In relation to God we are always in a position of response. I made the point last weekend that God is already speaking to you. Prayer therefore begins with hearing rather than speaking. I also pointed out that we must be willing to heed God’s voice if we are to hear his voice. But what does it mean to ‘hear’ God’s voice. When I speak to another person I do so indirectly through language. They must listen to words and reconstruct my meaning in their own minds. Once this has happened an act of communication has taken place. With God it is different. God has spoken to us through human language in Scripture. And he may speak to us using words now, perhaps through another person’s fallible representation of his message to us. But God does not need to communicate with us indirectly using language. He dwells within us by his Spirit. He can therefore communicate directly, by direct transformative download into our minds and hearts so that we come to understand him directly. Paul says that “the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” (Romans 8:16). So, he says in 1 Corinthians 2:16, “We have the mind of Christ”. And he wants to shape in us the mind of Christ so that we become confluent with his mind and his will. That is the ultimate goal of prayer. Not to have what we want but to have and become what God’s wants.
Ask God to soften your heart and help you to hear his voice.
Read 1 Corinthians 2:6-16.
