My love affair...with purple ink
How do YOU hear God?
The vital link
I think one of the most foundational, vital aspects of a real and vibrant life of faith is knowing the voice of God, and regularly hearing God’s voice! So, when I think of the next generation embracing the faith, my conviction is that the most important thing for the next generation to learn and know is the ability to hear the voice of God. The voice of God is the vital link for a believer. A wise friend recently told me ‘you can only pass on that which you possess.’ So, for hearing God’s voice to be something you can pass on, that has to be something you possess. If you want to pass this on to the next generation, you’ve got to set your heart on hearing from God! So, I want to share one way I approach hearing from God*.
The blue ink
I usually write in a prayer journal twice a week or so. This prayer journal serves as a place for me to externally process whatever issues I am dealing with in a prayerful way. My journal entries are usually ‘prayers’ - that is, as I write, I write to Jesus. Sometimes I write a long narrative describing a situation I’m concerned about, or a circumstance I’m needing insight about. Sometimes I am simply describing things I am so grateful for. OTher times, I literally am just writing out a list of all the things I just desperately need God’s help with. I take my pen, and literally write, ‘Jesus, please help me with...’ and then i write out my list! In all of these writings, I specifically pen these thoughts, these prayers from me to Jesus in blue ink. It’s just my thing. But here’s the thing—this is a prayer journal—and I firmly believe that in prayer, we are both talking to God and listening to what He wants to say to us. So, whether I am praying aloud in a group, or praying aloud alone, or whether I am praying in a written form in a journal, I want to make space to listen to Jesus. And that brings me to the purple ink.
The purple ink
About ten years ago, I started writing down things I felt God was saying to me in purple ink. Maybe I chose purple because its a regal color; maybe I chose it because a nice deep eggplant purple is just a beautiful color! This is what I do. In my journal, after I have spoken or written to Jesus about all that’s on my mind, in blue ink—I then switch pens. I pick up my purple pen—and then i write what I sense Jesus is saying to me. I write these words in the first-person. Usually it starts something like this: ‘My son, I’ve heard everything you’ve said. And I want you to know that’….
A big bruise!
This purple ink shift represents a shift in the flow of who is saying what. It marks a distinct transition from me talking about my thoughts or concerns - to me listening to what Jesus wants to say to me. When I flip through the pages of my journal - it’s like a big bruise! It’s blue and purple all over! But for me, that represents a healthy balance of expressing myself, and attempting to discern what the Lord is saying to me. I can look back to a specific point and see the clear interaction between my ideas and concerns, and the sense I had about what Jesus was saying to me. I love seeing the record of these interactions this way!
No infallibility here
I want to acknowledge that as I process what I believe or sense God is saying to me, I do not assume that just because it is in purple ink in my journal it is infallibly ‘the Lord’. I really do sense that God is speaking to me during those times of writing in the purple ink - but I’m a fallible vessel, capable of inadvertently mixing in my own thoughts or my own tone. Sometimes, the purple ink is simply for my own encouragement. But sometimes the purple ink is directive, and will have bearing on other people that I lead or work with. So when I evaluate whether those purple ink interactions are fully something God is saying, I process it through some tests:
When God speaks, test it:
Word Test: it has to be consistent with the Word of God. But that ‘word of God’ needs to be carefully exegeted - not ‘proof texted’.
Peace Test: There will generally be a sense of peace when God has truly spoken! Jesus said in John 14:27 ‘my peace I give you, my peace I leave with you’. The things I hear from Him should generally allow me to continue to have the peace that Jesus said he’d leave with me.
Kingdom Alignment Test: What God speaks leads to things that will line up with the vision for the Kingdom of God as set forth in the Word of God.
Multiple Affirmation Test: We have to be willing to submit to others who know the Lord and are mature in their faith, and see if they affirm that what we’ve heard really sounds like God.
Have the Humility to test…
Ultimately, this comes down to you and I having a heart so say, like Samuel did late that night, “speak Lord, your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:1-11). Then we listen, with a humble heart! We have to know that we are not the infallible prophet over here – we are human beings who are spiritual beings, engaging our spirit in growing to hear God’s voice. We HAVE to have the humility to know ‘I may or MAY NOT be really hearing from God right now’. In situations where what God is saying to me is largely about encouraging me personally, I can generally assume I’m really hearing God’s voice. But when it’s about something that will affect other people, I need to have the humility to ‘run it through the tests’.
What’s your color?
Incidentally, I use a Uniball Signo 207 medium gel ink pen - in blue and purple, and I’m pretty particular about that! What about you? Could you see yourself adopting a practice like this? Maybe your color would be pink and green. Or black and brown. Try it! Keep in mind, this ‘ink shift’ approach is just one of many ways you could move more deeply into a place of hearing from God. For me personally, this is one approach I use among others! I want you to be able to pass this on to the next generation - so I want you to grow in your own capacity to hear God’s voice in your own life!