God Conversations With Tania Harris

We know that God can speak in dreams, but it can be a challenge to know what God is saying. How do we know if a dream is from God? What do the symbols in our dreams mean?   This episode on the podcast gives us an opportunity to learn from the dreams of others. Our host Tania Harris draws on the dreams of five different individuals to provide pastoral guidelines and advice that will help you interpret your own dreams; a woman dreams of a snake stealing a gold chain; a man dreams of his surf rope getting stuck on a microwave that is sunken beneath the waves; a teenager dreams of being chased by a monster. The message of these dreams were significant, but they all required interpretation in order to be understood. Not every one of our dreams are from God, but even the dreams that are not provide us with helpful insights into what is happening beneath the surface of our lives. Learn from the dreams of others in order to understand your own! Subscribe to God Conversations with Tania Harris and never miss an e

Our podcast this week is an encore episode from a couple of years ago. Back then it was terror attacks in Paris and Beirut, a devastating earthquake in Nepal, and the Syrian crisis spilling millions of desperate refugees into Europe. Today it's a virus that threatens the health of millions and the stability of economies all over the world. As Christians, how do we respond when we hear the nightly news? How do we relate from the positions of our comfy lounge-room chairs when we hear about the latest virus statistics? What is God saying to us in the midst of global chaos? On this podcast, be encouraged as we learn from the God Conversations of the early church and how we can apply it to our own global crisis today. Just before Christmas in 2015, I spoke with John Peachey from Rhema's Morning Show in New Zealand. In this podcast, we talk about some of these important issues by looking at what God has already said. The first century church faced threats of persecution in their day not by terrorists, but by a br

Nightmares are common to us all. By definition, they are vivid and frightening dreams that have no resolution. You may see yourself being attacked by a fiendish character or find yourself in a death-defying situation. The experience can feel so real that your body has a physical reaction to it and you wake up sweating and traumatised. When children experience nightmares, they often dream about monsters or ghosts. Sometimes nightmares are recurring and cause serious problems with your sleep health. That's why it's important we talk about them.  In this episode of God Conversations with Tania Harris, we talk about where nightmares come from and how to deal with them. We know that God can often speak in dreams, but it's important to distinguish God-dreams from nightmares. Knowing where they come from helps to determine the most appropriate response. We discuss three possible sources: Nightmares from God Nightmares from the Spirit Realm Nightmares from ourselves In the podcast we look at a number of diff

If I were to ask you, what was the one thing that was stopping you from being successful in your life, what would you say? Often we point to some sort of obstacle in our circumstances - a lack of money, a bad job or a poor turn of luck. But the truth is, the things in our lives that most thwart our progress are the obstacles inside of us. When we change us, we change our world. On this episode, we’re talking about “Growing Pains” - how God speaks to us to change us from the inside out. When we choose to listen to the voice of God, he will call us to grow and change. God starts from the outside in. He calls us to become more like him. And as we do, we will become more fully ourselves.  Unfortunately that process isn’t easy. The greatest obstacles to our success lie within ourselves - feelings of inadequacy, a love of comfort and fears of failure. These are the growing pains each one of us will experience as God speaks and calls us to grow.  But there’s also greater pain that comes when we ignore what he is

We know that God is able to speak to us by his Spirit, but does God speak to those who don’t know him? You may have heard the incredible stories coming out of the Middle East where Jesus has been reported to be appearing to Muslims in dreams. Thousands of lives have been transformed as a result. Some missiologists say that around ¼-⅓ of Christians in the Middle East follow Jesus today because they've seen him in a dream or vision. But does that happen in other parts of the world as well? Does God speak to non-Christians everywhere? This episode was recorded live at two "Awaken Your Dreams" events that were hosted by a local church for the community in New Zealand. Both events were sellouts! On the podcast, we share some of the testimonies that came from the events, as well as some of the biblical precedents for God speaking in dreams to those who don't know him. A quick overview of church history reveals a God who is ever reaching out to people, speaking to them in whatever ways he will be heard. Attending t

