Hearing God by Dallas Willard

[Reimagine Curator]

	Hearing God Developing a Conversational Relationship with God   Dallas Willard InterVarsity, 1999, 228 pp   To order this book click here.
First published in 1993 as In Search of Guidance, this book provides a biblical and experiential understanding that clarifies what it means to live in an ongoing conversational relationship with God.  Hearing God relates to a whole life in the will of God, including who God wants us to be as well as what he wants us to do.  I found it the most helpful book for my spiritual life since Follow Me by Jan Hettinga.   Theme:  “I have tried to clarify what hearing God amounts to and to make a life in which one hears God’s voice, in the Way of Jesus, accessible to anyone who would enter it.  I have aimed to give a biblical and experiential understanding of the theory and practice of that life.”  (217)  “My hope is to leave you with a clear sense of how to live confidently in a personal walk that is complemented by an ongoing conversational relationship with God.” (13)   “Generally speaking we are in God’s will whenever we are leading the kind of life he wants for us.  And that leaves a lot of room for initiative on our part, which is essential: our individual initiatives are central to his will for us.”  (11)   “I deal with hearing God as it bears upon a whole life in the will of God – upon the question of who God wants us to be as well as (where appropriate) of what he wants us to do.” (12)   Ch. 1 – believing we should hear from God but not understanding the practice Ch. 2 – common misunderstandings Ch. 3 – various ways in which God communicates with us Ch. 4 – objections to the idea of God’s communicating with individuals Ch. 5 – the various ways God communicates, the centrality of the “still, small voice” Ch. 6,7 – God’s speaking – the Word of God at the very heart of all reality Ch. 8 – how we can be sure we are hearing God Ch. 9 – when God is not speaking> > >