My quiet time with God looked the same for most of my Christian life: I would read, pray, and sense Him — but I did not hear Him in sentences. That changed on June 9, 2023, in a Tel Aviv hotel room, because someone else went first and wrote down exactly how he did it. Day 9 of the Hearing from God series is my own story — what I learned about the rhema word, the practice I built around it, and what I do every morning now. I am sharing it here at Blessed2Teach so you can copy it directly. The full series, including eight other incredible teachers, is at the Hearing from God series hub.
If you want more context for the biblical framework behind what I teach — including where I land on the rapture and the times we are living in — you can find that at the Blessed2Teach About page.
Segment 1 — What a Rhema Word Is: The Day I Got My First One
Two Words, One Very Practical Difference
Let me start with the Greek, because this is where most people get confused. There are two New Testament words that both come into English as “word.” The first is logos — that is Scripture, settled, finished, unchanging. The second is rhema — that is the spoken word, the thing said right now to you.
Here is why that matters the moment you are facing a real decision. The Bible tells you God is your provider — logos, true for everyone who ever reads it. But it does not tell you whether to take the job in Dallas. It does not tell you which of your kids to call before bed. It does not tell you to get up at eleven at night and go pray over your house. That is what a rhema word is for: His voice speaking specifically into your actual situation, right now.
And I want to be honest about the guardrail, because this is where people go off the rails. A rhema word never overrides Scripture. Never. God does not contradict Himself. The logos is the fence. The rhema is His voice inside the fence. Anything you think you heard that jumps that fence did not come from Him.
Jesus made the mechanism plain:
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” — John 16:13 ESV
Look at what Jesus assumes there. He does not say the Spirit might speak. He says the Spirit will speak — and that what He speaks He is receiving from the Father and handing directly to you. You do not guide someone by giving them a map and walking away. You guide them by talking to them along the way.
He Used That Exact Term in My Journal
I did not go looking for the word “rhema” in a Greek lexicon. He handed it to me. On July 5, 2025, in a word titled Prepare to receive great gifts!, He said this to me — and I am quoting directly from my journal: “However, I will also speak directly to most of you through my Rhema words, if you expect to hear from me and learn to listen to my spontaneous flow. Yes, you have to test these words, as I will not give you direction outside my written word, but the evil one will try to do so. So learn to hear my voice. Write down what I am saying to you. Confirm it and move forward.”
Read that slowly, because He packed the entire teaching into one paragraph.
Most of you. Not a few. Not the gifted ones.
If you expect to hear from me. That is the condition, and it is not talent — it is expectation.
I will not give you direction outside my written word. The fence, stated by Him, in the same breath as the promise.
Write down what I am saying. Confirm it and move forward. The whole practice in eleven words.
Notice also what He put first in that entry — a renewed mind in His Word, and submission. Not technique. Paul put them in the same order:
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” — Romans 12:1-2 ESV
The renewed mind is not about self-improvement. It is the equipment you need to tell the difference between God’s voice and everything else competing for the same space. You cannot test a rhema against a logos you do not know.
A Book, an Appendix, and a Hotel Room
In the months before I traveled to Israel, I read Nathan French’s book, It’s Not Meant to Be a Secret: God Wants to Speak to You, a few pages at a time in my morning quiet time. He described a normal, back-and-forth conversation with God, and I did not have one. On the flight to Tel Aviv, I turned to the appendix. Nathan laid out five steps plainly: get quiet; communicate with the Lord; expect to hear — and prepare pen and paper as an act of faith; write down what He says; share as led.
The next day alone in my Tel Aviv room, I opened my laptop, closed my eyes, put my hands on the keys, and typed four words: Speak to me, Lord. And He did. Clear, sentence by sentence, and I typed what I heard. That became Rick’s Alone Time with God, and I have not stopped since.
The act of faith I want you to catch: the pen and paper came out before the voice did. I prepared to write down words I had not yet heard. That is not technique. That is a small, physical bet that God meant what He said. And this is the thing that still gets me — He is not rationing His voice to the deserving. He said most of you. He wants to guide you more than you want to be guided, and He has been talking longer than you have been listening. He opened this conversation, and He has been holding it open ever since.