Unforgiveness stops us from hearing God’s voice almost more than any other area. When we bear unforgiveness in our heart, we can’t get through to God and we won’t be able to hear him. Jesus spoke about unforgiveness many times. He said that if you’re coming to meet with God and you have an issue with someone, first be reconciled to them, then come to him (Matthew 5:23-24). In the Lord’s prayer, Jesus talked about asking God for forgiveness when we have forgiven others who have sinned against us (Matthew 6:12).  At the same time, forgiveness is one of the most difficult challenges of living in a fallen and broken world. On the podcast, we look at how to forgive by sharing some stories of those who have forgiven under the most difficult circumstances you can imagine. We also look at what God does when we forgive, how forgiveness does not equate with condoning evil and what God does to bring justice on our behalf. The show begins with the story of an incredible Iranian woman who was seriously wronged. The Story

At God Conversations, our emphasis is on how to recognise God's voice when he speaks back. However, this podcast is all about the other side of the conversation - how do we pray and how do we get better at prayer? We talk about what prayer is, what it does and most importantly, how we build the kind of relationship that invites two-way communication with God. What have your experiences with prayer been like? As a young girl, I would visit my friend’s place and there we would always say grace before meals. My childhood friend prayed the prayer her dad taught her - it took me years to work out what was being said; "forwhatforout about to receive… make us truly thankful, Amen.” When I finally worked out what it meant ("for what we are about to receive"), I thought it was a little odd to ask God to make us thankful - couldn’t I make myself thankful? In the church I grew up in, prayer was a very solemn experience - heads were bowed and everybody sat in a tightly crouched position. It was very quiet – there were l

Have you ever noticed that some people seem to hear from God every day, while others seldom hear from God? What is happening here? We know that God is talking, but is he talking to one and not the other? In this episode, I talk about these questions by discussing the impact of personality on hearing God’s voice. We’re going to look particularly at how people interpret and discern their experiences differently and how some forms of hearing from God seem to be better suited to certain personalities.  1. Be careful not to attribute everything to God We also talk about:  The different criteria people use to discern their experiences. Some people are more likely to attribute experiences to God than others. More skeptical types are more likely to attribute an experience to coincidence, creative inspiration or intuition or memory recall. In the Catholic tradition, you need some sort of external evidence to know something is from God such as a sign or a miracle! Problems come when we compare our experiences - ea

Loneliness has become the plague of the modern world. Even though our widespread telecommunication systems and sophisticated transport networks make us more connected than ever before, we’re also lonelier than we’ve ever been. Recent sociological studies show that the levels of loneliness in Western urban society today are unprecedented. Last year, the British Parliament even created a new position for a “Minister for Loneliness”! Sometimes people think that if you know the God who speaks back, you shouldn’t be lonely. If God is a God of love, surely he would fill every need? Sadly that’s just not true. We need people. God created us to be in relationship with others. Our heavenly father is not in the doorway to greet you at the end of the day. Jesus does not wrap his arms around you in a bear hug when you’ve just received the worst news of your life. Even though his presence is always with us, the Holy Spirit cannot take you literally by the elbow and escort you to that event you fear. God himself said, it’

Dr Craig Keener tells the story of his wife to be. He and his wife met in seminary, but he confesses he was a bit slow on the uptake... Medine waited years for the love of her life. During that time, God encouraged her not to give up through prophetic words from three different people: "You'll marry a white man with a large ministry" they said. At the time, none of them knew the details of her situation. Today Craig and Medine are a happily married couple who can testify to the power of God's word in bringing them together. But not all stories end this way. Although there are plenty of miraculous stories of God speaking, there are also plenty of not-so-great stories too...  A person hears God speaking about marriage and filters it through their own emotions. God speaks randomly through Scripture verses, but it distorts the original meaning of the text. How do we avoid the mistakes and pitfalls of hearing God’s voice and instead, position ourselves to experience the same kind of miracles we see in the New Tes

