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| Glasses, in Glen Arbor, Michigan |
When I was teaching at Faith Bible Seminary in NYC this past week more than one person told me they had difficulties in hearing the voice of God. How can we grow in hearing from God?
Here are my thoughts.
Don't try to hear from God. Don't work hard at this. Hearing doesn't come by striving.
Instead, focus on living an abiding-in-Christ life. In a life of continual abiding, which includes having a praying life (i.e., you actually pray for extended periods of time), my expectation is that you will begin to hear God's voice, spoken to you.
Simply spend much time with God. When God speaks to you, write it down.
Saturate yourself in the Scriptures. Read the Word, and meditate on it. Memorize portions of it. Scripture memorization is a way of meditating on the Word. While meditating, when God speaks to you, write it down.
Hang around people who do these two things. I learn much from being in community with brothers and sisters who have praying lives, and who immerse themselves in the biblical story. When God speaks to me through them, I write it down.
Finally, use this as a devotional guide for a year - Hearing God Through the Year: A 365-Day Devotional, by Dallas Willard. Dallas shows us how to recognize the voice of God and act on it.
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See also my book Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God.
