Steps to Intimacy With GodSample

LISTEN

Be still and let God speak to you.

We must have the ears and eyes of our heart open to God, expecting to hear and see Him, and being ready to obey. We can prepare our heart to receive from the Lord by knowing His Word, by taking time to listen to the Holy Spirit, and by desiring to hear from Him. As we spend time with God, He places His desires in us. His heart becomes our heart. This is the foundation of hearing His voice and becoming a good listener.

It is important to distinguish God’s thoughts from competing voices. This requires practice and the help of the Holy Spirit. God wants to teach us how to tune our heart, which is our receiver, to hear what He has to say. God says we will hear His voice and will follow him. “God’s voice” is the conversation the Holy Spirit has with our heart: our mind, will, and emotions.

Remember - the world, the flesh, and the devil will try to “jam the frequencies” by keeping us busy, compromised in sin, distracted with fears and anxieties, or weighed down with guilt and shame. These things interfere with our ability to hear God clearly. The enemy of our soul doesn’t want us to experience the joy of walking in a deep, intimate fellowship with God. We often get so busy and rushed in life or so preoccupied with natural things that we can’t clearly hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. One of the most important steps in hearing from the Lord is simply learning to listen and be still. It is slowing down, tuning out distractions, and tuning in to what God is saying.

Stop everything. Get off the treadmill of life. Call “time out” and find a quiet place to get alone with God. You can do that every morning. Tune out temptation and tune in grace. Tune out condemnation and tune in forgiveness. Tune out fear and tune in faith.

Before the hustle and bustle of life and all the daily demands start, we are going to get alone with our Savior and Lord. As you listen to God through His Word, be prepared to write down what He speaks to your heart. This could include verses, applications, thoughts, impressions, pictures, phrases, and so on. You will want to remember what God says to you in order to put it into practice the rest of the day.