Ask to Listen

In my Bible study this summer, we are studying the book "Soul Shift" by Steve DeNeff and David Drury. It's a wonderful study guide and I highly recommend it. It talks about the different shifts in our life that should occur when we start following after God whole-heartedly. One of my favorite chapters so far that we have studied is the shift from asking to listening.

So many times when we pray, we are asking things of God. "Help me with this," "Give me strength," "Be with these people," "Open this door," etc. And if we're not asking things of Him, we are often telling Him how we think it should be done. "Why did this happen? If only this other thing happened, then this would have fallen into place and I would be much happier."

And trust me, I'm way too guilty of the above mentions of prayer. But I think we all know deep down what the book Soul Shift has to tell us about prayer - that when we fully surrender, we will listen for the voice of God instead of covering it with our own. However, most people (myself included) think that God's voice comes as a loud booming voice that splits the clouds or something like that. But in all actuality, have you ever heard of that happening on a regular basis? No. But we know God speaks on a regular basis. So where does His voice come in?

It's in wherever you are willing to listen! God gives us certain talents to be able to minister. So why wouldn't He give us certain places to be more tuned into what He has to say? For instance, if you don't like music, God probably won't speak to you through music. But if you love social interaction, He'll probably speak to you through the words of other people. There are so many ways that God speaks to us, the question is - are we listening?

Have you ever had those moments where you have gotten a message from God? I got one just yesterday. I was wrestling with a subject and didn't know where to turn to in the Bible for further information. Slight bit of background: I normally type up all of my notes from sermons and Bible studies as a way to refresh myself on what I learned and to also have those notes at my fingertips should I ever need them. Well, I was typing up some older ones yesterday and came across a Bible study guide on the exact topic I was needing help with. The first verses it told me to read were in 1 Kings. So I told myself I would read 1 Kings after finishing typing up the study guide. But, of course, I forgot all about it until later when I was writing to a friend and wanted to include a Psalm, when I opened my Bible, the first page it fell to was the exact verses in 1 Kings that I had been prompted to read earlier.

Call it coincidence, call it chance, call it whatever you want. My ears were open and all I heard was - "read these verses!" I did in fact read them and learned a lot from them on the subject I needed help with and also found cross references to other places in the Bible on the same subject. That was God speaking to me.

Sometimes I hear Him in music lyrics, sometimes I hear Him through conversations with other people (or eavesdropping on them), and sometimes His words are simply a great pulling on my heart that I just know I have to heed to.

One of my favorite examples of this "heart pulling" way of God speaking is actually found in the book Soul Shift. This woman was driving her car one day and got the weirdest urge ever - to stop at the next gas station and hop on one foot in the soda pop isle. She thought about it a little bit but then dismissed it since it was so crazy. She drove past the next gas station but then had to turn around she was so convicted to go and do this. She got into the gas station and was relieved to find only the store worker was there so that she would only really embarrass herself in front of one person instead of several. Sure enough, she hopped on one foot in the soda pop isle and the kid looked at her funny. However, he looked at her, not with judging eyes, but with shocked ones. The woman apologizing for her crazy behavior, but the kid told her that she just performed a miracle. Apparently, the kid who worked in the store hated his life and was going to end it when he got off work. But he prayed to God and told Him that if He existed, He should send him a sign by having someone come in and hop on one foot in the soda pop isle before he got off work. The kid thanked the woman for showing him that God does exist and does care. She saved his life by following the voice of God, no matter how crazy it seemed.

However, there is one other key ingredient in discerning God's voice amongst all the others of this world. God's words are never contradictory to His teachings. Many times we misinterpret our instincts as God's word. We think that an instinct to sin is God's way of telling us that it's okay and He is a forgiving God. Nope. Not true. That's why studying our Bible is so important. The more we know about God and His teachings, the more our instincts really will turn into His voice. Soul Shift has an interesting perspective on this:
"Even after we have walked with God a while, we still tend to get our answers more from without than from within. Our problem is not that we seek the counsel of wise friends, follow good leaders, or trust informed voices. It is more that we seek only these things and never learn to hear the voice of God within us. We are afraid we will confuse it with our own voice, as if the two voices were always different. We ask, 'What would Jesus do?' but the voice within is saying, 'Why not get to the place where what you would do is the same things Jesus would do?'"

This shift is an amazing transformation in our lives. Soul Shift puts it this way:
"Before the shift, we ask, 'What does God want me to do?' After the shift, we listen to what God wants us to become.
Before the shift, we ask, 'God give me a sign' because we long for God to decide for us. After, we notice how God strengthens our wisdom and discernment to decide for ourselves.
Before the shift, we want God to give us more options and open doors. After, we want him to limit options and close doors.
Before the shift, we ask that God would make our decisions successful. After the shift, we allow God to set us apart, so that we might be more like him in our decisions.
Finally, before the shift, we inform God of our plans and ask him to move through our efforts. After shifting from Ask to Listen, we look for what God is already up to in our world, and we listen for how we might engage ourselves where he is already moving."

We hear God's voice all around us, but most times we just choose to write it off as something else. Many times we want to hear His voice, but are actually afraid of what He has to say. Don't be afraid! God has amazing things planned for your life. One of my all-time favorite verses is Jeremiah 29:11, "'For I know the plans for you,' says the Lord. 'Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.'" So listen for what God has planned in your life! Knowing Him, you won't be disappointed.

God Bless!
ChristianKid