The spiritual discipline that has most transformed my life; the one that has brought me such brilliant guidance; the one that has comforted me during grief; the one that has given me great hope for the future: the one that has slowly but surely matured me; the one that has made me feel cherished….is this.  I have been transformed by the simple spiritual discipline of quieting myself and asking God to communicate with me. 

Many of us pray. We call out to God when we’re in a desperate situation. We tell Him what to do.  We talk and talk at God, but do we ever stop talking and realize that communication is a 2-way street?!  Yes, God wants us to bring our concerns to Him in prayer, but more than that, He wants to talk to us!  He has many things to reveal to us.  He wants to reveal His character and His love.  He wants to guide us and prompt us to become more spiritually mature.  He wants to instruct us on how we can partner with Him to expand His kingdom.  But we’ll never receive any of those things if we end up doing all the talking and none of the listening!

God created us to be in relationship with Him and He longs to communicate with us.  Jeremiah 33:3 Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.

I have found 2 ways to best hear God communicating to me.  One is pausing before and after I read a section of the Bibe and asking God “what are you trying to tell me?”  2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

There is a second way that I have begun hearing from God, and it has become so very sweet to me.  I have begun the practice of taking just 1 minute each morning to be completely still.  I close my eyes and envision being with God, and then I ask Jesus to draw close and tell me what He wants me to know that day.  Sometimes I sense Jesus giving me a vision.  Sometimes I sense Him speaking a few instrumental words to my heart.  Jesus is always speaking to His followers if we will simply listen! As Jesus told his followers in John 10:27 “My sheep hear my voice”.