Listening To God In Prayer 9

LESSON NINE: LISTENING TO GOD IN PRAYER

Prayer is conversing with God. 

We speak to us, and God speaks to us.

Our prayer life will be much more ineffective, if we are unable to hear something back from God.

Therefore, it is important that we learn not just to speak to God but to hear from Him.

God says: ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know’ (Jeremiah 33:3).

He is a God who listens and answers our prayers.

We are a people who speak but who often don’t listen for an answer.

Many of us love to talk more than we love to listen.

We take the same habits into our prayer life.

When we are praying alone or in the company of others, isn’t it so that mostly we spend time speaking rather than listening?

Yet unless we learn to listen, then our prayer is only a one-way thing which will leave us frustrated and sometimes confused.

Mother Teresa once said:  "I always begin my prayer in silence. It is in silence that God speaks. We need to listen because it’s not what we say but what he says to and through us that matters."

King Solomon said:  "Do not be quick with your mouth. Do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few." (Ecclesiastes 5:2)

Our words need to be few because of the awesomeness of the one in whose presence we stand.

They also need to be few so that we might hear what God in turn has to say to us.

An ancient American Indian proverb says:  "Listen or your tongue will keep you deaf."

If we think we are not receiving answers to our prayers it might be because we have not learned to listen.

For each person who exclaims, ‘Speak (Lord), for your servant hears,’ there are probably ten others who are practicing, ‘Listen, Lord, for your servant is speaking.’

Let’s therefore look at a few things which may help us hear God.

1.)   Believe

We must firstly believe that God speaks.

In the Bible there is the record of God speaking to Adam (Genesis 2).

Again we find God speaking to Noah giving him very specific instruc­tions (Genesis 6).

God speaks to Abram (Genesis 12) and Moses (Exodus 3).

Later on there is the record of God speaking to Samuel (1 Samuel 3:2-10).

He speaks to Isaiah (Isaiah 6:8-9) and to Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:4-5, 7-8).

This of course, is the way we got our Bible; God speaking to and through people.

Jesus said: "By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear." (John 5:30)

In other words, He was listening to the Father.

Elsewhere Jesus said:  "My sheep listen to my voice." (John 10:16)

In Acts 8 God speaks to Phillip.  In Acts 9, He speaks to Ananias.

In Acts 10, He speaks to Peter and Cornelius.

In Acts 16, He speaks to Paul.   So the record rolls on.

He speaks by His Holy Spirit.

Jesus said:  ...          "When He, the Spirit of truth, comes He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you." (John 16:13-14)

If we are to hear God speak then we need to believe that not only did He speak in Bible times long ago, but we also need to believe that God didn’t suddenly go silent when the Bible was completed.

We need to believe that according to the promise given through Jesus by the Holy Spirit,

God still actually speaks and makes things known to us today. There­fore, we need to expect to hear something from Him.

Parenthesis: Characteristics For Hearing The Spirit's Prompting (from Dr. Bill Jones):

¨     Confirms Scripture -- never contradicts (Luke 4:1-13).  Always!  Always!  Always!

¨     Specific, not general.

¨     Leads, (God gets you to do something), does not drive, (Satan pushes you to overdo something.

¨     Simple, not complicated.

¨     Faith, not fear -- Romans 1:17.

¨     Internal (changes in character), not external (changes in circumstances).

¨     Truthful, not deceitful (what is false or a lie).

¨     Clear, not confusing.

¨     Restores relationships, does not destroy relationships.

¨     My faults, others' needs, not others' faults, my needs.

Cautions for heeding Holy Spirit's Prompting, be careful when …

¨     You hear something you desperately want to hear.

¨     There is a contradiction to what you understand the Word of God says.

¨     You are down, discouraged, or sick.

¨     You are being pushed into an urgent, "snap" decision.

¨     You receive contradictory opinions from Christians you respect.

¨     You are tempted to make a decision in a time of weakness that you would not make in a time of strength.

¨     God does not seem to be making a provision.

¨     It is contrary to common sense.

¨     Everything around you is caving in.

¨     There is confusion in relationships.

¨     There is a lack of total inner peace (Col. 3:15).

2.)    Expect To Hear

It’s no use believing something but expecting nothing.

