God Conversations With Tania Harris

We’re called to become more like Jesus. But does that mean we’re supposed to become more like a Middle-Eastern man? When we become a Christian, we learn that the goal is to grow “more like Jesus.” As a young person, I used to wonder what that meant. I wasn’t very enthused by the thought that I should aim to become like someone other than myself! So what does it look like to become spiritually mature?  Spiritual growth is work of the Spirit and involves deep and thorough transformation. The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, “if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Cor 5:17).  But that doesn’t usually mean that God snaps his fingers and the work is done. Formation is a process outworked in conjunction with the Holy Spirit. In other words, we have an important role to play too.  In this episode of the God Conversations podcast, Tania explores the process of spiritual formation and how we co-operate with the Spirit to make us new. Her guest is Ps A

If God truly is the Creator, that makes him the supreme artist. We’ve all enjoyed the beauty of a world that never ceases to amaze and delight. But if God sent his Spirit to fill us and speak to us, what does that mean for human creativity? How does having God’s creative Spirit make a difference in our lives? On this episode, we’re talking all things Holy Spirit and creativity. Our guest Ps. Bruce (Robbo) Robertson is a unique combination of pastor, prophet and a creative! After many productive years in youth ministry and a variety of church leadership roles, he is currently serving as a pastor at Hope Unlimited Church (Hope UC) in the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. In the podcast, we talk about: The creativity of God! “God the most dynamic, creative being imaginable. All our creative urges derive from God. We call God the "Ancient of Days", but God is not old. God is ever present and infinitively beyond our capacity for imagination. We must not reduce the communicative side of God into ou

There’s a lot of talk around discipleship at the moment, but what does discipleship actually look like? We know it’s all about following Jesus. But if Jesus isn’t here, how do we follow?  This is where the Holy Spirit comes in. Before Jesus left the planet, he said that the Spirit would come to remind us of everything Jesus said and then to speak about things to come (John 14:26, 16:13). So to follow Jesus is to heed his continuing voice, the Holy Spirit. In this episode, we talk to Prophet and Pastor Murray (Muz) Newman about the relationship between hearing God's voice and discipleship. We learn that hearing the Spirit and discipleship is essentially about  building intimate relationship with God. "There’s no topic that’s taboo. There’s no topic that the Lord won't talk to you about.” Listen to Muz and Tania talk about: How everyone experiences the voice of the Spirit differently. Therefore, discipleship involves helping people  recognise how God speaks to them. How a sense of love and concern for

A Dream of a Child’s Toy and Feet Full of Maggots One Christmas morning, Nicola had a dream that would change her and her family’s life. It involved a Buzz Lightyear toy, a child in the African slums and feet infested with maggots.  In this podcast episode, Tania talks to Nicola Neal about her journey into ministry, beginning in a church in the town of Bath, UK and finishing in the slums of Africa. You’ll hear the dramatic way God turned Nicola’s life around through a vivid God conversation, how that same God-conversation was confirmed multiple times and how it led Nicola and her family to pack up their life in the UK and move to an unknown region of the world in just eight weeks. There Nicola began to understand the dream she had experienced so many years earlier. She and her family saw the supernatural work and grace of God in the face of extreme poverty, violence, sickness and death. You’ll be inspired as Nicola shares God’s heart for the poor and how the kingdom transforms at the deepest level. We also

We all know that we should do it, but the question is how? Prayer - one of the main callings of Christians and the key means to relationship with God. The question is how do we approach this mystical thing called prayer: What works and what doesn’t? And how does prayer connect with listening to the Holy Spirit? Today’s podcast is all about prayer and we have a brilliant guest to guide us. Ps Stacey Hilliar is on the Executive team at Neuma Church in Melbourne, Australia and looks after the prophetic leadership of her church. We talk about:  Stacey’s church and their innovative “fivefold model” which means her job title is the “prophetic pillar” of Neuma Church. The story of how God led Stacey to work in prophetic ministry in the local church. Stacey became familiar with the voice of God as early as 8 or 9 years old. As she tells the story, she just “knew” things. But growing up in church that didn’t believe in Spirit speech made her experience difficult. Let’s just say it was a messy start.  How a de

