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    Listening to God
    Listening to God
    Listening to God
    Ebook109 pages2 hours

    Listening to God

    By Charles F. Stanley

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    About this ebook

    TALKING TO GOD IS EASY. IT’S THE LISTENING THAT’S THE HARD PART. Although most of us can talk with ease to our best friend, many of us aren’t so good at keeping quiet and hearing what our friend has to say. So it is with God. For true communication with Him, we must learn to listen through understanding His Word. Dr. Charles Stanley’s Listening to God, part of the Life Principles Study Series, presents a sound way to explore the Word and hear God’s truths. You’ll learn to identify with the passages, recognize your emotional response, reflect on the passages’ meaning and take steps to apply what you’ve learned.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherThomas Nelson
    Release dateJul 28, 2009
    ISBN9781418586898
    Author

    Charles F. Stanley

    Dr. Charles F. Stanley was the founder of In Touch Ministries and pastor emeritus of First Baptist Church Atlanta, Georgia, where he served more than fifty years. He was also a New York Times bestselling author of more than seventy books. Until his death in 2023, Dr. Stanley’s mission was to get the gospel to “as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, as clearly as possible, as irresistibly as possible, through the power of the Holy Spirit to the glory of God.” This is a calling that In Touch Ministries continues to pursue by transmitting his teachings as widely and effectively as possible. Dr. Stanley’s messages can be heard daily on In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley broadcasts on television, radio, and satellite networks and stations around the world; on the internet at intouch.org and through In Touch+; and via the In Touch Messenger Lab. Excerpts from Dr. Stanley’s inspiring messages are also published in the award-winning In Touch devotional magazine.

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      Book preview

      Listening to God - Charles F. Stanley

      Introduction

      Preparing to Hear from God

      God spoke to His prophets in Old Testament times, giving them specific messages for themselves and for His people as a whole. Many Christians in modern times, however, believe that God no longer speaks to His people as He once did. But this is not the case! God is still speaking to His people—to all of His people, not just those who are specially selected as His spokesmen. He speaks through our times of prayer, through counsel from wise Christians, and most importantly through His word, the Bible.

      The Bible is God’s foremost method of communication with us today. It is the wellspring from which new insights and eternal wisdom come to us. It is the reference to which we must return continually to check out messages that we believe are from God.

      This book can be used by you alone or by several people in a small-group study. At various times, you will be asked to relate to the material in one of these four ways:

      1.What new insights have you gained? Make notes about the insights that you have. You may want to record them in your Bible or in a separate journal. As you reflect back over your insights, you are likely to see how God has moved in your life.

      2.Have you ever had a similar experience? Each of us approaches the Bible from a unique background—our own particular set of relationships and experiences. Our experiences do not make the Bible true—the Word of God is truth regardless of our opinion about it. It is important, however, to share our experiences in order to see how God’s truth can be applied to human lives.

      3.How do you feel about the material presented? Emotional responses do not give validity to the Scriptures, nor should we trust our emotions as a gauge for our faith. In small-group Bible study, however, it is good for participants to express their emotions. The Holy Spirit often communicates with us through this unspoken language.

      4.In what way do you feel challenged to respond or to act? God’s Word may cause you to feel inspired or challenged to change something in your life. Take the challenge seriously and find ways of acting upon it. If God reveals to you a particular need that He wants you to address, take that as marching orders from God. God is expecting you to do something with the challenge that He has just given you.

      Start and conclude your Bible study sessions in prayer. Ask God to give you spiritual eyes to see and spiritual ears to hear. As you conclude your study, ask the Lord to seal what you have learned so that you will never forget it. Ask Him to help you grow into the fullness of the stature of Christ Jesus.

      Again, I caution you to keep the Bible at the center of your study. A genuine Bible study stays focused on God’s Word and promotes a growing faith and a closer walk with the Holy Spirit in each person who participates.

      Lesson 1

      God Has Something to Say to You

      In This Lesson

      Learning: Does God still speak to people in modern times?

      Growing: What is the purpose of prayer, anyway?

      One of the most important lessons you and I can learn is how to listen to God. In our complex and hectic lives, nothing is more urgent, nothing more necessary, and nothing more rewarding than hearing what God has to say to us, both as bodies of believers and as individual people.

      If you are going to develop a relationship with another person, you have to converse with that person in some manner. That means both talking and listening. Most of us do better with the talking part. There was a time when I was too occupied doing the Lord’s work to pay close attention to God’s voice. I was preaching six times a week, taping two television programs, traveling across the nation, writing a book, pastoring the church, and administrating a large church staff and broadcast ministry, among other daily duties. In the midst of it all, I spent time talking to God, very often about the needs I was facing in my personal life and ministry, but not much time listening to God. I ended up in the hospital for a week and out of circulation for three months. The net result for all of us if we don’t learn how to listen to God is that we can make unwise and very costly mistakes.

      You may ask, Does God really speak to us today? The Bible assures us that He does. The book of Hebrews opens this way: God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds (Heb. 1:1–2).

      Our God is not a speechless God. Our God is alive and active in our world. He speaks! Furthermore, He doesn’t speak to us in veiled terms, riddles, or mysteries. He speaks to us plainly. The primary goal of any communicator is not to speak well but to be heard. God speaks in a way that we can hear Him, receive His message clearly, and understand with precision what He wants us to do.

      What does the writer of Hebrews mean when he says that God has spoken to us by His Son?

      [Your Response Here]

      How does God speak to people in the 21st century? How has He spoken to you in the past?

      [Your Response Here]

      A Highly Personal Word

      God speaks in both general and absolute terms to all people, and He speaks to each one of us personally. We can hardly comprehend that possibility with our finite minds. God is an infinite God, and He is capable of communicating with each one of us, right where we are—in the midst of our current circumstances or crises—in very personal, direct, and explicit terms.

      This may be the most important concept you can ever grasp in learning how to listen to God. When God speaks, He is speaking to you. Everything in the Bible applies to your life in some way. Every message that is based on the Word of God has truth embedded within it that is for you. There is no such thing as a chapter in the Bible, a sermon based on God’s Word, or a book that expounds and explains God’s Word that is not for you. Each of us must take God’s Word personally!

      Personal Does Not Mean Exclusive

      This is not to say that God has an exclusive word for a person. God doesn’t deal in secrets. He won’t reveal truth to one person and deny it to another. Be on guard if you hear somebody say, God told me something, but He told me that I can’t tell anybody else or God had a word that’s just for me and not for you. God doesn’t play favorites. He doesn’t speak to one child and totally ignore His other children. His word of correction to you may be so personal that you don’t want to share it with other people, but God’s word of correction is an absolute that applies to all people. The same goes for God’s promises, provisions, and insights.

      Always Important

      God doesn’t speak frivolously. He doesn’t joke around. God means what He says, and He will do what He says. God is serious about His relationship with you. He doesn’t speak to you in idle terms. He expects you to respond to His voice, heed His Word, and act on it.

      Can you remember last Sunday’s sermon? Can you recall what you read in God’s Word yesterday? You’ll be able to remember if you were listening for what God had to say to you and if you take seriously the idea that God wants you to do something in response to His Word.

      God speaks for your benefit. He wants

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