Listening to God
Christians are well known for prayer and as we all know, prayer is the sort of topic which comes up at any christian conference, course or week away we go on. I often find myself asking God for things when I pray and then wondering a week or two later why He hasn't answered my prayer. This may be a childish thing to think, but I believe that we have all probably thought it at least once before. God makes it clear in the Bible that we must listen to Him in so that we can follow in the path He lays down before us.
Some people may say that the first part of the well-known verse Matthew 7:7 ('Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.') tells us that we simply need to ask and God will give us what we ask for. We need to listen for the opportunity God gives us to give us these things.
I use the analogy of a mother and child to illustrate this practise: as a child, you may well ask your mother when tea time is, but you have to stay and listen to her response in order to know what time it is. If you don't stay, you will probably eventually get tea, but you won't know when it will come. You must wait for the answer of the question you yourself have asked.
Luke 8: 21 (NIV) says: 'He (Jesus) replied "My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practise."' Jesus is talking about His christian family not His genealogical family and personally I would love to be included in Jesus' family. Therefore, I take this verse to mean that it is imperative to us to listen to God. By listening to Him, we can know what He wants us to do and if we know this we can do His work, thus completing the second part of the verse. THIS is how we can start to do God's work on earth; we need to open our ears to Him first.
Listening to Others
This can be a way in which God speaks to us, lets us know His plans.However it can also be a vital part of our relationships with other Christians and non-Christians. When we are there to listen to people, they often feel safer around you and friendship can bloom through these relationships. If this relationship is between yourself and a non-christian, it can be a great time to offer to pray for them if they tell you of some terrible or terrific event that has happened in their life. Listening to others is also a way to love our neighbour as Mark 12:31 tells us to. Listening is a way of respecting others.
For example, I was at our church's youth Bible study on Monday when the majority of attendees were discussing various issues by themselves; the poor girl who had prepared the Bible study is quite shy and hardly the type to interrupt others. I found out later that the fact that the others hadn't listened to her had really upset her. Some people just simply like being listened to, perhaps they have no one at home to talk to. They may be lonely, or maybe they just find you a bit interesting. You never know what people will tell you until you let them try and as cringy as it is, I will say it... you may also need them one day to listen to you, so treat others as you wish to be treated.
So to round up...LISTEN! Some methods I have acquired from friends of the best ways to effectively listen to God are as follows (these must be quite good as they work for me and I get very easily distracted):
- sit in a darkened room or a dimly lit one with your eyes closed and just think about God
- sit with some christian music on in the background, try thinking about the lyrics and what they mean
- draw some pictures even if you think you're rubbish at art, God may bring something into your mind to draw
God is good!
