SIX QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN YOU CAN’T HEAR GOD
If you have a problem, God has the answer. If you’re without something you desire, God is waiting to tell you what to do to receive it. Maybe that’s where you are right now—needing to hear from God about something but going day after day without the word you need from Him. One thing you need to know is this: God has not gone silent on you. When you aren’t hearing from God, something is blocking the way, and clearing the path is critical. As Gloria Copeland says, “The answer to living a life of victory is hearing from God and doing what you’re told to do.” There’s no reason to go year after year, or even month after month, without hearing from God on a particular matter. If you’ve been stuck in the same place, it’s time to consider these 6 Questions To Ask When You Can’t Hear God. 1. Do I Believe I’ll Hear from God? “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” –Jeremiah 29:13 (NIV) You may be praying and hoping to hear from God, but if you don’t really and truly believe you’ll hear from Him, you won’t. Perhaps you’ve convinced yourself that He has nothing to say or that He’s somehow holding out on you. He isn’t! But He does have a still, small voice. He isn’t going to chase you down. The key to hearing from Him is to spend time with Him in prayer and in His Word. 2. Am I Relying On Others To Hear for Me? “God does not show favoritism.” –Acts 10:34 (NIV) It’s easy to want to hear a word from the Lord through a prophet or a minister, but God didn’t make you to be dependent on someone else’s faith. A pastor, minister or prophet can build you up, but he’s not God. Don’t depend on someone hearing from God for you. Build your life in a way that you hear from Him on your own. God is no respecter of persons. He’ll speak to you as much as He’ll speak to anyone else. 3. Am I Walking In Love and Forgiveness? “If I have faith that can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.” –1 Corinthians 13:2 (NIV) If you’re the kind of person known for snapping at people or speaking harshly, hearing from God is going to be more challenging for you. Likewise, if you have a critical spirit or spend time pointing out the flaws of others to make yourself feel superior, your times of hearing from Him will be fewer and farther between. That’s because a person who is prideful, self-centered or holding a grudge has a hardened heart. It is a soft and tender heart that hears from God. So, if you’re coming to Him with a grievance and carrying on in prayer about how you’ve been done wrong, He’s just going to wait. Wait for what? For you to obey what He’s already told you, which is found in John 13:34 and Mark 11:25. In short, love and forgive. There is no justification for treating people disrespectfully or refusing to forgive. The Bible is clear—your faith means nothing if you do not know how to love others. If you haven’t heard from God in a certain area, ask yourself, “Am I walking in love and forgiveness?” If not, make a change! And ask God to help you. He’ll help you soften your heart and clear the line of communication to hear from Him. 4. Am I Casting My Cares On Him? “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” –1 Peter 5:7 As long as you’re holding on to the care of a situation, it’s going to be very difficult for you to hear from God. If you have already made a decision (or are afraid of making a wrong one), there is no room for Him to speak. So, ask yourself, “Am I casting my cares on Him?” And be honest in your answer. Some people have a hard time not being in control of everything all the time. This will be your greatest enemy. One way to cast your cares on Him is to clear away the flesh by going on a fast. Set aside 24 hours, or another amount of time, to fast and only pray and listen regarding your situation. Don’t let anything else cloud your thinking during that time. Get to a place where there is nothing between you and the Father. Rebuke fear in your life, and actively resist the devil. Another way is to pray in the spirit. As you turn over your prayers to the Holy Spirit, He will pray the perfect prayer on your behalf. Take the time to listen when you pray in the spirit. Ask for the interpretation. It draws you closer to God’s presence, and He doesn’t seem so far off. The magnitude of His goodness and holiness becomes more real, and you clear the way to hear Him. 5. Have I Neglected To Obey? “Blessed…are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” –Luke 11:28 (NIV) What is the last thing God told you to do concerning your situation? If something is missing in your life, there will be instruction and correction. Most of the time, there will be multiples of each. Some people don’t like to hear the correction. They don’t want to believe there’s an area they need to fix. But it’s for your own blessing to obey God’s instruction or make His correction. If you haven’t heard from God, consider that He may be waiting for you to respond to the last thing He said. Maybe you haven’t even acknowledged an answer He sent you through another person, and you’re still sitting and waiting. Obedience means we do what He tells us, even when we don’t understand it. We want some big assignment from God, but we don’t want to hear the little things He asks us to do. It doesn’t work that way. If Peter would have obeyed Jesus in the small things—“watch and pray”—maybe he wouldn’t have denied Jesus in the bigger moment. He would have been able to overcome the temptation. That’s how important it is that when you hear from God, you obey what He says. You can’t afford to procrastinate. Just do it. Don’t try to figure it out. Just take the next step. Of this Gloria Copeland says, “Ken and I have always found this is true in our lives. We are always able to take the next step. We might not see the whole thing through right now, but we can take the next step, and then we can take the next step. Pretty soon, you’re in the perfect will of God for your lives, hallelujah. We can’t let natural thinking hold us back.” 6. Am I Really Open to Hearing? “He who has an ear, let him hear.” –Revelation 3:22 (NKJV) Sometimes people pray about a matter and think they want to hear from God, but they’re really shut down inwardly because they’re afraid of what God might say. They don’t want to hear that they need to make a correction. They don’t want to hear a certain instruction. They’ve already made up their mind what they should or shouldn’t do. Or they fear making the wrong decision. So, they shut down and aren’t open to hearing from Him. Gloria Copeland says, “A lot of people want to hear from God, but they don’t want to hear from Him when He corrects them. You’re not going to get directions and not corrections. That won’t work.” Be open to hearing things you may not think you want to hear. But keep in mind—every correction or instruction brings you one step closer to that victory you want! So why fight it? Hopefully these questions have helped you uncover why you haven’t been hearing from God. That thing you need an answer to? That desire you so long to see fulfilled? He has the next step ready and waiting for you. It’s time you heard it!
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