One of the keys to effective prayer is listening to God. If we pray according to His will not just what we think, then we will see marvellous answers to prayer.

People find it hard to listen to God. It does take practice and discipline, but Jesus said “My sheep hear my voice” so we should expect to be hearing the voice of the Lord often.

For listening prayer, we first ditch the prayer list. This is about communion with God, not shopping.

I find it helpful to have a journal so I can write things down. I also find it helpful to have a piece of paper to write down all the things that my brain comes up with in the silence- that way I can train myself to accept that those things that worry me will be dealt with.

I start by saying something like ,”Lord here I am ready to listen and to enjoy your presence.” Then I stop and sit still, allowing my mind to be quiet.

Sometimes I will bring some concerns to the Lord. I will write down my prayer, and what I hear as God’s response.

Other times I will come with no agenda at all. I have learned that the things I think about (other than the trivial things that I need to do something about) are often the things that the Holy Spirit is prompting me to pray about. This morning, for example, I found myself thinking about the Prime Minister so I spent some time praying for him and the Government. This is not something I do regularly but I believe God was wanting me to do that today.

The key to all this is to approach prayer as a conversation not a list of demands.

Most mornings I get up early and spend an hour or so in prayer. Sometimes I am just too physically tired, but 90% of the time I do this.

This morning I deliberately chose to put my prayer list aside, and spend time just listening to the “still small voice.” I realised that it’s been a while since I’ve done this, despite regularly encouraging my congregation to do it. It is just too easy to get into a prayer rut where we fill up the silence with the things we want God to address- it’s certainly easier than listening to God’s list that He wants us to correct!

During this time this thought came to me: “The reason so few hear God is that we do not listen to Him.”

It takes time, physically doing nothing but listen. We are perennially busy occupied with how best to fill our hours. Sitting and waiting for God to speak seems so wasteful.

And what if God doesn’t actually say anything?

More frightening, what if God does say something? Who can stand before the voice of the Lord?

This morning, God just told me that He loves me and enjoys what I do for Him and with Him.

That certainly lifted my spirits! It put a spring in my step and a joy in my heart.