DAY 5: HEARING FROM GOD THROUGH PRAYER

I’ve been told by my wife and others that I am a “Type A” personality. Supposedly Type A’s are hard-charging, competitive, multi-taskers. While these qualities can be positive, I have to keep my natural tendencies under control. Because if I’m not careful, I can enter every day on my agenda and my schedule, doing only what I think is right.

That is why I endeavor each day to take time to listen to God. A sound relationship, after all, is a two-way street. Prayer should be a conversation, a dialogue between a child and a Father, between a friend and a Heavenly Friend. So we must make sure that we take time to listen. As important as it is to pray and to record our prayers, it is every bit as important to listen to the Lord.

In Scripture, young Samuel understood how to stop and listen for God’s voice. He didn’t pray, “Listen, Lord, for your servant is speaking.” No, he prayed, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening!” (1 Samuel 3:10) It will do us well to follow suit.

It’s a difficult concept to define, this idea of “hearing” the voice of God. But this much I know to be true: When we pray, asking for God’s guidance, He is faithful to direct our steps. He might open or close a door. He might speak to us through a friend. He might prompt in us some word or deed that we never would have discovered ourselves. John 10:27 says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

And so, we pray. We tell God with sincere hearts that we desire to pursue His will. We ask Him with boldness and great belief to speak to our hearts and shape our ways.

When you delight yourself in God, when you look to Him, listen to Him, and linger in His presence, then God begins to implant His desires on your heart. He begins to change your desires to match His.

To put ourselves in the best position to hear from God, we need to set aside a quiet time every day—a time preferably at the beginning of the day—to be alone with God in order to listen to Him, speak with Him, and open His Word.

In my own quiet, prayerful time, I make sure that I’m on God’s agenda and not just on my own agenda. In prayer I slow down long enough to get my marching orders for the day. Prayer not only changes things, it changes me. It changes my attitude, it changes my priorities, and it gets my life in sync with God’s plan.