, to be as deliberate as Jesus, that I'm going to make time to listen to his voice, to hear his voice. Just like Samuel had to stop and say, speak, Lord. God continued to speak to him. But until he recognized that Samuel was listening, then he could give him instruction. And so it's that same thing. Are you listening? Are you getting alone with, with God? Are you making that time in that space? Because when we create space for Him, I think we all come to see that God is always speaking. He always has something to say to you. You are so important to him and he wants to communicate with you.
• 5:19
  Speaker B: Jesus said, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. And that is his spoken word. What he's revealing to us on a daily basis as we read his written word, as we live life with him, that is when we hear his voice. That is our su, that bread of life that comes from God. That's what keeps us alive. And so if you're living without hearing God's voice on a daily basis, you are starving. We need his voice, and so he doesn't withhold his voice from us. God doesn't do that. He is a gracious, loving, heavenly father. He's the best father you could ever imagine. He always talks to his kids. What kind of father says, I love you one time and that's good enough? That's not a very good dad. I'm sorry. Some of us had fathers, maybe that didn't say I love you to us very often. But God is not like that. He says he wants to tell you how much he loves you every single day. So if you're not hearing that every day, you're not hearing his voice, you're not hearing what you need for life to be sustained by that voice of God. Yeah.
• 6:29
  Speaker A: Oh, that's so sweet. And I think that that is when we can live from our identity, is when we hear, like, we begin to live our lives from that place of approval, from that place of I am loved by my father. That helps us to walk forward in confidence, to become who he created us to be and to overcome in the places where we haven't been able to, because now I know I'm loved. And that creates confidence in us. That's. Oh, it's just so sweet.
• 6:57
  Speaker B: I just sense the Lord right now releasing love encounters with the Father's love over you. It changed my life when I had that first time that I really encountered the love of God, how much he deeply cares for me. It changed my life radically, and it continues to impact me from that day forward. That was years and years and years ago. So he is releasing that over you right now. The ability to. To encounter his love like never before. To see him as your father, as your dad, that takes care of you, that loves you more than anything else in the world. He loved you so much that he sent his son to die for you. He gave it all up because you were worth that much to him. And so I just release that over you that you would radically Encounter the love of the Father right now in Jesus name.
• 7:51
  Speaker A: Yes. Amen. So how do we do this? How do we walk in consistent connection with the Father? How do we make this a habit? Here's the thing. You've got to meet with God regularly. I came across a post on Instagram this week from Craig Groeschel, and it said this. Daniel's faith wasn't formed in battle. It was formed in the secret place. And he went on to talk about how Daniel didn't find faith in the lion's den. He didn't find faith when he was in the midst of battle. That was formed three times a day, every day when he would open his windows and get on his knees and pray to the Father. His faith was formed in the secret place with the Father. And likewise, your identity is not going to be formed as you go running around trying to do all the things and figure out who you are. No, your identity is formed when you are with God. And. And you can look at other examples in the Bible, like David, he didn't suddenly decide, oh, I'm gonna go kill a giant or I'm gonna become the king. He could not have done those things if he didn't already know who he had spent hours and hours in God's presence learning who God was and who he was. Because of that, the disciples, they spent day after day with Jesus being formed by his presence before they ever went out and did the things that they did and changed the world. Our identity is formed in God's presence, and we need it on a regular basis. Now, I just want to put a little caveat here. You might be in a season where it's really hard to get time alone, where you feel like, I have a newborn. I have elderly parents I'm taking care of. I'm working 80 hours a week and barely have time to sleep, let alone have this beautiful, you know, quiet time, go on the mountaintop by myself to pray. We get that, and God gets that. But remember, this is a season. What can you do in this season? Can you listen to your Bible on the way to work? Can you pray in the bathroom or in the shower? Like, do you have moments throughout your day where you can connect with Him? That's what we're talking about. We're talking about regularly meeting with the Lord. And then when you have more time, when you do have the ability to get away and get alone and find a quiet space, then you're. There's. That connection is still there. It's not something that you have to Start all over. So this is a regular meeting with God that it's, it's vital. I love that you said it's our daily bread and if we don't get it every day, we're starving, you're starving. And we need it. We need his presence. So how can you meet with him on a regular basis right now where you are in your life?
