Listening Prayer

Listening Prayer
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I don’t really believe anyone can tell you exactly how to pray. I say this because we all have different ways of approaching our relationships and different ways of communicating. The best anyone can do is to learn what prayer is, how prayer works, what God’s word says about prayer and by experiencing prayer. The way to learn is to do it, and do it regularly. Practice makes perfect! As in any relationship it takes time to get to know the person you are communicating with. Obviously God already knows all about you, but how well do you know God?

Getting to know about God is simple but not always easy. It is simple in the fact that God has already revealed much about himself through the Bible. We can learn about his purposes, his plans and his character when we read scripture. It is not always easy though because God is not human and his character, purposes and plans are bigger than our imaginations. It can take quite some time and study to learn about God. It is not impossible though. God is intent in that he wants us to know him. We know this is true because he sent his son Jesus to show us the truth.

It is also simple to learn how to hear God in prayer. You listen! However it is not easy especially at first because we are not used to recognizing his voice. All people who have come into relationship with Jesus have heard God. I can say this because we cannot come to God but through his calling us via Jesus and the Holy Spirit. If you are a follower of Christ then you hear him. You may not recognize it all the time but you do. The task for you is to now begin to make a conscious effort to distinguish his voice from the others.

Who’s voice?

Many new Christians when they pray wonder just who’s voice they are hearing? Is it God? Is it just myself? Or is it the voice of the enemy? It is possible to hear them all so how do you distinguish one from the other?

God’s voice
Firstly a good knowledge of the Bible will help you recognize God’s voice because whatever God tells you will not contradict scripture. For example God would never tell you to have an affair with a married person. Having said that though there are times when you are seeking God for a specific answer that does not have a moral attribute and has no scriptural precedent.

For example you may feel that God is possibly calling you to move house and you want to know when and where to from there. You will not find a scripture to answer this specifically or a Biblical theology to lead you. You would find a Biblical precedent in that God had called other saints to move house, like Abraham and Sarah but if he is not calling you to the Promised Land then that cannot provide you a full answer. To know just where and when you will have to personally know just what God is saying to you at that time. This requires you to recognize the sound of his voice in your heart. God

however knows our limits and he will go to great lengths to help you hear him. God is patient and will often repeat his message. Very often God will also send his message through different sources at around the same time to verify his message to you. You may hear him in your heart/mind, then a scripture reference may come to you that says something similar, you may find someone comes to you with a message of wisdom that repeats what God is saying, or a hymn or song that speaks the same message may keep bugging you. There are limitless ways that God can do this, some Christians have amazing stories of how God has worked miracles in this area so that they know it is him.

The voice of the enemy.

Now we know that Satan is a liar, he is the one who deceived Eve and Adam, so it is fairly obvious that Satan is not going to give you the truth when he speaks. However he is so cunning that he does not lie in a way that is always instantly recognizable. Think of the story of the frog in the pot of water. If you put a frog in a boiling pot he will immediately jump out because he recognizes the danger. However if you put a frog in a cool pot and only gradually warm it up he will cook because he did not see the danger in time. Satan will get us into trouble gradually. He may ultimately want to get you to have an adulterous affair but he knows that asking you to jump into bed first off is so obvious that you will turn away. Instead he will get you to cultivate a ‘harmless’ friendship with a married person. Gradually he will make this friendship usurp the friendship you have with your spouse and before long you are hooked. Satan also knows the word of God really well, often better than most Christians and he can quote scripture to make his idea seem good. He however will twist scripture out of its context to fit in with his plans and with careful thought and diligent prayer Christians can see the lies.

The voice of self. - Often the hardest to deal with!

It may seem obvious that we know our own voice; however this is not always the case. We can be in denial, caught up in sin or struggling with emotional wounds that cause us to often hide away our deepest feelings. In short we can deceive ourselves. None of us like to admit to hidden failings, or to hidden sins. These things can seem to have voices of their own that often can cloud our hearing in prayer time. I have found that it is often easier to hear an answer for someone else than it is for myself because of these things. I may have a struggle with an inner desire and cannot tell if it is God or me.

There are some ways to overcome this. Firstly you need to start getting honest with yourself and God. Ask God to reveal the hidden things. Ask him to refine you and cleanse you. This will not happen overnight but it WILL happen because it is part of God’s plan for you. He wants you to be healed, he wants you to become like Jesus, he want to make you Holy as he is Holy.

