Hearing God?

Here are some ways to stir your ability to hear God’s voice and follow God’s leading.

1.  Read the Bible:  Find a small passage of Scripture and read through the passage at least three times.  After you’ve read the passage three times, write out the Scripture by hand.  Pay attention to sentence structure, verbs, nouns, and repeated phrases.  Meditate upon the word as you write.  This exercise can bring new insight to familiar and not so familiar scriptures.

2.  Ask God Yes or No Questions:  I have found it tremendously helpful to ask God specific questions.  Questions such as:  Should I go to church today? Do you want me to pray right now?  Should I talk to her?  Should I give him a call?  Should I give this money away?  Should I get up early?  Should I go to bed?  Should I forgive?  Should I start over?  Should I stay?  Should I go?

I try my best to ask the question and then follow the inclination.  If I feel like God is giving me a yes, then I walk in the yes direction.  I will ask yes or no, yes or no, yes or no, until I really get a feeling for a certain direction.

3.  Bring Specific Names and Faces Before God:  Sometimes our prayers can be entirely self-centered.  When I bring names and faces of people other than me before God, I begin to sense how to pray for and respond to people.

4.  See What God is Doing and Do That:  I often try to visualize my next step.  In other words, I stop and try to picture in my mind’s eye the next step.  This works wonders in my marriage and parenting.  Often God shows me the next step.  I see myself hugging my wife and kids, or walking into the kitchen, or playing a game, or just being present with my loved one.  My response to the vision is to walk the vision out as best as I can.

I’ll share more later.  The important issue is to try and facilitate a better awareness of the voice and leading of God.