Hearing God
Developing a Conversational Relationship
With God
How
do we hear God's voice? How can we be sure that what we
think we hear is not our own subconscious? What if what
God says to us is not clear?
Being
close to God means communicating with him, and this communication
is a two-way street—telling him what is on our hearts
in prayer and hearing and understanding what he is saying
to us. It is this second half of our conversation with God
that is so important but can also be so difficult. How can
you be sure God is speaking to you? The key is to focus
not so much on individual actions and decisions as on building
our personal relationship with our Creator. Hearing God
is but one dimension of a richly interactive relationship,
and obtaining guidance is but one facet of hearing God.
This updated classic, originally published in 1984 as In
Search of Guidance, provides rich spiritual insight
into how we can hear God's voice clearly and develop an
intimate partnership with him in the work of his kingdom.
The reader will learn that divine guidance goes beyond the
anxious, sometimes neurotic, quest for "what God wants
me to do," to having a critical role in my becoming
a responsible co-laborer with Him, the kind of person He
expects me to be. God is inviting us to reorganize
our lives in a way that keeps us walking so closely with
him that it becomes easy to know his mind and hear his voice.
Chapter one clarifies the tension in which Christians live,
believing that hearing God is very important to our walk
with him but at the same time lacking a confident understanding
of how it works for the individual in practice. Chapter
two removes some common misunderstandings about God's communications
with us. Chapter three explains the various ways in which
he is with us. Chapter four examines some objections to
the very idea of God's communicating with individuals. Chapter
five deals with the various ways in which he communicates
and explains and defends the centrality of God's speaking—
God's Word—to his creation and to the process of redemption.
Chapter eight clarifies how we can be sure that we are hearing
God. Finally, chapter nine deals with what to do on those
occasions, sure to come, when God is not speaking—or
at least when we are not hearing him.
Hearing God may be a daring idea—some would say presumptuous
and even dangerous. But is it not, in fact, more presumptuous
and dangerous to undertake human existence without
hearing God? Dr. Willard's hope is that Hearing God will
leave you with a clear sense of how to live confidently
in a personal walk that is complemented by an ongoing conversational
relationship with God.
228 pages, softcover from InterVarsity.
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HEARING
GOD THROUGH THE YEAR
compiled and edited by Jan Johnson
In Hearing God Through The Year, Jan
Johnson gives us the daily opportunity to read
small, thought-provoking portions of Dr. Willard's
Hearing God and guides us in ways to
stop and ponder the Scripture and ideas presented.
Each section closes with responses of prayer, meditation
or reflection... opportunities to position ourselves
to actually hear God and to allow His voice to shape
our choices and encourage our hearts.
Jan Johnson has partnered in ministry with Dr. Willard
in many ways and he is grateful to her for her wonderful
work on this book.
On-line excerpts are available from Intervarsity
Press.
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Table of Contents
Preface
Chapter 1: A Paradox About Hearing
God
Chapter 2: Guidelines for Hearing from God
Chapter 3: Never Alone
Chapter 4: Our Communicating Cosmos
Chapter 5: The Still Small Voice & Its Rivals
Chapter 6: The Word of God & the Rule of God
Chapter 7: Redemption Through the Word of God
Chapter 8: Recognizing the Voice of God
Chapter 9: A Life More Than Guidance
Epilogue: The Way of the Burning
Heart
Notes
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