Listening To God

God desires to speak to us and will make His voice known to those who seek Him earnestly.

KEY SCRIPTURE: James 1:22: “Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”

What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘prayer’? 
Often when we think about ‘prayer’ we think about the ‘talking to God’ aspect of prayer. This can often be an aspect we are more familiar with. Many Christians learn early on in their faith journey how to talk to God and how to express our thoughts, desires and concerns to Him. And this is IMPORTANT and an essential part of prayer. However, another aspect of prayer is ‘listening to God’. 
Sadly, many Christians can treat their prayer time like a one way conversation where we say some things to God but don’t allow the time to listen to His response.

What would our relationships with God look like if we spent more time listening to God when we prayed? 
Listening is crucial to developing a deeper connection with God. And this is something every follower of Jesus should desire.

Group discussion:

1. Ask the group if they find it easy or hard to set time aside to listen to God.
2. Growing up, what were you taught about prayer? 

Read 1 Samuel 3:1-10:
About Samuel:

• Samuel grew up to become God’s prophet and is used by God to transition His people from leadership by judges to being ruled by Kings. 
• Samuel was the one who anointed Israels first two kings, Saul and David. 
• God called Samuel to a great task but it all began with Samuel listening to God’s voice. “Speak, for your servant is listening”. 

3 reasons we can often spend more time talking to God than listening to Him:

1. We live busy lives: We live in a fast-paced, hectic world where people often function with little margin in their lives. Everyone is busy. And busyness can greatly impact our prayer life and it can be easy to rush through prayers because we are time-poor rather than pausing to take the time to listen to God. 
2. We desire control: We, as people desire control of our lives and circumstances. It’s human nature. And we can approach prayer with that mindset of wanting to be in control. However, listening to God requires us to open up to God’s guidance. In other words, listening to God requires us to yield to Him and that can be difficult when society celebrates individualism and the idea that we don’t need help from others. 
3. Listening requires quietness: to listen, we need to be silent. And being silent and quiet is not something we are accustomed to as humans. We live in a world that doesn’t know what to do with silence, and silence can bother people and make them uncomfortable.

Group discussion:

1. Can you relate to these 3 reasons? If yes, which one can you relate to most? 
2. If comfortable, invite people to share what their prayer rhythm currently looks like.

Hearing God’s voice begins with finding solitude and silence. Gordon McDonald says in his book Ordering your private world: “If my private world is in order, it will be because I am unafraid to be alone and quiet before Christ”.

Group discussion:

1. How do you go with solitude and silence? 
2. Is your quiet time with God a mix of talking and listening to God, or can it sometimes feel like more of a one way conversation? 

Scripture: Read Exodus 3:
About this passage:

• Moses responded to God’s voice through the burning bush to be the one to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. 
• However, Moses hesitated and questioned God. Despite his nervousness, Moses obeyed God and went on to become one of the most significant figures in Israelite history. 
• This passage teaches us that we don’t just need to learn to listen to God. We also need to learn to obey what He says. 

Discussion questions: 

1. It’s one thing to read Scripture, another thing to be obedient to God’s Word. As a group, can you think of any passages in the Bible that can be a challenge to obey?  
2. What is one distraction that you can remove from your life? 
3. What’s an opportunity for silence that you can take up?