Listening to God

    One of the most important parts of a relationship is communication. More specifically, the ability to listen. Do you listen to God? You might be thinking "Jason, I can't even hear God. How do I know if he's even saying anything?" In order to hear God you need two things, inner silence and familiarity. If inner silence is missing there's a lot of other voices and you can lose God's in the craziness, especially if you can't even recognize his voice.
    Let's start with quieting our minds. In order for this to happen, we need to be comfortable with silence. A way to do this is to find a quiet place and just sit (or walk) for 10 minutes without saying or thinking of anything. Just try to listen. Okay, listen to what? God speaks to us in different ways. Sometimes it is a scripture verse, a vision, a word/phrase, or a really strong feeling that brings comfort.
    Now the big question, how can you know God's voice? That's simple, the Bible. It is the living word of God. That means you can read it over and over again, but it will pull at a different part of your heart depending on what you're going through that day. When reading the Bible, start with the Gospels. The more scripture you read, the more you can detect God's voice. God isn't trying to hide his voice from you. It takes discipline and sacrifice to be able to recognize it. God never said your life would be easy and filled with things that bring short term happiness. He promised that if you followed Christ, your life would be like his...eternally celebrating your self-sacrifice for God and his people.