I grew up in a church that believed that God had stopped speaking outside of the Bible. This teaching, known as Cessationism, is seen throughout the church world today and has appeared periodically in history. But the question is, why would someone believe God has stopped speaking, given that the New Testament is clear that the Holy Spirit was given to everyone to hear from God on the Day of Pentecost? (Acts 2:16,17). The Apostle Peter himself said that this promise was for all generations - beyond the early church and beyond Jerusalem and Judea (and beyond the canonisation of Scripture!) (Acts 2:39).  One of the answers lies in the theological problem of how Spirit relates to Scripture. That is, how do my Spirit-speaking experiences today relate to the Spirit speaking experiences of Scripture? God’s words are both a vessel of his power and a reflection of his character. Therefore, any claim to hearing God’s voice today represents a claim to divine authority. This looks as if we’re placing our experience on

The concept of hearing God’s voice for yourself bears enormous potential, but it is also fraught with pitfalls. Indeed, the entire scope of history tells of the problems associated with claims to divine revelation. Torrid tales of manipulation, deception, and even murder have all been justified by the claim: ‘God told me’. The proliferation of a wide range of unorthodox beliefs and abuses of power have been so heinous, it’s not surprising that many church leaders throw their hands up in the air and reject any idea of personal communication with God! The dynamic experience given at Pentecost not only has the power to bring God’s kingdom to earth but can also work astoundingly against it. How are we to harness the potential of hearing God experiences in our churches and deal with the problems that arise from them? This episode of the GC podcast is the second in a three-part series that features readings from my new book, The Church who Hears God’s voice: equipping everyone to recognise and respond to the Spir

Hearing God’s voice may well be the most powerful experience on earth. Think about it. How was the earth created? It began with God speaking (Gen. 1:1). How are people healed? It is the word ‘sent forth’ that overcomes disease and death (Ps. 107:20; Mark 7:34; 9:25; John 11:43). How are people saved? It is made possible through the living Word, Jesus, who became flesh to atone for our sin (John 1:1). This is the pattern throughout the Scriptures. It all starts with God speaking! This episode of the podcast is a special one. It’s the first in a three-part series that features readings from my new book, The Church who Hears God’s voice: equipping everyone to recognise and respond to the Spirit. It’s a little entree before you may choose to enjoy the main meal. In the episode, we learn about A God-dream that saved a drought-stricken Australian farm The power of hearing God's voice in biblical history and, The impact of "love energy": what sociologists tell us about the power of hearing God's voice in the

During my time in church life, I’ve heard some pretty interesting prophecies. Some of them have been couched in a strange “King James” language. Others have been so vague in content that they count for little. But I’ve also received some breathtakingly accurate prophetic words that are unmistakably from God. Prophecy is when we hear God’s voice on behalf of another person. We become like a “messenger” for God. But how do we prophesy? Can we all hear God’s voice for others? And how do we improve our ability to prophesy? Pastor and friend Roma Waterman joins us in this episode of God Conversations to talk about the gift of prophecy. Roma has an unusual ministry mix. She has been one of Australia’s foremost Christian artists for over 20 years and is also an internationally recognised prophet. She combines these two passions to lead worship and teaching on the prophetic, worship leading and songwriting. Her passion is to “release heaven's song over the nations” and to teach others to do the same. In this episod

"Listen to the Holy Spirit" is not the usual advice you hear at a business seminar. Yet this is the approach pastor and business consultant David Balestri takes every time he goes into an appointment. It’s a practice he’s also applied to his own career with great success. On one occasion, God told him to say just one word to address the lack of productivity at a company who was struggling to meet its targets - work performance increased so much that David was tasked with rewriting the training manual! When we think about hearing God’s voice, we often think about the times when we’re sitting in a church or singing worship on a Sunday. But God can speak to us anywhere at any time. So what happens when we hear God’s voice outside of church - when we’re going about our everyday activities during the week? On this episode, Tania talks with David, a man who has one foot in the church and another in the business world. He is a nationally recognised prophet with 20 years of ministry and works as the Executive Pasto

