Join us this Sunday! In-Person 9:00am & 10:45am, Online 9:00am, 10:45am & 5:00pm

Join us this Sunday! In-Person 9:00am & 10:45am, Online 9:00am, 10:45am & 5:00pm

Join us at the next Sunday worship service:
In-Person
9:00am & 10:45am,
Online 9:00am, 10:45am & 5:00pm

God Is Speaking. Are We Listening?

“The Bible reveals the Father’s overall plan for the world and provides general guidelines for life. But how can we know His specific plans for us? Listening to God is essential to walking with God.” – Charles Stanley. 

Sometimes people need to get our attention and they blurt out, “listen.” When that happens our response is, “I need to hear this.” It could be listening to a teacher’s instructions, or listening to your parents or maybe a friend sharing something they want to make sure we hear. Sometimes we are so busy talking to God through prayer we forget that God wants us to listen because He wants to speak to us. When it comes to hearing from God, often the main question that we need to answer is the most basic one: Do we want to hear from Him?

It is easy to look at prayer as a one-way communication. If we look at prayer as us talking to God, we will miss God talking to us. We all know what it is like to talk with someone who talks but who never listens. It is frustrating. Likewise, God wants us to learn to listen to Him. God has no problem communicating.  Over and over God interacts with people in a variety of ways. God spoke to Daniel through visions, Balaam through a donkey, Peter through a rooster, and of all things, he spoke to Moses out of a shrub. He is a God who says in Isaiah 28:23, “Give ear, and hear my voice; give attention, and hear my speech.” And Proverbs 3:6 (MSG) adds, “Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track.

When we are talking to God in prayer remember to give Him a turn. Give God a chance to speak and when He speaks, listen to Him. Learning to hear the Lord’s voice isn’t complicated. But it does require some discipline to find a quiet place and to allow some time just listening.

Have you ever been in a crowded room where everyone is talking. Your spouse is in the room and if you listen very carefully, you can make out her distinctive voice.  To everybody else who does know her, her voice would have blended into the cacophony, but because you know her, you would recognize her voice. This is how we recognize God’s voice as well. Because we know God, we will recognize His voice even above life’s noise. The more we pause and listen for His voice, the more we will become familiar with it and the more our ears will tune  in to it.  

Discussion Questions: 

  1. How often should you talk to God? 
  2. Friends don’t talk the same way and same time every day. How will you refresh your prayer routine this week?

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