Most people aren’t sure if they’ve ever heard from God — here’s why that changes today
Most people, when asked if God has ever spoken to them, say something like: “Maybe? But I don’t know if it was just me.” That’s not a faith problem. That’s a tuning problem. Think about this: every radio station in your city is transmitting in whatever room you’re sitting in right now. You can’t hear them, not because they aren’t broadcasting, but because you’re not tuned in. God is speaking. The question is whether you know how to listen. In Episode 199 of the Daron Earlewine Podcast, Daron breaks down exactly how to do that.
Tune in — God speaks through your whole person
Here’s something that might surprise you: God doesn’t just speak through your thoughts. He speaks through your body — that pit in your stomach, the warmth in your chest during prayer, the shiver when truth lands. He speaks through emotions — sudden joy, unexpected tears, a deep sense of peace that doesn’t make logical sense. Corey, a young leader at Daron’s church, put it this way: “These sensations are not distractions from spiritual experiences. They are spiritual experiences.” When you feel pulled toward something Godly like forgiving someone, paying for a stranger’s coffee, praying for a person you barely know… that’s not you. That’s God initiating. Your sinful nature never does that on its own.
Truth up and walk it out — the gap between hearing and doing
The second key is knowing what God has already said. The more Scripture you put in, the more the Holy Spirit has to work with. Daron describes it like a database — when you’re in a situation, the Spirit can pull the exact file you need. He shares a story from his own life: the night before one of the hardest moments of his life, he had been reading John 6. The next morning, walking through an ice storm, a thought hit him in his own voice: “Are you going to leave too?” That was God — using the Word Daron had just read, speaking directly to his moment. The last step is simply doing it. Take the risk. Pray for the person. Say the thing. The gap between hearing God and knowing you heard God gets smaller every time you act.
Episode Summary:
What if God has been speaking to you all along and you just didn’t know how to tune in? In this episode, Daron Earlewine breaks down the practical, biblical framework for learning to hear the voice of God in your everyday life. This one could genuinely change the way you walk with Jesus.
This is one of the most practical and grounding episodes Daron has recorded, pulling from his own walk, a sermon series, the work of Jamie Winship, and a stunning essay by a young leader at their church. If you’ve ever said, “I’m not sure if it’s God or just me,” this episode is for you.
Key Takeaways:
- God is always speaking — the question is whether you’re tuned in
- God communicates through your mind, body, and emotions — all of it is spiritual
- Any thought that moves you toward God is not you — it’s Him inviting you
- The more scripture you store, the more the Holy Spirit has to work with
- Stillness, solitude, and silence aren’t optional — they’re the on-ramp
- You don’t have to hear and obey alone — community is part of the process
Episode Resources:
Connect with Daron on Social Media:
Links to the Daron Earlewine Podcast
YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Libsyn
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Daron: If we want to know what God’s saying to us, we have to know what God has already said. So if you’re like, “I really want to learn to understand the voice of God,” here’s your call to action: start reading the Bible out loud to yourself when you read. Ask, “What are you saying to me today?” You’re not going to get a handwriting on the wall like the Old Testament story. I’ve never audibly heard God tell me to do something. Ever. And I don’t think I ever will. If I do — cool. But I don’t need to, because I can hear and understand in mind, body, and spirit, in tune with the Spirit. But when you take the written Word of the Bible and begin to read it out loud to yourself, that’s the Word of God. And however that applies to you, that’s what God’s saying. Created on purpose, for a purpose.
Daron: Hey, welcome back to the Daron Earlewine Podcast. So glad to have you back for this episode. Want to thank you for downloading it, and want to thank all of you that are subscribing — whether it’s to the YouTube channel, Spotify, Apple Podcast, all the channels.
PJ: Did you say YouChube?
Daron: YouTube. It’s new. Is it new? It’s a new platform we just launched. It’s just ours — only Daron Earlewine content.
PJ: I really hope nobody goes and tries to type in YouChube dot com.
Daron: You know what, PJ, this is going to be a long episode if you’re going to correct all of them. I’m not saying you did anything wrong. I’m just saying — listeners, watchers, please don’t go to YouTube dot com. Anyway, want to thank those that are subscribing and welcome a lot of new people to the podcast. We have seen numbers — I don’t know if “skyrocketing” is the correct term, but greatly increasing in a way that encourages us here at Black Permission. Welcome. If you’re brand new, feel free to dig back in the archives because we are close to 200 episodes into the Daron Earlewine Podcast.