• 10:32
  Speaker B: And it's so important for us to cultivate our own relationship with the Lord. I think too many of us are relying on other people's revelation. It's like the pastor's relationship with the Lord. I receive from what he's getting, I'm receiving from. There's lots of places you can get it from, from podcasts, from sermons online, from books, from other people's revelation. We need our own personal relationship with the Lord. It's not your spous spouse's job to cultivate that for you. We have to put in the intentional work to develop that time with God. And just like Karina was saying, there's grace for that. But it's really just tuning your heart to what God is saying, making some time. It doesn't have to be a religious. I'm spending an hour in the Word praying every single day. It can be. I have five minutes here just to turn my heart to God. God, what are you saying to me? 5 minutes to read just a couple verses. Lord, what is it that you're trying to speak to me through this? Just turning aside like Moses did. He turned aside to the burning bush and paid attention. God, what are you saying to me that is powerful and that he can move? God is outside of time. He can move so powerfully in a few minutes if we just are intentional to calm our heart and tune ourselves into what he is saying. So we need to hear his voice regularly. It's our daily bread. He has fresh bread for us every day. We've started baking bread in our home. It's incredible. Our boys can't go back to the store bought bread once we started making really good fresh homemade bread. God has fresh homemade bread of His Word for you every single day. And it is so much better than the store bought stuff, let me tell you. So what do you need to do just to cultivate this ability to hear his voice? You gotta be in your word if you want to know what he's like and what his voice sounds like. You have to be in your word. You gotta be reading what God is saying. If we go too far outside of his written word and we're like, well, God is just speaking to me all the time. I don't need to read my Bible. You are running the risk of going way off the trail. We want to stay on the trail. We gotta be in his written word and, and paying attention to what God is speaking to us in our everyday lives. You need both. It's both. And you can't be one or the other. Don't want to be just in the word. You want to also be saying, God, what is it that you are speaking to me right now? Through my family, through nature, through my everyday life, my co workers, whatever we're doing, God is speaking through a billboard, a song that comes on the radio. God uses all of that. He speaks through movies. There are people that have gotten incredible revelation through some secular movie. And I'm like, wow, God really can speak through anything if we're just paying attention. And then we just need to recognize his voice. Throughout the day, pause and lean in. Whenever you feel his presence, you sense him speaking. And that could be any of those things I mentioned. When you're watching a movie, when you're just spending time with your kids, sitting on the couch, just feel the warmth of his embrace as a father, as he's there with you. He is always, always speaking to us. We just have to keep our hearts tuned to him, pay attention to what he's saying.
• 14:05
  Speaker A: The next thing is to practice gratitude. It is so important that we stop and say, God, thank you. The Bible says in Psalm 100, verse 4 that we enter his gates with thanksgiving. We enter his gates with thanksgiving. You can come into God's presence and you can try to work your way into it, and you can try to do all the things. But really when we with gratitude, when we come with an open heart that just says, God, thank you for all of the things that you've done, then we can begin to focus on what God is doing. We come in with a different attitude. It's not, oh, Lord, woe is me. And then we just list off all of the things that we need. No, God, thank you for what you're doing in my life, the way that you're answering my prayers, the way that you're showing up, even if it's in the smallest way, because that builds our faith and it actually brings us into his presence. In. In a. I feel like it's a easier way. There are so many times when I come in, my heart is heavy and I'm trying to get my feelings to line up with being in his presence and it feels so hard. But when I begin to thank him. Everything just starts to line up. And we see it time and time again. In Philippians chapter four, he says, present your requests with thanksgiving, and then the peace will come as you bring Thanksgiving. And in first Thessalonians, rejoice always, pray continually in everything, give thanks. We see it time and again. It's this prescription to come into his presence. And so as we practice gratitude, that actually lines our heart up with what God is doing. And then we can pray in peace. Then we can pray from a place of conviction that I know God's going to come through because I've seen what he can do. And so as we begin to bring gratitude, then those gates are opening up. And so as you're coming to meet with the Lord, come with thanksgiving. Come with a heart that just says, God, I rejoice in what you have done. And then you can delight in the Lord before you've received the answer, before you're living out your dreams, you can delight in him because you know who he is and how faithful he is.