George Mueller who lived in England last century was certainly a man who knew how to pray and who believed that God would speak.

Mueller also expected something to happen when he prayed.

He said that God had not only led him to look after 500 orphans in various homes, but that God had also provided the millions and millions of pounds that were necessary to meet the needs for that ministry.

He said it all happened in response to believing, expectant prayer.

On one occasion when Mueller was travelling to Canada for a speaking engagement, dense fog had settled upon the ocean and the vessel in which he was travelling floated motionless on a silent sea.

So Mr. Mueller knocked anxiously on the Captain’s door and said, ‘I must be in Toronto by Sunday.’

But the Captain replied, ‘In no way can this vessel move without assuming great danger of colliding with another.’

‘I understand,’ said Mr. Mueller. ‘But in 40 years of Chris­tian service I have not failed to keep an appointment. I must be in Toronto by Sunday.’

Then he asked the Captain to join him in special prayer so that the fog would lift.

Embarrassed the Captain agreed.

They knelt and Mueller calmly asked God to lift that hindering fog.

Somewhat intimidated the Captain then started to pray in order to please his anxious passenger.

But no sooner had he begun when Mueller stopped him.

He gently touched the Captain’s shoulder saying, ‘You need not pray because you do not believe.’

As the Captain and Mueller walked out onto the deck a look of sheer astonishment spread over the Captain’s face.

The fog had completely lifted. George Mueller silently stood by with a look which said, ‘Just as I expected it would be.’

Believe that God speaks. Expect to hear and see his response. Then start to listen to him.

3.)    Listen

How do we listen to him?

First, we listen by being still.

God says, ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ (Psalm 46:10)

If you ever try  to talk to a child when others are fidgeting or racing around, it’s almost impossible to get through to have oneself heard and understood.

Similarly, God can not get through to us unless we are first of all, mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually still.

One of the ways we might become still is by sitting down or kneeling or singing a quiet worship song.

If distracting thoughts start to come, things which we may have forgotten to do, they can be written down on a piece of paper and put them aside till later.

If thoughts of guilt or unworthiness come to mind, we need to repent, confess and have done with them.

Then we fix our attention upon Jesus.

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..."(Hebrews 12:2)

When we are still, then we need to be silent.

The prophet Jeremiah said:  "The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him. It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord ... Let him sit alone in silence." (Lamentations 3:25—28)

We seek God by waiting in stillness before him and by remaining silent.

It’s interesting to speculate on why God chose Moses to be the leader of his people.

Aaron was a more eloquent preacher.

Korah was a more natural leader.

But Moses was chosen perhaps because in the 40 years he spent in the desert he had learnt to be still, to be silent and to listen.

Similarly, Paul was required to spend three years alone in Arabia, quietly learning to listen to God.

Sometimes we think that noise is eloquence or that loud­ness and volume is equated with power.

But that is not necessarily so.

God came to Elijah as a gentle whisper (1 Kings 19:12).

Some years ago a shipping company was seeking a wireless operator.

Interested applicants were notified to report for a job interview on a specific day.

Many people arrived at the stated time and soon the waiting room was alive with conversation.

So involved were they in their talk with one another, that among them all only one person heard a series of soft dots and dashes coming over a loud speaker hanging in the corner of the waiting room.

Suddenly that man jumped to his feet and ran through the office doorway.

Later he walked from the office with a big smile because he had been given the job.

The others were very surprised and even complained that they had arrived before this man and hadn’t even been interviewed.

But what had happened was that the owner of the shipping company had softly sent out a message in morse code over the loud speaker system saying that the first man who reported to a particular office would be offered the job.

Only one man was hired because he was the only one listening.

It is only as we listen that we will hear and learn.

So, believe, expect and listen.

But what are some of the ways in which God commonly speaks?

Let’s look at five common ‘hearing aids’ we need to remember.

1.)   The Bible

The first aid God gives us is the Bible.

This is still His primary method.

He has gone to all the trouble of having it written down for us, and so we dare not overlook it.

King David said: "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path."  (Psalm 119:105)

When we are in the dark, nothing is more valuable than to have a lamp which gives light.

It does not show us too far ahead or what’s around the next bend in the road.