Segment 2 — Making Room: How I Actually Structure My Quiet Time
The Enemy’s Most Effective Strategy Is a Busy Calendar
On July 10, 2025, He said something to me I did not enjoy hearing. I am giving it to you straight because you probably need it as much as I did: “The enemy has a process to keep you so busy that you won’t have time to listen to me. He makes so much noise that my voice is often drowned out. So, how do you combat the enemy? By choice. Inventory the time-wasting activities that keep you from hearing my voice. The enemy has many methods, and this is why you have to make a choice.”
Inventory. A business word. He did not say pray about it or feel bad about it. He said take stock. Make an actual list. And here is what stung: He did not describe the enemy pulling me toward obvious sin. He described him pulling me toward noise — busyness, distraction, time-consuming trouble. Nobody repents of a schedule. That is what makes it so effective.
He tied it to something Jesus said that I had never heard applied to a calendar before:
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” — Matthew 7:13-14 ESV
The wide gate is easy precisely because it never asks you to say no to anything. The narrow gate is hard for one reason: you have to give something up to walk through it. But look at where it goes. It leads to life. He is not describing deprivation. He is describing the only road that arrives somewhere worth arriving.
It Is About Wanting Him, Not Performing
Here is the most freeing thing He has said to me about this whole subject, from that same July entry: “This is not rocket science, as some would say. It’s also not about spiritual discipline. It’s about loving me and desiring me. It’s about wanting to get close to me and prioritizing your life so you can actually live for me.”
That undid something in me. I had been treating hearing God as a skill to master, a performance to get right. He said no. It is about wanting Him. Everything I describe below — the armor, the journal, the schedule — is not how you earn the conversation. It is just what wanting Him looks like once you actually do.
The Counsel That Came in the Quiet Hours
I was on the Tom Homan Border Tour in Israel with my B2T Show scheduling producer Gus, with Amanda Grace and her husband Chris, and with journalist Sara Carter. It was a full, loud, demanding week. And the clearest thing God said to me all week came alone in a hotel room before anyone else was awake. David knew that pattern:
“I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.” — Psalm 16:7 ESV
Counsel — not a feeling, not a vague sense of peace, but guidance from someone who knows more than you do about the decision in front of you. And it arrives in the night, when the schedule has stopped making demands. The border tour was the important part of the week by any external measure. The counsel came in the quiet part, before the day started.
“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” — Psalm 46:10 ESV
“Be still” is a command. It is not asking you to relax. It is asking you to be quiet so you can watch Him be exalted. Stillness is not the opposite of action — it is where you find out what the action is supposed to be.
What I Actually Do When I Sit Down
Here is the real thing, nothing held back, in the order I do it:
I pray and put on the armor of God, piece by piece, out loud.
I use my Bible Memory App so my mind is genuinely in His Word before I ask for anything.
I often go to my knees — my body submits before my mouth does.
I close my eyes, put my hands on the keyboard, and type what I am grateful for — usually something small and specific, like my dogs and the way they love without conditions.
Then I pray this, more or less word for word every time: Put me in a secret place where I can only hear from you. No spirits, but the Holy Spirit, the Father, and the Son. I submit my eyes and ears to you.
That middle line is the most important sentence in my whole practice. I am naming out loud who is allowed to speak. I am about to open my ears deliberately — and doors work both ways. Naming who is permitted through it is not superstition. James says submit yourself to God first, then resist the devil. Submitting comes before resisting.
I submit my eyes too, not just my ears, because what I have been looking at all day is already shaping what I am able to hear.
Then I ask real questions. He often gives me confidential things first, just for me. And then I ask: Lord, what do You want me and Your people to hear today? Or, on a lot of mornings, just this: Lord, how are You today? That second question probably sounds strange. It is the one that changed the relationship most. It moves the whole thing from transaction to friendship.
“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” — James 4:8 ESV
You move first. Not because God is distant or reluctant, but because He will not force a relationship on someone who has not turned toward Him. Drawing near and submitting are the same motion described two ways — which is why I submit my eyes and ears before I ask Him anything.
