You’ve decided to spend a day of prayer together with several others who are part of your small discipleship group. At this point, you’ve finished the first part of the day talking to God. You’ve worshiped Him, confessed your sins to Him, thanked Him for all that He is and has done, and presented to Him your concerns and those of special people in your life. Now it’s God’s turn to talk to you while you listen attentively.
“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
Matt 17:5 (NIV)
“Listen to me, Jacob, Israel, whom I have called: I am he; I am the first and I am the last. “
Isa 48:12 (NIV)
In this post, I will give a few suggestions about how you can predispose yourself properly to listen and to act on what God will say. Before going any further, though, I suggest you review what I had posted at the beginning of this series: “DAY OF PRAYER“. You need to understand this so that you can purify your reason for wanting to hear from God, and to prepare yourself to take the necessary steps to honor God and to obey everything He tells you.
Let’s use your written prayers as the starting basis for God’s message to you. By now, you should have three sets of lists: (a) your flaws and sins, and areas where you definitely have gone against God’s will; (b) the blessings that you have received from God; and (c) the areas of concerns for yourself and for people close to you.
You’ve presented these lists to God, and now you want to hear from Him. Now it’s time to be still, reflect and listen to God.
“Speak Lord, your servant is listening.” (1 Sam 3:10)
“Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.” (Ps 25:4-5)
As you shed the light of God’s word on the lists that you had written,
Contemplate God’s reply as you ask Him these two questions in connection with your lists:
- Lord, what do these items in my list say about You? I want to know You more. What are You trying to tell me about Yourself through how you have handled my sinfulness, how you have blessed me, and how you have allowed me to deal with my needs and my desires?
- Lord, what do these items in my list say about me? What do you want to reveal about myself, my character, my attitudes, my behavior that you wish to convict me about?
- Lord, is there anything that I should start doing or stop doing? Teach me your ways, lead me to the right path.
Be still and wait patiently for God to speak. “The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. It is good that he waits silently . . . Let him sit alone and be silent” (Lamentations 3:25,26,29 NASB) You honor God by your willingness to be still in His presence. Fervently desire to know more about God and to know more about what God wants to do in your life.
Allow the Lord now to flood your mind and heart with thoughts, ideas and impressions. Begin to write in your journal any sense that you discern.
You may then turn to Scripture, and allow the Holy Spirit to lead you to the verses or the passages that you can meditate on. You can even visit familiar verses if you are led to them. Don’t be quick to judge the content of the verses as irrelevant. Follow the Spirit, and ponder the words slowly, and repeatedly if necessary. Ask the Lord what He wants to say to you. And be sure to take down notes in your journal.
At a certain point, review what you have written. If there are thoughts, ideas and impressions that came to your mind, evaluate these against scriptures to make sure there are no conflicts with biblical principles.
And at the agreed time, share your notes and conclusions with your co-discerner who can help to make sure you are hearing from God. And firm up your conclusions together.
One additional thought: you may be tempted to judge the fruitfulness of your day of prayer by how you feel about what the Lord had spoken to you about. Remember the story in Mark 10:17-22 when the rich young man asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. He walked away sad because he didn’t like what Jesus told him he ought to do. You don’t want that to happen to you. Instead, you should trust that the Lord has heard your cries, and that the Lord is working out His purpose for you. Psalm 37:4 says “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
End the day with prayers of thankfulness, and pray for the Lord to help you treasure His words in your heart (“harden not your heart”), and call on the Holy Spirit to empower you to act in obedience to His holy will.
I join you in that prayer. God bless you.
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