Louie Giglio - God Is on the Mic
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You know we’ve been discussing how the microphone amplifies sound, and something is being amplified in your mind and in your thoughts today. Whatever that voice is—or whoever those voices are—impacts how you think, how you feel, and how you act. Therefore, we must take stock of who’s on the mic. That’s why we’ve been examining some of the voices that manage to find their way there. For many of us, the voice of fear is hogging the mic. We talked about how comparisons are on the mic, how people’s opinions are on the mic, and how religion is on the mic. But if we want to take those things off the mic, we ultimately have to ensure that we have the voice of God on the mic.
So today, we’re asking the question: does God still speak, and can I hear His voice? Because it won’t matter what messages we share about all these other voices that are on the mic unless you know how to get God on the mic. What I want to affirm today is that God is definitely speaking and He definitely wants you to know His voice. This is not about a hierarchy of people who are on stages, preaching sermons, or who have attended Bible college or hold certain degrees, or who are leaders in the church. God wants a relationship with everybody in this building.
How can you have a relationship with someone and not have a conversation with them, and not be able to know their voice or hear their voice in your life? So whoever you are in this place today, wherever you are in church today, the answer is affirmative: God is speaking, and He wants to speak to you. We need to ask the question: how do I know God is speaking? How do I learn to hear God’s voice? How do I know God’s voice? How do I get God’s voice on the microphone of my life? I’m assuming that we want to know God’s voice, so maybe we should start by asking: do you want to hear God’s voice? Do you want to know what He has to say about your life? Do you want to know what He has to say about your decisions, your attitude, your life’s direction, the people with whom you’re choosing to form relationships, who you’re going to marry, who you’re going to be in business with, what city you’re going to live in, or what kind of character you’re going to have? Do you want to hear God’s voice in all those things? If you do, I guarantee you that God is speaking today, and you can know His voice.
So how can I hear the voice of God? How can I know the voice of God? Well, we’re going to discuss five components today; they are all part of this story. We will begin with the most important component, which is that you have to plant yourself in the Word of God if you want to hear the voice of God. God is speaking, and He is speaking through His Word. In other words, if you want to become a person who can confidently say, «I know God is leading me,» and «I know God is speaking to me,» then you have to make an intentional decision to plant yourself in the Word of God. It’s not enough to simply attend church occasionally, to own a Bible, to have a devotional by your bed, to occasionally listen to a sermon online, or to get a little snippet of a podcast here or there. You must make the decision: «I’m going to root my life in the Word of God.» The psalmist makes this clear to us in Psalm chapter one, and I hope you have the Word of God with you today since we’re here to come under the Word of God and hear God in the Word of God today.
In Psalm 1, I love how he gives us a picture of what we’re discussing. The axiom of this talk basically goes like this: the people who hear God’s voice best are those who know His Word most. Let me say it again: the people who hear God’s voice best are those who know His Word most. The psalmist illustrates this by beginning Psalm 1 with verse one: «Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked.» In other words, he’s considering who he allows on the mic. She’s considering who she allows to control the microphone. «He does not stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.» Isn’t that amazing? It’s not, «He occasionally hears a sermon on Sunday,» or «He memorizes a verse of scripture once in a while,» or «There are some highlighted passages somewhere that he can refer to.» No, he or she is meditating, marinating in, soaking in, and living in the Word of God—day and night.
You might think, «Well, I understand the day part, but you know we’re asleep at night! How do we meditate on God’s Word at night?» It turns out that many of us aren’t asleep at night. I believe that a lot of the time, when I’m not asleep at night, it’s because I didn’t meditate on God’s Word during the day. But if, for some reason, you are awake at night, guess what? Meditate on the Word of God. The spiritual rhythm of that time would be that people would be awake at night. The watchmen would be on the walls at night, and there would be reasons to be up at night. The message is that, wherever you are going, day or night, make sure that you’re planted in the Word of God. Throughout the day, you’re meditating on it, and throughout the night, you’re meditating on it because those who hear God’s voice best are those who know His Word the most.
This is the written Word breathed out by God for His people, and this is how we hear the voice of God. The scripture is closed. The way it would be said theologically is that the canon is closed. What does that mean? The 66 books of scripture that have been confirmed by Church Fathers as being the inspired Word of God were recognized, acknowledged, and accepted by the 300s. There is no more writing. There are some empty pages at the back, which are for you to take notes and highlight, but no more verses are going to be added, no more chapters, and no more prophetic messages are going to be written in the Word of God. This is the Word of God. The book may be closed, but here’s the amazing thing: the book is alive, and it is speaking right now. God is speaking right now to anyone and everyone who wants to hear His voice.
