The founder of the 24-7 prayer movement, Pete Greig is one of the UK’s most popular Christian authors. This title is a sequel to his best-selling ‘How to Pray’, both books being subtitled, ‘A Simple Guide for Normal People’. His eighth book to date, Greig confesses that this was the hardest to write.

The book comes in two parts: Part 1; vox eterna; Hearing God through God’s Word and Part 2: vox interna; Hearing God through God’s whisper.

Part 1: God’s Word

Throughout, Greig uses the story of Christ’s encounter with the couple on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24) as a backdrop; a model for the various ways in which God speaks, which is reassuring because the couple consistently get it so wrong!

Greig makes it quite clear that the Bible is the language of God’s heart, and therefore if we wish to hear what he is saying, we have to be immersed in the Scriptures.

The Bible is the language of God’s heart, and therefore if we wish to hear what he is saying, we have to be immersed in the Scriptures.

We also hear his voice through the discipline of prayer, which is of course a two-way communication. Greig introduces the reader to the ancient approach known as lectio divina; harnessing the power of imagination and meditation. The four main steps of lectio divina, the author made highly popular in ‘How to Pray’, by using the simple acronym, P.R.A.Y: Pause, Read (lectio), Reflect (meditation), Ask (oratio) and Yield (contemplation).

In the chapter on hearing God through Prophecy, Greig illustrates his helpful teaching with numerous fascinating testimonies of modern-day personal prophecy in action.

Part 2: God’s Whisper

Turning to God’s Whisper, Greig tackles the thorny issue of people’s presumptions about what God sounds like and their expectations of how he should speak. This is essential to hearing the deity speak to us in gentle nudges and inner convictions.

There is no aspect of God’s creation through which he cannot and does not speak.

The sections on dreams and the unconscious offer practical guidelines which come over as helpful and balanced. The penultimate chapter considers God speaking to his children, not just in religious contexts (including such means as Communion, Solitude and Sabbath), but in the whole of life – not least, Community, Creation and Culture. For ‘there is no aspect of God’s creation through which he cannot and does not speak’, Greig informs us.

‘Living Word’ and ‘Listening Exercise’

Don’t be too surprised if you feel you’re already familiar with much of the teaching contained in this study; it is, after all intended as a ‘simple guide’. In reality, however, the book is packed with helpful advice and interesting stories. How I wish I had access to this resource as a young believer. No matter how mature we are in the faith, there’s ample for all of us to learn here. I certainly found it deeply inspiring.

Greig is a first-class writer, and a brilliant story-teller, regularly interspersing his teaching with biblical illustrations and personal testimonies. At the end of each chapter comes a ‘Living Word’, an absorbing 2-or-3-page historical reflection on some saint from the past who experienced close communion with their Lord. Following that appears a ‘Listening Exercise’; offering down-to-earth practical ways we can put what we’ve learned into practice, along with questions for personal reflection or group study.

Hearing his voice is not so much a skill we must master, as a master we must meet.

Jesus is what God sounds like

As Greig says, ‘Nothing could be wilder or more wonderful than the human capacity to hear God’s voice’ (p.1). Ultimately, though, Jesus is what God sounds like, for he is the living Word of God. ‘Hearing his voice is not so much a skill we must master, as a master we must meet’ (p.xv).

Hearing from God is primarily a discipline that we learn to distil through practice and obedience. The more we say ‘yes’ to Jesus, the more familiar and precious his voice becomes – and in time we will be able to say, like Cleopas, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked?’

‘How to Hear God’ (258pp) is published by Hodder & Stoughton and is available from Eden Christian Books for £11.50 (inc p&p).