Listening Will Transform Your Life

 

Learning to hear His voice is a vital part of prayer. Listening is by far the greater part, the most important part of prayer.

Frank Laubach wrote more than fifty books. His great passion was to see people pulled out of illiteracy and through his efforts millions learning to read and write. In The Secret of Happiness, Billy Graham quoted Laubach as saying, “Prayer at its highest is a two-way conversation; and for me, the most important part is listening to God’s replies.” Billy’s personal comment on prayer is, “Prayer is not just asking. It is listening to God’s orders.”

I once wrote down on a sheet of paper all of the things I wanted to be blessed with from God and set it in my office just to the right of my computer screen so that I could see it at all times. My intent was to go through each blessing and remind God daily of these things that I wanted. My intent didn’t work out, as I couldn’t seem to bring myself to tell God every day of what I wanted to be blessed with.

Listening, however . . . that is a different matter. For more than 30 years I have been in the habit of every morning writing down what God tells me in my journal. His words are like honey, to be treasured above all else in my communication with Him.

Paul Yonghi Cho, the great founder of the world’s largest church in Soul, Korea spends three hours in prayer every morning. For the first hour, he pours out his heart to God. The last two hours, he spends listening to God’s replies. If there is a formula for success in the Christian life, it has to be this: listen to God!

My pastor of more than 25 years, G. Mark Denyes, spent two hours in prayer every morning from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. One time as we were walking back to his office, he said to me, “When I get to heaven, I want to know all of the trouble I avoided because I listened to God!”

How many of us, as Christians, are wrapped up in problems. We run around like chickens with out heads cut off trying to remedy the troubles we face and resolve them, when if we would just learn to listen to God, He would simply tell us what to do, and we could save countless hours of turmoil.

Learning to Hear the Voice of God is very simple in principle. Let’s review the steps.

Step one is to find a prayer closet and stay there. A prayer closet is any place that you can be alone with God, shutting out the noise of the world. The old chorus says it so well:

Shut in with God in a quiet place,

There in the Spirit beholding His face.

Gaining new power to run in the race,

I long to be shut in with God.

Step two is to be “quiet.” It is so simple. Just stop, focus you attention on God. Read some scripture to help you focus and then just wait. Be quiet!

Step three is to wait until you hear His voice, however long it takes.

Three simple steps will transform your life. Shut yourself in, be quiet, and wait.

It is so simple in principle. In practice, it will take some effort and discipline.

God is waiting for you in the quiet place. Meet Him there . . . and then, listen! Then see your life transformed and your effectiveness as a Christian go through the roof.

Log in next week as we begin our new series, Using Your Faith.

Photo taken by Lorraine