So number one, I must plant myself in the Word of God. But there’s a second component to this process; this is the anchor, but there’s a second seat, and that is recognizing that this is personal. Hearing from God is personal. In other words, it’s not just that there’s a book sitting in seat number one, and I say, «Wow, I want to study it and learn about it, memorize it, and write it on a note card to tell a friend about it,» as if it’s just ink on a page. No, I recognize that these words are breath on a page, and the one who breathed them onto the page is still very much alive right now, and in Christ, I have a relationship with Him. So I’m not just interacting with ink on a page; I am interacting with the author of the Word of God.
John 1:14 says, «And the Word, meaning Jesus, the Logos"—that’s the Greek word—is «became flesh and dwelt among us.» In other words, this and Jesus are contemporaneous. When God is speaking, He is communicating what He wants to say through the person of Christ, who He sends into the world, and who also meditates on this law day and night while in human flesh, quotes it, refers to it, teaches it, unfolds it, and helps us understand what God is saying to us through the Word. Jesus did that when He was on earth; He was planted in the Word even though He was the Word. So when I come to be planted in the Word, I don’t just show up and say, «Oh, I need a highlighted passage for the day.» No, I show up and say, «Jesus, I want You. I want to know You. I want to love You. I want to sit here with You. I want to linger with You. I want to fall in love with You. I want to worship You. I want to adore You. I want to know You. I want to walk with You.» I’m not just viewing this as a one-dimensional book; I’m engaging in a very personal relationship.
If you want to hear God’s voice and you want God speaking to you, when you sit down and open this book, begin by saying, «God, I want to know You. Will You speak to me through Your Word right now? I am listening.» See, we’re already upside down for most relationships with God because most of them are highly transactional. We barely have time to sit down; we really just need a resolution, a little word, and there isn’t a huge desire to build a relationship, but then we wonder, «I don’t know, I don’t hear God speaking to me.» I wonder why not? Because you didn’t even want to sit down and have lunch with Him. Why would He want to share with you what He’s thinking about any area of life?
So, planted, but it’s personal. Then I love this; there’s also this thing about the plan, and this might be the most powerful part of hearing the voice of God through the Word for our lives. A lot of the time when we come to God, we already have a plan. Have you ever come to God with a plan? Anyone here ever come to God with a plan? Like, «I’ve got a plan! I’m thinking about buying a house over here in Hidden Hills.» Now, I’m lacking one last thing. You might be thinking, «The inspection?» No, we did that. «Funds for the closing?» No, we’ve got those all set up in escrow—whatever that means. I still don’t understand escrow, but it’s a thing. We have sold our house; yes, we did that.
So what else? What more could you need? «I need Your blessing.» And since we’re really not that tight, and I know you’re super busy, you don’t even have to look at it. Maybe you have an angel that does things like this; that’d be fine if you have somebody on your team. I just need that little stamp that says You’re blessing it. Or maybe you’ll take another step and go further, saying, «No, I need a word. I need a word from God, and it needs to have the word 'hills' in it because we’re buying in Hidden Hills.» Wow, I was over here in Hezekiah, and in 2nd Hezekiah, I found a verse that says, «The God is the Lord of the hills.» Hello, hallelujah! We’re going to Hidden Hills because the Lord has blessed our plan!
I remember the first time someone made this so clear to me when I was starting in ministry. We were having a prayer time before an event; the event was planned, paid for, and people were already in attendance—they had walked through the door; it was happening in nine minutes. We were in a circle, praying, saying, «Lord, we’re just asking You to bless this night.» An older, wiser friend of mine said, «What would happen if the Lord said, 'I don’t want to bless this night'?» So we’re going to do it anyway because everybody’s already out there! What we were doing, not intentionally, was coming up with a plan already in motion that, in that case, we hadn’t honestly fasted or thought much about. We just put it all together, and at the last minute, we needed God to give us that little stamp of blessing. I believe that this kind of planning in life does not set you up to hear the voice of God because why would God want to talk to you about a plan you have already completely and utterly worked out without any input from Him?
