hearing God

We've been talking about the importance of listening to God; being present with Him, silent before Him.

This week we started talking about hearing Him. If we're silent, if we're open, if we're making space in our lives to listen; what does it look or sound like when He speaks? How do we hear His voice? How do we know it's His voice we're hearing?

Again, in worship this week, I encouraged us to spend some time in the questions, rather than look for quick answers. One question we ask is "What am I listening for?" (Or to be grammatically correct--"For what am I listening?")

Am I listening only for specific answers to specific questions? Or am I simply listening because God is there, speaking, working, loving, reaching out?

Instead of coming to God only with specific questions or problems or requests, I need to go to God open to hear what He is saying, looking for how He is working in my life, seeking His perspective instead of my own. I need to ask for what He wants, rather than telling Him what I want.

If prayer is about more than just asking and answering, if it's about connecting and communicating with God, them I need to approach Him without an agenda, with more than my prayer list; I need to approach Him truly open for whatever He has to say.

Over the next few days I'll look at some Scripture passages we looked at while talking about this.