This is the third in a series of blogs on developing faith by listening to God, adapted from my upcoming book, Faith, The Infinite, Ultimate Love of God.
We sometimes think of prayer as a monologue where we tell God what is on our hearts. But prayer is far more than that. Prayer is crucial among the ways that we hear the voice of God.
We listen to God by PRAYING THE WORD.
Listening to God in Scripture cannot be severed from listening in prayer. If you wish to hear God's voice in Scripture, you need to read prayerfully. We need to understand that God is present with us. He personally speaks to us through His word and prayer.
We listen to God by PRAYING TOGETHER.
Much prayer in the New Testament is corporate. Wouldn't it have been wonderful to join one of those power-filled prayer meetings in the Book of Acts? I sometimes call praying together, "Fellowship on Fire," or simply the fellowship of the Spirit. Everything we do as the church gathers should be the fellowship of the Spirit. Our services should be bathed in continual prayer. You will discover that God speaks to and through His children when we pray together. I often have the sense of God speaking to me as others around me pray. That is especially true in small group prayer meetings.
We listen to God by spending TIME IN PRAYER.
The lack of time can be a major barrier to prayer. In the garden before the cross Jesus asked His disciples if they couldn't even pray for an hour. Some of the power and blessing of prayer needs time. We are only given so much time. And other things swallow up time we could spend in the presence of God. How much time do you spend watching television, checking your email, playing video games, or in some other recreational activity? If you are serious about developing faith that will move mountains, you will have to replace the time invested in other things by spending more time with God.
http://thinkinginthespirit.blogspot.com/
http://theanchorofthesoul.blogspot.com/
http://watchinginprayer.blogspot.com/
http://writingprayerfully.blogspot.com/
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