PJ: Real close.
Daron: But prior to that, we probably had a good decade of episodes going all the way back to Radio Theology, which was a show. We had a Radio Theology podcast. Before that, a Pub Theology podcast. Prior to that, the Born to Be podcast.
PJ: Coop, are those still out there?
Daron: Yeah, they’re all out there. We’ve been at this for at least a decade — we started Radio Theology in 2016. This is now the Daron Earlewine Podcast. The reason we named it that is because everything else kept getting canceled or going away. So we thought, let’s just go with Daron Earlewine — you’re not going to change your name.
PJ: Yeah, unless you go to a symbol.
Daron: Hey, that was pretty cool when Prince did it. But I’m probably going to stick with my name. Anyway, welcome to the podcast. We’re going to have a conversation today, PJ, about something that — as I’m doing more coaching and consulting with Rogue Collective, helping people find purpose and meaning in their work, their life, and at play — I’ve been building on what I’ve taught and talked about for over 20 years.
It’s kind of bonkers to say something like that, especially having two sons who are 21 and 19. But thinking back — this summer my son Ty, the 19-year-old, is planning to intern with us at Black Permission. He’s minoring in ministry right now, trying to figure out God’s purpose for his life. I’m stoked to have him with us, and I’ve been putting thought into what I want to pour into him during those three to four months. What books do I want him to read? What things do I want him to start filling his database with? Those core foundational things I know are needed to really follow the Lord effectively and discover and walk in purpose.
And sometimes I joke — every one of my sermons is the same thing, just repackaged differently, different passage. I used to feel guilty about that. But I realized, this is a part of the message God has given me to bring to the world, and it is littered throughout Scripture: God doesn’t want us to miss the idea that we’re created on purpose and for purpose.
Through all of that, I’ve been thinking — what are the two or three massive things that you have to have foundationally for this to work? I think it comes down to this: understanding identity — becoming who you were born to be and understanding who God created you to be. You have to have a strong understanding of identity — who you are, who you are in Christ, and who you are because you’re in Christ. And then the next thing that has to grow exponentially in your life is your ability to hear the voice of God.
PJ: Oh, 100%.
Daron: Because it’s the relationship and the communication that drive everything. If you can get clear on identity and learn to hear the voice of God, basically that’s it. The Hebrew word for “obey” literally means to listen and respond. How do I find my purpose in life? Understand identity, and learn to hear the voice of God. We talk a lot about identity through the podcast, through Spiritual DNA, through coaching, and even through the Death of a Dream book. But we don’t talk quite as much about understanding and growing in how you hear the voice of God.
I know I’ve mentioned this name multiple times in the past ten episodes, but the study and mentorship I’ve been getting with the Jamie Winship organization has helped me level up quite a bit. So I thought it would be really apropos in this episode to just have a conversation about the key tenets of how to hear the voice of God — because I think a lot of people, when you ask them, “Do you feel like God has ever spoken to you?” — what answer do you get most often?
PJ: “Maybe sometimes, but I’m not really sure if it’s just my brain or if it’s actually something from God.”
Daron: A billion percent. All the time. So today, let’s go through some basic foundational things I think will help people level up and feel more confident about how to begin to move proactively toward hearing the voice of God.
When I did this as a sermon, the way I started was — I’m standing on stage in front of hundreds of people, and I just start talking about a song. Like the intro video fades to black, lights come on, and I’m like, “Oh, I love this song. Great words. I’m right here at the bridge before the chorus. Oh yes.” I react like I’m genuinely hearing something. And I’m watching people — at first there’s kind of a nervous smile, like they’re not sure. Then the brows start to kind of furrow. And you could see people elbowing their wives like, “What is he talking about? I think Earlewine’s finally lost it.”
And then I made the point. I said, “I’m just kidding. I can’t hear a song.” But I said, “I have a question for you — how many local radio stations are transmitting in this room right now?” Silence. And in one of the services, somebody yells out from the back, “All of them.” And I was like, bingo.
This room is full — every radio station in the Indianapolis metro area. But why can’t we hear it?
PJ: We’re not tuned in.
