Most people believe that prayer is only asking God for what we need and telling Him what we want to tell Him. Listening Prayer is waiting on God to answer. It thinks of prayer as dialogue more than as monologue. It is being absolutely convinced that the Lord loves us and desires to communicate with us. It is sharing our heart with Him and then listening for Him to share His heart with us.
Think about it! God’s whole purpose and plan when He created the world was so He could have someone with whom He could fellowship. He wanted someone to commune with…to share in that love relationship of intimacy.
The easy intimacy of the Garden was lost through sin. However, God created a perfect plan to provide a way to restore intimate fellowship with His people. He released His Son Jesus to come to earth and pay the ultimate price to restore fellowship with Him. As we invite His Presence to come to live within us, we can come to know the reality of a loving heavenly Father who has a passionate desire to reveal Himself to us…and invite us into a loving relationship of fellowship and communion with Him. Only as we accept this invitation can we begin to explore the height, the depth, the breadth and the magnitude of His love for us.
To know and to be known is our greatest human need. God has provided a way, through Jesus, to meet that greatest need in us. He wants us to know Him and to know that we are fully known and unconditionally loved by Him. And He wants to teach us how to live and abide in this place of communion and union with Him.
He invites us into His restored relationship of fellowship, communion and union with Himself. As we open up our heart to Him, we can ask Him to reveal Himself to us. And He promises us that as we “seek Him out” He will reveal Himself to us.
Scripture promises that those who belong to Jesus (His sheep) have been given the privilege of hearing His voice. He promises that as He walks ahead of us and we follow, we will come to know Him and learn to recognize His voice. (John 10:4-5)
This is Listening Prayer. We look for Jesus (acknowledge Him) in everything, ask for His leading and wisdom in the details of our life, responding in obedience to His Word and His Holy Spirit within us…and learn to live our life in a constant state of yielded listening to Him. This is a life of Listening Prayer.