We live in a loud world. We carry cell phones with us everywhere we go and are always contactable. Social media is constantly at our fingertips causing distractions. Streaming services bring all kinds of entertainment to us 24/7, no matter where we are at. These are just a few examples of the constant stimulation and noise that we have bombarding us in today’s world. These noises and distractions can easily desensitize us to God’s still small voice.

Amidst the noise and our hectic lifestyle God is gently calling to us in His quiet whispering voice – trying to get our attention. “Hey, my child, quiet yourself. Listen.”

Listen
Listen —
Set aside the cell phone
Look into my eyes.

Listen —
Please remove those earbuds;
Your disregard I despise!

Listen —
Pencil in some time.
Let’s grab a cup of tea.

Listen —
Stop rushing here and there.
Please make some time for me!

Listen —
Step away from Facebook.
Let us chat awhile.

Listen —
Set aside your hectic schedule.
I miss your sunny smile!

God often speaks in a still small voice. 1 Kings 19:11-13 is a picture of this. “The LORD said [to Elijah], ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.’ Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire, came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.”

The Lord was in the whisper. God often speaks with a still small voice. When we are busy rushing to and fro — from one job, activity, project, and/or appointment to another, we unintentionally crowd out God and are not focused on hearing His voice. When we scroll through Facebook or Instagram for a few hours every evening, then hop on YouTube and watch a few videos, and after that listen to a few songs on Spotify, we are preoccupied — filling the silence with noise, and our environment with clutter. How often do we miss hearing the still small voice of God?

As intercessors, even our prayer time is often filled with activity. We are petitioning, declaring, decreeing, interceding, repenting, advocating, binding, breaking, loosing…all of these are important parts of prayer…yet, how often do we include quieting ourselves and listening to the LORD as part of our prayer time? How do we hear God in a loud world? The key is to find a quiet spot. Holy Spirit is whispering to your heart, “Come away spend time with Me. Sit in My presence. Get to know Me.”

Come Away
My child, come away with Me
Leave the world behind
Join Me in the secret place
Share what’s on your mind

Lay aside your distractions
Come and sit with Me
I want to share My secrets
Your Advisor be

Away for just a season
Leave your flesh behind
Come indulge upon My Word
Nourishment you’ll find

Yes, Abba, I will walk with You
And leave the world behind
I’ll join You in the secret place
And in your Presence dine

Laying aside all distraction
I’ll come and sit with You
Then I’ll garner from Your wisdom
That’s what I long to do

Slipping away for a season
I leave my flesh behind
I feast upon Your Holy Word
Transforming heart and mind

God is inviting us to come away with Him. To embrace times of silence and solitude. To sit at His feet, quiet our racing thoughts, and be still in His presence as we wait for Him to speak. Sit quietly. Listen.

I read recently that if you take all the letters in the word LISTEN, you have the word SILENT. It’s in the silence that we can quiet our minds, set our hearts, and focus our eyes on the Lord. “He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.'” Psalm 46:10

“Be still…quiet one’s self…let go of all distractions…surrender all worries, cares, concerns…and know (recognize and understand) that I am God. I am your Creator. I am the One who created you to walk with Me, talk with Me, and have a deep intimate friendship with Me. Be still and know…know that I want to participate in EVERY part of your daily life.”

One way we can answer God’s call to walk with Him, talk with Him, and listen to Him is to set a regular time to meet with God. When do you feel the most alert and awake? Is it in the early morning hours? Maybe it’s during your lunch break at work. Or it could be on your drive home from work. Or possibly at night right before you go to bed. Whatever that time is — you can set an appointment with God on the calendar or as a reminder in the phone and meet with Him during that time every day. Not as a legalistic appointment, but out of a place of deep desire to hang out with our Creator, Best Friend, and King.

Now that you have decided on the meeting time, the next step is to choose a quiet place with few distractions. This could be in the bedroom, living room, kitchen, front porch, back deck, the gazebo at work, or in the car on the drive home from work. The place can be as unique and creative as you are! A quiet peaceful spot with little to no distractions. A place where you can feel comfortable being still and listening to God.

I have two places and times where I meet with Him. The first is my living room in the early morning hours before everyone else is awake. The other place is the back deck, after breakfast, and after everyone has left for work. If I oversleep and don’t get up early in the morning, I go on the deck after breakfast and enjoy the birds, squirrels, and chipmunks with the Lord as we drink coffee or tea together. As I mentioned earlier, meeting with the Lord is not to be from a place of legalism or guilt but rather from a place of desire. This is a time when we can practice our listening skills without distractions.

Listening to God’s voice is something that we can learn to do throughout the day. For me the skill came out of quietly sitting at His feet in the secret place, not praying, not talking, but just listening — waiting for Him to speak to me. God speaks to us in a variety of ways. A few of these are:

1. Through His Word
2. Through prayer
3. Through Jesus, our Messiah
4. Through His Spirit to our spirits
5. Through other believers
6. Through Creation
7. Through the arts: music, dance, art, poetry, etc.
8. Through dreams
9. Through visions
10. Through prophetic words from others
11. Through circumstances
12. Through His still small voice
13. Through prayer journaling

This is just a very small and limited list regarding how God speaks to us. While I could elaborate on each of the examples listed above, I would just like to highlight prayer journaling since it was an important part of my healing journey.

I struggled with depression for quite a few years. In order to cope, I followed David’s example in the Psalms. I would write my struggles and feelings in prayer form in my journal. Then I would write, “Lord, what do you want to say to me about this situation? What do you want to speak to me?” After that, I would sit quietly waiting for His answer. Then I’d journal what I sensed was His answer.

