Show Notes
What does God’s voice actually sound like? And how do you know if it’s Him or just your own thoughts? Most believers spend years waiting for a dramatic, audible sign from heaven. But for author/teacher David Holland, learning to hear God came down to something far more intimate: recognizing the distinct tone, timber, and fragrance of the Holy Spirit operating through his own inner voice. In this episode, Preston sits down with David to break down how to distinguish personal thoughts from divine prompting. After losing everything at age 50, following a supernatural warning he almost ignored, David learned firsthand what it takes to quiet a noisy mind, abandon transactional "laundry list" prayers, and compose the soul in God’s presence. In this episode:
The Warning Sign: What happened when David heard God's voice before losing everything. The Ghostwriter's Lens: Lessons from years spent writing behind the scenes for leaders around the world. Is That God or Me? Practical tests to tell the difference between your thoughts and the Holy Spirit. Rethinking Prayer: Why shifting away from "request lists" changes everything about experiencing God. Quieting the Soul: How to cultivate stillness and hear God in a loud, distracted culture.
Whether you're facing a major life decision, feeling stuck in your prayer life, or simply wanting to cultivate a deeper daily awareness of God, this conversation provides practical, time-tested tools for clarity in your walk with God.
More from The Leader’s Cut with Preston Morrison
What would it look like to be so close to God that your own kids notice before anyone else does? Most of us treat intimacy with God like a discipline to maintain, something we fit in before the real work starts. Theo Koulianos flips that order. Before God ever gave Adam a job, He asked him to walk with Him. Everything else, the calling, the ministry, the family, is a byproduct of that walk, not a substitute for it. In this episode, Preston Morrison sits down with Theo Koulianos, husband, father, and co-leader with his wife Rachel of a ministry to marriages and families. Theo shares how a Greek Orthodox upbringing and a Holy Spirit who discipled him when no one else could built a foundation of first love, and how a knock on a dinner table changed his definition of success. In this episode:
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What's your part when God starts moving? Most of us think the answer is a plan. Lonnell Williams has the plan: he's the Executive Pastor of 2819 Church, the strategist in the room and sharpened in corporate America. And he'll tell you the plan isn't what's doing it. In this conversation, Preston sits down with Lonnell to talk about what it looks like to steward something only God can build, what it costs the people closest to it, and why consecration doesn't earn what God is doing; it just keeps you from getting in the way. In this episode:
Isolation isn't an assignment God gives. It's a choice we make, and it's costing you more than you think. You were never meant to carry the call of God by yourself. So why are you still trying? If you're carrying something heavy right now — a calling, a family, a business, a season you can't see the end of — and you've convinced yourself it's just supposed to be you and the Lord, this episode is for you Preston walks through what going it alone really reveals about us, what it quietly costs, and how to start leaning on the people God has already put around you. He speaks from experience, including the 40 days he shut everyone out and the two years it took to recover. In this episode…
What would you give up to keep God close? Preston has walked with Cody Carnes and Kari Jobe Carnes for more than 25 years, going back to the early youth ministry days. In this conversation, the three of them sit down to talk about Psalm 24, what it means to have clean hands and a pure heart, and what it has costs to protect that. Cody and Kari describe purity of heart as something closer to a garden, tended every day, one small weed at a time, because once you've felt God in the room, you never want to feel Him leave it. They're also honest that it costs you. The higher He takes you, the more it's going to cost. In this episode: