For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, [5] because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake.

1 Thessalonians 1:4–5 NIV

In a recent podcast episode, I discussed something we believe in here at Deep Spirituality: biblical Christianity. Biblical Christianity is simple Christianity. It’s not about following our own traditions or denominations, but about the gospel, pure and powerful. It’s about following Jesus and his Word, undistracted by human preferences, opinions, or cultural baggage.

This is where God has been leading Deep Spirituality from the beginning. Recently, I’ve put a name to this mission: making God audible.

When God becomes audible, we develop deep conviction. Or, as Eugene Peterson translated the above verse, the Holy Spirit puts steel in our convictions:

When the Message we preached came to you, it wasn’t just words. Something happened in you. The Holy Spirit put steel in your convictions.

1 Thessalonians 1:4-5 MSG

Biblical Christianity is about removing the veils over our hearts caused by inherited interpretations of Scripture so we can hear God clearly. When God is audible through Scripture without hindrance, our faith grows. As our faith grows, we see real change in our lives.

You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.

James 2:22 NIV

What happens when God is audible

“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. [35] Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.

John 4:34–35 NIV

I believe the harvest Jesus describes in John 4 is not about organized religion, but open hearts. It’s people responding to the voice of God as revealed in his Word.

The harvest is made up of people who want God, not religion. But if we trade truth for tradition, God will send the harvest somewhere else—wherever people can hear him clearly.

Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.

Matthew 21:43 NIV

If those of us in organized religion make God audible, then those open hearts will find us. But if we worship “golden calves”—our past, our preferences, or our pride—then we’ll end up valuing traditions more than truth.

And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”

Exodus 32:4 ESV

Like the Israelites in Exodus, we can easily replace God with cheaper, human-made gods. When that happens, God will send the open hearts elsewhere—wherever the unvarnished truth can be heard, where people can become followers of Jesus rather than tradition.

This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.”

Jeremiah 23:16 NIV

The goal isn’t to abandon church community, but to ensure that our churches remain places where God’s voice is clearest and most central. We should become places where Scripture shapes our practices, rather than places where traditions shape our interpretation of Scripture.

When a church community is spiritual, it actually amplifies God’s voice through collective study, accountability, and worship. But we must make sure to guard against elevating human leadership, preferences, or institutional maintenance above faithful engagement with God’s Word.

Spiritual but not religious

Most people in today’s world want God. They just don’t find him in religion.

Data shows the vast majority still believe in God—whether they call him “Father” or “a higher power.” But they are looking for him outside church buildings, because too often, church is no longer where people hear God.

But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?

Romans 10:14 NLT

This doesn’t mean we need to make church more “relatable” at the expense of watering down God’s Word. It means we must become more spiritual—rekindling a deep, reverent devotion to Scripture. Making God audible begins when we exalt his Word in how we read it, respond to it, and teach it.

So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.

Romans 10:17 NLT

God’s Word is not chained

Everything we do at Deep Spirituality is about learning how to become these spiritual people who hear God, walk with him, and help others do the same.

… for that [gospel] I am suffering even to [the point of] wearing chains like a criminal; but the word of God is not chained or imprisoned!

2 Timothy 2:9 AMP

While we may not be in physical prison, we can allow God’s Word to be imprisoned by neglect, compromise, or the exaltation of human opinion. But God’s Word is powerful, and not meant to be weighed down by tradition.

Let us not chain God’s Word. Let us become spiritually powerful—not through self-promotion or religious conformity, but through the conviction, clarity, and happiness that come from living in an audible relationship with God.

This is where you come in

As I’ve expressed throughout The Chemistry Lab, I’m passionate about making God audible. I believe the Bible—from Genesis to Revelation—is meant to help us discover him. My dream is to create a community of people who believe in and live out biblical Christianity—the simplicity of living life by Scripture without the baggage of religious performance.

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.

Colossians 2:8 NIV

New podcast episode: Making God audible

For our newsletter this week, I recorded a new podcast episode where I talk about this very idea—what it means to make God audible, and what’s next for Deep Spirituality.

I appreciate everyone who’s been on this journey—reading, sharing, reflecting, and asking for new tools. In this episode, I’ll share a few of those tools we’re working on to help you hear God more clearly.

Some of these tools will literally make our content audible, allowing you to grow spiritually even as you go about your day.

Tools for making God audible

Scripture Playlists

Curated scripture collections in podcast form with a theme, light commentary, and questions for application.

Our most recent episode is titled “Beyond the Surface,” and is an audible Bible study on superficiality vs. spiritual depth.

Deep Reads

Audio versions of Chemistry Lab newsletters. These are for when listening is easier than reading.

Past editions available:

• A new space for spiritual people in superficial times.
• Destiny, dreaming, and resisting the “reasonable.”
• We’re all a little stuck. But there’s a way out.
• Fire in the lab, flow in the spirit.

The Best Life series

Practical, relational devotionals designed to apply biblical insights to everyday life.

Try these with friends:

• Shake It Off, Talk It Out: A Spiritual Guide to Resolving Conflict
• Heart Over Hustle: How to Spiritually Handle Our Finances
• Love, Listen, Learn: Why Relationship Skills Matter

How you can help

Every time you subscribe, share, or respond, you’re helping make God audible to someone who needs to hear him.

As they listen, their secret thoughts will be exposed, and they will fall to their knees and worship God, declaring, “God is truly here among you.”

1 Corinthians 14:25 NLT

We’re building something together. A community. A movement. A rediscovery of what it really means to hear God.

Let’s keep going.

Listen to the podcast:

• Spotify
• Apple
• Website

Get in touch:

• Contact: ChemLab@deepspirituality.com
• Tag discoveries: #ChemistryLabFire