Surrender, Stillness, Solitude and Hearing God's Voice

     Today I borrow from an article I have written on hearing God's voice, extracting the parts that describe how surrender, stillness and solitude support a life of listening to Papa's voice.
     First, a reminder as to why I am writing so much about listening: The core of the Christ life is an increasingly intimate relationship with God, and constantly improving communication is essential for that relationship to grow. And because God’s desire is for each believer to hear Him on his/her own, not through a “pastor” or other teacher, it is crucial for you to learn how to hear Him well. Just how important is it for you to hear God’s voice for yourself, constantly, up close and personal? I answer that with another question: How else are you going to build a relationship with Him?
     Hearing and surrender. Smith Wigglesworth, that intriguing plumber turned evangelist of the last century, once said, “It is the easiest thing to get the mind of the Lord when your whole heart is only desiring the will of the Lord.” (Smith Wigglesworth Speaks to Students, p. 11). I have found this to be absolutely true. You cannot hear God in any area in which you are still in control, still not surrendered. Why would He speak in that area? This is perhaps why we get confused even about dreams God plants within us. The dream may really be something from God, but once we see it, we are so deeply touched by it and excited about it that we may try to make it happen, thereby missing the path to see the dream fulfilled (which unfolds to us via constant conversation with God). Being “led by the Spirit” implies that we are indeed being led, not doing the leading!
     Would you spend a lot of time talking to someone who wasn’t responding to what you said? I don’t imagine that God will either. The people who hear God best always approach Him with an attitude of absolute surrender, yielding all control of their lives to God’s purposes. To hear God’s voice clearly, you must approach Him with a willingness to do what He says without hesitation or reservation! Smith Wigglesworth often boiled the Christian life down to one word: yield. He told his hearers, “Yield and yield and yield!”
     God won’t speak to the person who isn’t willing to submit to His rule. I like to think of Surrender and Submission as the front and back doors to God’s throne room. Surrender gets me into the throne room so that I can hear Him, and submission is the door I go through as I leave, fully committed to act on what He has said. One sure way to improve your hearing His voice, then, is to start obeying those “nudges” you get from Him. The nudges get “louder” as we come ready to obey and then follow through with obedience. And remember, we are not surrendering to a cruel master who wishes to do us harm, rather we are surrendering a child to its loving, wise parent or as a lover into the arms of the beloved. Otherwise the concept of surrender negates what we know (and about which I wrote last entry) about being sons and daughters, not merely slaves. Surrender recognizes that we are in relationship with the Infinite and Almighty One who is God Most High, but who also loves and cherishes us so that His words come to guide in a way that's always best for us and never meant to coerce us.
     Hearing and stillness. It’s amazing to me how many people think that they can hear God in the middle of the noise of their crowded lives. Have you ever tried to carry on a serious conversation in a noisy restaurant or while the TV was going? It’s impossible! And God usually speaks very, very softly, so we need to get really still to hear Him. In fact, when you first start trying to hear Him, you will find that you face not only external noise but internal noise as well. You may be like many others who find that even when they finally get alone and quiet find that their minds at first are filled with “noisy thoughts” that drown out God’s still, small voice. What can you do about this? First, be quiet. Make prayer a two-sided conversation, not a laundry list or a 911 call. If God can’t get a word in edgewise, it’s not likely that you will hear much. For me prayer is now far more listening than talking! Second, take the time needed to get still. Get alone, tune out the outside noises, put on some soft worship music if that helps, and just sit until your soul quiets down. Certain scripture passages have helped me reach stillness, and they may help you, too (Psalms 46:10 and 131:1-2, for example). Finally, don’t give up! Most of us are so unaccustomed to inner stillness that it takes practice to get inwardly quiet and peaceful. But when you do get truly still, hang on! You will find God speaking volumes to you, and you will learn how to take that stillness with you wherever you go.
     Hearing and solitude. We can’t form a relationship or learn to recognize someone’s voice in the middle of a crowd. Learning to recognize how someone communicates—with both verbal communication and non-verbal communication—requires us to spend time alone with them, doesn’t it? Our relationship with God is no different. If we want to get to know the subtle nuances of the ways He communicates, we must spend time with Him alone. It is impossible to learn to hear God just by attending meetings, reading books, etc. Those things may help, but they cannot take the place of time alone with Him. I have discovered a direct connection between how much time I spend alone with Him and how well I recognize His voice. And I have never met anyone who took the time to be alone with God (to listen) who didn’t learn to hear God well. Again, try it! Take the time you have in your life that’s yours to invest as you wish and spend it alone with God and see what happens! Please note: I know that many who read this blog don't have a lot of discretionary time, but you may be surprised at what you find when you start inventorying your life as to how you spend your time. One young mother I know found that her time of solitude had to take place while she was in the bathtub, but she found a way to extend those times to be alone with God!
     Okay, this is a bit longer than some of my posts, but these three S's all seem to go well together. Let me know how this is working for you, okay? And remember that God is more committed to your hearing Him than you are to learning how to hear Him! How else can He communicate how much He loves you!!!

Lost in His love,

Tom, Abba's little boy