“I answered you in the secret place of thunder” Psalm 81:7

“God has always designed that the secret place be a place where He answers us and speaks to us…There is nothing more glorious in all of life than hearing His voice! God has always longed to have the kind of intimate relationship with His people wherein they hear His voice and respond accordingly. We close the door to our secret place so that we might shut out all distracting voices and tune our hearts to the one voice which we long to hear.

“The word “hear” is the most important word in the Bible! The most important treasures in the kingdom are predicated upon the necessity of hearing God…This is the wellspring of eternal life; this is the fountainhead of kingdom power and authority; this is the source of wisdom, understanding, and life direction! Nothing can replace the confidence and authority that comes from hearing God.

“For this reason, I strongly advocate for a prayer life that is comprised mostly of silence. It’s a great delight to talk to God, but it’s even more thrilling when He talks to us. I’ve discovered that He has more important things to say than I do. Things don’t change when I talk to God; things change when God talks to me. When I talk, nothing happens; when God talks, the universe comes into existence. So the power of prayer is found, not in convincing God of my agenda, but in waiting upon Him to hear His agenda.

“My role in the secret place is to listen for anything God might want to speak. If He doesn’t speak to me, my time spent in silent listening is not futile or in vain. I haven’t missed something or failed to connect. I’ve done my part. It is so important to me that I put myself in a posture of listening. I’m convinced there have been times I have not clearly heard God’s word to my heart because I have not been listening at the time He was speaking.

“Do not believe your adversary’s lies. He would tell you that you are unable to hear the voice of God. Nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus said of you, “‘My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me’” (John 10:27). You can hear the voice of God. Stop everything, come aside, listen, and wait on Him…He longs to commune with you.

“When listening, it is a common experience to be bombarded with thoughts about all that must be done in our daily duties. A practical suggestion: Take a notepad to the secret place, and write down “things to do” as they interrupt your listening. Then, you can put those thoughts out of mind and maintain your focus where you want it, knowing that you’ll not forget about those details later.

“Be prepared to make the discipline of attentive listening a lifetime pursuit that will become easier in the doing of it”—Bob Sorge

My Prayer

“Oh Lord, tears well up in my eyes because again, I see how much I have cheated myself. No one cheated me, but I cheated myself. I pursued the wind thinking it had value, while all I really needed was to wait for Your voice. Dear Lord, I cannot ask You to speak to me when in reality, You have been speaking but I was not listening. I have been too busy to wait in quietness for the intimate voice of God. But I am sorry, Lord. I am Your sheep. It is my right to hear Your voice. I will henceforth practice what is my right. Now I understand why You ask me to shut the door. It’s because You want me to hear You. Oh Lord, forgive me. Teach me the discipline of quietness in prayer, rather than the noisy rumblings that often characterize my prayer time. Teach me to wait quietly. Your voice is the most important voice to hear…Not the voices of men. How much loss I have suffered simply because I was too busy chasing ‘life’—rather than let You guide me through life, Oh! How I need Your assuring voice. I commit to grow the discipline of listening, Lord. I will silence the storms inside and outside, so that I hear Your whispers. Help me Lord. Please help me. Amen.”

The Challenge

1. Can you remember when last you practically heard God speak to you? What did He say? Did you act upon what He said? Did you write it down?
2. Can you commit to start writing down the things God will start saying to you? Whether in hard copy or digital format, start writing down God’s words to you.
3. Consciously decide to talk less in your prayer time. After studying His Word, and uttering some prayers, quieten your spirit and listen attentively. He is speaking. The mark of the spiritual man is in his ability to be silent, even when he feels like speaking.