If we can all hear God's voice for ourselves, do we still need to go to church? The answer is, no. You don't need to go to church, visit a holy place or listen to a preacher to hear God's voice. That was how it used to be under the Old Covenant. Back then, the only way to hear God's voice was via his chosen mouthpieces - the prophets (eg. Numbers 11:24, Jeremiah 1:5,9). After the coming of Jesus, God's Spirit was sent to all people: "sons and daughters, "young and old" (Acts 2:16,17), so that everyone could hear his voice in the same way the prophets did. Under the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit acts as the continuing voice of Jesus who speaks to us wherever we go. As the Apostle Paul describes it, each one of us is now the "temple" of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). Personally I find God talks to me when I least expect it - when I'm in the shower or brushing my teeth! In other words, we don’t need a worship service, a church steeple or a liturgy to hear from God. This is why the new covenant is so much

What is God saying to us in the midst of our pain? On the show today, we’re talking about the questions we ask when life goes wrong. Some people say you shouldn’t even ask God the why question, but that’s what we’re going to do in this episode. We’re talking about how asking God questions is an act of intimacy, what God’s heart is in the midst of our pain and suffering and what to do when there seems to be no answers at all. There was a song that hit the top of the charts in the early 1980s - first in Australia and then in the US. It was re-released in Australia in 2004 and spent a long time at the top of the charts again, this time hitting the charts in Ireland as well. The song was called what about me? What About Me? It isn’t fair, I’ve had enough, now I want my share… It’s a song that asks a lot of questions from a position of pain. Somehow, the lines of this song resonated with thousands of people around the world - perhaps because when we find ourselves going through hard times, we end up asking th

Money, sex and power are some of the most powerful agents in the world. Any one of them can take down presidents and pastors, politicians and kings. History is littered with stories of people who have been able to conquer nations but not their own lives. So how does God call us to handle them? I'm going to be honest with you. Travelling the world, I have the opportunity to hear a lot of stories - and tragically, they're not all good. Many of them involve abuse and hurt at the hands of leaders who haven't been able to handle one or more of three areas of life: money, sex and power. Of course it's not just leaders who are susceptible - we are all subject to their misuse. But when money, sex and power are not handled well by those in authority, there are far-reaching consequences. In this episode of the show, we look at: How money, sex and power are morally neutral. They are tools that can be used for both good or evil. The key lies in how we use them and what place they take in our hearts. When it comes

If you have a God-dream in the African church, no-one thinks you're unusual. Hearing God’s voice in dreams is common in this part of the world. Some churches even have a resident dream interpreter who offers counsel to congregation members! What can we learn from the African church where Christianity is growing at a rapid rate and where hearing the voice of the Spirit in dreams is a regular occurrence? On the show this week, we're talking to a friend of mine and a fellow PhD student, Anna Droll. Anna is an ordained minister with the American Assemblies of God and founder of Kairos Global Missions. Her ministry is focused in Africa and she is an adjunct professor at Southeastern University and Northwest University. She is also a woman who is passionate about prayer and healing, has a heart of compassion for everyone she meets and offers some profound insights into this interesting and important area of spirituality. In this podcast, we talk about: Anna’s spiritual journey and how she ended up studying dr

You don’t need to be a Christian to live a good life. Plenty of my friends live a great life without God. They are well educated, hold successful jobs and live in beautiful homes. For the most part they enjoy happy, contented lives - even with a few bumps along the way.  In our Western world, it’s not difficult to live a good life. There are common sense decisions we can make, self-help books to read and plenty of resources at our disposal. In the Western parts of the world, we are blessed with opportunity and prosperity. Even with a bad start, you can turn things around if you make good choices and work hard.   But God has a very different life for those who choose to follow him. It’s a good life, but it’s more than good. The ‘God life’ is not an ordinary life because it involves walking with a supernatural God. This week on the show, we’re talking about the God Life - and how to live it. The God life involves walking with a supernatural God. It involves living with an expectation of the supernatural inter