Daron: And it goes farther than that. It’s not just local. It’s internet, Spotify, Apple Music, all the things. Wi-Fi plus Bluetooth — everything is in this room. But you can’t hear it. And how much could all of those things bring to your life? Music, you could listen to the Bible, you could watch something great. But to say, “I don’t have access to radio” — no, you have access to all of those things. I believe, and I think it’s littered through all of Scripture, that we have access to the voice of the living God.
PJ: We do.
Daron: And most people say, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard God speak to me.” But the reality is, it’s not that God’s not speaking. It’s that you don’t know how to listen, or you’re not tuned in.
What I’m going to unpack is what it means to tune in. There’s a great young leader at our church named Corey. I think she’s got a strong prophetic gift — amazing writer. A couple months ago I did a sermon on the same topic, and she came to me afterward and said, “I had some reflections. Can I send you a short essay?” It was entitled “The Tangible Voice of God.” She unpacked how so often we talk about hearing God as though it’s audible. But when we limit it to audible or just thought, we miss out on the reality that so often God actually communicates through our body — feelings, emotions. He is within us, the Spirit.
We’re going to talk about that. But first, PJ — from your lived experience, growing up, has there been a corner turn for you where you said, “I think I’m starting to learn how to hear the voice of God”?
PJ: I think there are so many different moving parts to that. I’m super emotional — heart first, feeler first — and I’ve always been self-conscious about that. Growing up with a cop dad, firemen for uncles, all the strong guys. My grandfather, who was a pastor, used to say, “Where there’s tears, usually the Spirit is there.” So for me, that was like, great — He must be here all the time because I’m crying constantly.
But in that, I started recognizing tingly moments — you know, the hair on the back of your neck stands up, good and bad, discernment-wise. And talking that through with my kids now — “What do you think that means? Where do you think that’s coming from? How does that make you feel? What does that make you think? What do you think you should do about it?” Having that conversation early and helping grow in that way is huge.
Daron: No doubt. So Jesus was pretty clear about how this would operate. John 10 — I’m reading from the Amplified version, which I’ve discovered recently and really love. The passage is about the good shepherd. Jesus says:
“I assure you and most solemnly say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs in from some other place on the stone wall, that one is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep — the protector and provider.”
I love that the Amplified adds “protector and provider,” because those are the conditions of being in covenant with God. He protects. He provides.
“The doorkeeper opens the gate for this man, and the sheep hear his voice and pay attention to it. And knowing that they listen, he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out to pasture. And when he has brought all the sheep outside, he walks on ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice and recognize his call. They will never follow a stranger, because they will run away from him — they do not know the voice of strangers.”
Jesus uses this figure of speech, but they didn’t understand what He was talking about. Have you ever been around a flock of sheep to see this happen?
PJ: No, dude.
Daron: So I went to England a handful of years ago to spend time with missionaries we’ve supported for a long time. They drove us into Wales — it looks a lot like Scotland, kind of foggy and rainy. They drove us over these big hills, and we got out on this ledge, and the missionary specifically took us there because there were shepherds running flocks of sheep down in the basin. We watched — when one person would come up and honk his horn and yell at the sheep, they wouldn’t respond at all. And then another guy came out, just walked up casual, started yelling, and all of them went straight to where he wanted them to go. It was fascinating — it is that piece: you know the voice of your shepherd.
PJ: Fascinating.
Daron: And what’s interesting is — these disciples when Jesus was teaching them absolutely understood it. But they didn’t understand He was talking about them. He was explaining, “This is how it’s going to work.” And to be fair, they didn’t understand the Holy Spirit yet. So if you’re listening and you’re brand new to this, thinking, “Is something wrong with me?” — no. These are the actual disciples, and it was a learning curve for them. Jesus is saying, “We’re going to have a relational connection, and communication is not going to be rare. This is how I’m going to lead you — with My voice.”
I believe God wants to speak to us every day in everyday types of ways. So if you have the creator of the universe — the most loving, gracious, creative, innovative being in existence — saying, “Hey, I would actually like to guide you in your life. I want to speak to you, communicate with you, so you know how to live your life, how to step into life to the full” — and you’re at a place where you’re going, “I didn’t know that was available,” or “I don’t know how to tune in” — I want you to listen to this episode and hopefully walk away with at least one step you can begin to take.
