Have you ever stopped to think about how intricate our bodies are? Our bodies are embedded with so much to help us live and enjoy life. One of the most beautiful things our bodies allow us to do is communicate with each other. We can use our mouths and body language to send messages outwards and we can use our ears and eyes to receive messages inwards. Our ability to receive communication might begin with a physical interaction but ends in our hearts. God designed us this way on purpose, so that he could always speak to us directly. Just as the author of Proverbs 3 states, our ability to listen to God himself comes from knowing and trusting him from the bottom of our hearts. Not just through our physical faculties like our ears and eyes. Heart to heart is how God meets us. Just like a father, friend or spouse, he is always speaking to us, because he loves us. He is the God who sees us in every situation, and wants us to know him.

So, will you listen?

If you love God, you’ll listen to him.

1. Listen Like A Child

Our father in heaven is perfect. God shows us this through his beloved son, Jesus. A perfect father will acknowledge us, show us affection, and affirm that we are his children. We are encouraged to approach him with childlike faith. We learn to listen like a child by slowing down to capture the details of what God is trying to say to us, to take Him at his word, and believe like a child that what he is saying is true.

Luke 18:16-17

But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

2. Listen Like A Spouse

In Jesus, God offers us an intimate relationship, like the intimacy between husband and wife. Prayer is our opportunity to listen to God in close proximity and develop the intimacy he desires. We further deepen that intimacy by learning to recognize God’s voice through studying his word, hearing his word proclaimed, and going and sharing his word.

Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

Ephesians 5:31-32 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.

Have you realized that the same letters that spell out the word listen, spell out the word silent? A persons’ presence can be more comforting than a persons’ words. When it comes to the person of the Holy Spirit, this is who he is. He’s our comforter that listens to all that we have to say. He is like that friend that you can sit with in silence, and because you know them so well you are able to connect with them beyond a conversation. Because prayer is not just about speaking, but about listening we can rest assured that even when we sit in silence God hears us. And as we continue to cultivate our relationship with him by spending more and more time in his presence we will discover that even in the silence God is speaking to us.