• 16:10
  Speaker B: I love just keeping track of what you're grateful for. Keep track of what you're grateful for. Write down those answers to prayers that you've prayed, and it shows you I'm hearing God's voice correctly. When you can go back and say, oh, okay, I prayed for this. God said this, and then this happened. Every time that happens, you go, I'm hearing God. God is speaking, he is working, he is moving. And it moves us from this place of, I'm desperate, I am discouraged. Things are not working out the way that I thought they were. God is not answering my prayers. It's like I'm praying and it hits the ceiling and bounces right back to me. It moves us past that because we're attuned to what God is actually doing, not what we think he's not doing. That is so easy to get stuck in discouragement when we think God's not. But when we start to just write down, God did this, he did this in my kid's life, he did this in my finances, he did this at my job, at my school. He is moving powerfully. You start to see the momentum of what God is doing in your life that is so powerful. It gets us past being stuck. We can stay stuck in that mindset of God's not moving. I'm on all on my own. I got to do this on my own. No, that is a lie. When you start writing it down and paying attention to what God is doing, that is forward movement. In your life, you can see he is weaving together the tapestry of your life in a beautiful, beautiful way.
• 17:45
  Speaker A: So let's get into the four habits that we can use to begin to hear God regularly and step into our identity. The first one is sit with God specifically to hear what he says about you. I think this is so. It's revolutionary because I. I grew up praying, but I never thought to just stop and ask God what He thinks about me. I prayed because I needed to. I prayed because there was a prayer request. I prayed because to say thank you for my food. Right. There was never this need that I knew of or any teaching that I heard that said, just sit and ask God what he thinks about you. But this is so vital. What does God think about you? You need to hear regularly that he loves you and that you are his child. And just like Josh said, good parents don't just say it one time. I love you. You're great. Okay? Don't ever ask me for that again. No, it's. Every day, it's, good morning, I love you, good night, I love you. You know, have a good day, I love you. Right? Good parents lavish their children with love, and that's what God wants to do. Not just that, but he wants to speak into who you are, into who you see yourself as. Because like we said earlier, that's where our purpose is found. And so sit with God. Ask him what he thinks about you. And then journal, what you hear, begin to write that down. Because then you can see what he's saying consistently, over and over. It might not just be I love you, but it might be, you're really talented, you're so creative. I love to hear you sing. I. I can't wait to see what you're going to write next. Like, God is excited about you. And so as you journal, as you write those things down, it doesn't have to be written. You don't have to keep, you know, big, fancy journal or anything. Could be a note in your phone. But as you sit with him and, and listen, you'll begin to see, oh, these are the things that God says about me. This, who I am. And then you can walk in that confidently.
• 19:35
  Speaker B: Yeah. And know that God is revealing your identity about who you are on the inside. We are often so tied up. My identity is tied up in what I do. Yeah, I am an engineer. I am a salesperson. I am a college student. What we do is important to God, but he is far more interested in who you are on the inside. I designed you to love Other people, to call people's identity out, to bring them higher. You're a father, you're a mother who raises up and encourages everyone around you. These are identity statements that get to the core of who you are on the inside, who God created you to be. He'll say, you bring freedom into every environment that you walk into. You break off lies. You are a chain breaker. You set people loose to be who I created them to be. Those are the types of things that God is really speaking into you. He of course, will talk about what I want you to do for your career, for your profession, in, you know, the rest, every other part of your life. But he's really imparting that identity that goes to the core of who he created you to be. Once you have heard from God specifically about what he says about you, then you want to bring your beliefs into alignment with what God has said. How do we do that? We're going to meditate on God's promises and any prophetic words that you've received. God's promises come to us through his word. They come through things that he specifically revealed to us while we're reading, while we're praying, while we're speaking, spending time in his presence. Those things that we've written down in the previous step, we need to meditate on those. So that means bringing them up every day, at least once a day, you want to put those on note cards, put them on sticky notes all around your house so that you bump into them and you read them. Oh yeah, that's right. God told me this about myself. And then the more that you meditate, spend time getting those into your mind, into your thoughts, into your beliefs, into the core of who you are. That will just start to flow out of you. And one of the ways that we have found that it works really well to meditate is to actually create declarations. These are present tense I statements that we're going to say at least a couple times a day. And so you're going to say, I am a child of God. I am the glory of God in Christ Jesus. I was created to set people free. I love people so well. I bring the presence of God wherever I go. Those are the types of things you're going to say, those based on what you've read, what you've heard as you're listening to God's voice, write those out and then say them once, twice, three times a day about yourself. And then pretty soon it only takes a couple of weeks. Those things start coming out of your mouth. At opportune times. And you go, where did that come from? Oh, yeah, that's a declaration I've been saying for a couple weeks where I used to respond negatively to a situation. The truth of God's word is just bubbling up out of me. It is wild when that starts to happen. I love it so much.