Part of that tuning in — I believe God communicates to us fully. Sometimes it’s in your mind: a thought, a picture. Sometimes it’s through your emotions. Sometimes it’s through your body, how you feel. It’s whole mind, body, spirit.
PJ: Something like “Love your God with your heart, soul, mind, and strength”?
Daron: Correct. That’s there. Pretty solid. So here’s an interesting scripture to understand how we have the ability to connect with God through our mind — the Word tells us we’ve been given the mind of Christ. I love how the Amplified breaks this down. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 10:
“For God has unveiled them and revealed them to us through the Holy Spirit. The Spirit searches all things diligently, even sounding and measuring the profound depths of God, the divine counsels, and the things far beyond human understanding. For what person knows the thoughts and motives of a man except the man’s spirit within him? So also no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Holy Spirit who is from God, so that we may know and understand the wonderful things freely given to us by God. We also speak of these things not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining and interpreting spiritual thoughts with spiritual words for those being guided by the Holy Spirit.”
Then Paul says this: “But the natural or unbelieving man does not accept the things, the teachings and revelations of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness, absurd and illogical to him.”
Which makes me think — when I’m talking about loving a song that no one else can hear, and everybody’s looking at me like, “What?” Oftentimes, if you’re one of the first people in your family beginning to grow in this — thinking God’s talking to you, feeling He’s leading you — you may get reactions like, “That’s absurd. That’s illogical.” But it’s not — because it’s available.
“But the spiritual man, the spiritually mature Christian, judges all things, questions, examines, and applies what the Holy Spirit reveals. Yet he himself is judged by no one. For who has known the mind and purposes of the Lord so as to instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ — to be guided by His thoughts and His purposes.”
That is a porterhouse steak of truth, and you have to eat it one bite at a time.
PJ: So much in there.
Daron: To know — okay, I’m a follower of Jesus, you say I’ve been given His Holy Spirit, yes. And now this passage is saying I’ve also been given the mind of Christ. Jesus’ mind is in me? How this all works is a mystery, I don’t fully get it. But what this is saying is that we can actually have access to be guided by the thoughts and purposes of God.
PJ: That’s really encouraging, because I don’t usually know the best way to do things. Leaning on my own understanding usually doesn’t end well. So to have that is a phenomenal thought.
Daron: Jamie Winship talks about this — when you’re walking in the grace and mercy of God, there’s this free-flowing process of thought and conversation that can happen. And I think as people stop to think about that, you’re going to begin to realize: oh, this is happening all the time. I just didn’t know who to credit it to.
So Corey helped me with this when she talked about how God speaks to the whole person. God can communicate through our mind — thoughts, insight, clarity. Through our body — peace, tension, energy, fatigue. Through our emotions — joy, grief, compassion, conviction. And through our spirit — inner knowing, alignment, recognition.
Let me read a couple lines from her essay, because it is world-class. She says:
“For many believers, the most profound encounters with God are not heard, but felt. They describe a sudden warmth spreading across the chest during prayer.”
You ever had that happen?
PJ: Absolutely.
Daron: “A shiver running through the spine when truth is spoken.” Like you’re talking about getting the tingles — somebody says something true and you just feel it.
“Tears arriving without sadness, like the release of grief” — or I would even say the release of joy. Maybe you’re in a worship service, or on a walk, and you see something in nature, and all of a sudden your body responds.
“A sense of weightlessness, as though being held from within. The heart pounding — not from fear, but recognition. Or a deep breath that comes without effort, like sighing into peace.”
And then she follows up: “These sensations are not distractions from spiritual experiences. They are spiritual experiences translated into flesh. To feel God in the body is not to diminish the divine, but to acknowledge the language of embodiment in which God often speaks.”
She goes on: “God does not float above us, avoiding our flesh. God moves through it. And perhaps the sacred invitation from the pulpit is not simply ‘hear God’ or ‘feel the Spirit,’ but more fully, notice where the Holy Spirit shows up in the home of your body, because that is where God has already chosen to dwell.”
PJ: Why don’t you just have her give the message?
Daron: I know. Get Corey on the podcast.
PJ: The weightless one is really, really fascinating. I love the ocean, love the mountains — being outside. When you’re in the ocean, riding the waves, maybe you can touch the ground, maybe you can’t, and you have those senses where you’re like, “This is bigger than me. Something is happening here.” In Indiana, we don’t think about that — we’re like, “Hey, let’s go to Geist Reservoir.” But when you’re in it and you feel something bigger happening — that weightless feeling, it’s like you’re pulled away. You can kind of see a little more, feel a little more, you feel distant from yourself. That’s part of it.
