Learning to listen to God is a challenging and sometimes frustrating process for many of us. If you have struggled with hearing God, I hope this will help.
“Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son…”–Hebrew 1:1-2a (ESV)
Read God’s Word as a conversation with the Living God.
It is helpful to learn practical ways to listen attentively, with the awareness God will speak. For all of us, this is a process. Time in God’s Word is the training ground where we learn to recognize his voice. Learning to respond to the voice of God comes easier when we read his Word as a personal conversation. He speaks; we listen. We read; he speaks; we hear. We process what we’ve read by getting to know him through his words, responding to what we have learned. This is the heart of a Quiet Time.
Recognizing God’s voice:
God speaks through his Word, and His Spirit leads us by giving understanding as we read thoughtfully. As we read, the Holy Spirit speaks to our thoughts acting as leader, teacher, guide, and comforter. Learning to recognize God’s voice challenges us to fight the tension between the physical and the spiritual, between the auditory and the intuitive. Rather than a verbal conversation, the Holy Spirit speaks by drawing our attention to meaning, reminding us of personal connections, enabling us to understand or remember truth with increasing clarity and depth…
God opens our ears to listen.
“The Lord God has given Me the tongue of disciples,
That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word.
He awakens Me morning by morning,
He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.
The Lord God has opened My ear...”–Isaiah 50:4-5a
The Holy Spirit speaks in the holy space between God’s truth on the page and the thoughts of our heart, calming fears, guiding decisions, revealing answers, convicting sins, strengthening weakness, teaching truth, and stirring up desire to know Christ. Faith that embraces the active presence of Christ through the words of Scripture opens our ears to hear and prompts our will to act.
The word of God and the voice of God work together:
“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart”—Hebrews 4:12 (NASB).
What challenges have you faced in hearing God?
If you are seeking to hear God, like this post and use one or all of the social media share buttons below. I am now on Pintrest, which is a great place to share inspirational photos and quotes from Ginger’s Corner. Just click the Pintrest button:)
So glad you're here. I help busy women—gals like you— build healthy habits for living well with biblical wisdom and practical steps to deepen your faith, increase your hope, and thrive in your purpose.
Ginger, I love the idea you expressed so beautifully that the Holy Spirit speaks in the holy space between His Word and our hearts.
Thanks for commenting, Haiden. It is so helpful to see what stands out. Thanks for being a part of the whole book process. Your encouragement and feed back have been HUGE!
Hi Ginger!
I found you through the BR yahoo group and will be in Eva Marie’s non-fiction practicum. I have a Bible study on Judges I’m polishing. Looking forward to meeting you!
Woot hoot! A new friend! Look forward to meeting you too. Thanks for checking out the blog. Hope you have been blessed by your visit!
I would love to read more on the “Conversation with a Living God” part. That just keeps coming back to mind after having read this a few times. I also love the line, “active presence of Christ through the scriptures” Can’t wait to someday read the whole thing 🙂 For myself, I am seeing connections and themes so much more by hand writing out scripture. Right now studying John with the HelloMornings group. I write out the scripture that we are studying in my journal. It is easier for me to see words that are repeated or a theme if I have to slow down more to hand write it. I then have it next to me through out the day at my chair. I glance over and read the words I have written and it makes it seem like it is a letter written directly to me, if that makes sense. Just taken the words from type written to handwritten makes it more personal. It is helping me see what God is saying to me for that day. On a completely different side note, is there a way to set up your blog to be able to see all follow up comments. Not that you are not on my mind often(because you are), but I often forget to go back and check to see what others have posted on certain blog posts. Only seem to read the next post that you do. I know for other blogs I follow, I love how I get to engage in conversation and build friendships with folks that I never even met in person. Just some thoughts.
Thanks so much for sharing, Angel! I agree that when we write it down it slow us down and increases our focus. Great idea about the follow up posts; I’ll check into it. It is probably just a matter of a plugin or a change of setting. I would love to get people engaged in conversation. You may have hit on one of the reasons with your recommendation. Thanks! Happy Mother’s Day!
what a word i am blessed
I am so very glad this post has encouraged you today! Thanks for joining us here:).
I pray that the truths in this post will open your ears to hear God more clearly as He speaks to you in various ways. Keep pressing into Him, continually inviting Him to speak into your heart. Blessings to you today and every day.