Learning to Listen in 3 Easy Steps

Oct 30

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I wrote this a few years back for the Internet Cafe, but my son reminded me of it last night. We got a good chuckle, so I thought I’d share it again with you here in its entirety. 

I’m a doer. You will usually find me folding laundry, loading the dishwasher, reorganizing the canned goods, or making sure my closet is color coded in order of the rainbow. I tell you this so you’ll know that sitting on the couch and ordering around the children isn’t the norm.

But that’s exactly what I was doing this particular day. I was sitting in our overstuffed chair, diet Coke by my side, with my feet perched just so when I realized my toes were cold. “Colin,” I called my son from upstairs. “Will you run to my room and grab me a pair of socks and toss them down?” Run, grab, toss. Simple instructions. Any eight-year-old could have done it.

A few minutes passed when I heard my son run the length of the hall and bound down the stairs. He got close enough to my chair and tossed. What landed in my lap, friends, was not socks. It wasn’t even anything in which I could wrap my feet to warm my tootsies.

My son tossed me a pair of panties. Panties! In what scenario would I be sitting in my overstuffed chair and decide I needed a new pair of under drawers? What was he thinking?

“Colin,” I started slowly, “What did I ask you to do?”

“Ummmm….” He started, having no clue.

Sometimes, I’m the same way with God. I know He is speaking, but I have no clue what He has asked me to do. Just so I don’t show up at the children’s shelter with sixty-four pair of Fruit-of-the-Loom, I need to be familiar with hearing Him speak.

How can we hear God?

1. Put yourself in front of Him.

We can do this by going to His Word and spending time in prayer. Enter His throne room. Look into His face.

If you want to hear from God, go to Him. Don’t call out for Him to speak and then expect Him to meet you in the aisles at Target. (Although, He can certainly find you wherever you are if He wants to get your attention bad enough.)

2. Reduce distractions.

Turn off the TV. Walk away from the computer. Leave your cell phone in another room and find a quiet place where you can talk openly to Him. Don’t do it in the shower – you’ll forget whether or not you’ve shampooed your hair. Just find time to be with your Heavenly Father while doing nothing else.

3. Be still and listen.

Be still, and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10 NIV) Don’t spend so much time talking you forget to listen. God will show up. He will whisper to your soul in a way that only He can. But if you are too busy giving Him a run-down of your day and your problems, you might not hear Him.

God desires a relationship with us, one that goes both ways. He will speak if we are prepared to listen. Be sure you are ready. If you listen half-heartedly, you might be embarrassed when you show up in the den with panties.

*photo credit

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