What does hearing the voice of the Spirit look like in the business world? How do you balance the tension between working with the natural and and the supernatural in starting and building a business? On this episode of the podcast, we talk to someone who knows the answers to these questions... Meet the man behind the coffee! Peter Irvine cofounded the Gloria Jeans Coffee franchise in 1996. By the time the company was sold in 2014, there were over 400 Gloria Jean's stores across Australia and over 800 coffee houses in 39 countries worldwide! Today, Peter is currently the CEO of Kingdom Momentum LTD and has more than 50 years of experience in business at a high profile management level. He is passionate about providing tools, encouragement, advice and expertise to businesspeople both inside and outside the church. On the show, we talk about: Peter’s business journey and some highlights of his work co-founding Gloria Jeans’ coffee. The Holy Spirit as the Great Problem Solver. Peter shares a time when

In a dream, a man saw a vision of Jesus. To his surprise, Jesus gave him a "Liverpool kiss” (a head-butt in English football terms!) The dream led him to make a decision to follow Jesus. But how does a dream about a head-butting Jesus result in someone becoming a Christian? Dreams and visions are the most common form of God-conversation in the Bible, but they’re the one we know least about. Dreams are often full of weird and wonderful scenes and symbols. How do we know when they’re from God? And then, how do we know what they mean? On this episode, we talk to Ps Zoran Paunovich, a well-known Australian church leader who has been teaching on the topic of dreams and visions for over 30 years. Zoran has also been involved in a wide range of ministries, including youth work and Bible College lecturing. He is currently the senior pastor of New Life Chapel in Victoria, Australia.  This episode will help you understand your dreams and recognise God’s voice in them. It will also explain why a dream of a head-butti

In church life, there seems to be two groups of people. There’s the group who seem to hear from God easily… God’s speaking about this; God’s speaking about that. It’s like God is speaking every day! Then there’s another group who struggle to hear God’s voice. They heard God speak five years ago and there’s been silence ever since.  Which group do you fall into?  If you find it hard to hear God's voice, this episode is for you. We have the perfect guest to learn from! Ps. Pernille Liland is a prophet, teacher, author and business leader from Denmark who has many years of ministry experience and prophetic expertise. On the show, Pernille distinguishes between two types of experiences - the first - a distinct voice that seems to interrupt your thoughts and comes on God’s initiative; and second - the experience that seems to occur on our initiative when we create space to connect with God through the imagination. During the process, we take time to wait on the Spirit and develop our spiritual senses, including

God is speaking to Muslims all over the Middle East and he’s doing it through dreams of Jesus! You may have heard the stories. In a vision, Jesus appears in a robe of blazing white. The dreamer is filled with a deep sense of love and is drawn to follow him. Missiologists tell us that between 1 in 2 and 1 in 3 Muslims have become Christians because of a dream. The Spirit is at work drawing people to himself and it’s all happening while they are sleeping! In today’s podcast, we have two special guests all the way from Texas, USA. Tom and JoAnn Doyle have been reaching out to the people of the Middle East for 20 years. Their ministry inspires the church to share the good news with Jews and Muslims in Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Syria and the Palestinian territories of Israel. On the show, you will hear some of the incredible stories coming of the Middle East. Many of them are hard to believe! Tom and JoAnn tell of how a dream of Jesus often marks the beginning of a journey for Muslims to discover more about the

"My Mum was clinically dead for 8 minutes. She saw a beautiful light and moved towards it, but then she heard a voice say, 'you don’t have access here.'" "An inmate who was deaf in one ear prayed for his friend who was blind in one eye and they were both healed." How is God real for us? Stories like these reveal the reality of God and his heart for people. But how does this work for us? I can still remember how at 21, I sat on a beach in New Zealand reflecting on my life up until that point. I believed in God, Jesus and the Bible, but God wasn’t real to me - I couldn’t put my finger on a single incident where I’d experienced God's reality in a tangible way. Thankfully, since then I’ve witnessed God in action and it’s changed my life. But I’ve also watched as others have lost their faith, particularly as they’ve moved from childhood into adulthood. How do we help people experience the reality of God? In this episode we’re talking with a man who's made it his life mission to make God real for people. Pastor

