How To Hear God: Part 1

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In talking with my son Will about listening to God, he wanted to know if God has a voice. "Does he sound like Daddy or like another man?" Will asked me. I explained God speaks audibly and He also speaks quietly to our heart. "You've got to have 3 things in order to hear God," I said. "You've got to be available, be willing and not be too proud to do what He says. Some people call that humility."

Jesus was always seeking solitude with God. While I began to think of this as a "quiet time", Jesus never had to find time to be with God. Jesus was never in a hurry and he never needed more time. That's because he looked at his time as being God's time and he was always available for whatever God had him to do or say. Jesus was always in the right place at the right time in order to fulfill what God laid on his heart.

It is possible to have a "quiet time" every morning and never be available to God! People who are truly available to God always see God as owning their day and are perfectly comfortable when He reorders it anytime He chooses. Those same people have an incredible satisfaction from experiencing God's presence throughout the day and knowing they are pleasing Him.

There are very few people I'm truly available to at any time of the day and vice versa. Those people know they can call on me at any time and I will be there for them. And likewise, I know of very few people who would drop everything for me. The deeper the friendship, the greater the availability. Isn't that what God wants with us: a friendship outlined in John 15:15, "..I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." Therefore, God is most available to those who are most available to Him. God doesn't throw His pearls before swine. The ones who find Him are those who seek Him with all of their heart as described in Deuteronomy 4:29, "But if you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul." If we make ourselves available to God, He will make Himself available to us. James 4:8 says, "Come near to God and he will come near to you."

In order to hear God speak, you have to be available.