God loves to talk to people who work the other way. Now, understand I’m not saying don’t leave the house until you know what God told you to wear and all of that. Work, build, and invite God into the process. The life lesson is that I don’t want God to stamp the paper; I want to stamp it! And I’m not stamping it with the word «blessed» because I can’t bless anything! I’m stamping it with the word «yes,» and you know what’s on it? Nothing! I’m putting it on the altar and saying, «God, I want to know what You want me to do with my life! I’m planting in Your Word. I want to build a relationship with You! I want to live with You and for You! You are the greatest thing in time and history, and I have one shot at life, and I want it to count!» So I don’t know any of the details, honestly, but I know You, and as I’m getting to know You, You are amazing, consistent, beautiful, wise, powerful, worthy, and trustworthy. So God, I just want to say whatever You want for me, the answer is yes! I don’t need diagrams and blueprints; I don’t need to know who else is going or how it’s going to work out. I just want You to know this is how I see the plan working, and I’m telling you: this is the posture that God loves to speak into. This is the heart that He loves to speak into, and I believe this is the person who is going to hear His voice.
It’s putting yourself in that place where Samuel was. Remember when he was dedicated at the temple and heard his name called? He thought it was the prophet, so he got up in the night, and the prophet said, «I didn’t call you.» Then he went back and laid down. He heard his name again: «Samuel, Samuel!» He went back, and we see this in 1 Samuel 3. Finally, the prophet says, «Oh, I get it! It’s not me calling you; it’s the Lord calling you.» So when you hear your name again, say, «Speak, Lord! For Your servant is listening!» It’s getting into that mindset, coming to the Word of God, and opening the Word while saying, «Speak, Lord! Your servant is listening!»
We’re not coming to Him saying, «I’m doing this whether or not I get a word or blessing or not. I see the scripture coming around it or not. I’m already here.» But it would be nice to have some way of saying that God is in this. The fourth part that’s super important for you and me is that we understand that God has given us a place to process the way He’s speaking to us. So we’re planting in the Word, personalizing and building a relationship with Jesus, and opening our lives up to what He wants for us. Fortunately, God has put us all in community. Nobody is being called to live out the Christian life on their own. Everyone God spoke to in the Word, like Abraham or Moses or any of the people, including Paul, was called, and when He spoke to them about the plan He had for their lives, it was often very different from the plan they had for their lives. It was always not just for their benefit, but for the benefit of all His people. Do you understand what I just said?
God isn’t trying to get offline with you to only talk about you; He wants to relationship with you so that He can talk about you in ways that will benefit the many people He loves. He’s given you a place to process that because if you’re like me, every now and then God says something to you, and you’re kind of like, «I think that’s what You’re saying, but I’m not 100 percent sure.» Has anyone been there before? So where do you work that out? You work it out with Him; you work it out in the Word; but you also work it out in the community of faith that God has placed you in. Who are your people? Who is your spiritual mentor? Who is your spiritual advisor? Who is your accountability group, your connect group? Who are the people that are planted, that are in relationship with God and surrendered to His purposes and plans, and that are in your life? As you’re working it out, they can speak into that.
I remember a time when Shelley and I were in such a group. One of the people came to our group and said, «I’m making this massive, huge transition,» and every person in the group thought at the same time, «Terrible idea!» Have you ever been in a situation like that? None of us wanted to kind of go crazy; but the next day, one guy had coffee with this person and said, «Hey, I’m not really feeling great about that.» There was a little pushback, but the next day another person called them, saying, «Hey, I’m not feeling a lot of peace about this.» By the end of the day, everyone in the group had told the person, «No way! Not happening!» When people shared that, they weren’t saying, «The Lord has spoken to me; I have a word for you.»
Instead, it was just wisdom. It was the wisdom of people who were planted in God’s Word, in relationship with Him, and who knew the person and the circumstance—saying, «This is not a wise decision.» That’s called the process of living in community, and that is a vital part of how God speaks to people. Ephesians 5:21, Paul said to submit yourselves to one another. What he was really saying is to be humble enough to be open to being spoken into or to place yourself under the authority of your brother and sister—not just the spiritual teacher—but to humble yourselves to each other and say, «I believe God’s speaking to me right now. I think God has something for us to do in life. I want to put that out on the table—not for a democratic vote, and if it’s a four-to-three split, I’ll do it; and if it’s not, I won’t—but I just want to humble myself to the process because that’s how I can confirm what God is saying to me.»
