Helpful Hints for Getting Started ... continued

How does God Speak

Gentle inaudible whisper of the Holy Spirit

The more we read the word of God, the more familiar we will become to the ways in which he speaks to his people. In order to hear his voice, it's necessary to take time to listen to him. Very often we can come to God in our prayer times and have a long list of requests and petitions. This is not wrong because God wants to answer our prayers, but it's a very one-sided relationship when we are always the ones doing the talking and never listening. Listening to God takes practice. It's necessary to set aside time, perhaps in a quiet place, a favourite room where you feel comfortable and relaxed, and then learn how to listen.

We can make a start by combining our daily bible-reading with talking-prayer and listening-prayer. Perhaps take 10 minutes to read the bible, followed by 10 minutes of talking-prayer and then 10 minutes of listening-prayer. The bible-reading and talking-prayer will be easier than the listening-prayer because our minds can so easily be distracted by all manner of thoughts, noises, and pressing things that we have to do. But if we persevere we will find that at times we will hear the gentle whisper of the Holy Spirit as Elijah did on Mount Horeb:

1 Kings 19:12 "After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper."

Elijah was completely alone and therefore away from all distractions. After witnessing a great and powerful wind, an earthquake, and a fire, Elijah then heard a gentle whisper and God gave him direction for the next part of his ministry.

We will probably not have Elijah's experience, but there will be times when, if we learn to listen and are attentive, God will speak to us in that gentle whisper.

Previous Next