Welcome friends! Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to visit. If you found your way here through my P31 Encouragement for Today devotion, “Living in the Hear and Now,” I’m so glad you stopped by. I hope you’ll stay a while and make yourself comfortable.
One of my deepest desires is to be a woman who listens to God. But, I don’t always get it right. Sometimes I’m not sure if it’s God talking or just me thinking. Ever wondered that?
I also I admit, I’m not always crazy about what I sense God telling me to do. Yet I’ve learned over the years that when I listen to God, I discover His best for me. And I grow in my trust in Him.
I’ve seen again and again that His ways lead to His goodness. And when I follow Him, His mercy follows me.
As I shared in my devotion today, I went through a season of learning how to really listen closely so that I could experience a day by day abiding in God’s presence and plans. I thought I’d been listening to Him all along, but my prayers reflected that I wanted to know where to invest my efforts. In a still small voice God showed me that He wanted my ears more than my efforts.
He was more concerned about character than my calendar. I realized that many times I’d sought God for the larger plans in life, convinced that if I figured out what He wanted me to do I could become the person He created me to be.
Have you ever thought, “If only God would show me what job to take; what man to marry; what church to attend – then my life would be complete and I could serve Him with my whole heart”?
The problem is sometimes we get a glimpse of where He wants us to go and then assume we know how to get there. I’ve made that mistake many times and then wondered why I wasn’t getting anywhere.
Jesus depended on the Father for the large and fine print written in His life plan. He listened closely and obeyed quickly. John 5:19 reflects His absolute dependence: “The Son can do nothing by Himself; he can do only what He sees the Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son does also.”
Like Jesus, we will discover God’s purpose for our lives through dependent hearts that seek to listen to His. We will find out what’s on God’s calendar and part of our calling when we live in the hear and now – listening for His voice and obeying it each day, in every here and now.
Questions to Consider
- Do I read my Bible so that God’s words and ways are familiar to me?
- Do I intentionally listen for God’s voice or do I assume I know what He wants me to do?
- If God were to speak to me, would I recognize His voice?
- Is my mind so full of worries that my thoughts drown out the possibility of hearing God’s thoughts?
Steps to Take
- Take time now to quiet your heart and your thoughts.
- Be still and acknowledge that God is God and you are not.
- Tell God your desire to hear Him today and then ask Him to speak to your heart.
- Share with Him your plans for the day and then ask Him to show you His.
- Give God permission to interrupt your thoughts and agenda and lead you in a different direction if He wants to.
- Get ready for a day filled with adventure and companionship as you walk hand in hand with your Maker.
Verses to Ponder
1 Samuel 3:10, “The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
Psalm 119:16, “I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.
John 14:31, “But the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.”
Isaiah 55:2-3, “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live….”
Isaiah 50:4, “The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.”
If you want to become a woman who listens to God, and discover the adventure of faith He has for your life, you will want to read Lysa TerKeurst’s book What Happens When Women Say Yes to God.
I’m giving a copy away to one of you this week! It’s one of my all time favorite books and it kept me inspired to keep my promise to God that I will live in the hear and now! To enter to win, click on the word “comments’ right below this post and share your thoughts or questions about listening to God. Please include your email so I can find you if you win. I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Anything. Just talk to me…I’m listening :0). I love reading what you have to say!
And be sure to come back tomorrow! I’ll be talking more about listening to God and offering a great free resource to help you discern His voice from your own. If you’re new, I want you to know there’s a place for you here and I’d love for you to join us! You can subscribe to updates via email in my sidebar, link up in the Google Friend Connect box or become a friend on Facebook!
All the questions you ask sound good, but I have lost all understanding of how to apply them to me personally. I have listened, but probably have not heard. I ask, I try and seek yet feel it is all vanity and is meaningless. I'm hurt feeling like nothing has changed. I am like grass blowing in the wind yet going nowhere. Where is my confidence? I keep trying to state it is in Him alone, maybe it wasn't prayer at all but vanity once more? Trying to listen to God, but I am a failure in that too. Why does He ask failures to do something only to find we failed at that too? I tried to be better, tried to not be better, tried to stop and listen only to hear my own doubt again. When will I end and God begin?
I think each of us have questions about whether it's God talking to us or if it's our own thoughts musing around in our heads. One well-known, well written book that had a profound impact on my ability to recognize God's voice was Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby. I look forward to reading Lysa,s book for even more ways to confirm His voice. I am so grateful for being introduced to Proverbs 31 Ministries! I have sent your web address to all my lady friends. You ladies rock!
I think each of us have questions about whether it's God talking to us or if it's our own thoughts musing around in our heads. One well-known, well written book that had a profound impact on my ability to recognize God's voice was Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby. I look forward to reading Lysa,s book for even more ways to confirm His voice. I am so grateful for being introduced to Proverbs 31 Ministries! I have sent your web address to all my lady friends. You ladies rock!
My daughter sure could use this her job is taking a toll on her!! She wonders if she needs to do something different. I think this might help to guide her, I keep telling her to pray and ask God but she trys to do it on her own.She does alot of second guessing if this is what God wants.
thanks so much!
I really enjoy that when you read God's word and let His truth speak to your heart and direct your way of living, that you can truly be ready to help others and share His truths with them to help them to see His truth and hopefully accept and apply it to their lives as well.
thanks for your ministry – [email protected]
I've discovered that in order to hear God, I have to really be spending a lot of time with Him. I can't just say an evening prayer and think I'm going to heat from him. I must be immersed in his word and praying and writing my thoughts down so that i hear what He is telling me.
Monica
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I also worry if what I think I hear is God, or if it me, but I have found that when it is truly God I feel His love surround me giving me peace in my task. It is not always easy to follow through. Especially in the really hard times. The times in our lives when we feel "let down" by God. We then have to decide to be strong in our faith and know that God does what is best for us, even if we can't understand it at the time. He loves us more than we can comprehend.
Once when I was sick, I had an appointment with the doctor, but was so sick that I needed somebody to take me to the doctor. I could not even stand up coz of pain in my heel. Just lay on the sofa for almost two days just hopping on my good leg for necessities. Even my husband ignored me. Was in lot of emotional as well as physical pain – when I literally heard "why do you fear when I am near". I could go thru anything to hear this again. I am sure it was the Lord Jesus speaking.
I love reading everything you send me. I worry so much and I have a fear of the future.I really want to give it all to God and feel His peace, security and big
trust. I want to feel His pressence in my life but I can't do it fully.
Wow! Just the message God wanted me to hear today. I am struggling with some life altering decisions thinking I know where God wants me to go but not sure how to get there. Maybe I need to listen:)
I certainly needed to "hear" this devotion! It comforts me to know that others deal with the same thoughts of "is this really God speaking, or just me thinking." I think that sometimes I believe God is going to speak to me during my devotional time in the morning, but I realize that He may…or He may not. He might want to speak to me throughout the day! That's a bit tougher because when my day get's going I don't sense His presence as much as a quiet time. I am devoting this day (and hopefully every day after this) to really listening to God throughout the day. Quieting my soul and simply noticing Him in the small things. I can't wait to hear Him even more today and even have Him mess up some of my plans for today!
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