It was through these dark times that I formed the habit of listening prayer. It is through prayer journaling and listening prayer that I learned I wasn’t alone. It was through prayer journaling/listening prayer that I discovered the God who sees, the God who hears, and the God who heals. It was through prayer journaling/listening prayer that I found intimacy with Abba Father. The poems I shared earlier came out of those prayer journaling and listening prayer times. Earlier I mentioned that the words silence and listen contain the same letters. These two words walk hand in hand with each other and both are a part of listening prayer.

What is listening prayer? The idea of listening prayer is to spend some time talking to the Lord and then the rest of the time listening for His response. There are many different ways to practice listening prayer. One example is to pick up the Bible, turn to a passage, and ask the Lord what He would like to speak to you through that passage. Another example is to pick up your prayer journal and pray, “Lord, what would you like to show me or speak to me today?” and then journal what He speaks to your heart or shows you. We can also practice listening prayer when we are going about our daily lives.

I would like to share two recent examples of how listening prayer blessed me and others. During a morning prayer time a few months ago, I asked the Lord what He wanted me to do that day. I sensed Him telling me to send a certain dollar amount, from the book sales I made that month, to a friend’s daughter, who is a missionary. I obeyed and a week later I received a message from my friend’s daughter thanking me and saying that it was the exact amount that she and her husband needed for a bill they were praying about.

The second example involves my book, “Peaceful Moments.” The Lord told me to slip a copy of it in my purse when I went out of the house to run some errands. I obeyed. When I was in the grocery store checkout line He told me to give it to the cashier. After I paid, I grabbed the book and gave it to her explaining that it was a poetic devotional journal I had written and I felt like I was to give her a copy. She thanked me. A few weeks later when I was shopping at the same grocery store the cashier called me over to her. She told me how much the journal blessed her, confided in me about her battle with mental health, and asked me to pray for her. It’s times like these that are so affirming, rewarding, and edifying. They yank me out of my comfort zone. They build my faith muscles. They help me grow in boldness and confidence. They confirm that I am hearing the Lord’s voice correctly. They fuel my desire to keep living the lifestyle of listening prayer.

As we find unique ways to be still and to quiet our thoughts and outside noises, Holy Spirit’s nudges will be far easier to sense and His voice easier to hear. I have stopped playing music in the car when I am driving alone. I use that time to practice silence and just listen. At first, it was difficult but I have come to cherish that time of solitude. My next goal is to leave my phone in the house when I work outside so that I work in silence. I tend to use that time to listen to podcasts and teachings on YouTube, but I sense Holy Spirit nudging me to garden with Him. That means leaving the phone and earbuds inside and giving Him my full undivided attention. I challenge you to find ways you can add listening time to your day.

Obedience is a byproduct of the intimacy that comes from a lifestyle of listening to God. In John 10:27 Jesus says, “My sheep will hear my voice and I know each one, and they will follow me.” As we spend time with the Lord, learning to hear and know His voice, we grow in our love for Him and want to obey Him — following Him wherever He leads us. We don’t care if He asks us to do things that are WAY out of our comfort zones because we love Him, trust Him, and know that He wants what is best for us.

Spending consistent time alone with God, sitting at His feet, learning to know Him, learning to know His voice, and following His call has caused me to see who he created me to be. It has healed and mended together my broken pieces and made me a new creation. It has grown and matured me in my faith. It has transformed me from a timid mouse into a bold lioness. Because I embraced the lifestyle of listening to and obeying God, I wrote and published the poetic devotional journal, Peaceful Moments. Because I walk in the lifestyle of listening to and obeying God, He used me to touch the life of the cashier in the grocery store. Because I’m living the lifestyle of listening to and obeying God I am standing here speaking to you. Each one of these events is WAY out of my comfort zone but I have learned that when I break out of my comfort zone and obey Him, He changes lives. Not only are others blessed but I am as well.

Listening to and obeying God can lead to amazing things even if it can be sacrificial and difficult at times. Deuteronomy 28:1-2 reads, “If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all His commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the LORD.” Listening to and obeying God is a rewarding journey. It can be tough at times. The story of Abraham and Isaac is a testament that God can call us into a sacrificial test of our love for Him. Genesis 22:2-3 reads, “Then God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, whom you love — Isaac — and go the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.’ Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.” Abraham was willing to surrender his most prized blessing to the LORD. The LORD blessed him for his trust and obedience by providing a ram as a substitute for Isaac.

Abraham is a wonderful example of someone listening to and obeying the Lord. Obedience was a lifestyle for him that began when God called him out of Ur. I can imagine the struggles he went through on his life’s journey but in the end, his obedience which came from a place of spending time with God, won out and he was blessed for it. Listening to and obeying God can cause pain and sacrifice but, in the end, it leads to deeper intimacy with the Lord. At the end of our journey, when we step into eternity, we will hear our LORD say, “Well done, my faithful child!” We will be extremely grateful and blessed that we cultivated these skills.

In conclusion, I would like to challenge each of us to schedule regular meeting times with our Heavenly Father on our calendars, find a quiet place, sit in His presence, and just listen. As listening becomes a habit, it will flow from that place of quiet seclusion, into our busy hectic lives. We will be so in tune with Heavenly Father’s voice and Holy Spirit’s nudges that if He interrupts our routine to reach out to someone in a store, on a sidewalk, or in a park, we won’t doubt if we are hearing Him. Instead, we will know His voice and we will obey.

The above article comes from a teaching that I gave two weeks ago at Petra Church’s Intercessor Appreciation Event. I wasn’t able to record it at that event but I did do a video of the teaching for Tea Time with Sue. You can watch it at the following link: Listening to and Obeying God.