Day 4 Daniel Fast Devotional_Art of Listening_Jason and Candy Fields

Prayer is a Two-Way Conversation

Let the wise hear and increase in learning and the one who understands obtain guidance                                                                                                           -Proverbs 1:5

Most of the world’s prayer is no more than a cliché.  We read off a list of things we need, struggles we’re having, people we see in trouble and ask God to come fix these situations with His divine power. We may spout off a few attributes of God in the form of praise, then we continue on in our daily, self-sufficient routine.

Well, prayer is much more than that. It is an opportunity to commune with the Almighty God of the Universe, seek His council, hear His voice, know His countenance and intimately sit at His feet.  He desires as deep a relationship with us as any father can have with his child, and a good father gives daily, sometimes hourly instruction, guidance and advice.  He also affirms his child with loving words of encouragement and gentle rebukes.  We need His fatherly words to live this life His way.

Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God

-Matthew 4:4

He is speaking to us all the time.  We have but to quiet our spirit and wait on the Lord.  It is this quiet waiting that can be so difficult.  We are geared to go, go, go, then speak, speak, speak.  Even our inner conversation can crowd our mind and drown out the voice of Jesus.  It takes practice and discipline to learn the art of listening, truly listening for God’s sweet voice.  (Jeanne Guyon’s Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ is an awesome tool for this).

You may already hear His voice on big, major topics or in a profound prophetic way, but God speaks in whispers sometimes about the most mundane and seemingly trivial aspects of our life.  Prayer should become a lifestyle (which includes set apart, intentional prayer time) but ultimately involves asking, requesting, and expecting to hear God’s prompting all throughout the day.  When we converse with the Lord like this, he is able to make impossible things happen in the midst of our daily chores.

For with God nothing is ever impossible and no word from God shall be without power.

-Luke 1:37

Oh, the opportunities missed while shopping, driving, or traveling because God was willing to instruct and guide us in Kingdom principles, give words of knowledge or often just love on us, but our minds were too busy.  I pray that the Lord would not be able to say to us, “they had ears, but did not hear”.

Cease listening to instruction, my son and you will stray from the words of knowledge.

-Proverbs 19:27

So Lord God, Jesus Christ, my Savior, King, Lover and Friend, I ask for a deeper, more intimate two-way conversation with you today.  Incline my ears, by your Holy Spirit, to hear your voice clearly, to still my own voice, to ask the right questions, to ask them often, then wait and expect Your response.  Thank you for being interested in every aspect of my life and for being so accessible to me in every moment.  I love you, Jesus.

So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God  -Romans 10:17

May you find His companionship in everything,

- Candy Fields

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