Nor does it show what’s beyond the corner of the building.

But any lamp will show us what is immediately in front of us for the next footstep or two.

And that’s all we need to know.

As we meditate on the word of God, we often find that suddenly the Holy Spirit will highlight a verse or a passage and bring it to our attention and we know that God is speaking.

A Pastor (Larry Lea) has said,  "I’d rather fast one meal a day and spend that time reading my Bible than eat two or three meals a day and neglect the word of God. That’s how important the word of God is to me."

2.)   Spontaneous impressions

A second way God speaks is through spontaneous impres­sions.

"You teach me wisdom in the inmost place." (Psalm 5 1:6)

Another way of saying that is, "in the hidden part you shall make me to know wisdom."

In the Hebrew language the word for ‘intercession’ is ‘paga’.

It means a ‘chance encounter’, or an ‘accidental intersecting’.

If we are sensitive enough, God will develop our capacity to hear through spontaneous impressions brought about by the Holy Spirit.

This is why we must develop a personal relation-hip with the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, we only become ware of his nature as we enter into a life of prayer.

Rees Howells of England was a great man of prayer.

Once when he was departing for Africa he got ready to board a train for London where he would board a ship.

But he found that between him and his companion they had only ten shillings.

That was only enough to take them about 20 miles on the train.

Rees Howells later wrote about what happened:

‘We felt sure the money would come so we went to the platform to wait for it to arrive. The time for the train to depart came so we decided to go as far as possible. Leaving the train 20 miles later we met some friends who invited us for breakfast. Surely God had sent these friends to pay the way, we thought. But the departure time arrived and no offers of financial help were given. Then the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, “If you had money what would you do?” I replied, “I would take my place in the line at the ticket counter.’’

      “Well, are you not preaching that my promises are equal to the need?” replied the Spirit. “You had better take your place in the line.”

           So we stood in the line as if we had money for the ticket. When there were only two people before me a man stepped out of the crowd and said, “I am sorry. I can’t wait any longer. I must open my shop.” He said goodbye and put 30 shillings into my hand.’

Rees Howells had learned to recognize God’s voice through the spontaneous impressions that came to him through the Holy Spirit.

3.)   Dreams and Visions

A third way in which God speaks is through dreams and visions.

Dreams are that which may occur while we sleep.

Visions are that which may be ‘seen’ while we are awake.

To the prophet Joel God said: "Afterward I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions." (Joel 2:38)

That prophecy started to be fulfilled in the book of Acts. Peter referred to it (Acts 2:17).

Dreams and visions have always been one of the commonest ways in which God has spoken to people.

That was the way in which he spoke to Joseph (Genesis 37) and to Daniel.

The Bible says: "In the first year of Belshazzar, King of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions passed through his mind as he was lying on his bed. He wrote down the substance of his dream."  (Daniel 7:1)

In Asia where I worked for 14 years, many of the people who came to accept Jesus Christ did so because firstly God had spoken to them in dreams.

That is a common experience in many other less developed countries.

It is only in the developed western countries that people have become so rational and seemingly sophisticated as to try to bypass one of the obvious ways outlined in the Bible in which God speaks.

One of the ways God spoke to me concerning my call from ministry in Asia to work in Australia, was through a very specific dream.

We need to reconsider and expect that God will continue to speak through dreams and visions.

4.)  Release and Peace

A fourth way in which God speaks is that we will experience a sudden release accompanied by a deep peace.

We will ‘know’ within our spirit that God is speaking.

Illustration: Kelly Ann and Joel meet.  God put it on her heart to marry me.  Put it on my heart to marry her.  We had a deep peace.

‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.’ (Philippians 4:6).

5.)  Through Others 

A fifth way in which God often speaks is through others.

The Bible says: "Plans fail for lack of counsel but with many advisers they succeed." (Proverbs 15:22)

As we listen to other godly advisers, God so often speaks confirming words through them.

Illustration: Wes Paddock said that my ministry was best in an E-5 area.

It is good to never make a major decision alone.

Always carefully check out a decision with the other people you trust -- perhaps a mentor.

This are person/people should be a believer of maturity who knows how to wait on God and to listen to Him to confirm or otherwise what may be of God for us.

