Hearing God

In last week’s post, Seeking God Every day, we discussed how important it is to seek out God. Our relationship with God depends on spending time with Him – time that we set aside each and every day. We bask in the beauty He has created, read His word, worship Him, praise Him, and talk to Him. However, the most important thing we can do when we are spending time with God, is listen to Him.

We often go to God with decisions we need to make. We go to God for guidance. We ask God questions… Then we forget to listen.

Listening to God can be hard. There are so many worldly and fleshful things that prevent our ears, minds, and hearts from hearing God. There is no doubt that God answers our prayers:

“You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.” 

 - John 15:16

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” 

 - Matthew 7:7

“Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you will receive them, and you will have them.” 

 - Mark 11:24

            However, sometimes when God answers our prayers, and we do not hear His responses. We become too distracted with everything that is going on. With Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Vine, and every other social media site there is out there, it is very easy to get lost in a whirlwind distraction. Television, movies, and video games also bring us distraction. Am I saying we should avoid these things at all costs? Not at all! I definitely enjoy a good movie or TV show every now and again. However, everything should be done in moderation. If we are always consumed with the things of today, when are we leaving time to hear God? 

This also applies when it comes to work, volunteering and even family. These things are important to us and we always need to put our best foot forward, but we cannot let these things overwhelm us to the point where we are unable to hear our Heavenly Father talk to us. We get so caught up in the “right here and right now” of the world we live in, that we forget to listen to God.

            Because God has created each and every one of us differently, He speaks to us each in different ways. Sometimes He speaks through His word or through time of worship, sometimes He speaks through other people, and sometimes He speaks through the circumstances we are in. God can use dreams or visions to speak to us – or we can even “hear” the Holy Spirit within us. There will even be times where God will use every way possible to assure us that we are hearing Him and what He is saying to us!

            Last week, I wrote about how we should set time aside to seek God every day. We should be showing Him how much our relationship with Him means to us. However, God does not always speak to us right then and there. As we walk into our busy schedules this week, let us keep this in mind. God could be using anything and everything around us to speak to us – we just have to be open and willing to hear what He has to say!

           

~Cassandra Whitworth