Step one of my practice is not decoration. Paul knew exactly why the armor comes first:
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” — Ephesians 6:10-11 ESV
You are opening your ears in a room where more than one voice wants to be heard. The armor goes on first, and Paul ends that same passage by telling us to pray at all times in the Spirit — the armor and the conversation were never two separate disciplines. They belong in the same moment, and He has been present in that moment every single time I showed up for it.
Segment 3 — What to Do With What You Hear: Obey Fast, Test Every Time
The Morning I Argued With God and Lost Well
Midway through the Israel trip, He woke me early. I was genuinely exhausted — the kind where you feel something coming on — and I reasoned with God. I told Him I was too tired and might get sick without more sleep. I thought my case was solid.
His answer was four words: Delayed obedience is disobedience.
I recognized the phrase immediately. God had said those exact words to Nathan French on more than one occasion — the same Nathan French whose book started this entire practice for me. When it landed on me in that hotel room, it arrived carrying a signature I already knew. I got up. I ignored how I felt. I put my hands on the keys.
That morning, June 16, I received the first word that was not for me at all — a word intended for someone else, delivered through me, that morning. That was the day this stopped being a private devotional practice and became something larger.
Think about what I would have lost by rolling over. Not a feeling. A message God intended to deliver to another person. And I nearly traded it for two hours of sleep and a good reason.
“And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.” — Isaiah 30:21 ESV
The word comes at the moment of turning — not before, while you are comfortable, but when you are moving in the wrong direction. Guidance that specific is worthless filed for later. And the section that verse sits in is titled “the Lord will be gracious” — that correction is not severity. It is God being kind enough to speak before you get further down a road you did not want to be on.
Four Verbs in a Row: Hear, Write, Test, Get Used to It
On August 9, 2025, He gave me the sequence in one sentence: “My sheep hear my voice, so I invite you to hear from me clearly and with no confusion. Therefore, write down what I am saying. Record it, test it, and get used to being able to hear from me hour by hour during your day.”
Hear. Write. Test. Get used to it. That last one is the part people skip. He is not describing a special occasion. He is describing a habit that becomes normal — hour by hour. Most of us are trying to have one good listening session a month. He is describing a running conversation.
Writing it down is not optional:
“And the LORD answered me: ‘Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.'” — Habakkuk 2:2-3 ESV
The writing is not for archiving. It is so someone can move on it — sometimes you, sometimes a person you have not met yet. And read the second half honestly, because it is the reason most people give up. If it seems slow, wait for it. A word that has not happened yet is not a word that failed. Timothy Dixon filed handwritten dreams in cabinets for years before he ever spoke one out loud. Donne Clement Petruska’s father wrote a letter in 2015 that nobody read until it mattered nine years later. Slow is not the same as wrong.
Test Everything — Both Ditches Are Dangerous
Everything I have just described is worthless — worse than worthless, dangerous — without testing.
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” — 1 John 4:1 ESV
John wrote that to ordinary believers. Testing is normal Christian equipment, not advanced skill. But Paul names both ditches in one breath:
“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21 ESV
Believing everything will wreck you. So will shutting the whole thing down because you are afraid of getting it wrong. The instruction is not to stop listening. It is test everything, and keep what is good.
My test, every time, in three parts: Does it line up with Scripture? Does it produce peace or a clean, specific urgency rather than panic? Does it get confirmed — through the Word, through mature believers, through circumstances that line up? If it passes, I move. If it does not, I wait or I rebuke it.
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” — Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV
He makes the path straight. My job in that verse is to acknowledge Him in all my ways — keep talking to Him about everything — and the straightening is His work. I would have slept through that morning in Tel Aviv if He had left it up to how I felt. He did not. He spoke four words into my excuse and gave me something to carry to somebody else. That is the God we are dealing with — not one who waits politely at the edge of your schedule, but one who cares enough about the person on the other end to interrupt you. He is that determined to reach them. He is that willing to use you to do it. And He has been arranging your quiet time with Him far longer than you have been looking for it.
Questions About Quiet Time with God and Hearing His Voice
How do I structure a quiet time with God that actually produces something?
The structure that works for me runs in this order: pray the armor of God aloud first, then anchor your mind in Scripture before asking for anything, then go to your knees if you are able, then close your eyes and begin writing gratitude that is small and specific. After that, name out loud who is permitted to speak — the Holy Spirit, the Father, and the Son — and submit your eyes and ears to God. Then ask a real question. Or just ask Him how He is doing. The last step is the one that changes the relationship from transaction to friendship, and it is the step most people skip.