God gives us at least five hearing aids: the Bible, spontan­eous impressions, dreams or visions, release and peace, other believers.

To improve our hearing ability further, we should write down what we think God is saying.

Response

A)  Write Down

God said to the prophet Habakkuk: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets." (Habakkuk 2:2)

For us the modern equivalent would be to keep a notebook of the things that we think God might be saying to us.

As we go back through our diaries or journals we might be surprised to discover the trends of how God has been directing our lives.

If we don’t keep a note of it, we may forget it and that could be to our own loss.

B)  Obey

Finally, whatever God says -- do it!

Obedience is always a major key.

Abraham was such a great man in God to the point where he became called a ‘friend of God’.

This was because he always obeyed.

Jesus likewise calls us friends.

But there is a condition to that friendship.

Jesus said:  "If you love me, you will obey what I command." (John 14:15)

Lot’s of people want to obey but they do not pray.

Some people pray but don’t have the courage to obey.

American preacher Kathryn Kuhiman once said, ‘If you’re going to be led by the Holy Spirit you have to be willing to follow.'

God is unlikely to speak to us if He knows that we have no intention of doing what He asks of us.

Through Jeremiah, God says: "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." (Jer. 33:3).

May it be so as we:

¨     Believe

¨     Expect

¨     Listen -- using our 5 hearing aids

¨     Write down what He says and

¨     Are prepared to obey Him.

CHECKING IT OUT

Story:  "A railway conductor began checking tickets on a morning train and discovered that the first passenger he checked out had the wrong ticket.  ‘I’m sorry sir,’ said the conductor, ‘but you’re on the wrong train. You’ll have to change at the next station.’ As he moved through the carriage checking tickets at random he found that there were other passengers who were also carrying the wrong tickets. It seemed strange to him that so many people should have made the same mistake. Then it suddenly dawned on him. It was not they but he who was on the wrong train!’" 

How many times in life do we find ourselves following a particular course of action, absolutely convinced that we have heard from God correctly, only to find that we were to varying degrees quite mistaken. 

If ‘the ultimate end and the supreme motive for each Christian is the will of God,’ the problem becomes, how do we know we’ve found it?

Sure we pray.  But prayer is usually our talking. We’re not good at listening."

God Himself said: "This is my son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!"  (Matthew 17:5)

How can we become more confident that we are in fact hearing correctly, especially on the major issues of life?

To increase confidence that we are in fact hearing God correctly I offer a few recommendations. Take the best and leave the rest.

1.)  Stop

The apostle Paul encouraged early Roman believers to under­stand that if they wanted to know what God’s will was and to be able presumably to hear Him more clearly, then a pre­requisite for that was that they should offer their own bodies as living sacrifices.

Romans 12:1-2: "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-- this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-- his good, pleasing and perfect will."  (NIV)

This certainly pleases God (Romans 12:1-2).

In short, we have to stop wanting our own will.

The most difficult part of any process is often the begin­ning.

The journey of more accurately hearing God in prayer is not dissimilar.

Dying to self is the most difficult step.

People around the world find it difficult to die to self.

In saying that we are to be living sacrifices Paul was speaking against a background in which animal sacrifice was clearly understood.

Still today in many countries of other religious persuasions animals are regularly sacrificed.

It is a common scene at certain times within the various religious calendars that hundreds of thousands of animals will be purchased, preened and taken to appropriate places to be sacrificed.

The animals are carefully trussed up.

It is then attempted, mostly, to lay them down on the ground, after which their throats are cut and the blood drained out.

Occasionally, an animal will intuitively under­stand that what is about to happen is hardly in its best interest.

It will struggle and sometimes break free and flee.

At that point of course it fails to fulfil the fundamental condi­tion for which it was appointed — to be a sacrifice.

The moment we exercise self-will we also fail to be in a position where we can hear God clearly.

We are, as it were, to lay down as living sacrifices.

Ultimately through listening prayer we may also come to understand what is God’s ‘good, pleasing and perfect will’ on various matters affecting our lives.

There is no other way to commence to discover what God might significantly want to say to us other than by giving up on our own will.

Having done that we need to look into His word.

