(dramatic music)

- 15 Minutes, that's all Shawn Bolz said

he needed to convince his friend, Mark,

that God had been speakingto him his entire life,

and it worked.

So what's Shawn's secretto hearing God's voice?

Take a look.

(wind whooshing)

- [Reporter] Author and pastor, Shawn Bolz

is also a podcast and TV host.

In all these arenas,he leads conversations

about the church, theentertainment industry,

and social justice.

Another topic near toShawn's heart these days

is hearing God's voice in the marketplace.

He says we can all receiveGod's guidance for our careers,

finances, and leadership.

Shawn demystifies theprocess in his newest book,

"Wired to Hear."

- Well, Shawn joins us now via Skype.

Hi Shawn, welcome to, "The 700 Club."

- I am so glad to be here,thanks for inviting me.

- Earlier, we mentioned your friend Mark,

who said that he didn't hear from God.

How are you able to show him

that he was really mistaken about that?

- You know, so funny as a believer

who actually had somebig wins in his business,

and his family, and his marriage,

he wasn't attributing those wins to God.

As he looked back on them,

he was thinking of thedecisions he had made

to actually get there.

So I said, "Hey, let's look at

some of the big wins you've had.

What's a big win you had with your child,

like one of your children?"

He has three kids.

And they said, "Well,one of the biggest things

that happened with my son wasthat he ended up going off,

instead of going tograd school for awhile,

he took a break to go into missions,

and he met a woman, whohe wanted to marry."

And when he met her, they both decided

they were gonna travelfor a number of years.

And she was like a gypsy vagabond,

wonderful, wonderful woman,but wanted to do career.

Didn't want children.

And they were deeply rootedas a family, and to family.

And she was more like never owned a home

in their family system,never had a lot of kids,

or had kids by mistakeand so, in their mind.

And so when he startedto think about his son,

he began to pray with his wife,

and he really was like, "Whatcan we do to ground them

in their family identity?"

And they decided to give him

a portion of their inheritance early,

so he could buy a dreamhome for their kids.

Not a home they'd getright at the beginning

of the marriage, but a home they get

after 20 years of a career,and that would help root them.

So I said, "Well, what happened?"

And he said, "Well, they endedup living there in that home.

And the next five yearsthey had three children,

and she changed her career to be at home,

still career-driven in a beautiful way,

but a at-home career, andshe loved being a mother,

she loved nesting."

I said, "So where were youwhen you made that decision?

How do you know that thatwas you, and not God?"

Has said, "Well, I mean,it just came to me."

I said, "Where were you?"

He said, "Well, we have thisprayer room in our house

that my wife and I were praying

about what to do for theirwedding, and it just came to me."

And I started laughing and I said,

"That's how most of thegreatest ideas come from us.

and you are not the heroof that story, but God is."

And we have to start looking at our wins,

and say, "Wait a minute,

I'm not good enough or wise enough,

or a good enough counselor

to bring somebody through a process

that changes the trajectory of their life.

And can you see Godinternally inside of you?

The God of all the universe,who lives in time and space,

lives in you as his temple.

Do you see that God might'vegiven you that idea?"

And he said, "Actually, yeah,

I can think of that overa number of situations.

These big wins in my life,

where God did give me these ideas."

And I said, "Well, let's reverse engineer.

This is how God talks toyou, and you can now see it.

You see a pattern.

Well, let's look to the future."

- Well, talk about some of theways that God speaks to us,

even when we may notrealize it's happening?

- Well, it's interesting 'causebefore, you know (laughing),

before time, God createdus for good works,

it says Ephesians 2:10, "Adestiny and good works."

And the first thing he didfor Adam is give him a job.

So there's something aboutwhat we're called to do

that God wants to speak to us.

We believe he'll convict us of sin.

We believe he'll show usmaybe what Scriptures to read,

or as we're reading the Scriptures,

that he'll show us how to usethem for life application.

That's hearing God's voice too.

