Is He out there? Is He listening? More importantly, is He speaking? I recently wrote a blog about what to do “When God is Silent” and received quite a lot of feedback that I thought I would do a follow up piece. Here’s a link to the article if you’d like to have a read: https://www.1africa.tv/when-god-is-silent/.
The truth is, God longs to speak to us more than we want to hear Him. So what’s causing the breakdown in communication? Why does it sometimes feel like we are praying but no-one is answering? Well I think there are a few practical things we can do to make hearing from God a little bit easier:
- Set aside some undistracted, uninterrupted time where you can focus on God. Perhaps playing some worship music can set a nice atmosphere.
- Begin by talking to God. Tell Him how you are feeling, be honest with Him. He knows our inner most thoughts anyway, so no point wasting time pretending. He is big enough to handle our doubts, frustration and discouragement. Remember, He longs to speak to you more than you long to hear Him.
- Read what He’s already written. The Bible is God’s letter to you so read it as often as you can. You will be surprised at how a seemingly random passage of Scripture can speak directly into your situation. Don’t play scripture roulette though! You know, that’s when you close your eyes and randomly point to a verse? That would be like to trying to fix your car by randomly choosing instructions from the car manual. Start in Psalms or in the New Testament and commit to reading a portion as often as you can.
When I have gone through times when I couldn’t hear God, I had to take a look at my life, my thoughts and the condition of my heart. I had to ask myself some tough questions like, “Is there sin in my life that I haven’t confessed to God?” and “Do I have people I need to forgive?” It’s important to be able to own up to where you are at and bring that before God. He is ready and waiting to forgive us and give us a new start. When we let these things fester, it can definitely hinder our ability to tune into God’s frequency that He is broadcasting from.
If you’ve heard Him in the past but now He seems to be silent, I have discovered this to be helpful:
- Do the last thing He told you – Often times, new guidance doesn’t come until we do the last thing we heard Him say to us. Obedience can be the doorway to new revelation from God.
- Dig deeper – Jesus often withdrew to a quiet place to pray and seek God. We need to drown out the noise and press in to God.
- Develop a hunger – if we’ve been feeding our souls too much of what this world has to offer, we can become full like at an “all-you-can-eat” buffet. We need to empty ourselves of worldly influence so that we can be filled by God.
Lastly, I want to leave you with this thought….Who God is to you, is more important that what He does for you. I am praying that you will seek God and find Him and hear His voice for yourself. You are awesome!
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