Hey, I’m finished with four (out of nine) chapters of Willard’s “Hearing God” book, and want to pause for a minute to remind you of the goal of the book from the first post:

How do we hear God’s voice? How can we be sure that what we think we hear is not our own subconscious? What if what God says to us is not clear?

Being close to God means communicating with him, and this communication is a two-way street—telling him what is on our hearts in prayer and hearing and understanding what he is saying to us. It is this second half of our conversation with God that is so important but can also be so difficult. How can you be sure God is speaking to you? The key is to focus not so much on individual actions and decisions as on building our personal relationship with our Creator. Hearing God is but one dimension of a richly interactive relationship, and obtaining guidance is but one facet of hearing God.

I believe this is an important topic and a good book, but it is a challenge to summarize.  While I’m going to finish the book, I don’t need to finish blogging through it.  I want to make sure it is something you find beneficial and that it is making sense to you. 

So…I’m taking this chance to tap the mike and say “Is this working”?  Please give me your feedback!  Would you like me to continue?  I would love your thoughts!

Three quick truths about hearing from God from chapter 4 of Willard’s “Hearing God”:

He can speak to us.  I know, I know…how can God hear and speak to millions of us at the same time?  God is not limited by His creation.  There IS a spiritual reality that is just as ‘real’ as the physical [...]

There are two big ideas from the last part of chapter two of Willard’s “Hearing God”…both of which are important in approaching a conversational relationship with Him:
The first big idea is how God communicates.  The primary mode of communication from God to humankind is via the Word of God.  The Bible is literally God’s [...]

Being alone.  For those whose lives are filled with people, a little time alone can be a great thing.  For those who spend too many hours by themselves, another minute alone can seem like an eternity.  But whether we like it or not, we do have a built in need need for community and [...]

It is usually a good idea to establish some guidelines or ground rules before starting something new.  The second chapter of Willard’s “Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship With God” discusses three things to keep in mind when we seek to hear from God.  Let’s get right to it:
First, we must make it our primary [...]

Perhaps you have heard people relate stories of when God has “spoken to them”, or when they were “very clear about what God wanted them to do.”  Perhaps you’ve questioned the sincerity or sanity of their comment, or thought to yourself, “I wonder why God never speaks like that to me?”  I know I [...]