Listening Prayer

Lesson 3

God will speak to the hearts of those who prepare themselves to hear; and conversely,
those who do not so prepare themselves will hear nothing
even though the Word of God is falling upon their outer ears every Sunday. A.W.Tozer
Learning to hear from God and be led by the Holy Spirit is very exciting. God wants to speak to us
about the plan he has for our lives. This plan is good but we are in danger of missing it if we don't learn
how to listen to and obey God's voice. Listening for the voice of God seems to be a misplaced
phenomenon. The world makes it easy for us to fill our ears with all kinds of things that drown out His
voice and push Him far into the background of our lives. We need to wake up to the spiritual realm of our
lives. We need to get more comfortable fellowshiping with the Holy Spirit and hearing what He has to say
to us. Many people still don't understand the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. They may be curious
about the supernatural or unseen realm, but if they don't know what the Word of God says, they can be
easily deceived about what is really happening in the spirit realm around them. If we want to be led into
victory by the Spirit of God, that we have to be willing to change our lifestyle as God speaks to us. The
first change we may encounter is the need to create an atmosphere that is conducive to hearing from God.
The art of being still has been lost in the midst of worldly busyness and even religious activities.
We must consciously and deliberately turn our ears to hear God. Listening is an important key to hearing!
Turn your ear towards Him and be still. We all have met someone who asked a lot of questions but never
listen for the answers. So often we do this in our prayer life. God does not bother to speak to closed ears. If
we are not going to listen to Him, God will find someone with a ready ear, someone who is listening for
the sound of His voice. Our busy lifestyles have smothered out the clear, powerful voice of God so we no
longer even recognize it.

Isiah 28:23
Give ear and hear my voice,
Listen and hear my words.
God speaks to us using all our senses
You might hear a word, or see an image or feel a peaceful feeling. Often God reveals Himself to us
through His Word, our conscience, our desires, dreams, visions, circumstances, people, nature, wisdom,
and what we call the inner witness. The inner witness is best described as a knowing deep inside. He
also speaks to what the Bible calls a still small voice, which is what we refer to as the inner witness.
Hearing and audible voice from God is rare for most people and nonexistent to most. There is one thing for
certain, God does speak to His children.
Before we can accurately discern God's voice we have to recognize and believe that God has a plan.
Imagine how different our lives would be if we ask God before we stepped out instead of calling on
Him to rescue us from the messes we get ourselves into. We have a plan for how we want our lives to go,
and we have a way that we want to work out our plan. Most of the time we want God to make our plan
work instead of listening to God for His plan. We should pray first and get God's plan, not plan first and
then pray for God to make our plan work.
He has written a script we are to follow. He doesn't want us to create our own, write new lines, or
change His plans to suit our agenda. He just wants us to recognize and trust that His plans are best. We
need to spend our time discovering and aligning ourselves with the purposes of God and not doing
whatever we want then hoping God will bless it. When He speaks, His voice will always be in accordance
with his purposes which are the good things He has for our lives. He sent his Holy Spirit to dwell in us and
be our counselor and helper in life as well as other things. Hearing from God is vital to enjoying God's
eternal plan for our lives. Listening to God is our decision; no one else can make it for us. God won't force
us to choose His will, but he will do everything he can to encourage us to say yes to His ways.

Proverbs 3:6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart
6 in all your ways submit to him,

and lean not on your own understanding;

and he will make your paths straight.

7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;

8 This will bring health to your body

fear the LORD and shun evil.

and nourishment to your bones.

