I have to admit, at first I felt a bit apprehensive about trying listening prayer. But, I decided to not let my fears stop me from pursing this time with Him and pressed ahead. I don’t know about you, but sometimes it helps me to hear what others are doing when I’m trying out a new spiritual discipline. So with that in mind, this is what I do to practice listening prayer.
4 Steps to Listening Prayer
First of all, I get into a comfortable position. You can sit on the floor, in a comfy chair, kneel, whatever seems to fit the moment. I quiet my mind by following up on a suggestion from Pastor Ron Stohler at my church. He uses a breathing or centering prayer to quiet himself. Very simply, you choose a short verse like Psalm 46:10. You breathe in and as you do this you would say, “Be still and know,” then you exhale and as you do this you say “that I am God.” Do this a few times until you feel quieted and at peace.
Next, I just ask God to tell me what He wants me to hear this day, what’s important for me to know. Then I wait. Sometimes a verse of scripture will pop into my head. Other times a word, like forgiveness or courage. God may reveal a sin that I need to confess. Often a person will come to mind. I pray for insight as to what I need to do.
Journal It
Next I will write down what God has shown me, because I’ve found that I quickly forget if I don’t record it! I purchased a small spiral notebook that I use just for this time.
Finally, I thank God for that time with Him, and that’s it. Listening prayer can be as long or as short as you want it to be. Each day may be different. Sometimes I like to have instrumental music quietly playing in the background or I may light a candle. Do what helps you to connect with God.
Safety Net in Listening Prayer
One thing to keep in mind is to know that God will never reveal anything to you in this quiet time with Him that violates scripture. Use scripture as your safety net as you are practicing these times of silence and solitude. Reject any thoughts that are contrary to scripture and move on.
I pray these suggestions help you. You may have other things that work for you. Please leave a comment and share your insights with us.
Pray on!
Hi Jane, My name is Nila and I am from Mumbai, India. I found what you suggested really helpful and will try it out tomorrow. I’ve been getting up really early to sit in silence before God and I’ve to fight off sleep and other thoughts from entering my head and taking over. Thanks SO MUCH. Nila
Hello Nila,
I can’t tell you how excited I am to hear from you! Thank you for taking the time to write to me. I am so glad you found the blog post helpful. Yes, as you start listening to God, it will feel a little strange at first, but the more you do it, the more comfortable it becomes. It is amazing that God wants us to spend time with Him, but He does! This has become one of my favorite times of the day.
Below you will see two more links to information on our site that will give you more information on this practice.
https://onlybyprayer.com/page/2/?s=silence+and+solitude
https://onlybyprayer.com/the-spiritual-discipline-of-silence-and-solitude-podcast/
I am praying for you, Nila. Please keep in touch and let me know how you are doing. Is there any specific way I can pray for you?
Hi Jane,
This is Nila again. I did reply to your email and was wondering whether you got it?? I really do find it so tough still trying to concentrate and trying to get all other thoughts out of my head.
I try to fix my gaze on a picture on my bedroom wall, just to focus. Was also wondering why
we would try to hear God in the silence, when we can hear Him so clearly speaking through His Word? I usually fall back into praying in tongues then.
Nila
Nila,
Yes, I did receive your email. Did you receive mine back? Check your junk folder or spam folder if you didn’t. It could be in there. : )
You are right, we do hear God so clearly speaking through His word. The quiet listening is not to replace that at all. That is most important. I do my quiet listening time after spending time meditating on God’s word and praying so that I am grounded in scripture.
What the quiet listening does is gives God time to respond to our prayers and questions. So often during prayer, we spend all the time asking but no time listening for His response.
A good way to start to quiet our minds is to take a short scripture like “Be still and know that I am God,” and breathe in and say the first half of it and breathe out and say the second half of it. Do this a few times until your mind is stilled. Then I may have a question I take to God about a particular situation. And I will wait and listen for any way He may respond. It might be with a verse of scripture, a phrase, a thought or new idea. Remember, the Holy Spirit is our teacher and comforter. I will write down what I am hearing. And I will use scripture as my standard. By this I mean, that God will never tell us something that violates scripture.
My listening time can be 5-15 minutes or so. Don’t make it a stressful thing. Just try it a few times a week. If you don’t hear anything, that is fine too. Like any friend, the more you meet with God, the more you will be able to recognize His voice.