B.)  Look

In cross-checking whether we have heard from God we should never overlook his already clearly revealed word to us as it exists in his written book -- the Bible.

Psalm 119:105 says: "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

In the same Psalm it says that: "The entrance of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple" (Psalm 119:130).

In the age in which these words were written and still today in many countries, no one would walk out into the darkness without some sort of light and also preferably a stick.

To go out at night without light and a stick is foolish.

People may fall down holes, or step on a snake or slip on animal or human excrement.

There are all sorts of literal pitfalls for the person who walks in darkness.

Often a kerosene or similarly lit lantern is carried.

It shows enough of the way forward just to see what lies ahead for the next couple of steps.

It does not show anything in the far distance nor does it show what may be around the next corner.

But we don’t need to know that.

We need to know only what is the next step.

Revelation of what God wants to say to us comes through the written word in two ways.

Firstly, there is the general revelation of that which is throughout the Bible.

There will be principles by which we are meant to live.

There will Scripture which pertain to specific situations in life.

The second form of revelation occurs when we are reading through the Scriptures and suddenly the Holy Spirit will, as it were, hit us between the eyes with a verse or a passage in a way which we may never have noticed or applied ever before.

This is known as a ‘rhema’. It’s a particular revelation that the Spirit wants to give us at that time to meet a specific situation.

Either way, we must be diligent in searching constantly in the word of God where so much that we need to know is already revealed for us.

We also need to keep in mind that God is never going to speak contrary to His word.

That will become clear as we also listen to godly counsel.

C.)  Listen

The book of Proverbs strongly advises seeking out good counsel (Proverbs 11:14; 12:15; 15:22 and 20:18).

Each person knows some other believer whom they respect in God, who may or may not hold office within a local church community.

It may be a pastor, a deacon, an elder or it may just be a godly relative or mature friend.

Whoever it is, we are well advised to check out with more mature people who know us well as to the accuracy of whether or not we are hearing appropriately from God.

Unless it is confirmed by some such, then it may be that what we think we hear is little more than that which arises from our own desires or emotions.

Stopping, looking and listening are the first three basic steps in the process of hearing God more accurately.

I am teaching my boys to stop and look both ways before crossing the road, because failure to do so may cost them their lives.

In life in general, we may similarly be splattered, broken or hurt if before we act, we fail to stop, look and listen to God (which is precisely what happened to Kings Jehosophat and Ahab (2 Chronicles 18).

But having done that we are at least ready to test the situation.

D.)  Test

The test of circumstance is often a great hearing aid but is always open to abuse.

We have an innate tendency to interpret the significance of circumstance in terms of our own desires.

If the prophet Jonah had walked into some of our churches today without our knowing the background of what God had told him to do, he could have fooled many by giving a fantastic testimony all based on circumstance.

He could have spun a story about how he just happened to be walking along the wharves and he just happened to find a sea-captain who just happened to have a ship on which there just happened to be one remaining empty berth and he just happened to have the right amount of money to pay for his ticket and it all happened sequentially so perfectly it could only be God!

It would sound so plausible and persuasive a story that we would buy into it and confirm it with a ‘Praise the Lord’, if we didn’t know that instead of sailing south­west, God had told Jonah to walk north-east to Nineveh.

The problem with circumstances is not only do we mis­interpret to benefit our own comfort, but they can be deceiving.

In Joshua 9, we read how the Gibeonites dressed themselves as if they were ambassadors from a different nation.

In fact they were immediate neighbors to the newly promised land.

But their disguise was so effective as to fool the Israelites who did not seek the counsel of God but allowed themselves to be persuaded solely by circumstance (Joshua 9:14).

The concept of Gideon’s fleece (Judges 6) is helpful but it is never the final arbiter in cross-checking the accuracy with which we think we may be hearing God.

E.)  Trust

No matter how many checks we put in place, ultimately we are required to walk by faith (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Hebrews 11:1).

It is only as we step out in faith that we are going to prove whether or not through prayer we have accurately heard God.

There are plenty of people who boast that they hear God clearly, but then carefully manipulate circumstances so as never to be obliged actually to put their discernment to the test.

In Thailand, often came to river cross­ings where ‘the bridge’ was only a few boards and bamboo poles lashed together. Somehow I had to cross with my pick-up truck.

