THE VOICE OF GOD—WHAT MIGHT THAT SOUND LIKE…?- #10

September 13, 2026

“What you believe about God will ultimately shape the type of person you will become. We all live at the mercy of our ideas and nowhere is this more true than our ideas about God. The problem is, that many of our ideas about God are wrong. Not all wrong but wrong enough to form our souls in detrimental and disheartening ways”. (John Mark Comer, God Has a Name)

“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing” (Zepheniah 3:17)

“And he rose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him.” (Luke 15:20)

Has God ever spoken to you? I mean audibly. A voice. Unmistakable and clear.

I can't say He ever has — at least not in that way. Though I think I've been prompted by His Spirit on occasion, even then I can't be entirely certain. There are people who sincerely believe God has spoken to them — conveyed a message of hope or direction — and in that sincerity they are led to do genuinely good things. I have no issue with that. There are others, sadly, who leverage a supposed message to mislead and hurt people for their own gain. We can all produce examples without trying very hard on that front.

We are told that the Bible is the Word of God. And if you're looking for insight, guidance or direction as a follower of Christ, it's difficult to see how you'd move forward with any real conviction without at least conferring with Scripture as a primary source. I think most will agree with that.

But what does God actually sound like? If not audibly, what kind of tone might His voice take in our hearts as we try to follow His direction?

It was with that question in mind that I came across Father Bill W, (Bill Wigmore) a practitioner of what he calls two-way prayer. The premise is straightforward but quietly profound: prayer should be a function of both request and response. The person praying lists a concern or request — and then takes time to listen, to reflect, and to write a response that might sound like it came from God. It's important to note that this is not playing God. It is simply an imaginative, disciplined act of reflection. And to keep it honest, Father Bill anchors the practice in four pillars: absolute honesty, absolute purity, absolute unselfishness, and absolute love.

Here's an example of how it might work.

The prayer:

"Lord, I'm anxious about my future. My post-work life is not as full as I expected and I'm struggling with direction, purpose and fear. It feels like you’re not present and my prayer is not being heard”.

A possible response, guided by the four pillars:

"Take a breath and slow down. Your angst is rooted in your need to control — and that is not your job. Your job today is to be kind to the people I put in front of you. If no one crosses your path today, use the time to pray for those who come to mind. Your wellbeing is precious to me. I have a plan already at work, unfolding and in play, whether you can see it or not. Trust me. I will never leave you."

Now test it against the four pillars:

Absolute Honesty — Does it name what's actually true? Yes. There is a genuine desire for control, certainty and an outcome.

Absolute Purity — Is it free from selfish motive? Yes. It redirects rather than indulges ones interests/fears.

Absolute Unselfishness — Does it shift attention toward others? Yes. It prompts consideration of those around us.

Absolute Love — Does it reflect the tone of a God who wants the best for you? Most definitely.

That last pillar is where many of us get stuck. Too often the voice that emerges tends toward criticism and correction. "You are abundantly blessed, so stop complaining." or “focus on gratitude in the midst of your plight” and while that kind of recalibration has its place, it is not consistent with the overriding voice we encounter repeatedly throughout the Gospels and scripture. Jesus meets people with reassurance, not condemnation. He asks searching questions — more on that in another entry — but always with the intent of helping people articulate their need clearly, in a way that leads toward reconciliation, restored relationship and a positive self image. His voice is rarely condemning — save for the Pharisees, for whom He reserved a particular sharpness — and consistently leans toward love and wholeness.

That is a significant reorientation for many people— and it has been for me. For too long an image of God as exacting and demanding has distorted how I approach my prayer life, creating a distance that doesn’t reflect who He actually is. Father Bill’s practice directly addresses this by anchoring everything in the pillar of absolute love. I don’t engage in this type of dialogue every day, but I’ve found it particularly valuable when my prayer life feels dry or distant—- when the connection seems to have gone quiet, raising the spectre of my tendency to see God inaccurately. What’s striking is that while it feels awkward and unnatural at first, something shifts with practice. A sense of calm and clarity begins to emerge, where frustration, anger or neglect may have sat. I am grateful to Father Bill for introducing a practice that has genuinely improved my prayer life and given me a more honest, accurate and loving voice of God to turn toward.

(Father Bill draws on a tradition that traces back to the Oxford Group — a Christian movement from the early twentieth century whose emphasis on moral inventory, confession, listening prayer and accountability quietly shaped movements well beyond the church, including the foundational principles of Alcoholics Anonymous. His book The Power of Two Way Prayer —and an accompanying podcast of the same name— outline the two-way prayer practice in accessible and practical detail. The book will centre much of its attention on addiction recovery but many have benefitted from its transformative impact across all walks of life. Worth exploring if this resonates.)