How could God have created the world in 6 days when geological data shows the earth is over four billion years old? How does the Bible’s description of human creation align with scientific evidence supporting evolution? If Adam and Eve were the first couple, where did their son Cain's wife come from? These are the kinds of questions that come up today when Bible-believing Christians read the story of creation in the opening chapters of Genesis. The various answers are often fuel for furious and acrimonious debate that has led to an artificial division between faith and science. While these questions may be important in our progressive world, our pre-occupation with them has meant we’ve actually missed the main point of the story. The problem lies in the questions themselves. Genesis was written at a time when people were not asking the same kind of questions we’re asking today. Theirs was a world where science hadn’t even been invented - when there was no such thing as the “scientific method”. Understan

Magnums are one of my all-time favourite ice-creams. I love the smooth Belgian chocolate and the rich ice-cream inside. But some years ago, Magnum launched a new marketing campaign, labelling each of their ice-creams with one of the seven deadly sins. There were names like “sloth” (caramel swirl ice cream and chocolate),“revenge” (raspberry ripple ice cream and dark chocolate) and “greed” (tiramisu, amaretti and chocolate). My favourite (champagne ice-cream and white chocolate) was ‘vanity’. It never felt as good after that. Why is it that something as good as a Magnum ice-cream is associated with sin? Why is it that pleasure is often associated with evil? This is the topic of this week’s podcast: The Theology of Chocolate - how our twisted ideas turned God into a killjoy. (NB. Some of you are thinking this is an overzealous rant designed to justify a chocolate binge at Easter, and you may be right). Magnum’s marketing campaign reinforces the idea that eating something enjoyable is sinful and therefore eati

Can anyone hear God’s voice? What about those who don’t know him? Can non-Christians or those who’ve never been to church hear him speak? And what about those from other religions? On this episode, we’re privileged to have the esteemed Dr Amos Yong on the show to talk about some of these questions. Amos is an eminent theologian, a prolific author and researcher with over 20 titles based around the work of the Holy Spirit. They include a theology of disability, interfaith relationships, global theology - even a theology of Down syndrome. The title on this topic is called: Beyond the Impasse: Toward a Pneumatological Theology of Religions. Amos shares his story of knowing God, and how his most common way of hearing God’s voice is through the Scriptures. We talk about the different ways people use "God-talking" language. His Mum for example, regularly says God speaks to her, but his Dad is more conservative in his use of this language and a lot less likely to attribute his experiences to God. We discuss how

Have you noticed that God does a lot of talking at Christmas time? The first God-conversation with Mary was the one that started it all (Luke 1:26-33). But then God spoke a second time - to Joseph (Matthew 1:18-21), then a third time to the wise men (Matthew 2:12) and a fourth (Matthew 2:19-21) and fifth time to Joseph (Matthew 2:22). He also spoke to Elizabeth, Anna and Simeon. God speaks repeatedly throughout the Christmas story. But what if the people hadn't listened? What if they hadn’t followed? What if Joseph had merely written his dream off as the spicy pizza (or lentils), if the wise men dismissed their dream as a paranoid nightmare or if Mary had rejected the words of the angel? Because people heard God speak and because they did what he said, our Christmas cards show Jesus alive in Mary’s arms and we sing songs heralding his birth. Christmas pans out the way it was supposed to. In this podcast, we talk about the five conversations of Christmas and how they shaped the event we celebrate every Dece

Stories of God talking to his people abound throughout the Bible, but we usually only get the highlights. We read; “God said; ‘Go to Egypt’”, and then; “Mary and Joseph left for Egypt.” We’re not told how God spoke, how they knew it was him or how they decided to act on what they’d heard. This is how the blurb of my new book God Conversations reads. When I first read Bible stories about God speaking I thought, it sounds so easy for them - when the reality felt so different. That’s why I set out to write my book. I wanted to show more than the highlights. I wanted to show what really happens behind the scenes when we hear God’s voice. In this podcast, we talk about how my book on hearing God's voice is different from others: It's all about the stories For one, it's all about the stories. The goal is to show you how God speaks rather than tell you. You'll notice there's no list of things for you to do; there's no five steps for you to follow. This was a deliberate style choice. Have you noticed most of the B