{"id":66,"date":"2009-08-06T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-08-06T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/08\/god-talks-too-iv.html"},"modified":"2009-08-06T07:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-08-06T07:00:00","slug":"god-talks-too-iv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/08\/god-talks-too-iv.html","title":{"rendered":"God Talks Too IV"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Are there ways we can increase our likelihood of hearing God speak? I think so. In Nine Ways God Always Speaks<\/span><\/a><\/i>, I offer the following: <\/span><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n

What’s the difference between those who hear him and those who don’t? <\/span><\/strong><\/font>It’s as simple as how<\/i> they listen. <\/span><\/strong><\/font>We know what you’re thinking. “I<\/i> listen, but I never hear him.” <\/span><\/strong><\/font>Okay, we hear you. <\/span><\/strong><\/font>But frankly, how hard, how intentionally do you listen?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u00b7         <\/span><\/span><\/span>When you read the Bible, do you assume what you’re reading applies to you and try to figure out what God is saying to you personally<\/i>?<\/span><\/span><\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00b7         <\/span><\/span><\/span>When you have a stray thought, do you explore it to see if God somehow put it there for a reason? <\/span><\/span><\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00b7         <\/span><\/span><\/span>When you wake up after a particularly vivid dream, do you pray asking God what he was trying to tell you? <\/span><\/span><\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00b7         <\/span><\/span><\/span>When a friend says something more direct and personal than usual, do you wonder if God could be behind her words?<\/span><\/span><\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00b7         <\/span><\/span><\/span>When an unlikely series of events happens, do you assume God arranged them for a reason and try to discover his purpose?<\/span><\/span><\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00b7         <\/span><\/span><\/span>Do you examine your history, your environment, and your emotions to see what you can learn from them?<\/span><\/span><\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

That<\/span><\/i> is listening.<\/span><\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/strong><\/font>Listening is an active awareness of what is happening around you and an intentional pursuit of God’s voice. Many of us wrongly assume we haven’t heard God unless we’ve heard a James Earl Jones type voice amplified through the clouds. If you think that’s the only way you will hear him, it is the only way you will hear him. But here’s a hint–it’s not one of the ways he always speaks, likely it’s one of the ways he rarely speaks. <\/span><\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/strong><\/font>To hear God, we have to believe he wants to communicate with us. That doesn’t take a huge amount of faith, but it takes at least a drop. The people who hear from God all have a drop of that faith. <\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/span>What are some ways you increase your likelihood of hearing and understanding God? <\/span><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/font><\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are there ways we can increase our likelihood of hearing God speak? I think so. In Nine Ways God Always Speaks, I offer the following: What’s the difference between those who hear him and those who don’t? It’s as simple as how they listen. We know what you’re thinking. “I listen, but I never hear…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":200,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hearing-god-speak"],"yoast_head":"\nGod Talks Too IV<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"God Talks Too IV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Are there ways we can increase our likelihood of hearing God speak? I think so. In Nine Ways God Always Speaks, I offer the following: What’s the difference between those who hear him and those who don’t? It’s as simple as how they listen. We know what you’re thinking. “I listen, but I never hear…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/08\/god-talks-too-iv.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Prayer, Plain and Simple\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-08-06T07:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Herringshaw\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"God Talks Too IV","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"God Talks Too IV","og_description":"Are there ways we can increase our likelihood of hearing God speak? I think so. In Nine Ways God Always Speaks, I offer the following: What’s the difference between those who hear him and those who don’t? It’s as simple as how they listen. We know what you’re thinking. “I listen, but I never hear…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/08\/god-talks-too-iv.html","og_site_name":"Prayer, Plain and Simple","article_published_time":"2009-08-06T07:00:00+00:00","author":"Mark Herringshaw","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/08\/god-talks-too-iv.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/08\/god-talks-too-iv.html","name":"God Talks Too IV","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-08-06T07:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2009-08-06T07:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/#\/schema\/person\/e51fa8f80737818cd4c3350772b30948"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/08\/god-talks-too-iv.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/08\/god-talks-too-iv.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/08\/god-talks-too-iv.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"God Talks Too IV"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/","name":"Prayer, Plain and Simple","description":"Prayer, Daily Prayer, Simple Prayers, Quick Prayers, Prayer Requests","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/#\/schema\/person\/e51fa8f80737818cd4c3350772b30948","name":"Mark Herringshaw","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/b8e\/b8e027f03bf8fd532b692d0c68d2744ex96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/b8e\/b8e027f03bf8fd532b692d0c68d2744ex96.jpg","caption":"Mark Herringshaw"},"description":"Mark Herringshaw is writer, speaker, spiritual life coach and pastor at North Heights Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the author of \"Six Prayers God Always Answers: Results May Vary,\" and \"Nine Ways God Always Speaks: Only Available in Certain States,\" both co-written with Jennifer Schuchmann. His third book is \"The Karma of Jesus.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mark is a native of Santa Cruz, California. He has studied at Azusa Pacific University, The Academy of Performing Arts, Cambridge, Ontario, and Luther Seminary. He holds a Ph.D. from Regent University. Mark and his wife Jill have four children. His true passion is walking with people in the exciting adventure of communicating with God.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/author\/mherringshaw"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/200"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}