In the still and in the quiet, you can hear from God. He can be quite chatty. But, you have to slow your little tail-end down. And you have to decide that it’s okay to sit and stare off into space or out the window and just be there. With God. Asking Him your questions. And you have to use a little bit of your imagination. Dallas Willard says that when you pray, Jesus is walking up to you for a conversation.

Some people are like, “Don’t tell anyone that God will talk back because what if they think God says something that God doesn’t really say?”

Well, that IS a problem. In fact, I know a guy who is in real trouble right now because he thought God told him a bunch of things that God clearly did not tell him and he got all weird and crazy and freaked a bunch of people out.

And I have another friend who is a very good therapist and he tells me that half the time, when people tell him that God told them things, he very much doubts that they are actually hearing from God.

So, we have to deal with that. We have to realize that we are all so very fallible and we don’t always hear correctly and our hearts can mislead us, no matter how good our intentions are.

We need so much discernment and also we need to constantly be reading our Bibles so that we can know what God sounds like and the kinds of things that He does. Also, we need a community of other solid Jesus followers, God-listeners around us, so that we can run things by them and hear them perhaps say, “That doesn’t sound like God to me and I think that’s a terrible idea.” Or they can pray with you and recognize with you, the things that God may be saying.

Just because we are fallible and just because there are people out there whose minds are so severely broken, doesn’t mean that we should go all extreme and say God doesn’t respond to us.

And there’s no need to expect from God, a big booming voice. After all, to Elijah, He spoke through stillness. Quietness. Barely a whisper. The whole Bible points us to a God who interacts with us. A God who is there and who is not silent.

I am not overly confident when I hear from God, but with childlike faith and trust I still ask Him things and I still expect that He will speak.

Once I was praying for someone and God said to let that person go. To release them and don’t try so hard to hold on to them.

And another time, I was praying for another person and I was wanting to be done with that person and very gently, just in the solitude of my heart, God said, “No. Don’t let them go. Hold on to them. I have something up ahead and you can be a part of it and besides I want them to know what My love feels like. They will feel my love through your calm and steady persevering faithfulness.”

If God is real and if the God of the Bible actually interacts with us, in our day to day lives and helps us know how to live, why wouldn’t we take time to hear from Him?

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:16)