The Prayer Practice -listening and being with God

Listening To God

John 10:27 NIV

27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

Luke 10:39 NIV

39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.

1. Jesus

Hearing God’s voice begins and ends with Jesus as “The Word.”

John 1:1 NIV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14 NIV

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

2. Scripture

The slow, quiet, and prayerful reading of a short passage, also called Lectio Divina

2 Timothy 3:16–17 NIV

16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

3. Circumstances

Learning to discern how God is coming to you through events or non-events.

Psalm 139:7–10 NIV

7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

I always look to God in my circumstances good or bad. If something happens I immediately look to my Father to how he’s going to use it. either have me waddle through it or a possible pivot and total change of direction.

I don’t try to save myself, defend myself, or promote myself, I wait, I serve.

How can I use my current state to allow God to be glorified.

He opens doors, closes doors, He redirects,

Not every event is a direct message from God. Some are natural occurrences, consequences of actions, or the work of the enemy. We need to discern all of it.

Romans 8:28 NIV

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him….

4. Desires

Listening carefully and critically to the desires of your heart to discern God’s voice.

Proverbs 4:23 NIV

23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

Psalm 37:4 AMP

4 Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart.

5. Prophecy

Opening yourself to God and wait for a word from Him through Scripture, a picture, or a vision.

1 Timothy 1:18 NIV

18 Timothy, my son, I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well,

2 Timothy 1:6 NIV

6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

Carry the Ark of God-His presence. 4Square Pastor

6. Listening Prayer

Waiting quietly for God to speak to your mind and heart through guided thought.

1 Corinthians 6:19 NIV

19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?

Being With God

As a rule, you can gauge the intimacy in a relationship by how comfortable you are being alone in the silence. Early on relationships are full of words and activity. As you grow over time there are still words and activity, but you also come to deeply enjoy just being with each other.

The ancient biblical metaphor for this is marriage. There’s a level of inimacy in marriage that is the intermingling of persons at the deepest level. It is wordless, ywt a for of communication an communion. This type of wordless prayer has come to be called “contemplation.”

Contemplate: to view or consider with continued attention : meditate on

Biblically: to look, gaze upon the beauty of God, receiving his love pouring out toward you in Christ by the Spirit, and then giving your love back in return.

Genesis 3:8 NIV

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day….

2 Corinthians 3:18 NLT

18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.

2 Corinthians 3:18 MSG

18 All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.

Psalm 1:1–3 NIV

1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, 2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. 3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.

Psalm 1:4–6 NIV

4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.