By Emeritus Prof. Mercy Olumide

Prayer is conversation with God, particularly His covenant people. Therefore, the beginning of your conversation with God is to ensure that you are a member of His covenant people by being regenerated (Born again). Regeneration comes to those who repent of sin, turn to God, and put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation. A regenerated person has the Spirit of Christ. Furthermore, before you can listen to God you must be able to comprehend His methods of communication with people and how to recognise His voice.God communicates with us through divers ways, but the most important method is through the Holy Scriptures.

Some other ways of communication are through the promptings of the Holy Spirit, dreams, visions, still small voice, preachers, teachers and concerned friends, trials and suffering, prophecy and prophets, inner conviction, circumstances, open and closed doors (obstacles), simple objects. The Holy Spirit lives within the child of God in order to lead him or her to think, speak and act according to God’s word.

The Spirit’s prompting comes by (a) reading God’s Word, (b) praying and fasting, (c) listening to godly preaching and teaching, (d) earnestly desiring and valuing the manifestations of the Spirit, (e) heeding the counsel of Christian parents and trusting spiritual leaders. Meditating on God’s word after reading and studying it is critical to listening.

It is critical to note that God will never contradict His written words, and if we believe we have heard His voice telling us to do something that is contrary to what He says in the scripture, it is definitely not God’s voice we have heard.

In biblical terms hearing is absorbing and accepting information about God. Learning is understandingits’ meaning and implications. Observing is putting into action all we have learnt and understood.

All three parts are essential to listening and a growing relationship with God. We hear with our ears, but there is a deeper kind of listening with the mind and heart that is necessary in order to gain spiritual understanding from God. Listening involves focusing our minds, bodies and senses. Listening to Christ means not merely hearing, but also obeying.

Some obstacles to listening and obeying God’s word are hard-heartedness, pride, worry, spiritual lukewarmness, self-sufficient prosperity and worldliness, fear, opposing pressure from other people, and peer acceptance. Don’t wait until you go through calamities before listening to God’s words. Consider what God may be telling you, and obey Him before time runs out. Notice how believers prayed in Acts 4:23-31. They did not ask God to remove the problem, but to give them the strength and courage to deal with it. Listen and obey God’s instructions no matter the cost.

“Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge,” (Acts 4:19).

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