[schizoidwoman]

Hi,
I am struggling in my prayer life, actually understanding what it is meant to listen to God. I don't really understand how God "speaks" to us (and don't tell me to listen to the voices ha ha!) Just kidding. When you pray and spend "still" time with God, how do you hear His "voice"? I feel like for the 11 years I have been saved, I am throwing my prayers into a void. I talked to my pastor but didn't really understand.
Thanks,
SW

[Rhapsody]

IMO - I think hearing God is different for every person.

When I hear God speak to me I am over come with a sense of calm & peace that I did not feel before..... and I hear an unconscious voice (spiritual not vocal) that answers me - my body usually feels as though it is floating in air and that a warm comforting oil is being poured into my body, filling me from head to toe.

[Rapunzel]

Rhapsody described it well. Answers seem to be more felt than heard. Calm and peace are good descriptions - also warmth. Sometimes there is a warmth that you can feel quite tangibly, and sometimes it will stay for a long time - even hours or days. I don't think that anyone gets that sensation every time though - just sometimes. It has been described as "a burning in the bosom," although that wording seems antiquated now. Look for thoughts and feelings that weren't there before, that you feel good about. If you pray for something and the answer is "no," then you might feel a nothingness that might cause you to forget the thing that you asked. It helps to ask specific questions, and one at a time, so that you know what is being answered. Maybe start with a question like "God, I believe that you are there, and I would like to have a personal witness so that I can know for myself. Please allow me to feel your love in a way that I can recognize. Are you really there?" And then clear your mind and 'listen' for your answer. You can also ask whether a doctrine or belief, etc. is true and of God, or whether a decision you are trying to make is best for you, etc., or you can ask to be guided to answers or truth. I know of people who have received what they felt to be unmistakable answers through what another person says, through written media, by randomly reading a scripture that seems to jump out at them, or even through the radio or TV (a word or phrase might repeat or appear at such a timing that it just fits and can't be ignored). There are probably as many ways to receive answers from God as there are people who listen for answers. Maybe more, since you might not always get your answers in the same way.

[ally88]

sw, I believe God answers in different ways, but lots of times in dreams...Pay attention to the dreams you have, especially when you really have had alone time with God. if you have dreams try to piece together what they might mean or try to be telling you. lots of times they do mean somehing. i think enough people dont give dreams enough credit. thats how God talks to us lots of times. i hope this helps.

[OliviaC]

</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
schizoidwoman said:
Hi,
I am struggling in my prayer life, actually understanding what it is meant to listen to God. I don't really understand how God "speaks" to us (and don't tell me to listen to the voices ha ha!) Just kidding. When you pray and spend "still" time with God, how do you hear His "voice"? I feel like for the 11 years I have been saved, I am throwing my prayers into a void. I talked to my pastor but didn't really understand.
Thanks,
SW

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">

SW, when you have your prayer time, do you read scripture passages also? Often, the Lord speaks to us through a particular verse or passage in the Bible. This is the most common way for us to hear him; read the Word and then wait quietly. Many times I have gotten a word from the Lord by reading my Bible. Ask him to help you to hear what he has for you. He will do it!
((((((((SW)))))))))
Blessings,
Olivia

[PoetMan]

Hi SW

I pray to God by speaking quietly, or sometimes aloud, or at times I just think the prayers in my head just as if I were speaking out loud. Like you, I sometimes think that maybe I am speaking to a giant void somewhere. I wonder if anyone hears my prayers, hears me asking for guidance and help, or hears me asking for some relief form the mental torture that I and others endure. “Please heal me God from all mental torments and anguish and nightmares and hallucinations and delusions Amen”. Do you think that is too much to ask? It would seem so. Yet I still have a strong belief in God. I read some Bible passages almost every day. I do find at times that god can speak to me through what I read on a certain day. Sometimes certain words or passages just rather speak to you in a very special way. Actually, at times it is very electrifying the feelings I get. I have particular churches where I go that I find this electrifying feeling come over me as soon as I step inside the church or chapel. Whenever I pray in the church, I feel like I am being heard and that I can feel the presence of God. Sometimes when I pray at home I can also have the same feelings but not always, but this does not stop me from praying into that big void you talk about. Maybe the big void is just where god is. You know the expression “God is everywhere”. I think for me that it my spirit that hears and speaks and has the interaction with God.
In closing I would say;
May God give us the understanding and wisdom that we seek through his word so that we may hear the voice of God and know his presence. Amen

John (PoetMan)

[(JD)]

God first uses His Word to speak to us, the Bible. He also uses the Holy Spirit within us, to urge us and help us to know what to do. He uses other people to tell us and encourage us to do what He wants us to do, with discernment from reading the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit's inclinations within us.

