Powerful Prayers Part 1 – An Introduction to Hearing God

You guys, I just love prayer. It changes me! It changes the way I see the world. It changes how my day goes. When I pray God shifts my perspective so I can begin to understand what HE is doing all around me! I love talking to God and unloading my “stuff” into His lap, I love reading the Word with fresh understanding and I love listening to Him speak and share His heart.

My quiet time is my favorite time of the day. Of course, I’m nowhere near perfect and some days it is a sTrUgGlE to get 5 minutes with Him. Many days I completely miss out. But that’s the truth: I miss it!! I fall asleep regretting my missed opportunities and I wake up EAGER to try again because I know it’s going to be so goooooood.

As people who believe in God, we know that God wants relationship with us. He wants to teach us through His word and He hears every prayer we think or speak. I also believe God speaks directly to us.

When Jesus died on the cross the veil in the temple was torn. No longer do we need a priest to go to God on our behalf. No more sacrifices to be cleansed so that God can hear our prayers. Jesus’ blood cleansed us once and for all- no matter what we’ve done. God is accessible to every single man/woman/child on this planet…PERSONALLY. My kids will often ask me to pray with them (and I love that!) but God hears them just as well without me. And He offers them the same peace in their hearts when they pray alone than when I say the words. (Of course this does not diminish the truth of “Where two or three gather together in my name, there I am with them” Matt 18:20 & “…A cord of three strands is not easily broken”! Ecc 4:12)

We’ve established the fact that nothing comes between God and us- His people. I want to also make clear that God is alive and active in our lives. There may have been 400 years of silence between the Old and New Testament but that will never happen again. Just as God gave a rainbow of promise to Noah that the previous destruction wouldn’t return, He gave the Holy Spirit to us. A dove of peace and intercession has landed on each person who gives their heart to God. God will not be silent.

So HOW does God speak?

One practice of learning to hear God was taught to me like this: Think of the Happy Birthday Song. Maybe hum along silently in your head. Got it? Ok, sometimes God sounds like that. He’s like an almost subconscious thought that passes through your mind- familiar and peaceful. Occasionally I hear God speak this way and it’s just one word, or a song, or a sentence, or a story. I also have practiced writing like this. I’ll ask God a question and then just write without thinking and when I go back to read it, I often feel as if I’ve received a revelation from God. It stands out as something I wouldn’t have thought of but rings so true in my heart.

Another way God speaks is in pictures. Have you ever imagined your favorite vacation destination when the opposite is actually reality? Like this week when it’s snowing and blowing in Michigan, I’d like to picture the hills of Tennessee. I love the mountains and rivers and rocks when everything is green. I love the humidity and warm stillness in the forests. I can see and feel it already! Really, this is a holy imagination.

One more way we can hear from God is a little harder to describe but when God speaks through FEELING, you know it! Have you ever entered a scary situation but felt peace? Have you been too excited to sleep but felt God give you supernatural rest? I have felt sadness in a room full of happy people but when I asked God why, He brought to mind a person who might be feeling that sadness and when I prayed for them, the feeling left. This is a unique way to hear God’s heart.

Ya’ll, I’m praying this gives you inspiration to jump into prayer if you have 5 minutes and see what God says. Practice asking Him questions and listening for answers. In the next post I’ll have more fun ways for you to play games with God and keep practicing hearing him. The goal, of course, is deeper intimacy with the Father who loves us and pours out His heart for us every day.

(Please note that it’s always important to find scripture to back up what you’re hearing. Search that Bible! Check in with a friend and be sure it really sounds like something a loving and true God would say. Be sure it’s only truth you’re embracing!)

So how do you spend time with God? When do you fit it into your schedule Does it leave you feeling refilled and renewed? Does it take a lot of effort? Sometimes it just does. I get it.