“Everybody’s looking for something,” the Eurythmics once sang. Augustine referred to a “god-shaped hole” within each one of us that longs to be fulfilled. There seems to be a universal human need to find meaning and purpose in our lives. But where do we find it? During the time of the first Christmas, people were searching too. The wise men, King Herod, Simeon and Anna were all “looking for something” around the time Jesus was born. As we celebrate the festive season, this podcast reflects on the journey of each of the Christmas characters to see if they found what they were looking for. Their stories give us insight into our own. Subscribe to God Conversations with Tania Harris and never miss an episode! Photo by Jonathan Meyer

"The root of disappointment is misplaced expectations. The question is, what should our expectations of God be?" - Lynn Moresi What does God promise when we sign up to follow Jesus? I still remember as a young woman dreaming of the future. We had such expectations for "greatness." God was going to give us the desires of our heart. He was going to make all our dreams come to pass. The future was guaranteed and it was bright. But, then the future hit and it was full of disappointment. Death, sickness, loss, divorce. We felt attacked, let down and betrayed. Did God fail us? Or was our disappointment due to misplaced expectations about what God had promised in the first place? On the show this week, Rev Dr Lynn Moresi from Melbourne Australia joins me to talk about disappointment and what God is saying in the midst of it. Lynn is a preacher, prophet, lecturer and someone who knows how to hear God’s voice. She is also a biblical scholar who has experienced all the joys and disappointments of life and has though

Recently I completed my PhD in practical theology, examining the theology and practice of hearing God’s voice. Since then, people have asked me about my thesis and what I’ve learnt from it. As with all PhDs, it’s a long and sometimes complex read, so instead of you having to fossick through 80,000 words, we’re bringing you the highlights! In this podcast, I look at three surprising theological insights from my PhD on hearing God’s voice. I first of all introduce the thesis itself including its general approach and methodology. The research involved approximately 100 people from three different Pentecostal churches on their hearing God experiences. A major focus was on experiences that occurred directly, without the mediation of other people or objects such as books, sermons or nature. These are the experiences that tend to cause the most problems in the church, but can also be the most life-changing! Here are the three major insights from the thesis that stood out from the many discoveries I made: 1. The Ne

"This is a season of divine paradox. It looks like everything is 'Stop, stop!' but in God everything is 'Start, start.'” (Ps. Vicki Simpson) What is God saying in the midst of this pandemic? It’s been nearly six months since we first heard about the Coronavirus. But during times like these - disasters, big world events our thoughts turn to heaven. God what are you doing? We know that God is not the cause of the pandemic, but we also know God is brilliant at using difficult times like these for his purposes.  On the show we talk to someone who is well-qualified to know what God is saying. Vicki Simpson is an Aussie-Italian prophet, from Sydney, Australia. She is an ordained minister with the C3 movement and is nationally and internationally recognised as a dynamic prophet and preacher who brings breakthrough and releases faith wherever she goes. Sought after by ministers in local churches and conferences across the globe, Vicki also consults in her capacity as a prophet with church leadership teams, businesse

“There are places in my heart that I am still hiding from God.” (Andy Wallis) Why are we afraid to hear from God? I suspect it is because we fear what God might say. Most of the time we ask God to speak, we steer the conversation towards the things we need in life: Should I take this job; should I buy this house; should I marry this person? God is interested in these questions, but he is looking for more. His heart is for intimate relationship. That means he is likely to speak about the areas of our heart that we would rather not talk about. This is what it means to get up close and personal with the Holy Spirit. In this episode of God Conversations with Tania Harris, we talk about how God speaks to us about the issues of the heart and how we can overcome the fear of what God might say. Pastor Andy Wallis is our guest and he is well-equipped to talk about this topic. Andy is an Australian, but has been ministering in Denmark for the past 15 years and is currently resettling back in his home country with his