A Compass

Let me hear of your unfailing love to me in the morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I have come to you in prayer. Psalm 143:8

Prayer can be like a compass. It is a time to ask God for direction in your life. It is a time to ask Him to show you the way. If you ask honestly and in faith, He will always show you. Don’t expect Him to show you the next twenty years, for they are in a large part yet to be determined by your obedience. He will show you, however, the next step, the next goal. You must be satisfied with that and trust Him to take care of the rest.

This means that you need to spend some time simply being quiet. Prayer is a conversation. Sometimes God can’t get a word in edgewise because we are so busy jabbering, we don’t pause to listen. It’s fine to share your experiences, cares and concerns with Him – but you must also allow Him to do the same. How does God speak, you ask? Sometimes, as you pray, fall silent and simply wait. God will bring to mind things that you should take care of. Perhaps you’ll realize that you have offended someone and need to ask forgiveness. Sometimes He’ll bring a portion of Scripture to mind and you need to decipher what He’s trying to say to you. At times it’s crystal clear, other times He’s ambiguous. It’s like Christ speaking in parables. Go ahead and be as the disciples who asked, “Lord, what does that mean?” Either way, it requires careful thought.

Sometimes kneel with your Bible open and try to read with an open mind. So often we read in order to develop an outline for a sermon, or a Bible study, or in order to answer someone’s question. It’s important that we spend some time reading the Bible “purposelessly”. We must read to simply hear God’s side of the conversation. There will be times when you will sit, and sit, and there doesn’t seem to be an answer. Discouraged, you’ll get up and a few minutes or hours later something will happen or someone will say something to you that will be a direct answer to your question. Then you’ll have one of those “AHA!” moments and give praise to God. But even if you never get an answer, sitting quietly in God’s presence is never a loss.

However, you will never hear the voice of God if you are not quiet; if you do not ask; if you do not actually want to hear. You demonstrate your desire to hear when you don’t place limits on His answers. He knows you want to hear when you obey when He speaks. If He’s already spoken to you about something and you have yet to obey, don’t expect Him to speak any more until you take care of business.