Hearing God Through Journaling

What makes us so desperate to hear God’s voice?

I think we’re desperate because God is continually calling us to come aside and spend time with Him.

God longs to talk with us as He did with Adam. He longs for continual, open and honest communication with each of us.

John 17 tells us that eternal life is that we may know the only true God and Jesus Christ who He sent. Eternal life is knowing God the Father and His Son.

Know, in this passage, means ‘to be intimately acquainted with someone in a growing, progressive relationship.’

I’d never thought of eternal life as a relationship before, but this passage suggests that eternal life is a relationship.

We can live in relationship and daily conversation with God as Adam and Enoch and Jesus and many others have.

In Proverbs 8:32-36, God says,

‘Now therefore, Listen to Me, for blessed are they who keep My ways. Heed instruction and be wise. And do not neglect it. Blessed is the man who listens to Me, watching daily at My gates, waiting at My doorposts. For he who finds Me, finds life. And obtains favour from the Lord.’

Pray these verses over your life and ask God to give you listening ears:

Isaiah 50:4-5 says, ‘The Sovereign LORD has taught me what to say,so that I can strengthen the weary. Every morning he makes me eager to hear what He is going to teach me. The LORD has given me understanding, and I have not rebelled or turned away from him.’

‘The Lord God has given me the tongue of disciples, that I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens me morning by morning. He awakens my ear to listen as a disciple. The Lord God has opened my ear; and I was not disobedient, nor did I turn back.’

Set aside time to be still and pray. Ask the Lord what He wants you to know about yourself. Write down what you hear Him say; the quiet thoughts that come to your mind as you wait. This simple exercise could change your life. It will help to open your eyes to how much God loves you and what He thinks of you. You matter to God.

When you ask God to tell you what He thinks of you. His answer will mirror Jeremiah 29:11: ‘For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.’

Any thoughts that condemn or make you feel bad about yourself will not be from God. God may gently convict you but He will not condemn you. There is always redemption in what God says to us.

You could try asking God what His thoughts are towards someone He has put on your heart. Ask Him for words of encouragement for them and record what God says to you.

Remember, don’t censor as you write. Let the thoughts flow. Give the Father an opportunity to say whatever He wants to say to you.

Enjoy the adventure.

I’d love to know how you get on with this. You can email me or leave a message on the blog.

If you like to read and would like more inspiration, I have a PDF file of Tozers’s ‘The Pursuit of God’. Just email me, put Pursuit of God in the subject bar and I’ll send it to you.

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