But do we believe he'llinternally and externally

speak to us about our relationships,

about what God wants us to do as a career,

about home points, or a career,

where we can apply integrity,

or apply the fruit of the Spirit?

And those are the kinds of things

that we don't always thinkof, but as a Protestant,

when Martin Luther wentand nailed the theses

to Wittenberg door, and said,

"We're all justified toread the Bible ourselves,

and pray for ourselves,"

I would add and hear God for ourselves,

because we're supposed to beled by our communion with God.

- What do we do if we'refacing decisions in our lives,

and we're not really sureif what we're feeling

is actually from God, orif God's speaking to us,

or we're making up what we want?

- Totally (laughing).

Well, I think the first thing, of course,

is listening for it,just spend time with God,

where it's not all aboutyour devotional time,

or about just you, but givehim space to really speak.

Then take that into atrusted community of friends,

pastors, life groups, home groups,

whatever you're involved with,take it to a business friend,

take it to somebody who'sfurther ahead of you.

You can be 55 years old watching this,

but there's somebody who'salready had a career,

and has already navigatedthose hard decisions.

So find somebody, tellthem what you're feeling,

tell them what you're sensing.

You know, the HolySpirit, 1 Corinthians 2,

it says that, or Paul says the Holy Spirit

searches the deep heart,the inner most parts of God,

and then relates them to us.

In the last verses, "We havethe perceptions of Christ."

Well, those perceptionsare developed as we listen,

and as we read the Bible, and as we,

sorry, engage our community around us.

- So in addition to being wired to hear,

you say we're also wired with,

and you related to some ofthat, intuition and instinct.

So how do we develop these abilities?

- Well, I think all of us are wired

to actually succeed or to thrive,

but then we have the fallen nature.

And so we have to listento the Holy Spirit and say,

"Wait, what do you sound like?"

Well, sometimes he sounds likethat instinct inside of us,

that feeling of like, I'mmaking a decision right now

that's not based on myexperience, my education,

my socioeconomic status,

but I'm making a decisionbased on what I feel is right,

and the conviction of my heart with Jesus.

And you know, a lot oftimes we'll discount

that instinct or that intuition,

of I'm not gonna go for the variables

that I would normally look at,

but I'm gonna go for thevariables I see in God's heart.

So I'm gonna maybe giveextravagantly right now,

where maybe I be saving,but I'm gonna give,

because I'm obeying Godto give to something

that's outside of myself,

because I feel like theremight be a God result.

And if we want a God result,

we have to actually apply a God process.

If we want to God process,

we have to listen to thosenudges of the Holy Spirit,

which sometimes feel like our instinct,

sometimes feel like thatintuition inside of us.

Another word for thatwould be discernment.

- Mhm, you believe thatthe next great move of God

is gonna be led by peoplein the marketplace.

What do you mean by that?

- Well only 1% of Christiansare in occupational ministry,

and the rest are in careers,or places of influence,

or they're entrepreneurs,

or they own businesses, orthey're part of businesses.

And they might be alawyer, a doctor, whatever,

whatever the career is.

And I believe that the next move of God

will not look church centric,

but God will be movingin people's workplaces,

and God will be moving inpeople's everyday lives.

And that will create activity

where God will bring salvation,

and answers, and solutions to problems,

and transformation in the world around us.

And the church will be a watering hole

for the Christians who are experiencing

the fruit of what the gospel looks like,

and transformation outside.

But I really believe thenext great move of God,

like the Jesus People move,

might've been the last great move of God,

where millions of people got saved,

not through one church organization,

but organically as Godpoured out his Spirit.

I believe we're gonna see that again.

And that people in the workforcereally need to be ready.

- Yeah, boy that's the truth.

I came to Christ in the Jesus Movement,

and it was an amazing time.

May it happen again in our day today.

- Yes!

- I want all of our viewers to know

you can learn more about thethings Shawn's talking about,

"Wired to Hear: Connecting God's Voice

to Your Life, Influence and Career."

It's available nationwide,wherever books are sold.

Thank you so much for being with us.

Great to talk with you.- Thank you, Terry.