Daron: Like when you’re in a moment of prayer that’s really, really dialed in, and all of a sudden you’re sitting in your chair but you don’t feel like you’re sitting in your chair — pay attention. That’s really good.
I think any time you hear a sermon, a song, a conversation with someone, and you get this kind of pit in your stomach, palms start to sweat — your body is interacting with the Spirit of God, encouraging, nudging you toward momentum, movement, do something. And times when you can sense something isn’t right — I’ve been around somebody and picked up on a spirit that’s not a spirit of peace. You can almost feel it. And that’s discernment from the Holy Spirit.
So the first thing is: you need to be able to tune in — you’re listening, you’re aware, you’re relationally connected.
The second thing is, we have to truth up. When we know the truth, the truth can set us free. And God speaks to us in truth. He exchanges truth for truth. When we don’t know the truth of God, it’s very difficult to discern — is this God, is this me, is this the enemy?
If we want to know what God’s saying to us, we have to know what God has already said. Start reading the Bible out loud to yourself. Ask, “What are you saying to me today?” You’re not going to get a handwriting on the wall. I’ve never audibly heard God tell me to do something. But when you take the written Word and begin to read it out loud, that’s the Word of God. And however it applies to you, that’s what God is saying to you.
Then ask: “God, what do you want me to do about this? What’s my action from this?” Because the more scriptures, the more truth I know — that I’ve memorized, meditated on, taught on, talked about — the more the Holy Spirit can access it. I see it like a database. All these files — when I get in a situation, it’s almost like the Holy Spirit can go, “Oh, we need file 426.” And boom, it pops in your brain.
I tell a story in the book — when my dream was dying, the night before I had been reading in John 6, where Jesus talks about eating His flesh and drinking His blood, and all these disciples leave. He looks back at the remaining disciples and asks, “Do you want to leave too?” I had just read that — it was fresh.
I wake up the next day, walking through an ice storm to class. Daggers of sleet.
PJ: Yeah, that was the phrase. They’re basically little tridents.
Daron: I didn’t hear an audible voice, but as I’m walking through the park — and here’s a key I want people to hear — when God speaks to you, it sounds like you speaking to you. It’s your voice. I’ve never heard another voice in my head that doesn’t sound like my voice. So in my voice, in my head, this thought felt like it was within my mind but came from outside of me. All of a sudden I’m walking and I hear this question — in my voice, in my head — “Are you going to leave too?”
And I immediately knew: God is asking me. He had led me to that passage the night before — not randomly — because He knew what I was walking through. And it was a question, but more than that, it was an invitation. He was inviting me into greater trust, giving me the option: “Do you want to leave too?” And because I’d just read it, the words of Peter immediately came back. I said out loud, walking through that ice storm, “Where am I going to go? I’ve come to believe that you are the Holy One of God, and you have the words of eternal life.”
The more truth of God we put in our mind, meditate in our heart — we make it so much easier to understand what God is saying to us. And it’s true the other way too. The more garbage you allow in, the more access and power you give to that.
Here’s the thing about devotions — I don’t want you to see it as “I guess I do this so I don’t feel guilty.” No. If your life is going to be defined by your ability to know who God created you to be and your ability to hear and respond to what He’s saying — the more you’re in the Word, the more you’re learning a language. The language of truth. And that truth will set you free, guide and direct you, encourage you, give you discernment, give you creativity. You don’t do it because you should. You do it because it is a recipe to actually live life — and live it to the full.
So here’s a question I give people: Is it me? Is it God? Is it the enemy? And the answer is — yes. It’s your voice, but it’s God using your voice in your brain. Is it me, God, or the enemy? Actually very easy to discern — we’ve just made it harder than it needs to be.
PJ: You’re telling me that we, as people, have made things more difficult than they need to be?
Daron: Bingo.
[COACHING BREAK — Rogue Collective Coaching]
If you’ve ever felt stuck or like there’s got to be more — that feeling is right. I want to help. Go to RogueCollectiveCoaching.com. Click “Book a Discovery Call.” Jump on a 30-minute conversation with me. We’ll talk about where you are and whether Rogue Collective Coaching is your next step to becoming who you were born to be.