This word tells us to acknowledge him in all our ways, and he will direct our path. To acknowledge God is
to care what he thinks to ask for His opinion.
The 3 major blocks to hearing from God
As you petition God for His will for your life, initially you might not hear or sense anything. You might
hear a word, or see an image or feel a peaceful feeling. Usually it is the first thing you sense after asking
Him a question. Often though the enemy quickly comes in and tempts us to believe that it wasn't God. If
you are not accustomed to this type of listening prayer you may not recognize the manner in which God is
speaking to you. It takes faith to listen to God, believe it is Him and walk in the truth. It takes no faith to
believe the lies of the enemy.
Two hindrances to hearing God's voice focus on forgiveness. Forgiveness is an accounting term that
means :to cancel a debt; to give freely; to be gracious to. The verb form means to dismiss, release, leave,
or abandon;to cut off. According to God's word we must first confess sin and ask God's forgiveness. We
then must also release others in forgiveness who have sinned against us.
In 2 Corinthians 2:1011, Paul says," And what I have forgiven if there was anything to forgive I
have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake in order that Satan might not outwit us, for we are not
unaware of his schemes. The word forgiven is written three times in this verse. The emphasis on this
word demonstrates the importance of the concept that one of the enemies main schemes against us is to
tempt us to have wrong beliefs about true Biblical forgiveness. Practicing a lifestyle of Biblical
forgiveness is a main component of victorious living in God's Kingdom.

Use these principles when seeking forgiveness:

1. It is important to stop occasionally and take account of our lives. Ask God if there are any
forgiveness issues that you haven't dealt with and ask Him to show you. Pray like David did in this
Psalm.
Psalm 139:23-24
23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
2. Confess sins verbally out loud and ask God to forgive you of your sin and cleanse you of all
unrighteousness.
2. Be genuine in your forgiveness. It has to be more than just saying I'm sorry. You must
completely dismiss and release the debt.
3. Do not confuse forgiveness with reconciliation. Reconciliation is not required in order for
forgiveness to occur. Forgiveness is a spiritual act of cutting off a debt owed even if someone can
never pay the debt back. You can cancel the debt in the power of Jesus and be restored.
The third hindrance to hearing God's voice is self-hatred. Self-hatred, or lack of self acceptance, is
denying everything God created you to be and is choosing to see yourself as the enemy wants you to be
seen. This is actually a form of pride, and that pride is not necessarily thinking a lot of yourself, but is
thinking of yourself a lot. You are thinking more of yourself than you are believing God. You constantly
think there's something wrong with you and are riveted on self, not on Christ, and are self-conscious,
rather than God conscious. If we don't humbly love ourselves, we cannot love others as God commands in
Matthew 22:37 39
37 And He said to him, YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART,
AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND. 38

This is the great and foremost commandment.

39 The second is like it, YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.
When we fail to come into a mature position of self acceptance, we develop immature negative patterns
of relating to God and others. Our inner perception of ourselves is disease. One of the main indicators of

self-hatred is always trying to please others. You try to see yourself through the eyes of others affirmation,
approval, and validation from them instead of God. This causes us to be man pleasers rather than God
pleasers. We end up being more concerned about what men think of us than what God thinks of us. In this
way you are choosing to see yourself as the enemy sees you, which is exactly how the enemy wants you to
see yourself. As a result, you reject and cannot receive the benefits and blessings of life in the Kingdom
of God.
God's greatest desire for his children is that they experience his best in their lives. He wants to have
close fellowship with us and to be invited into every area of our lives. He wants to speak to us and lead us
in all our decisions by his spirit.
It is God's will that we hear clearly from Him. He does not want us living in confusion and fear. We are
to be decisive, secure, and free. He wants each of us to fulfill our destiny and to walk in the fullness of His
plan for us.
Confirming Ones Calling and Election

2 Peter 1:3-11
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who
called us by His own glory and goodness. 4 Through these He has given us His very great and precious
promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in
the world caused by evil desires.
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;
6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and
to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in
increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our
Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is short-sighted and blind, forgetting that they have
been cleansed from their past sins.
10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to firm your calling and election. For if you do
these things, you will never stumble, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Food For Thought...

1. Do you believe that you can hear from God? If not why?
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2. Why do you think we're not able to receive from God when we walk in disobedience?
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3. How do you know God's still, small voice is not your own emotion or desire?
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4. Is there something God is prompting you to do by an inner nudge? What is it?
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Scriptures for Meditation :
Matthew 7, Psalm 51:6, John 10:3, John 5:24, John 9:37, John 8:31-32
Prayer of Confession:
I am lead by the Holy Spirit and hear from God.. I know my Father's voice, and the voice of a stranger I
will not follow. I am led and guided by the Holy Spirit, even unto my death. God will guide me all the
days of my life. He will guide me and give the answers that I need..