There are days when I can't function well at all, and ask God to direct my day, telling Him that I will accept everything that happens that day as His will.

[PoetMan]

hi SW

I remembered recently reading something about God listening; how does God speak to us. I saw this interesting story on the news about Mother Theresa who most know you probably was a catholic nun who won the Nobel peace prize for her humanitarian work. I am trying to be as accurate here as I can from memory. At the age of twelve, she felt strongly the call of God and knew she had to be a missionary to spread the love of Christ. The news indicated that prior to beginning the missionary work that she had heard God speak to her and knew what she must do. However, the story went on to say that Mother Theresa did loose faith at times and that she could not feel the spirit of God in her for many years. I found this quite amazing in a sense as she is being considered for sainthood by the church. I find it interesting in that someone that you would assume was so very close to God and very spiritual ion her beliefs had doubts about the closeness she had with God. Another comment by the news story was that when Jesus was on the cross he said something like “why have you forsaken me” referring to God. Why had God forsaken him? It makes me feel better about my own spirituality that I struggle with at times when I her these things. At times, I feel very close to God while at other times I feel very distant. In addition, there are times when I feel he is listening while at other times I think; what is the use in me praying if nothing I pray for happens. Is it all just a waste of time? I believe in my heart that there is a God and that he does exist. I just keep praying. Amen.

John (PoetMan)

[eskielover]

For me, I don't consciously pray....I just kind of think about things, knowing that it is God who is going to privide me with the right answers.....the answers that I need to make the right decisions. Those answers don't come quickly.....some take a lot of time to be answered, & some the answers come more quickly. The come in the form of thoughts in my own mind & I know they aren't something I put there because I start out not knowing at all what to do. When it becomes clear to me, that is when I know that my questions (prayers) have been answered by God. I find that he makes pathways clear to follow & they are obvious that they are pathways set there by God because I in my most organized, intelligent mind couldn't make things happen the way they do in my life.

This has become my way of communicating with God, & I always seem to get the answers to guide me in the right direction....or the right things happen in my life that guide the right results.

The one problem I had with prayer was when my Mother was Dx'ed with vulvar cancer....a rare cancer that in found in only about 3000 women in the US each year. She has been a strong Lutheran Christian most of her life. When she learned of the cancer, she prayed to got to heal her & she said that all her friends & church friends were praying for her also. As her condition got worse, I was continually being bombarded with her question of when it God going to make me better. God gave me the wonderful surgeon (the guy was a complete jerk) to save my life. When am I going to get better because everyone is praying for me to get better. I was in a tough place because I knew in my heart that she was dying even though the Dr's weren't supporting that fact. Finally one night when I was with her at the end, I had to go into the medical hospital myself & knew that by the time I would be released, she wouldn't be alive, I took her hands & told her that God was answering her prayers, he just wasn't answering them the way she wanted him to answer. I told her that God was going to heal her when she let go & quit hanging onto life here on earth & that he had a place there in heaven for her next to my Dad. She could no longer talk & was barely hanging on, but I felt a light squeeze, knowing that she heard me.

I left to go to the hospital to get treated for the massive weight loss I had from all the stress I was going through. I got a call the next morning that my Mother had died about 2 hours after I left.

Sometimes we don't want to hear the answers God has for us....sometimes we are afraid of those answers because it is the unknown & we can't believe that would be the answer because that wasn't what we asked for. I have learned from that experience that what I need to ask for is to be given the answer in my mind so that I know what the answer is. Not praying for specific things, but for the knowledge of what I need to do or what I should know so that I can either do the right thing or make the right decision so that the right thing can happen in my life. It has taken a long time to realize that this is the way I need to talk to God.

It is a personal thing & we all have to learn our own way to communicate so that we can understand the answers he gives us....in thoughts in our minds & knowing it is the right thing, or sometimes there are signs or something happens so that we know in our minds & thoughts what we need to do. It's taken me 54 years to realize that the thoughts I am given are usually Gods answers to my prayers.

Debbie

[Perna]

Usually when I'm praying, I'm talking to God and don't expect an "immediate" response (unless I'm in serious trouble). It is only later that my "surroundings" will remind me of what I was saying in my prayers. . . someone will say something unexpected, directly relating to what I was saying in my prayers or something will happen (I can't tell you the number of times I've suddenly happened upon a book at the store or library that directly related to what I was just talking to God about :-) or my Heart will respond in a way related to the prayers (I'll be comforted where I was anxious before like Rhapsody and Rapunzel mention) and tell me there's a relationship between my praying and God's response.