ArticlesHow To Hear
From God
Printable Version
Would
you like to be able to hear from God? How often have you prayed
hard about something, but didn’t receive an answer? Does God really
hear your prayers? And, if so, how can you hear what He has to say
to you?
This article is
designed to equip you with the tools and know-how to really and
truly hear from God. To be able to understand the direction He
wants to take your life in, and to receive understanding and
guidance on those things closest to your heart. If you need to hear
from God in a way you never have before, this article is for you.
First of all, you
can be assured that God does hear and answer prayers. The
Apostle Paul said in Philippians 4:6-7 that you should make all your
requests known to God through ‘prayer and supplication’ and that the
peace of God will keep your heart and mind through Christ Jesus.
And Jesus said in Matthew 21:22 that, in all things ‘whatosoever ye
shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.’ Lastly, David
refers to God as ‘O thou that hearest prayer’ in Psalms 65:2. In
the bible, there are many examples of individuals praying to God and
many more examples of God answering those prayers. So you can be
assured that when you pray, He does hear you. And, even more
importantly, God wants to hear your prayers.
Before You Pray
It would be helpful if, before you pray, you develop an
understanding of who God really is. You must recognize and
acknowledge that you are communicating with the Creator of the
entire Universe! He is Awesome! He is Majestic! Also, understand
before going into prayer that there are many, many things that we
can never fully know about our Creator. So approaching God in
prayer should be a careful, well-thought out venture. Of course, at
times it will be necessary to pray quickly over some urgent matter,
but, for the most part, you want to devote regular time to prayer
and communion with God. Know that as time goes on and your
relationship with God develops, it will be easier and less
intimidating for you to pray, but if you have not had much success
with your prayer life in the past, this may be a good time to
re-think your concept of God.
Next, in order to
hear from God, you must be in the mind frame to listen. Too
often we approach God with the idea that we are going to tell Him
all about our problems, but rarely do we approach Him with the idea
of listening to what He has to say. Let me ask you this –
wouldn’t you like to spend serious time with God not only praying,
but actually receiving what He has to say? In order to do this, you
must remember that praying to God is not only a time to air out your
problems, but a time for God to talk to you as well. In other
words, it’s a two-way street - a dialogue, not a monologue.
So, after you have
mentally prepared yourself to pray (recognizing what an Awesome God
we serve) and you have prepared yourself to listen, you are ready to
pray! Following are steps that will help to ensure the time you
spend with God is productive for both you and for Him:
Find a Place To Be Alone
Find a place where you can be alone. Your ‘secret’ closet
may not be just an expression, but a real place where you retreat to
get away from the hustle and bustle of the house. Any place is fine
(even outside) if it is relatively free from interruptions. Find
somewhere away from all the distractions, and turn off the telephone
(and the cell phone, and the pager and the Blackberry and the Palm)
and the television set. Turn your phone or ringer off and, if
necessary, leave it in another room so that you will not be tempted
to answer it or check for messages. Close any open doors and shut
any open windows. If you’re outside, find a quiet spot or put on
some headphones, a baseball cap or sunglasses. You want to spend
this time enclosed with God, focused only on Him.
Take Your Time
Give yourself as
much time as you can with God. An hour is great, and a half hour
will suffice as well. And, when you get there – relax! Think to
yourself, I’m not going anywhere. Take a moment to enjoy your
surroundings – the peace, the serenity. Remind yourself that you
are going to live for the moment, forget about everything else and
truly enjoy the presence of God. Take deep breaths. Breathe
in deeply through your diaphragm... Breathe out… Feel your body
relaxing. Remind yourself why you are there – think of how much you
are looking forward to hearing God’s voice; think of how you
much you long to be in close communion with God. Think of how
much it would truly mean to you to understand what God has planned
for your life. Take another deep breath. Prepare to meet God.
Set the Mood
If you were
inviting a friend to dinner or children to your child’s birthday
party, would you invite them over to a dirty house? Of course not!
You would spend days or hours cleaning your house, decorating and
buying party or dinner supplies. Why then don’t we make those same
preparations for God? You hear people talking about inviting God
in, right? But how do you do that? Think about what God would like
– play some nice gospel music. Light some candles for intimacy.
