God Conversations With Tania Harris

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

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