Why do I struggle to hear God’s voice clearly, and what changes it?
In my experience, the most common obstacle is not sin and it is not lack of gifting — it is noise. The enemy’s most effective strategy is a busy calendar, not a visible temptation. He packs your hours with time-consuming trouble until God’s voice gets drowned out, and nobody repents of a schedule. The change is a choice: take an honest inventory of what is filling your quiet hours and remove something. Then get genuinely still. God is not waiting for you to be impressive. He said it is about wanting Him and desiring Him, not about spiritual discipline. When the wanting is real, the quiet follows.
Does God really speak to ordinary believers today, or just prophets?
Jesus did not talk that way at all, and John 10:27 settles it: “My sheep hear my voice” — present tense, a description of what sheep do, not what the gifted ones might occasionally achieve. The journal entry from July 5, 2025 that I quoted in this teaching says “most of you” — and the condition is expectation, not talent or platform. The capacity to hear God’s voice is a baseline of belonging to the Shepherd, not a promotion you earn. What most of us are missing is not the ability. It is the expectation, and sometimes just knowing that permission has already been granted changes everything.
What is the still small voice of God, and how do I recognize it?
The still small voice is what God’s voice in personal communication most often sounds like — not audible, not dramatic, but specific and clear enough to transcribe sentence by sentence in real time. In the account of Elijah in 1 Kings 18, God was not in the wind or the earthquake or the fire — He was in a still, small voice. In my experience, it arrives as thoughts or impressions that carry a clarity you did not generate yourself. It is often something you would not have said, sometimes something you would prefer not to hear, and almost always specific where your own thinking tends to be general. Getting into genuine quiet is not optional for recognizing it, because in noise it simply cannot compete.
How do I know if what I heard is really from God or just my own thinking?
Three filters, every time. First: does it align with Scripture? God never contradicts His written Word — if it violates the logos, it is not a rhema from Him, full stop. Second: what is the fruit? A word from God produces peace or a clean, specific urgency. It does not produce panic, confusion, or self-promotion. Third: is it confirmed? Confirmation comes through Scripture returning to the same point, through a mature believer speaking to the same thing, through circumstances lining up. If a word passes all three, I move. If it fails any of them, I wait. And when I am genuinely not sure, I do not lean on my own reading of it — I acknowledge Him and wait for the path to become plain.
Why does writing down what God says matter so much?
Writing is not optional in the sequence God gave me: hear, write, test, get used to it. There are three reasons it matters. First, preparing to write before anything has come is the physical act of faith — the pen and paper out before the voice arrives. Second, writing creates a record you can actually test over time rather than reconstructing a fading impression. Third, a written word can be delivered to someone else. The first journal entry I wrote that was intended for another person — June 16, 2023 — almost did not happen because I almost stayed in bed. God told Habakkuk to write the vision so he who reads it can run. The writing is not for your archive. It is for delivery.
What is a rhema word, and how is it different from reading the Bible?
Reading Scripture is receiving the logos — the written, complete, settled Word of God, true for every believer in every generation. A rhema word is the spoken word — God applying His truth specifically to your situation right now. The two are not in competition; the logos is the fence and the standard, and the rhema operates inside that fence. In practice, a rhema word often confirms, personalizes, or activates something you already know from Scripture. Reading the Bible gives you the standard you need to test the rhema. The rhema gives you the specific direction you need for the decision in front of you today. Both are God’s voice. They serve different purposes and they are never in conflict.
What is this series, and where can I find the rest of it?
The Hearing from God series is a nine-part teaching series featuring nine different voices: Amanda Grace, Nathan French, Stacy Whited, Meri Crouley, Donne Clement Petruska, Timothy Dixon, Emanuel Johnson, Greg Locke and Scott Bitcon, and me. Each teacher brings a different angle on hearing God’s voice, testing what you hear, and acting on it. Day 9 is my segment — the rhema word, the practice, and what to do when a word arrives. You can find the full series at the series hub on FaithNFreedom.org, and you can join the community discussion at FaithNFreedom.social — free to watch, no subscription required.