Listening to God, and then doing it
Listening to God is only half of the story. Acting on what you hear is the second half. This is the account of someone who has been listening and acting, recently.
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I was struck by what Canon Andrew White said in his session at the Stronger 2022. It’s actually a message I have been hearing from God, lately, and it is my biggest take away from the Stronger Network Conference this year.
“Listen and Do it”
For example, last autumn, I felt the need for a retreat and found that the local Christian Union had a weekend away in early February during a time when I wasn’t scheduled to teach at the university. Because I knew I would be available, I signed up.
Before the retreat I attended quite a few of the Stronger 2022 conference sessions and one of them was Andrew White’s interview. Like many other talks, the input was rich and amazing. I was challenged, especially in the area of listening to God.
A few weeks after the Stronger conference came the retreat weekend where we listened and contemplated, Ignatian-style. God spoke to me about keeping on going with what I was already doing, despite all the seeming set-backs and roadblocks. I also felt he was encouraging me to reach out to a few people.
So I did.
And wonderfully, things started moving…
A lot of my daily readings since then have been encouraging me to keep listening, which is hard in a household of four and when people are on different schedule. But I have been working to find a place and time to keep on listening.
Finally, when God speaks to me in dreams (which is rare, but something that happens), I wake up and try right away to do what I feel God was saying to me through the dream. Sometimes this could be about praying for someone (then I text or email them, after praying to say I prayed), sometimes it might be something else like stepping out and inviting a friend to church.
Some Key Questions
How are you listening and doing?
What kind of structure do you need to put into place where listening can happen?
How are you helping yourself to not just listen to what God tells you, but also to act on what he tells you?
Each of us is different and I believe that God is the ultimate linguist, speaking each of our individual heart languages so we can hear Him, and as a colleague said in a webinar, to “Hear Him in the Whisper” (focusing on Elijah in the cave).
5 tips for listening and doing
Find a place to listen (if possible, a place where disturbance is unlikely)
Have some biblical input and take some time to reflect on it.
Take some time (maybe with a timer, and start slowly, with maybe 3-5 minutes)
And tell God, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.” You can make this a ‘breath’ prayer, if you want (i.e. praying in time with your breathing).
Then, if and when God gives you something to do, write it down or do it as soon as possible. When it is something about the longer-term, why not make a plan.
