Hearing God (A Five-Minute Focus)

Listening to God throughout the day

How do we hear God? How do we know he is speaking to us? The primary way God speaks to us is through the Bible. However, it is through the Holy Spirit’s enlightening and illumination of God’s Word that we understand what God is saying through it. When Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would come after his ascension, he said..

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:13-14 CSB)

The Bible is not the only way God speaks to us through Holy Spirit, however. When we pray God speaks to us. Praise and worship is not a one-way experience. Holy Spirit speaks to us through our worship. Most Christ Followers realize these ways God speaks to us, but they often miss other ways our Creator God communicates with us. If we truly listen, we can hear God speaking to us throughout the day. We only need to intentionally stop and focus on what is going on around us - even if it is just for five minutes.

LISTEN!

Listen to the wind sing a song of far away;
Listen to the sun bring forth a new day.
LISTEN!

Hear your heart beat within your chest;
Hear your soul call out for rest.
LISTEN!

To each day as it lives,
To the wisdom that it gives.
LISTEN!

To the hurts that cry out in pain;
To the dreary days of drizzle rain.
LISTEN!

To your dreams wanting to live on,
Lost in the noise, then are gone.
LISTEN!

To your Creator speak,
Through every person that you meet.
LISTEN!

Here are five ways to have a daily five-minute focus of listening to God.

1. Listen to people’s words
   ”But, I do listen,” you say. If you are like most people, myself included, we listen in order to respond. We hear enough of what the person is saying to make an appropriate response. This is not true listening. True listening is hearing the person to understand them. We need to listen for the disappointment, hurt, hope, or happiness in their words.

2. Listen to people’s faces
   This is actually a continuation of #1. Don’t stop at listening to people’s words. Listen to their faces. See their expressions. Often expressions tell us what is behind the words - or what the words might be trying to hide.

3. Listen to nature
   Hear the bird’s singing. Hear the wind blowing. Listen to the rain splashing off of the sidewalk. God created nature for us to enjoy. Through his creation we can hear the reality of, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good indeed.” (Genesis 1:31 CSB)

4. Listen to the noise
   Noise is irritating! Why should we listen to it? Because through the noise we realize two aspects of the fruit of the Spirit - “peace” and “patience.” Dog’s barking! Traffic howling! Coffee machines grinding! All are irritating! But in their midst we can rely on God to give us both peace and patience.

5. Listen to the quiet
   How do you listen to quiet? There is no sound! There is if we truly listen. Elijah discovered the power of listening to silence.

“…Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" (1 Kings 19:11-13 NRSV)

If you truly listen to the silence, God will say something to you. When he does, I challenge you to respond as Samuel did.

“And the LORD came and called as before, "Samuel! Samuel!" And Samuel replied, "Speak, your servant is listening." (1 Samuel 3:10 NLT)

God is always speaking! LISTEN!