So I’ve got to plant; it’s personal; I’ve submitted a plan the right way to God; I’ve got a process called community and the church around me. I have to ask you today: Who are your people? If you’re going to make a big decision, do you go to these people? I hope so. I have some people in my life that I’ll reach out to occasionally, saying, «Hey, I was thinking about whatever,» and sometimes people respond, «Here’s what I think about that,» or «Here’s my opinion.» I have a couple of friends, and when this happens, all they do is send me back scripture. Does anyone have a friend like that? You’re thinking, «I wasn’t looking for a passage of scripture, but thank you very much!» You think, «Do you have an opinion?» I was just looking for some insight, maybe, to talk things through. Their response is just, «Oh, you were asking about whatever? Here’s what God’s Word says in three different places about stuff like that.» That’s the kind of person we all need in our lives because none of us want to make a big decision based on someone else’s preference. That doesn’t mean there’s not a place for us to make wise decisions in life, and I’ll touch on that in a second too.
But back to planting—everybody with me? Plant, personal, plan, process, and then there’s this last seat over here, which is particular. In other words, I know God speaks through His Word, but does He speak particularly to me and into my situation? The answer is yes; of course God does. He wants to be in such a relationship with you that you know His prompting and leading as you’re walking through your life.
We see this in Scripture. Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. When you read the book of Acts, these brothers and sisters who planted the church were led of the Spirit. The Spirit prevented them from going into this place. They were encouraged by the Spirit to go to that town and were encouraged by the Spirit to speak in this way. We see that leading in their lives all the way through. Romans 8 says, «Those who are led by the Spirit are the sons and daughters of God.» So yes, God wants to be particular; yes, He wants to get into the details. No, He’s not adding any more words to the Holy Scripture, but yes, He wants to speak into your life and into my life.
Now, I have friends who have told me they’ve heard the audible voice of God. I have people I know who have told me they’ve seen Jesus in real life and had an encounter with him. I don’t tell them they didn’t hear the audible voice of God or see Jesus. But I know that Scripture teaches that the norm is not that. I haven’t lived my whole life hoping to hear the audible voice of God, and I don’t feel disappointed or shortchanged because of that at this stage of my life. Jesus’s words said to His followers after the resurrection, «Blessed are those who have not seen and still believe,» and I’m like, «You’re talking about me!»
It’s more normal that the way the kingdom is working right now is that I’m not going to have an audible conversation with God Almighty, and I’m not going to see Him in the flesh—so can He speak particularly into my life? Absolutely! I’m sitting here by and large because God spoke particularly into my life. We were living in Texas; you guys know our story. My father was disabled here in Atlanta, and Shelley and I very much wanted to come to Atlanta to help my mom take care of my dad. There were these pivotal moments when I would cry out to the Lord and say, «God, please, please, please release us to go to Atlanta and help take care of Dad.» I can remember two specific moments right now, but I think there were more. The first one was me crying out all through the night, «God, please, please, please! Let us go to Atlanta.»
The next day, I opened my devotional reading, and that day’s reading—right there at the top of the page, as I was getting into God’s Word—was Luke 9, when Jesus is explaining what it takes to follow Him. I read right at the top of the page about the young man who said, «I want to follow You, but first let me go home and bury my father.» Jesus says to him, «Let the dead bury the dead. As for you, follow Me—not today!» I could have said as clearly as anything: «The Lord spoke to me today, specifically, particularly, on time, and right here and right now: Do NOT go today!» Our «yes» was on the table, so it was like, «Okay, we’re here.» We plowed away.
We came to another moment a year or two later, another pivotal moment, and I was like, «Lord, please, please, please, can we go to Atlanta today?» We went to a restaurant the next day; Shelley and I were sitting there having our meal when a server walked over and said, «I don’t know you guys. This might be kind of crazy, but I’m a believer, and I just felt the Lord wanted me to share Luke 9 with you: At the end, let the dead bury the dead, but as for you, follow Me. Have a nice day!» Not today! A few years went by, and I had taken a few weeks away just to hear from God, trying to get the picture of where He wanted us in life. I’d set aside about three weeks for that time in solitude, some of it with Shelley. I don’t know if you’ve ever had a time like that, but I mean three weeks had gone by with almost nothing—I had an empty journal ready for like, «Man, I’m just gonna download all this stuff!"—and yet the whole time there, I hadn’t heard very much.
