Monday, April 2, 2007

Listening for God


When I get some good reader questions, I'll be answering them here.

Let's start with a question I received from a reader while I was leading a retreat. She writes, “In your book Listen you say we should let God call us to pray. We’ve been used to going to God when we’re ready. Explain more.”

Well, actually, what I wrote was: “When I feel a desire to pray, it is God’s spirit that stirs up that desire in the first place. Think about that: God initiates and seeks you out. … God cares enough about me to initiate conversation and relationship. I am the beloved. I am not just the seeker, I am the sought. I am the object of God’s affection. It’s a truth that demands a response.” (Listen: Finding God in the Story of Your Life )

Explain more? It’s really a matter of perspective. God, who knows all and continually searches the earth that he may strongly support those whose hearts are fully his (2 Chronicles 16:9) , can stir, like a gentle breeze, in our souls. When we think we’re about to “go to God when we’re ready,” it’s really that our souls are responding to divine whispers and stirrings.

We need not wait around for God to call. If we desire communication with God, we can trust that God put that desire in our hearts, and respond to it by saying, "Speak Lord, for your servant is listening." (1 Samuel 3:10)

What is it that makes you want to pray? What do you think of the idea that your desire for prayer is actually initiated by the object of those prayers?
Leave your comments and questions, and I’ll pick one to respond to in a future post.

Keep listening!

Keri

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