The question sometimes was, would the boards and bamboo support such weight?

Sometimes, I wasn’t sure, but would proceed across.

In the same way, when we believe that it is God who has spoken, we must move forward in faith.

F.)  Peace

One of the first indicators that the step we are taking is truly that which we have heard from God or not is whether we retain peace (Isaiah 26:3).

Peace is something which is difficult to describe because it’s beyond understanding (Philippians 4:6-7).

But that which the Bible says we will have, is something which we know when we’ve got it and we surely know when we’ve lost it.

If in prayer we have heard accurately and are responding appropriately then that peace will be retained.

If we lose it, we need to return immediately to the place where we last had it. And in all of this we are never alone.

We have the Holy Spirit.

G.) The Holy Spirit

In prayer, often it seems that God is silent.

For whatever reason we don’t seem to be able to hear Him.

We then imagine that we are bereft, abandoned, left alone in the universe to fend for ourselves to stumble into an uncertain future.

We need to remind ourselves that the Holy Spirit is there to help and to guide us, whether or not we are aware of his presence. (John 14:15, 26, 27; 16:7, 13, 14).

Jesus made very specific promises as to the Holy Spirit’s availability to us and his guidance of us.

The record in the book of Acts is one of the church praying and waiting on God for the answers brought to them by the Holy Spirit.

He did then and he still does today. Just as the earliest disciples had to wait in Jerusalem for both their empowerment and their direction, so today we also may be obliged to wait.

But that requires an application of that all too scarce commodity — patience!

I.)  Patience

Peter reminds us that: "With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise as some understand slowness." (2 Peter 3:8-9)

To this, the writer to the Hebrews adds: "...do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised." (Hebrews 10:35—36)

Today we live in a world of instant gratification — instant dessert, instant tea, instant coffee, instant soup, instant marriage, instant divorce, instant birth through IVF and instant death through euthanasia.

We even wear watches which measure time in hundredths of a second, of which we are never likely to take any notice.

When it comes to waiting upon God in prayer we forget that he for whom ‘a thousand years are like a day,’ is seldom in the same hurry as our busy little minds demand of Him.

If God does not immediately answer, we say He has gone on holiday or He’s not listening.

Either way we’ve got no answer. So what’s the point of prayer?

We forget how long it took the angel to reach Daniel with the answer to his prayer (Daniel 10:12-13).

We forget that God is not required to pay His debts the way many of us are, according to the various taxation regimes and end of financial year commitments in the countries in which we

live.

He requires patience. Patience may not change our circumstances but it will surely change us.

For us patience which is meant to pass on to perseverance seems an unreasonable burden.

So we chop our prayer life and pass on quickly to some other activity.

But it seems that as we look at nature we can learn great lessons.

After fresh rainfall, streams on mountain sides could not sing if all rocks were removed from them.

When we encounter a ‘rock’ or similar difficulty in the pathway of our life, we want it kicked aside.

If we did that with mountain streams, we’d end up with little more than mud sluices.

Do we want our lives to sing and bubble like mountain streams or just to slurp like pig’s swill?

We need to remember that as we are waiting on God in prayer for Him to speak, when things get tough or hot we do not move.

People and pressures shift, but the soil remains the same wherever we go.

That to which I have referred above merely indicates some of the listening and cross-checking devices we need to develop.

It is good to never reach a major decision unless every one of them is in place.

It’s like bringing a plane down to land or guiding a boat into harbor.

All the lights on the starboard and port sides as well as the glide path need to be lined up accurately and precisely.

If one or two of them are out of position, the danger is there will be a crash of the plane or a grounding of the boat.

When the above indicators are in place, we can be far more assured that we are hearing God more accurately.

He certainly wants to make known his ways to us even more than we might want to know them.

Remember the best way to hear God’s guidance is to get to know the guide (John 10:3 - 4).

______________________________

Sources:

Jones, Bill. Walking in the Spirit.  Class Notes for: Leadership for Mobilizing the Church. Columbia, SC: CIU, 1999.

Robinson, Stuart.  Positioning For Power: Kneeling Low In Prayer, Standing Tall In God.  Kent, England: Sovereign World Ltd., 1998.