Listening and Talking to God in Prayer
Prayer • Sermon • Submitted • 1:10:35
0 ratings
· 278 viewsListening and Talking to God in Prayer
Files
Notes
Transcript
Prayer is an opportunity to engage the Father in conversation, which means talking to Him and listening to Him.
According to Andrew Murray, “Prayer is not monologue, but dialogue. God’s voice in response to mine is its most essential part.”[1]
Like agape-love, which, has two directions, Christian fellowship also has two directions: (1) vertical, which encompasses our fellowship with God and (2) horizontal, which encompasses our fellowship with other members of the royal family of God.
1 Corinthians 1:9 God [the Father] is faithful, through whom all of you have been elected to the privilege of entering into fellowship with His [the Father’s] Son, Jesus, who is the Christ, our Lord.
The vertical aspect of fellowship with God begins with listening to God.
Listening to God involves not only hearing what the Spirit is saying through the communication of the Word of God regarding the Father’s will, but it also involves the Spirit speaking to us through other believers, through conviction, blessings, circumstances, and prayer.
Revelation 2:11 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches.”
Psalm 78:1 Listen, O my people, to my instruction; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
The problem today is that we are so preoccupied with the details of life we never stop and listen to God.
Believers, and even pastors, are guilty of this.
We are so busy working for God, we forget God.
Ignoring God, while frantically working for Him, often results in unhappiness, and could even result in critical illness.
It is essential, therefore, that we stop and listen.
We may hear something we were not expecting.
While we should engage in Bible study daily, it is extremely important that we meditate in prayer upon the instruction we receive in Bible class.
Therefore, meditating on the Word of God, devoting time for prayer, and listening to God—whether in prayer, through positive believers, or through circumstances— are each in their own way essential in experiencing intimate fellowship with God.
God speaks to us today for several reasons, including because He loves us, because we need his definite and deliberate direction for our lives, because we need comfort and assurance as we experience adversity in our lives, and because God wants us to know Him intimately.
God speaks in the Old and New Testament through, (1) direct revelation (Gen 12:1-3), (2) dreams (Dan 7), (3) visions (Acts 9:9-16), (4) written communication (Exo 31:18), (5) audible communication (Acts 9:4), (6) prophets (2 Sam 12), (7) circumstances (Jdg. 6), (8) angels (Luke 1), and (9) the Holy Spirit (Acts 16:6-7).
However, today, God speaks to us through, (1) the Holy Spirit (2 Ti 3:16-17; 2 Pe 1:21), (2) other believers (Acts 21:4, 11), (3) circumstances (Exo 3:1-4), and (4) prayer.
God’s purpose in communicating with us is threefold.
First, He desires us to comprehend the truth about Himself, about others, and about ourselves (1 Co 2:9-16).
Second, He desires to have us conformed to the truth (Rom 8:29).
Finally, He desires that we communicate His truth to others (Mat 28:19-20; 2 Co 5:17-21).
Now, how should we identify the voice of God?
How can we be sure what we hear is from God?
Well, there are several ways to be certain it is God, and not Satan or the kingdom of darkness, encouraging you in a particular direction.
First, God would never tell you to get involved in any activity or relationship that is inconsistent with the teaching of His Word.
Second, if it conflicts with human viewpoint, it is probably from God.
Third, it would be against God’s divine character and nature to tell you to do anything that gratifies the old Adamic sin nature.
Fourth, if it challenges your faith, it may be designed to build a stronger relationship with Him.
Lastly, if it involves risk, God often times call us to be courageous.
The Scriptures repeatedly emphasize the importance of listening.
The specific clause “hear the Word of the Lord” occurs thirty-two times in the New International Version and twenty-eight times in the New American Standard Bible.
The word “hear” or phrase “listen O Israel” are found six times in the NIV and the NASB.
Meanwhile, the word “listen” is found three-hundred-and-thirty-one times in the Bible and often refers to listening to the Lord.
“Hear” is found three-hundred-and-forty-seven times and again refers to hearing God’s Word.
We also find a number of phrases like “incline your ear” or “give ear” or “pay or give attention” and similar expressions used in various ways to encourage man to listen intently to God.
In the New Testament, the Lord warns us to carefully consider what we hear (Mark 4:24) and how we hear (Luke 8:18).
The phrase “today, if you hear his voice” is found three times in Hebrews and once in the Old Testament (Heb 3:7, 15; 4:7; Psa 95:7).
Seven times, once in each of the letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 we read, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches.”
In Mark 4:9, the Lord warned, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear,” and again in verse 23 He says, “if anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”
The point is simple, God has much to say to us, and, because He is all knowing and sovereign, it is critical that we listen carefully.
Too easily, we revert to being like Martha, who, unlike her sister Mary, was distracted by so many things, she was too busy to sit at the feet of the Savior and listen to Him speak.
In Luke 10:38-42, Luke records the contrast between two believers.
While one was occupied “for” Christ, the other was occupied “with” Christ, thus revealing a spiritual principle, namely, that to devote oneself to the Word of Christ, to be taught by Him, is more important than to be busy for Him.
As we have noted, God has much to say to us, and our decision to listen is critical.
The Parable of the Seed and the Soils further portrays this point.
A parable is a fictitious or made up story designed to teach a lesson through comparison.
When you hear the story, you can relate it to your own life and it conveys a message of truth through analogy, comparison, or contrast.
While Bible scholars call the parable in Luke 8:4-15, Mark 4:1-20, and Matthew 13:1-23 the “Parable of the Seed and the Sower” or the “Parable of the Seed and the Soils,” the latter is more accurate, since it emphasizes the responsibility of the audience in listening to the Word of God as it is being taught.
The Greek word, translated as the word “hearing” in this parable, is the verb akouo and means, “to respond to the Word of God for the purpose of making personal application” and appears nine times in this parable.
The parable, therefore, teaches that the unbeliever is to “hear,” or respond to the Gospel message to believe on the Lord Jesus and be saved, and the believer is to “hear,” or respond to the Word of God after salvation in order to bear fruit and grow to spiritual maturity (cf. Rom. 10:17).
Listening to God in prayer demands that we are spiritually prepared to listen.
Learning of any kind, especially in spiritual matters, involves active participation and concentration.
God is very concerned with how we listen and worship.
He is concerned with our mental attitude and spiritual state when we approach Him in prayer, not to mention when we study His Word and it is very simple to go through the motions of religious activity and deceive ourselves as James warns us in James 1:22-25.
A believer becomes a passive listener when he is unprepared physically, mentally, and spiritually to enter into pray and hear the Word of God.
This generation is notorious for mental laziness.
We have forgotten how to think and stay actively involved in the listening process.
So, how can we actively listen and avoid becoming passive and lazy?
We need to concentrate, search, probe, question, think, interact, respond, and apply.
God does not want pious, passive spectators, but involved listeners when praying and listening to the Word of God.
[1] Andrew Murray, Draper’s Book of Quotations for the Christian World. Ed. Edythe Draper (Illinois: Tyndale) 491.