Sumptuous Breakfast

Busyness makes it very challenging to hear from God. If you really want to hear the still, small voice of God, you will have to be still. Find a cave, like Elijah found[1], where you can simply be still.

You need extended periods of quiet to seek God, to be free of distractions and interruptions. If not, you are missing His best for you.

I [Joyce Meyer] have to get alone with God; sometimes I have two or three days alone with Him. I [JM] cannot fulfill my calling without that time with Him. To bring a word to this nation and to the world, I need to hear from God. If I am not alone to give Him first place in my life, I cannot hear from God or be led by the Holy Ghost. I have to have time to give the Lord my undivided attention.

When you are alone with God, don't think about your problems. Sit down, get quiet, and answer God's question when He asks you, "What are you doing here?"[2]
Tell Him you want to know what He has for your life.
Ask Him to tell you what He wants you to do.
Ask Him to tell you what He doesn't want you to do.

Present yourself to God and listen. You are honoring Him by going to Him. You will get an answer from Him. If you don't hear Him speak during your time alone with Him, keep a reining ear toward His throne, and in the following days look for ways He answers you.

Sometimes we try too hard to hear from God. We actually want to hear so badly we get tense about it; we let it make us anxious and almost fearful that He may not speak or we may not hear. This could be one of the reasons we often hear later after we had a time of seeking Him. Later when we are relaxed, just going about our ordinary business, and He is able to speak because then we can hear.

God's greatest desire for His children is that they experience His best in their lives. He wants to have close fellowship with us and be invited into every area of our lives. He wants to speak to us and lead us in all our decisions by His spirit.

It is God's will that we hear clearly from Him. He does not want us living in confusion and fear. We are to be decisive, secure and free. He wants each of us to fulfill our destiny and to walk in the fullness of His plan for us. Listen, that is the first step towards hearing. Turn your ear toward Him and be still.

He will speak to you to tell you He loves you. He cares about your life and what you need. God wants to meet your needs and do more than you could ever think or imagine in order to bless you abundantly.
Ephesians 3:20 ...to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine...
Hebrews 13:5 ...God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

The depth of our personal relationship with God is based upon intimate communication with Him. He speaks to us so that we are guided, refreshed, restored, and renewed regularly.
Romans 14:17 ...the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but it is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
[As we hear from the God and walk in line with His word to us, we give Him the throne of our hearts and His kingdom is established in our lives. We will then enjoy the fruits of the kingdom, which is righteousness, peace and joy!]

You can hear from God, it is part of your inheritance[3] - don't ever believe otherwise!

Extracted from "How to Hear from God; Learn to Know His voice and Make Right Decisions" by Joyce Meyer, bestselling author of "Battlefield of the Mind"
Bracketed words and footnotes :blogger's own

[1] The cave can be your own room early in the morning or late at night when no one is awake to disturb you.
[2] See 1Kings 19:9b
[3] If you have accepted Jesus into your life.

Pst: I woke up at 5am today and this is a summary of the gems I got! You can get it too!

Personal testimony: This morning when I woke up with my eyes still closed, I felt very tired and my mind said, "Cannot. Today too tired already cannot wake up so early." But I had to go to the loo so while sitting on the toilet bowl, I told God," God if it's you who woke me up, then please give me a sign."

I actually felt the heaviness physically get lifted off me! So I thought, "That's the sign. Even though I asked God for 530am last night, if He says 5am then so be it."

At the beginning I just tried to be still and quiet to hear Him speak to Him. He didn't actually say anything but there was this very comfortable presence I felt in my heart. As I started reading, was still feeling sleepy and a few times closed my eyes.

Actually my eyes were as big as saucers but my mind was still trying to go back to sleep. When I closed my eyes, it wasn't the nodding off to sleep kind but the close for 5 secs ro rest kind. By about 530am voila! My mind and my body was awake to really spend time going in depth into my study material!

Jia you everyone who's trying to wake up early too! Lao gong woke up at 7am! Yay we can start worship early today!