On the last day, I was walking on a beach in Florida by myself, and I knew in my heart without a doubt that God was impressing on me: «You’re free to go to Atlanta.» I turned around on the spot, walked back to the condominium, called Shelley on a rotary phone, and said, «We can go to Atlanta!» That was in November; we didn’t go that next day or at the end of the year. We waited until the end of the school year in April when we left our ministry and moved to Atlanta. Now, if you ask me right now how I knew when I turned around that that was God speaking particularly to me, I would say, «I just knew.» Has any Christian ever told another Christian that? «I just knew.» You’re not going to hear me come in here and preach a sermon on how I just knew, because you don’t want to base your faith in your communication with God Almighty on how I just knew something while walking on a beach in Florida. What you want to do is plant yourself in the Word of God and surrender yourself to the Holy Spirit of God so that to such a degree, you know what God is leading you to do with every single step of your life.
Now, what did we do from that particular moment? We went right into our process. I went right to my board of directors and said, «I feel like this is what God is putting on our hearts, and what do you all think? Let’s pray about it together.» We went to our team and circle of friends during that time, and everybody weighed in. Over time, everybody came to the decision that this is what God wants you to do. Our «yes» was on the table! «So hey, if it’s to stay again and be faithful here, we will. If it’s to go, we’re ready to go. If it’s something we don’t even know, we will be ready to do that too. Because mostly, we just want to be where You want us to be. We’ve been planted in this Word of God, and we want to share this Word of God with the whole wide world.»
We have had particularly so many supernatural things happen in our lives—like sitting in a fast-food parking lot in my car alone, having lunch a few weeks ago. I felt like I needed to pull my coat over while saying at 2:20 that I sensed the Lord saying, «I need you to reach out to so-and-so right now, and I need you to encourage them.» That leading to a process meant I forgot right then about what was on my mind. Someone pulled in, something happened, I lost my train of thought, and a couple of hours later, I sent him a voice memo saying, «The Lord put you on my heart today! I want to remind you that you’re appointed and anointed to be right where you are right now. You are God’s person for this time! I don’t know what’s going on in your life today or in your world today, but I just want you to know that God is for you. He put you there! Oh, and by the way, we’re on our way to dinner, and I wish you were going with us! We love you guys!»
The end; this particular incident—the outcome we didn’t get a message back saying, «You’re not going to believe it! Right at 2:20, we were in a meeting, and something was going down exactly right at 2:20!» It’s unbelievable! I didn’t say «2:20,» and I didn’t give details; I just said the Lord put you on my heart today. But we’ve had some really crazy, super, uber particular moments in our journey. I mean, we have a supernatural, mysterious God; somehow, He is in that. His ways are higher than our ways, amen? His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and we’re walking with a supernatural God! He wants to be supernatural in our story and in our lives.
But if you want to know God’s voice, plant yourself in God’s Word and surrender yourself to His Spirit to such a degree that in all the moments of life, you will know His leading, and you will lead a supernatural life because a supernatural God is leading you! I want to close by giving us a couple of guidelines, and these are personal to me, but I think they might also encourage you. If they do, feel free to take one. I do believe God speaks particularly to me, but I don’t believe He speaks in ways that will not be congruent with this Word, so I’ve come to these guidelines for my life.
First, I want to be particular about my language. This has definitely changed since I became the pastor of a local church because I feel a great responsibility for our flock. Before I was the pastor of Passion City Church, I might just say, «The Lord spoke to me» or «I think I heard the Lord say,» but I’ve been a lot more particular with my language in this season of my life. I will rarely say, «The Lord told me» or «The Lord spoke to me» or «I heard the Lord today say.» Instead, I say, «I sense the Lord leading me,» or «The Holy Spirit stirred something inside of me,» or «I felt the Lord impressing on me.» You might say, «Louie, that’s semantic!» But I’m just saying for me, it’s more helpful, and I’ll tell you why—it puts me in a humble position.
What I’ve learned over time is that in some of these particular things, I could be wrong. I prefer to say, «I don’t know for sure if the Lord is saying this or doing this, but I just wanted to encourage you—or I just wanted to offer this.» This puts me in a position of humility, and it helps me stay tethered to the Word of God. I want to use that particular language about how God’s Spirit is leading me in my life, and I want your faith, and you want your faith, to be based on God speaking to you through His Word—not on how someone else told you He speaks to them.
The second guideline is to make sure that whatever I sense personally is consistent with God’s Word. God’s not going to impress upon me anything or lead me in any way that doesn’t align with what He has already spoken in His Word. I want to ensure that those two things fit together, as He is always going to be consistent with His Word. Additionally, I will never elevate what I sensed or felt led to—I’ll never set that aside as being equal to the Word of God.