Daron: So here’s the first thing: any motivating thought, emotion, or feeling that motivates you to move toward God, or to do anything that would be Godly — that is not you, that is God. So simple. Psalm 14 says the Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if anyone understands, anyone seeks God. All have turned away, all have become corrupt, there is no one who does good, not even one. Romans 3 reinforces: “No one understands, no one intelligently discerns or comprehends, no one seeks out God.” In your flesh, your sinful nature never seeks God.
So if you’re walking along and you had this warm feeling and this thought — “Forgive her” — was that God?
PJ: Yes, 100%.
Daron: What would the enemy say? “Hold on to that grudge. She’s the worst. You’re justified in how much you hate her.” And was it you? No, you don’t naturally think you should forgive someone. That’s God. Or you’re at Starbucks and you think, “That person looks like they’re having a bad day. I should pay for their Starbucks.” Don’t get in your car thinking you came up with something great today. You didn’t — you heard from God. He was motivating you to do something in line with His character, which your fallen nature never does on its own.
That’s a green flag. If anything you’re thinking, feeling, or sensing is motivating you toward anything of God — that is God inviting you, initiating. Respond.
Now how do we discern this even further? By looking at the fruit of God’s Spirit versus the fruit of the sinful nature. This one’s simple. From Galatians 5, Paul says: “Walk habitually in the Holy Spirit and seek Him and be responsive to His guidance. Then you will certainly not carry out the desire of the sinful nature, which responds impulsively without regard for God.”
The sinful nature and the Spirit are in direct opposition, continually in conflict. So we have to tune in, we have to truth up — because we are at tension at all times. We have a sinful nature and we also have the Spirit of God, the mind of Christ, and they are in conflict.
The practices of the sinful nature are clearly evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, riotous behavior. If anything comes anywhere close to that list and you feel motivated to do it — that is not God.
The fruit of the Spirit: love — unselfish concern for others. Any time you have a thought or feeling or emotion that creates unselfish concern for someone else, God is speaking to you. Inviting you. Initiating. Respond. Joy. Inner peace. Patience — and I love the Amplified here — not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting.
PJ: Say that again.
Daron: Patience — not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting.
PJ: I don’t like that one at all. It kind of hurts.
Daron: Kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.
So I think this is a super simple litmus test: I have this thought, this voice, this feeling or emotion — does it line up with any of those things? If it does, I’m going 99% it’s God. Pursue it. See what happens. If it’s opposed to those things, or if the sinful nature shows up at all — it is not God.
PJ: What’s been helpful for you in that discernment process? Is it now something you innately recognize, or do you still find yourself in tension?
Daron: I think the word “tension” is interesting. Like we’re in a tension — a constant push and pull.
PJ: But a word that sounds like it is “attention.” Where we put our attention. I stumbled onto a song late last year by a band I know we both love — Gable Price and Friends. It’s called “Magnetic Love.” The chorus is, “Body, spirit, mind, and soul — you have my attention.” And another line: “Water to a napkin” — you feel that draw, that pull. Is this pulling me toward God or away from God? I think it’s also something we learn. Some people are innately gifted with discernment — it flows out of them. But we can all learn it. And having simple tests like this is really, really good.
I keep coming back to: where does it point me? A couple episodes ago, I asked you, “Somebody stumbles across this podcast — what’s the one thing you want them to know?” You said, “Follow Jesus.” And regularly you talk about asking, “What do you want me to know today? And what do you want me to do about it?” Those two things I think are always super clear when you recognize the tension and put your attention into it. They get easier as you go.
Daron: I love that. And a lot of times when someone’s new in their walk with Jesus, it’s like, “I don’t know how to pray.” Neither do I. Just talk to Him.
Here’s a pretty easy framework. Maybe you start with: “God, you can search my heart. Show me my anxious thoughts. Help me understand my motivations.” And then pay attention. What am I feeling? All day I’ve been anxious — where did that start? It started this morning when I had this thought: “They’re going to fire you because you’re no good at your job.” And all day I’ve been interpreting everything negatively.
