The Receive Experience

What if the reason you’re struggling to hear God isn’t that He isn’t speaking—but that you’re listening through the wrong picture of Him?Many of us grew up believing that if God speaks, He’ll probably ask us to do something difficult, uncomfortable, or something we don’t want to do. But what if God actually enjoys being with you? What if some of His invitations sound more like, “Come rest,” “Slow down,” “Go play,” or even, “Let’s do this together”?In this conversation, I sit down with Christian speaker and spiritual director Kari Bartkus to explore what it looks like to hear God in ordinary life.We talk about:• Why hearing God doesn’t have to look the same for everyone• Finding the ways you naturally connect with God• Silence, journaling, nature, music, baking, and everyday life with Jesus• Why God may be inviting you to slow down instead of accomplish more• How fear can distort the way we interpret God’s voice• What it means to believe that God genuinely delights in being with you• A simple journaling question you can use to begin hearing God todayIf you’ve been trying harder and harder to hear God, this conversation may invite you to try something different: stop striving for the perfect spiritual experience and start noticing the God who is already with you.🔥 TAKE THE FREE HEARING GOD CHALLENGELearn simple, practical ways to recognize God’s voice and deepen your relationship with Him:https://hearinggodchallenge.com/🌿 CONNECT WITH KARI BARTKUSKari helps women encounter God through Scripture, reflective journaling, and gentle spiritual practices.https://karibartkus.com/🎧 You can also find Kari’s Journal Gently podcast and her other resources through her website.CHAPTERS00:00 The Picture of God That Makes Hearing Him Harder01:51 Kari’s Journey Into Spiritual Direction08:00 Helping People Connect With God10:12 Finding Your Natural Way of Hearing God13:10 Silence, Solitude & Listening Prayer18:59 Being Present With People Who Are Hurting26:10 God’s Invitation to Be Present30:41 What If God Actually Enjoys Being With You?36:06 God Delights in Spending Time With You40:30 A Simple Journaling Prompt for Hearing GodOne question to take with you today:“God, what do You want me to know today?”You may be surprised by where His answer finds you.

This conversation I have with Tom is one I keep thinking about. He grew up with undiagnosed ADHD, and for years the prayer he'd been taught (kneel down, stay quiet, talk in order) never worked for his mind... he'd fall asleep before he got anywhere. Then he found something that changed everything: writing his prayers instead of trying to hold them in his head. I invite you into what he discovered, and what fifteen years of listening back has taught him about God's voice.Here's what we explore:▪️How undiagnosed ADHD made traditional prayer feel impossible for him▪️The practice of prayer journaling that let him pray for an hour without losing focus▪️What happened the first time he "turned the pen over" and let God answer back▪️A moment that showed him he could receive the same love he watched God give to broken people▪️How he uses AI now to search fifteen years of journal entries for patterns in what God has said to him▪️What the wind combing through a canyon taught him about letting goChapters00:00 Intro02:46 Tom's Story With Undiagnosed ADHD06:04 The First Time He Knew God Was Real09:00 Why Traditional Prayer Never Worked for His ADHD Brain11:44 Discovering the Practice of Prayer Journaling17:12 Turning the Pen Over and Learning to Hear God's Voice19:12 Learning to Receive the Love He Saw God Give Others27:24 Voice to Text, AI, and a Practice That Keeps Refining36:00 What Following Jesus Looks Like for Him Today39:06 Reading Fifteen Years of God's Counsel in Real TimeIf Tom's story stirred anything in you... especially if you've ever felt like your brain just isn't built for the way prayer is usually taught... I'd love for you to sit with that. And if you want to keep going deeper, join us in the Hearing God Challenge, the link is below.🔗 Sign up for the next Hearing God Challenge - https://hearinggodchallenge.com/