Make your secret closet nice - make sure it’s not cluttered,
messy or dirty. Not only will it distract you, it will not foster
the mood of anticipation and excitement you need to communicate with
God. God will meet you where you are, but wouldn’t it be
much better to greet God in nicer surroundings? Put on some
aromatherapy and have your bible in reaching distance. Prepare your
surroundings as you would for any honored guest. Make sure that you
have prepared a place for Him as you invite Him in.
Get Comfortable
Find a comfortable position to pray in. The bible is
filled with examples of individuals standing up, laying down or
praying in other ways (Jonah prayed from the belly of a fish!).
Find a position that is comfortable for you and you alone – don’t be
guided by what other people have told you is right or appropriate.
It’s okay to lay prostrate, stand up, relax leaning against the back
of a couch or sit cross-legged on your bed or on your floor. Find
some pillows. Dig in. Whatever works for you in this case will
also work for God. It will also put you in a better mood for when
He arrives. Don’t spend one second worrying about form or fashion –
arrange yourself in a position that you can easily remain in for a
good 20 or 30 minutes, because you won’t be going anywhere any time
soon!
Clear Your Mind
You
have a hundred things on your mind. Things that you’ve done that
day, things you need to do and things you wish you had time to do.
If you’re anything like most people, you don’t just have one to-do
list, but several categories of to-do lists! One for home, one for
work, one for the kids, one for your family, one for school, one for
church, and one for your spouse. It’s good to be busy, but having
too many to-do lists can cause too much confusion which makes it
much more difficult to hear what God is trying to say to you. Learn
how to center yourself and clear your mind. Here is a simple
exercise. If you have a candle lit, focus on that little flame that
is swaying back and forth. Slowly drop all other thoughts from your
mind as you watch the different colors in the flame – blue, orange,
yellow, and white. Marvel at this thing that God has done –
bringing such beauty to such a small, little flame. Now is a good
time to think about God. Not talk to Him, but think about Him.
Think about when you first met Him – where were you? How old were
you? What did His presence feel like to you? Revel in those
memories and begin to let them warm you from the inside out. God is
wonderful! Remember the first time you discovered that for
yourself.
Praise Him
As you are beginning
to think about God and remembering when you first met Him, talk to
Him about what you are feeling. Talk to Him about how grateful you
are that He saved your life. That Jesus died for your sins though
he did no wrong. Tell God how you are grateful because of all that
He has done in your life. Remember all the bad times He brought you
through and all the prayers that He’s already answered. And, if He
has not answered any (yet), thank Him that He is taking the time to
listen to you today. Express your confidence and faith in
God. Tell Him how you know that He is capable of solving any
problem you might bring His way. That you know that He is God alone
and though your problems seem so big to you, remind yourself that
they are just a tiny speck in the huge kaleidoscope of this thing we
call life. And, remind yourself that since He created the heavens
and the earth and all that is within these two realms, you know that
He can easily remedy your little situation. Remind yourself
of how big He is and how small your problems are compared to His
Greatness. Tell Him again how grateful you are that He is going to
provide an answer to in response to your prayers.
Ask
For Forgiveness
As you praise God,
you will begin to be reminded of your own unworthiness. And it’s
okay, because we are all unworthy. It is simply impossible to be in
the presence of such a Holy God and not think of every word,
conversation or deed in where ou said or did the wrong thing. To
remember the times when you disobeyed God or clearly did things you
knew He would not approve of. Reflect (momentarily) and then
repent of all those things. Try to be detailed in your recount to
God and offer Him complete access to your heart to clear up any
wrongdoings on your part. It’s very important at this point that
you DO NOT try to hide or MAKE LIGHT of your sins to God. He
knows all you that you have done – He just requires that you
admit to those things to Him so that you can understand the
significance of what you’ve done. Ask Him to forgive you for all
that you remember and for all the things that you cannot. Accept His
open-handed forgiveness of your sins and let those issues go!
Tell Him Your Problems
Now you are ready to share your problems, issues or
concerns with God. You have prepared your heart and your mind, you
have been cleansed of your sins and can boldly approach the throne
of grace. You can feel confident at this point, knowing that
He will hear you and that He will answer your prayers. So, talk to
Him.
