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If you’ve ever felt like you just can’t connect with God—that you can’t hear his voice—it may be due to an interference with your God-connection. Let me ask you this question: If God were to speak to you today, what barrier would he have to overcome in order to get through to you?
The first and likely most common barrier is that we are just too busy to hear God. Have we allowed our lives to become so hectic, so over-scheduled, that we really don’t have time to listen to God, or even to others? There’s just not a lot of listening going on, is there? Years ago I realized that I could be addicted to activity, so I began praying that God would deliver me from being obsessed with busyness.
In order to hear God, we have to block out other distracting voices and sounds. That means devoting some quiet time, some uninterrupted time, in which we listen to God talk to us. For me, this is usually early morning time before the day’s activities get in the way.
Mostly God speaks through his written Word, but the way we approach reading the Bible will determine whether we really hear God or not. I begin with a prayer that God will speak to me through his Word, and then I read with the intention of hearing what God is saying to me. If my mind wanders and I realize I haven’t really been listening as I read, I just make myself start again, disciplining myself to focus on the words and meditate on what I’m reading.
I have a structured plan for reading the Bible. When I approach this time with the attitude that I want to hear what God is saying to me today, it never fails that something pops off the page and is just what I need for that day. For example, I was reading Philippians again recently and verse 16 in chapter 3 spoke directly to me. It says, “Only let us live up to what we have already attained.”
I stopped there and began to write in my journal what God was saying to me. I’ve read that chapter many times, but that verse was new to me that day, and God spoke to me about some things I needed to do to live up to what I already knew. I heard God speak to me.
I urge you to set aside time to hear God through his Word, and put in writing what you hear. There is nothing more important than letting God speak to you—and he will, if you’re not too busy to listen.