I have been reading a book called Made To Crave and the Author, Lysa, talks about doing this. I have never heard of it or thought of it and I’ve grown up in church my whole life! I had to Google it and I came across yoyr blog! I’m so excited to start practicing this. I am trying to kick a food addiction, I picked up terrible habits of drinking and smoking so I am quitting those as well. I think this is exactly the tool I need. I’m going to try tonight. I’m very sleepy so I may fall asleep but then I will try again tomorrow! Thanks for your post!
Lacy, I’m so sorry I missed your comment. How are you doing with your listening time with God? Are you making progress on changing the habits that you want to change? I am praying for you! Let me know how it’s going. Blessings to you!
Like Lacy I Googled “sitting before the Lord” to find suggestions on how to go about beginning this practice. I have heard Charles Stanley speak of this often but when I have tried to do this, I never seemed to know what to do and what to expect and came way from it feeling I had failed. After reading through several suggestions, I came across your Web site and read your article.thank you for a clear presentation. I do intend to pursue this and will do so following my morning time in God’s Word. I feel that my finding your blog was no accident.
Thank you, Elizabeth! I so appreciate you telling me this. I know when I first started this practice, I wasn’t sure if I was doing it “right,” but the longer I practice it, the more intuitive it becomes. Sometimes I come away with several things to reflect on. Sometimes I just enjoy sitting with Him in silence. Let me know how you do. And thank you for taking the time to write. Blessings!
Do you find the favor of God upon you more strongly when you regularly sit quietly before the Lord?
Darin, So sorry, I did not see your comment. What I do notice is that He always encourages me in some way. Either I receive wisdom for a problem, or the strength to keep on, or a sense of HIs love. Those are the ways I interpret it. How about you?
Hi Jane,
I just wrote a long note to you and I have lost it. Nonetheless, I want you to know that I have tried your suggestion and it worked. Praise be to God! For years I have tried to be still and quite my mind in His presence and it didn’t work. This morning for the first time I’ll was able to quite my mind and heard Him speak.
The Lord spoke to me about my attitude and self Condemnation. I thank you and I will be visiting that place quite often to hear more from Him. Thank you Father God! Thanks, Jane!
Jo, I LOVE that! I’m so glad you were able to hear His still, small voice. It’s amazing when He speaks to us. I often journal in the morning and try to incorporate some listening time into that. Thank you for letting me know of your experience. So encouraging!
Hii I wanted to ask when you sit in silence you hear from God how do you know it’s God when he puts a thought? What if those are my thoughts?
Marjorie,
Thanks so much for your comment and question. Many people wonder the same thing, as did I when I first started practicing this type of prayer.
First of all, remember that praying can be a two-way conversation. God wants to encourage us through prayer as we present our requests to Him. 1) We can start our prayer time by praying that we will only hear God’s voice and that He would block any other voices. 2) We remember that the Holy Spirit lives within all believers and he is our Teacher. He reminds us of the things Jesus taught (John 14:26). The Spirit guides us into all truth, speaking only on the authority of Christ (John 16:13-15). The Holy Spirit also gives us wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God and Jesus (Ephesians 1:15-19). Remember, that any thought contrary to what scripture teaches is not from the Holy Spirit.
So, for example, if you are praying and you receive an impression from the Spirit that you are struggling with your identity in Christ, you can be sure that in scripture God teaches us who we are in Christ and He wants us to know all the spiritual blessings that we have. You can rest assured that that is from God and that you can spend time with your Bible learning more about who you are in Christ. If, on the other hand, you receive an impression that you should follow a new Bible teacher that denies Jesus’ deity, than do not believe that as the Bible is clear that Jesus is the Son of God. Rusty Rustenbach says in the book Listening and Inner-Healing Prayer to put what you are hearing through the test of these two questions:1. “Was what came to me during my time of listening consistent with God and His character, or was it in line with Satan and his objectives?”and 2. ” What what I heard chstscteristic of the Holy Spirit and of His fruit, or was it consistent with the works of the flesh?” I have also found that God is giving me an impression of something (such as I need to learn more about my identity in Christ), that the Holy Spirit will make me aware of resources on this. For example, I will suddenly start hearing about podcasts on this or my pastor will preach a sermon on it or a trusted Christian friend will mention it to me, etc. I hope this helps you!