So what is prayer? Not, “God help me with my anxiety. I’m so sorry I’m anxious.” That’s just apologizing. Prayer could just be: “God, I felt really anxious this morning since I had this thought that they’re going to fire me. What do you want me to know about that?” And then be quiet. Tune in. Maybe all of a sudden you feel that warmth, and it’s like — God, what do You want me to do with that? And He may say, “I see you. You have value. Trust Me.” Write it down. The next question is, “What do You want me to do about that?” And you may get an unbelievable sense of peace, and basically God saying, “Go to bed.”
PJ: Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is take a nap.
Daron: Or eat a steak and take a nap. So the last point — we’re tuning in, we’re truthing up, and now we’re walking it out. If we claim to live by the Spirit, we must also walk by the Spirit. And you’re not going to do this perfectly. We’re going to talk in the next few episodes about how failure is normative in this connection with God — you’re going to fail all the time, because you’re learning. Failure is learning. So take some risks.
I can remember as a teenager — maybe you’re walking and you get this sense, “I think I’m supposed to pray for PJ.” And you immediately think, “That’s going to be so weird. He barely knows me. What if he hates me and hates Jesus?” But let’s run it through the test — is that you or God? Yes, that is God. Would praying for someone and showing compassion and love, praying for them to receive peace — are those the fruit of the Spirit? Absolutely. So go do it.
You don’t have to be weird about it. You don’t have to walk up and say, “God told me this, so I came because I don’t want to be disobedient.” Just be normal: “Hey, I don’t know if this is kind of weird, but can I pray for you?” And maybe they look at you and start to cry and say, “I have no idea what I’ve been going through today — this means the world to me.” And then you go, “Oh my gosh, I heard from God.” And next time it happens, the space between thinking you heard and knowing you heard gets smaller and smaller.
PJ: I heard someone say once that the true test of spiritual maturity isn’t the accumulation of knowledge — it’s how small the gap becomes between hearing and doing.
Daron: That’s so good. So you’ve got to walk it out. Take the risk. Tune in. Truth up. Walk it out.
And the last thing — super helpful for me in the past five years — three spiritual disciplines that I personally disdain: stillness, solitude, and silence. For a 99% extrovert, type seven on the Enneagram, being by myself, still, doing nothing, and being silent — real hard for me.
PJ: Same. Yeah.
Daron: It is full-blown discipline. Nothing in me wants to be alone, still, and stop talking. Part of my goal for 2026 is to start and end my day every day with those three. I start my day with Scripture in the little corner I’ve put together — reading my Bible, sometimes out loud, sometimes listening as I read. Being alone and quiet in that is equally difficult, but there has been a huge difference in the way I sleep, in the way my mornings start, in the way I’m reacting to my kids and at work. And “pray without ceasing” — the conversation doesn’t have to stop. It’s a free flow. You have the mind of Christ. Why do we think this is only sacred when we’re in a special building or our prayer corner? It can be all the time.
PJ: That’s really freeing. I love it.
Daron: And I’ll say this — the stillness, solitude, and silence are individual. But a big part of rightly hearing what God’s saying is doing it in community. That’s where the testing comes. “Dude, I’ve been thinking this, I’ve been feeling this” — “Does that seem like something God would say?” “Actually, no, dude.” That’s a big part of it.
This is not your personal Lord and Savior that you just personally walk out. It’s something we’re doing as a community together. Get around other people who are also trying to hear from God. We try to do that as a team. When we pray together and try to discern where God is leading our ministry — the individual downloads He gives us, when they come into harmony together and we go, “Dude, that’s exactly what I was thinking” — that’s beautiful. You don’t have to listen and you don’t have to obey alone.
PJ: So good.
Daron: Awesome. Deep in the pool this episode. I hope it equipped you with some truth, some perspective, and some disciplines that can help you level up your ability to hear from God. Because I really do believe these two factors are going to green light your ability to become who God’s created you to be — know your identity, and learn to hear His voice and respond.
If you have any questions, email me at daron@daronearlewine.com. Would love to be in dialogue with you. And if you’re thinking, “I’d love to get coached and discipled on some of this” — go to daronearlewine.com and book a 30-minute discovery call. We’ll talk about where you’re at and what you’re going through. We have these things called hives — groups of four to six people that take you through the Rogue Collective roadway coaching to help you grow and actually take steps in this.
I appreciate you downloading this episode. Until we talk again, remember these three things: God’s for you, not against you. He’s near you, not far away. And He’s created you on purpose and for purpose. Thanks for downloading this episode of the Daron Earlewine Podcast.