Tell
Him about everything that’s on your mind. Yes, He already knows
about it all, but it helps you to get it all clear in your
mind. Take as long as you need to tell Him your story, to talk
about who did what, what was said and why you have a problem with
it. Clearly ask Him for what you would like to have happen in this
situation, but always with the provision that you are more than
willing to let His will override yours. Say something like, ‘God, I
would like to get that promotion, but if it is not Your will, then I
accept that I will not get it.’ And remind yourself at this point
that everything God does is for a reason (even if we don’t
understand why) and, if He says no, there is a reason for that as
well! You have to remember that He sees so much more and so much
further than we ever could. So, if He says yes, no, maybe, maybe
later, or never, accept it! Know that He only does things for our
good and faithfully accept His decision as such. And then thank Him
again for listening to your prayer.
Listen!
This is the most overlooked part of prayer.
Listening to God. We talk and talk and talk and talk and never take
the time to listen to what He has to say. How should you listen to
God? You stop talking. You stop talking, you wrap your prayers up,
you thank Him and then you stop everything else. Sit tight, because
this is where it sometimes gets tough. Now, you listen! And you
wait. And you hope that this is the time He chooses to respond.
And, in your waiting, you think positive thoughts and remain in good
spirits. Don’t try to think about too much, just maintain an
internal silence into which He can speak. Hum a little if you want,
think a bit about what He has done, but, mostly – wait.
And in
your waiting, know one thing with confidence - God will
answer, though it may not be when you expect it to be. Wait at
least 10 minutes for God to respond. And, if you wait and wait and
wait and still don’t ‘hear’ anything – don’t lose hope! Worship Him
and Praise Him as outlined in the last two steps and come back later
to try again. And, if that doesn’t work, come back later and try
again. And, if that doesn’t work, well you get the point, right?
Keep trying until you ‘hear’ from God.
And
how do we ‘hear’ from God? God communicates to us in many different
ways in one-on-one prayer. He will sometimes put a thought into
your head. He sometimes places a song within your spirit. He will
sometimes give you a scripture that’ll send you straight to the
bible to dig out its deeper meaning. He sometimes gives you a
vision or a sudden picture of something or someone in your mind.
It’s very important that you take away exactly what He says or
exactly what is in that scripture, picture or vision - don’t add or
take away anything.
Many
times people ask, does God speak in an audible voice? Scripture
tells us that this very rarely happens, but don’t let that
discourage you. God did and does indeed speak, but it may not be
the way you expect it to be. So be open to however He chooses to
‘speak’ to you.
Reflect
After God has
responded to your prayer, take time to reflect on what He has said
or shown you. Be sure that it was God. How can you be sure that it
is God? There are a few good clues. Know that God will never
contradict anything that’s in His Word, so you need to have a good
working knowledge of the bible. He also will not tell you things
designed to tear you down or make you feel worse about yourself,
without any directions about how to improve or do better. God is a
God of comfort, love and peace. He will not say anything that
contradicts these characteristics. If He tells you that you need to
work on some things, He will also tell you that He will be there to
support you in your efforts. Rest assured - He will never leave you
alone with your problems. At times, you might receive news that is
not so good, but even with this news, He offers comfort – Himself.
He has promised you that the Holy Spirit will provide you with
comfort in your time of need to lead, guide and to teach you. It’s
also good to reflect because it cements in your mind what God has
just told you or shared with you. You don’t want to forget or
misplace one single word that comes out of the mouth of God or
forget any insight that He has given you Lastly, thank Him for
sharing His wisdom and time with you and accept whatever He has told
you faithfully and with an obedient spirit.
Worship Him
Last, but not least, make sure you spend the last few
minutes of your time with God in worship. What is worship? First
of all, only a true believer can worship God. It says in the bible
that you must worship God ‘in spirit and in truth’. Worship then is
a spiritual exercise. Worship can best be described as an intimate
communion with God. It can be wordless, it can be done in dance, it
can be in song or it can be done with outstretched hands, with your
fingers upward, palms facing God (indicating that you are magnifying
God, not in the receiving mode). It is an adoration of God above
and beyond your everyday, normal experience. It is a beautiful,
uplifting experience that fill your spirit with enough of His love
to face any problem you might be having.
Thank Him
You have thanked Him many times during this time or
in these multiple times of prayer - but make sure you thank Him one
last time. Thank Him for answering your prayer, for listening to
your prayer, and for whatever else your heart leads you to thank Him
for. He is worth it and it helps you to have an attitude of
gratitude towards God.
So, in closing,
remember – Pray! And pray often! And be assured that in your time
of need, God will hear and answer your prayers.
Be blessed.
Printable Version
More Articles
|