• 22:41
  Speaker A: And the next thing is to take inventory of what you're passionate about. What are your dreams? What are the things that you care deeply about? We have had this idea that my dreams and my imagination and all the things that I want that's contrary to God. We have this idea of, like, spiritual and carnal, but actually God made you the way that you are on purpose, for a purpose. He gave you those desires, he gave you those passions. He made you to love kittens and puppies and. Or he made you to save the whales or save the planet, or he made you to love people really well. Or he made you passionate about raising godly children, whatever it might be. God gave you those dreams and desires for your life. So what are they? Have you stopped and thought lately? Have you stopped and taken inventory? These are all the things that I'm dreaming of. This is how I would love to change the world. If money was an object, this is what I would do. God gave you those passions for a reason. So bring them before him and ask him, how can I use these for you? And it might feel totally random. It might feel like this is not something spiritual or whatever. Like you might be really passionate about cement furniture. And that might feel like, I don't know, this is just something I really love. Great God, how can I use this for your glory? What is the thing that just lights you up? Because God cares about that? Delight yourself in the Lord. He will give you the desires of your heart. So, God, here it is. How can I use this for you? What do you want to do with these dreams? And some of the time he'll ask you to set them aside and. And step into something completely different. But often I find that he wants to partner with those dreams and desires and he wants to bring you into just a new understanding of himself and of who he made you to be.
• 24:26
  Speaker B: Yeah. And once you've taken inventory of your passions and your dreams, start to take steps in the direction of who he's calling you to be. What has God said to you? What are the things he's put on your heart? And then ask him, what does it look like for me to be who God's calling me to be? Right where I am? What Do I need to do to take a step in this direction? What small step can I take in the direction that he's leading me? Once you start doing that, get an action plan together with the Lord. What is a little step? Because then a lot of times clarity comes when we start moving forward a little bit. So say you are passionate about creating concrete furniture. Maybe I'm just going to make a couple sample pieces and put pictures on Instagram, see what that looks like. Maybe I'm going to talk to a couple shop owners and see maybe some doors will open. You never know what the Lord has in store for you as you start to partner with him and the dreams that he's already put inside of your heart. We get clarity. Sometimes we think it's I'm supposed to go in this direction, but we take a couple steps and you realize actually there's a huge open door a little bit to the left, just a little bit different than what I had initially thought. God's really on that direction and that gives you so much clarity. But you don't get that until you start taking a couple steps to actually move forward with what God is doing.
• 25:46
  Speaker A: So here are your four habits. Sit with God to hear what he says about you. Bring your beliefs into alignment with that truth. Take inventory of what you're passionate about and the dreams that he's given you. Start to step in that direction of becoming who he calls you, who he created you to be, and and begin walking in your purpose. Thank you so much for spending this time with us. We hope that you were blessed and we hope that you walk away with just a clear action plan of how you can begin to hear God's voice for your life. If this is something that you struggle with, you feel like, I don't know, I've tried all the things and I just feel stuck. Or I've been moving in a direction that I thought God was calling me, but their doors are closing and it feels hard. We would love to chat with you to spend some time helping you hear his voice more clearly so that you can move forward with clarity and confidence. Check out our coaching website, Josh and Karina.com coaching that's J O S H A N D C O R-I-N A.com coaching and book an appointment with us. We would just love to partner with you to help you hear God's voice for your identity so that you can become all that he created you to be. Hey friend. We hope you enjoyed today's episode. If so, would you take 30 seconds to share this podcast with someone who may need encouragement or practical tools for fighting their battle.
• 27:14
  Speaker B: Then rate and review this podcast. Help us spread the message of transformation far and wide.
• 27:19
  Speaker A: All right, time to walk back into the noise with peace, purpose, and maybe a tiny bit of guffing.
• 27:24
  Speaker B: We'll meet you back next Thursday for another episode. Bye, Sam.