When I’m fasting, I feel like hearing God becomes a little easier. I’m wondering if you’ve had the same experience. For some reason, during my fasts I feel like listening prayer comes more easily, and I’m able to hear God better. For this January fast, we encouraged the Life-Spring family to give up something that gets in the way of God in our lives. Making an effort to put aside those things opens us up to God’s voice even more. In a way, it makes sense that putting aside those things would help us to hear God more clearly and quickly! As I continue to grow in listening prayer, there are a few things I’ve learned that have helped me to understand what it means to hear God’s voice well.
When I go to God in listening prayer, I’m often looking for direction and to hear from God about a decision I’m trying to make (see the bottom of this devo for an example). There are two things I’ve learned about listening prayer that I try to remember.
First, have a look at step 2 in the example below. Before we go into listening prayer, we need to be ready to be obedient. When we do listening prayer, we’re only truly listening to God if we’re also willing to do what God tells us to do. That’s why there’s two parts to the phrase, “listen well, obey quickly.” I think those two things are related. We need to listen well, and obey quickly. We really can’t listen well until we’re ready to obey what God is saying.
I’m learning that being obedient is not just a matter of doing things God’s way one time. It’s not just about one fast, one listening prayer session, one quiet time, tithing once, etc. We need to learn to be obedient to God on a daily basis. I think Karyne said it well in her message. Part of being obedient to God is remembering to put first things first. We need to make sure that we’re loving God first in our lives, always. We’re able to hear God well when we’re spending time attending to God regularly. Like any relationship, relationship with God requires time and attention to grow. We need to put in the effort. When we put the time and energy into our relationship with God, this is when we’re truly able to hear God well.
There’s another thing I’m learning about listening prayer. When I go to God, I need to be reminded that I’m seeking God for His will. God wants to speak and direct our paths. But remember, it’s His path he’ll direct us on, not our own! We’re not praying so that God does our will. We’re praying that God’s will be done. I think this makes a big difference in our prayers. Starting with listening prayer when we pray is quite different from starting with our own requests.
When we begin our prayers with listening prayer, we’re trying to get a sense of God’s direction and will. Then when we pray, we’re praying along the lines of what God wants and the direction God wants to take us, or take the situations on our heart. We’re aligning ourselves with God’s will, and praying into it. Of course, this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t bring our regular requests to God. Part of prayer is asking God to provide for our needs and the needs of others. But even in those things, we can begin by taking them to God in listening prayer. That way, we align our prayers with God’s will even in those situations. I’ve often found that God will speak about directions I hadn’t even thought about or considered before. That’s part of the beauty of listening prayer.
As the Life-Spring family continues to grow in listening prayer, I hope that it becomes second nature to us. May we always have an ear to God, and pray according to His will.
Practice Listening Prayer
Take a moment and ask the Lord a question – practice hearing HIM!
Step 1: Ask God to give you direction in “Church/Family/Work/City – anything you want”
Step 2: Tell Him that you are willing to do whatever He tells you – and mean it!
Step 3: Write down the question you have and ask God to speak to you as you read His Word (Colossians 4 – any chapter you want!)
Example Questions: What do you want me to grow in this season? How can I help others today? How do I parent my children at this time? Should I reach out to someone? How can I help my company? etc.
Step 4: If a word, phrase, sentence or passage seems to stick out and speak to your question, write it down
vs 3, “….”
vs 8, “…”
Step 5: In listening prayer, after your reading, ask God to give you a word, thought, picture, or Scripture to either get direction, or confirm the direction you think you’re receiving
E.g.
Bob: you want me to grow in patience? I don’t have time for that!
God: Now is a good time
Bob: …