Is That Really You, God? Hearing the Voice of God is Loren Cunningham’s account of how Youth With A Mission started and how he learned to recognize God’s guidance along the way. It was written with Janice Rogers, and YWAM Publishing has kept it in print for decades. It has been translated into more than 150 languages.
Set your expectations correctly: this is a missions memoir, not a how-to manual. Cunningham teaches by telling you what happened to him, including the parts where he got it wrong.
What the Legacy Edition adds
Two things. The first is a closing chapter called “On to Eternity,” where Cunningham lays out his final appeal: that the Bible be translated orally into every mother tongue on earth. The second is “Grateful Reflections,” a tribute from senior YWAM leader David Joel Hamilton, who worked alongside him for decades.
That chapter reads differently now. Cunningham died in October 2023 at 88, so “On to Eternity” is effectively his last word in print. If you already own an older copy, the Legacy Edition is the reason to buy it again.
The core idea
Cunningham’s argument is that hearing God is not a gift handed to a special few. He walks through how he tested what he thought he was hearing: checking it against Scripture, submitting it to other believers, watching whether circumstances confirmed or contradicted it, and being willing to be told no. The famous story is the vision of waves of young people covering the continents, which he had as a young man and spent the rest of his life acting on.
The value here is the testing. Plenty of books tell you God speaks. This one shows a man checking his own impressions carefully over sixty years, which is more useful than a list of principles.
Readability
It reads fast because it is narrative. Cunningham writes plainly and keeps moving. There is no study guide, no discussion questions, and no chapter exercises, so if you want to use it in a group you will need to write your own questions.
Who it suits
Good for anyone weighing a decision about calling, work, or moving, and good for someone suspicious of people who claim God told them things, because Cunningham is suspicious of that too. Less useful if you want systematic teaching on discernment. It is one man’s story, and he is honest that his experience is not a formula.
Bottom line
A durable missions memoir with a genuinely useful thread running through it about how to test what you think you are hearing from God. The Legacy Edition is the one worth owning now that Cunningham’s final chapter is in it.
Check the current price of Is That Really You, God? on Amazon