Ready to Listen, Ready to Praise

The pinnacle of listening, the ultimate goal of our spiritual ears is this: We should be ready and able to hear our Lord speak to us anytime and anywhere he wishes. When we deliberately and regularly place ourselves in a listening posture, God can download into us his truths, insights and directives as often as he wants. We as believers must go beyond simply studying on how to listen for him; to hear him most often, we must quiet our souls and minds and actually listen.

Psalm 46:10 say, “Be silent and know that I am God.” Isaiah 26:4 reads, “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” (NKJ) David said in Psalm 37 to “be still in the presence of the LORD.” In Luke 10 Jesus commended not the one who was busy preparing his meal, but rather the one was sitting at his feet listening to him teach. He said, “There is really only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it – and I won’t take it away from her.”

Prayer is communicating with God in both directions. He talks, we listen.
We talk; He listens. However, listening should always take priority. In John 12 Jesus explained, “I say whatever the Father tells me to say.” How could he know what to say had he not first listened and heard from his Father? In the same way, we must listen so we will know what to say and do.

In our quiet times alone with God and in times of worship with other believers, our goal should always be to connect with Almighty God, to focus our thoughts and affections on him, to wait before Him until we’ve given Him every opportunity to speak. Then as he leads us, we must willingly and joyfully obey.

>>Excerpt from my worship study called Praise More Powerful: Insights to Transform Our Worship.