Category: Communication

Hearing God’s Whisper

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As we grow in faith, our ability to recognize God’s desires for our lives increases. The closer we listen, the clearer we can hear those things He is asking us to do. Some of these things may be very easy and take no effort at all, but some will take us out of our comfort zones. Being obedient to His will is essential in continuing to grow closer to Him.

God made you and He alone knows the plans He has for you. If you don’t take the first step in that plan how can you ever achieve the things He wants you to achieve? You can want to make a cake, you can mix up all the ingredients to make a cake, you can put it in the oven, but if you don’t turn the oven on you are never going to have a cake.

Saint Catherine of Siena at one point in her spiritual development had withdrawn so much into her prayer life that she begged God not to make her eat dinner with her family. She wanted to stay with Him, but He had great plans for her and she would bring many souls to Him and she couldn’t do it from her room. He asked her to go and her obedience to Him made her go.

Sometimes it is scary doing the things God asks you to do. Sometimes you may find yourself not wanting to do what He asks because you don’t know how it will be received by others. You may even find yourself rationalizing all the reasons you shouldn’t do something and all the problems that may come up.

In order to grow closer to God, we have to trust that He will not leave us alone. We need to have patience. Even if what He asked us to do caused some negative consequences, good will come from it. God is in control. If He is asking you to do something, be secure in the fact that He is with you and He knows the outcome. Taking a step of faith is sometimes a hard thing to do, but if God wants you to do it, He is going to take care of all the problems that may arise.

Just like Saint Catherine, all she had to do was go down and sit with her family. Looking back on her life, I think this was a very important training exercise for her. She needed to learn to be comfortable in her faith and in her convictions. If she couldn’t sit at the kitchen table with her family and overcome their objections to the little that she ate, how was she going to do all the things she eventually did for God?

God didn’t show her all the things she was someday going to do. If He had she may have never come out of the room. Trust in God, be dedicated to Him and follow His direction, you will not regret it.

Communicating With God

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Effective communication is the key to every successful relationship. How we communicate with one another determines how good or bad our relationship is. Being able to get your thoughts and ideas across to others; listening to their concerns, advice and feedback; and taking their feelings into account is not always an easy thing to do. In a world of emails and texts, it has become even harder. People are different and they respond to communication differently. Learning the art of communication takes time and practice.

Communicating with God is also not always easy, but it is well worth the investment. What is God asking you to do with your life? What direction does He want you to take? How do you know it is what He wants? These are all tough questions, but they are questions with answers. If you learn to communicate with God, it will be easier to hear and listen to the answers He is giving you.

Here are a few things you can do to help you along your journey.

Read the Bible. The more you read the Bible, the more you will see God’s words speaking to you. God sometimes uses verses and examples from the Bible to answer your questions or to give you direction on what He would like you to do. The more familiar you become with the verses and the lives of the people in the Bible, the easier it is for God to use them to provide you with direction.

Pray. If we aren’t talking to God, it is a lot harder to hear what He is telling us. God sent the Holy Spirit to dwell within us and to help us make the decisions He wants us to make. “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness.” Romans 8:26

Ask for guidance. The Spirit helps us in our weakness. But if we don’t allow the Spirit to help us, He can’t do it. We need to turn off the television, put down the cell phone, or whatever else is eating up our time. We need to spend some time talking to God about what He wants us to do and listen for the answer. “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7

Listen. There is a big difference between hearing something and listening to something. Many times in conversations, I think we hear what the other person is saying, but we are not listening to what they are saying. Actively listening to someone can bring out a deeper understanding of what they are saying that goes further than just the words they are using. This is the same with God, we need to listen for His response to our prayers.

Be open for a response. It is rare that God has one of His angels appear to us and give us an answer. God answers us in many different ways: among other things, sometimes He uses Father’s homily; sometimes He uses a song; and sometimes He uses other people. He doesn’t always answer us right away and if we aren’t listening and opening ourselves up for a response, we might miss the answer.

Take yourself out of your daily routine. Sometimes it is hard to work through what God wants us to do in a situation if we don’t remove ourselves from our daily routine. Taking a walk or a drive and spending time with nature will help remove the stress and help to open us up to not only seeing the beauty God has put in the world, but also may help us to decide what God wants us to do.

Think about what you heard. Once you have an answer, think about what you heard. Is it something that conforms with the teachings Jesus has given us? If it doesn’t – it wasn’t from Him. For example – God is never going to tell you to cheat someone else out of what is theirs.

When in doubt – ask for clarity. If you have questions as to whether what you heard is from God, talk to Him about your concerns. Ask Him to clarify the answer. He will give you the direction you need. You can also talk to your priest; he can help you to discern what God is telling you.

Do what He tells you to do. Sometimes the easiest part of developing a good relationship with God is hearing what He wants us to do. But then we need to do it! God has given us free will for a reason. He doesn’t force us to do anything and He is very patient. God lets us pout and procrastinate and mull things over until we are ready to do what He has asked us to do. Sometimes the steps we need to take are really small and easy to take, but other times they seem as if He is asking us to do the impossible. Nothing that God asks us to do is impossible. He is with us every step of the way. “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord” Jeremiah 29:11

Trust Him. Trust that God has a plan. He wants only what is good for His people and He has sent His angels to guard over us and guide us. “With God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26