In this conversation I have with Barry, a coach who has spent years exploring identity and listening prayer, we talk about the “unfair advantage” of knowing what's already true about who you are in Christ, and how that changes fear, anger, hearing God, and everyday life.Barry has spent years learning about identity, listening prayer, and seeing people through the truth of who God says they are. His approach has been shaped by teachers including Jamie Winship, Baxter Kruger, Dan Mohler, and others.Expect to learn why your greatest fear may actually point toward something important about your identity, how to help someone hear truth from God rather than simply telling them what is true, what Barry does when someone asks “Is this me or God?”, why grace matters so much when learning to hear God's voice, what it practically means to be one with Christ, how to stay connected to what God is saying when fear takes over, why circumstances aren't always the highest level of truth, and how to recognize the life and love of Jesus happening in ordinary moments.One of the ideas I keep coming back to from this conversation is that we can spend years trying to become something that God is already inviting us to receive as true. As Barry puts it, the shift happens when we begin coming into agreement with what is already true about us in Christ.And that changes the question. Instead of only asking, “How do I get rid of this fear?” we can begin asking, “Jesus, what do You know about me right now? What do You want me to know about this?”Chapters00:00 Knowing What's Already True About Who You Are01:42 Seeing People Through the Lens of Identity04:22 What Your Greatest Fear May Reveal06:51 Helping People Hear Truth From God Themselves10:34 When God Says, “I'm Not Disappointed in You”17:27 Is It Me or Is It God?20:30 Letting Jesus Reveal the Heart of the Father24:09 What It Means to Be One in Christ29:22 Meeting Grace in the Present Moment33:27 Who Gets to Define What Life Is?If something in this conversation stirred something in you, I invite you to just sit with it for a moment. God is present with you now, and maybe a simple question to bring to Him is, “What do You want me to know about who I really am?”🔗 Sign up for the next Hearing God Challenge - https://hearinggodchallenge.com/

In this conversation I have with Sandy Martin, she walks me through the word God gave her when she wanted to be someone else, and why it took her years to actually receive it.Sandy spent 24 years as a church secretary and has walked with God through an abusive first marriage, a lifetime of anxiety, and a season of near-total isolation in the woods of Oregon, learning along the way what it actually means to hear His voice.Here's what we explore:▪️The word God gave Sandy when she wanted to be someone else, and why she almost didn't receive it▪️An out-of-body experience of God's peace in the middle of physical abuse▪️"There's beauty in the breakdowns"... what she heard God say the day her car broke down in the mountains▪️A journaling and alphabet gratitude practice that shifts her whole day▪️How God restored and healed her relationship with her abusive ex-husband before he unexpectedly passed away▪️Learning that prenatal wounding can pass from a mother to her child, and what healing that looked like years later▪️Why she now calls her small, isolated community her actual church▪️Being called a "lighthouse," and what it's meant to have strangers show up at her doorChapters:00:00 Introduction02:00 A Lifetime of Fear and Anxiety04:00 Leaving Her Body to Feel God's Peace During the Abuse05:34 There's Beauty in the Breakdowns10:27 A Journaling and Alphabet Gratitude Practice12:37 The Word God Gave Her: You Are the Harbor, Not the Wave21:18 Assignments From God in an Isolated New Community24:23 Finding Church in an Unlikely Community31:08 Called a Lighthouse: Strangers Showing Up at Her Door33:18 Restoration and Healing With Her First Husband Before He DiedIf something in this conversation stirred something in you, I'd love for you to sit with it. And if you want to go deeper, join us for the Hearing God Challenge... the link is below.🔗 Sign up for the next Hearing God Challenge - https://hearinggodchallenge.com/

I gave God ten minutes. That's it... ten minutes of silence on a balcony in Caracas, with two highways roaring past and a stinky attitude about whether He'd actually say anything back. This conversation I have with Jody Hovda gets into what that experiment became, and where prayer went for her once she stopped telling God what to do and started listening instead.Jody has spent years walking with people through spiritual formation and discipleship, including her work with Cultivate. She's lived overseas, discipled women through hard seasons, and has a gift for helping people notice where God already is instead of chasing where they think He should be.Expect to hear the full story behind the ten minutes of silence that started it all, what changed when Jody moved from petitioning God to listening for Him, the story of a roadside decision that turned into an act of kindness, why she calls painful seasons "the manure" and how that framing actually produces growth, the difference between the two kinds of knowing God (intellectual and experiential), and how believing every person is an image-bearer changes the way you drive, parent, and stand in line at the grocery store, and more...If something in this conversation stirs something in you, I'd love for you to sit with it. And if you want a way to start listening for yourself, the Hearing God Challenge is a free place to begin... the link is below.🔗 Sign up for the next Hearing God Challenge - https://hearinggodchallenge.com/CHAPTERS00:00 I Gave God 10 Minutes (The Story That Started It All)02:13 From Telling God What to Do to Relational Prayer04:40 Why "God Is Always Up to Something" Became Her Core Belief06:30 Stopping for a Stranded Couple (A Story of Kindness)11:10 Creating Space to Listen Together in Prayer16:10 The Stages of Development in a Life of Faith19:14 A Theology of Manure: Growth in the Hard Seasons25:31 Two Kinds of Knowing God (Saber and Conocer)28:18 The Season She Told God "I Like You, I Just Don't Love You"38:10 What These Lessons Have Taught Her About Parenting