Secondly pray with others who have a mature faith. God knows that we have trouble hearing him when we have wounds and areas of sin and he will speak to you through others if you really want to know the truth. There are Spiritual gifts that God uses to

specifically do this. 1 Cor. 12 has a list of such gifts. Words of wisdom, words of knowledge, words of prophecy, gifts of healing etc.

Here is an example from my own life that illustrates this. While at Bible College I felt God was calling me to go overseas. This excited me because I really wanted to do mission work. I had a personal desire to go to somewhere in Asia. This was because I loved Asian food. At first however when God was trying to get my attention about this I was not 100% sure it was him because I had a natural desire to travel in mission anyway. I waited for a while and the desire grew, so too did the inner excitement. After a couple of weeks I decided that the excitement was from God so I set aside some time to specifically pray about going overseas. I simply asked God if he wanted me to travel and he said yes. Then I asked where, at the same time I was mentally suggesting Cambodia, Vietnam, perhaps Malaysia. I was shocked when the words UK came to my mind. When I asked God to clarify this he went on to say England, Ireland and Scotland (interestingly he did not mention Wales). Then after accepting this information I asked God when and how much money he was going to give to enable this to happen (I had no money). God said in our winter time and that he would provide all that I needed. I spent some time digesting this and even though I was about 70% sure it was God,(especially since it was not somewhere I would pick to go) I decided to ask a friend to pray about it and I asked God to verify the word through this friend. I did not give this friend any specific details I just said I think God is calling me overseas and that he has given me a time and an answer about money. She returned that same day and said I was going to the United Kingdom in about June/July and that God would take care of the money. God also continued to verify his word to me each step of the way as I prayed for money for a pass port, tickets etc he miraculously provided and reassured me. God has often verified his plans for me through others, however the more I have come to recognize his voice the less he does this as he expects me to be able to mature to a point where I can hear him and instantly obey.

Roadblocks in listening prayer.

There are things that can stop you from hearing God at prayer time. All of these things can be dealt with by you with God’s help. They are:

1) Not in relationship with God. Are you a Christian? Not everyone who believes there is a God has entered into a relationship with God. It is possible to go to Church, to read the Bible and still not be a true follower of Jesus. Being a Christian requires not only acceptance of His existence but also a surrendering of your life into His hands. The Bible tells us we need to repent and believe in Jesus. (Mark 1:15) Repentance is acknowledgement of our sin, of our need for a saviour and a willingness to turn our life around and over to him. We are called to stop going our own way and to begin the journey of going God’s way. God’s way is the way of the cross. We enter through the cross of Christ and we are called to live the life of the cross.
Matthew 10:38 -39 “and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Luke 14:27 And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
It is possible to hear from God even when you are not a Christian, God speaks to all mankind trying to get their attention and lead them to Jesus. The problem is though that those who don’t know Jesus don’t know how to recognize that it is God speaking.

2) Willful habitual sin. Is there some sin in your life that you are tolerating and just wont stop, because you don’t want to? That is willful habitual sin. A sin that you have the power to overcome but just don’t bother to do anything about will get in the way of your listening prayer. We all are sinners and all will sin but sins that you are repentant about and have a desire to stop are not the same thing.
3) Disobedience. This is sin too but it is more specifically dealing with something that God has called you to do and you say no. By not obeying you are refusing to move on with God and this can eventually block your hearing. God sometimes says that he is not going to tell you anything more until you deal with what he has already given you.
4) Satan. The enemy loves to block prayer. He can do this by throwing distracting thoughts at you during prayer time. He may be reminding you of past sin and throwing guilt at you. Whatever it is you can tell him to stop it in the name of Jesus. Praising God is also a good way of getting those demons to leave. Praise is powerful stuff.
5) Too busy, too noisy. When you come to prayer time your mind is not fully on the job. You are worrying about stuff and it distracts you, or perhaps you have spent too much time watching T.V and images and sounds from the media are floating through your mind when you come to prayer. What we feed our brain on affects the way we think and consequently can affect how we pray. We need to learn how to switch these things off so we can switch on to God. Making a habit of praying in a quiet place, especially before the day gets really hectic is a good way to overcome this.