The third guideline is that most times, what I sense personally should be acted upon privately. Do you know how easy it is to say, «Lord, I want You to speak to me. I want to hear from You! I want to know something from Your Word today,» and then He does! The very next thing we do is get in the seat we didn’t add today—which is publicly telling somebody else, «I have a word from God for you today! I just wanted to share this with you.» It’s like, «I just shared it with you like 20 minutes ago!» We haven’t even digested it; you haven’t even processed it; you’re not even living in it yet. Where it hasn’t even become an «us» thing yet, you’re already out here passing it around like you’ve got something for everybody! Why? Maybe you were wanting to look more spiritual than to become more spiritual. I’m not sure what just happened there.
But we were in a relationship, trying to hear the voice of God through the Word of God, and all of a sudden, there’s this big public pronouncement, «The Lord spoke to me today,» rather than the simplicity of going, «You know what? When You said that, You wanted me to obey it—not announce it! You wanted me to obey it, not tweet it! You wanted me to hear Your voice and follow You—not tell everybody else how to follow You.» This guideline keeps me closer to Him and allows His Word to come alive in my heart. It’s kind of like today—today’s message isn’t, «If you’re living in Texas and thinking about moving to Atlanta, you’ve got your answer today! Thank you very much! You’re moving to Atlanta because the Lord told me that in Panama City! I can’t tell you how He told me, so trust me!»
No! If you’re wondering about moving from Texas to Atlanta, plant yourself in the Word of God. Get to know Jesus. Put on the table a piece of paper that says, «I just want Your will in Texas or Atlanta or wherever You want me to be!» I want to be where You want me to be. Process it with your people and see what wisdom they can speak into whether you need to make that move or not. You say, «I’ve already done all that, and everyone says it looks like a good idea to me.»
«Maybe you should move or you could stay; there aren’t any real red flags. God might want you as a son or daughter to know today that, 'Hey, do you like Texas or do you like Atlanta? Well, I kind of like Atlanta. Okay, great! Move to Atlanta! '» You see, a lot of times, we want the answer. We just want like, «Hey, I’ve got a minute! I just need you to tell me what You want me to do.» What He really wants to tell us is, «I want you to love Me, fall in love with Me, and live for Me, whether you’re in Texas or Atlanta. That’s what I want you to do.»
So whether you live in Atlanta or Texas, it could be particular, but it might just be, «Hey, pick the one you like best! Just use wisdom!» It’s like, God doesn’t need to tell you what kind of shoes to wear today, unless you’re real hung up on shoes, and then maybe He wants to talk to you about shoes! He doesn’t need to tell you if you should brush your teeth this morning. He’s like, «Son…» I mean, how many of you are telling your kids today, «Brush your teeth?» Because you’re a parent! But you want them to grow up to the point where they don’t ask you if they should brush their teeth anymore; they just know to do that on their own! God wants all of us to grow up.
The last thing is just a practical guideline for me: I want to guard my heart when messages from God come through other people. In other words, I want to be planted; I want to be surrendered. I want to be in this Word, open-handed in community—but occasionally someone will say to me, «Louie, I have a word from God for you.» I’ve learned over time that this is my guideline. My first thought is to put a filter over my heart. You know, when someone is saying something over your life, whether or not it’s from God, it cannot be unheard. When it gets qualified as being from God, then you and they must deal with it from that point forward. That’s why I like to put humility in the equation and say to a friend, «I don’t know if this is from the Lord or not. If it came from here, it’s from the Lord, but what I’m about to say, I’m not sure if it’s the Lord prompting me to encourage you or not. I just feel led, so I’m going to share this.»
And if it is congruent with what God’s Word is saying, I’m going to let you and the Holy Spirit work that out within your community, with the Word of God. I’m not going to load that up on the front end by saying, «The Lord spoke to me and wanted me to tell you 'X.'» Unless the «X» is simple, I might say, «Hey, I just want to share Luke 9 with you.» There’s no harm in sharing a verse of scripture with somebody if you don’t know them. It’s all just like, «Hey, I don’t know you, but I’m going to share this with you.» Or you can say, «I’m just going to step in and share that with you,» but I will preface it in a way that lets you know that it’s all about God’s voice coming through His Word.
Does it come particularly? Absolutely. Should you want that in your life? Absolutely! You should ask God to lead you, and you should expect that God wants to lead you. You should expect that God, through His Word, wants you to hear His voice. What a powerful possibility!