Join me for helpful a collection of thoughts, tips, quotes, and articles to overcome the struggle of listening to God. Hearing God is a great longing of our souls.
Have you ever wanted to learn to play an instrument? Years ago I dreamed of learning to play the piano. I envisioned my fingers dancing across the keyboard making beautiful music.
And then I started taking lessons. Oh mercy, it was a slow process!
Learning to read music was like learning a new language. My brain was slow to translate the notes to my hands. Fingers stiff and cumbersome, I plodded. I stumbled and plinked, making many mistakes.
Definitely not the beautiful, free-flowing music I had imagined.
When it comes to spiritual growth, learning to listen to God is also a process that takes time, intention, and effort. Because we can’t see God, and most of us don’t audibly hear Him, it can be frustrating to recognize His voice.
Developing our spiritual ears to hear God is much like learning many new skills.
For years, I would hear someone talk about hearing God in a way that made me feel like a second-class Christian. I wondered why God didn’t speak to me in the same way.
Impatient with the process of spiritual growth, I longed to skip the learning process somehow feeling it wasn’t okay to be a beginner.
Maybe you can relate to that inner hesitancy to go through the imperfect progress of learning.
Beyond the borders of the pages of the Bible, God also speaks through our thought, intuition, and conversation, as well as through the preaching of His word and the wise counsel of other Christians. His Words to our hearts are often infused with our own thoughts.
Was that God or was it me?
[tweetthis]Have you ever wondered if you were simply talking to yourself rather than hearing from God? Yes, me too! [/tweetthis]
As we grow in our relationship with God, we begin to recognize how He communicates with us. Incorporating the spiritual activities of reading and reflecting on God’s Word, prayer, and journaling into our regular rhythm of life provides a training ground for getting to know God personally.
My favorite journals have lots of lined pages, giving plenty of room to write. I always keep my eye out in the notebook section of Target for sales.
The more we know God, the more we make intentional choices to trust Him moment by moment. (I wrote a chapter on listening to God in my book, Holy in the Moment).
3 Inspiring Quotes on Listening to God“
“You will never know more about God than the Spirit teaches you. . . If He doesn’t teach us, we can never know. He is our illuminator, and if He doesn’t turn the light on, we can never see. He is the healer of our deaf ears, and if He does not touch our ears, we can never hear.”–A.W. Tozer, The Mystery of the Holy Spirit, 75.
“The best guard against any handling of Scripture that leaves our souls untouched—and ourselves unchanged—is surrender to the cleansing, forming flow of the Holy Spirit. Simply this means opening our whole selves—mind, body, spirit; thoughts, behavior, will—to the open page before us. We seek far more than familiarity with the text alone; instead we are focusing our attention through and beyond the text to the God whose reality fills its depths.”–Richard Foster, Life With God: Reading the Bible for Spiritual Transformation, 62.
“The regular discipline of Bible reading helps us to recognize how God speaks through our thoughts as we read. Instead of drifting in one ear and out the other, truth begins to transform our distracted minds. As God speaks, reading, listening, and revelation merge like threads woven into a single cord. Our sluggish thoughts perk up with increased understanding and discernment. What we may have glossed over catches our attention as a specific truth, instruction, or detail stands out.
Over time, we notice the difference between God and other voices because of the truth, content, wisdom, and clarity of the thought.”–Ginger Harrington, Holy in the Moment, p.
My Favorite Tip for Listening to God
In a recent guest for Faith Spilling Over, I shared 7 helpful ways to listen to God. Here is the tip that has helped me the most to learn to listen to God:
Read the Bible as a conversation with God. The Bible is God’s Word to us. As we read, we are hearing from God as the Holy Spirit begins to engage our minds, drawing our attention to particular concepts. Meditating on the truths God brings to our attention is a way of continuing the conversation.
Discover 6 more helpful ways to listen to God in the rest of this guest post. Click here to read more.
[tweetthis hidden_hashtags=”#listeningtogod #hearinggod”]A great a collection of thoughts, tips, quotes, and articles to overcome the struggle of listening to God.[/tweetthis]
My Top Posts on Listening to God
Growing in relationship with God through hearing His Word is one of my favorite topics to write and speak about. Here are a few more articles to help you to recognize the way God is speaking to you.
Simple Ways to Meditate on God’s Word
One of my most popular posts in 11 years of blogging. This was also my favorite post to write.
Discover 6 Important Truths About Listening to God
Another top post from my archives on listening to God. The Holy Spirit changes our lives as He opens our ears, awakens our attention, and we respond…one day at a time.
Moments to Pray, Listen, and Think Bring Us Closer to God
Filled with reflection questions and content from these chapters of Holy in the Moment, this post will give you a good taste of content from the book as well as a glimpse of the study guides for the book that are free downloads in my Subscriber Library. Sign to join my newsletter for this download and the many other printables, ebook, and workbooks in the library. Sign up here.
10 Benefits of Reviewing What We Learn from God
In this how-to-post I share how reviewing my journal helps me to listen to God and see the big picture of what He is saying to me over time. The free printable is available in my Subscriber Library.
Overcome Three Problems of Careless Listening
You’re Invited to Join the Holy in the Moment Community
The Holy in the Moment Community is a private FB group where I post daily encouragement to grow closer to God centered around concepts for spiritual growth from my book. Growing together in community is another great way to learn to hear God. Request to join the community here.
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