[aegsm76]

Originally Posted by Aquila

People don't know how to listen to God. In fact, if one is "trying" to hear God they are not listening. Even the thought of "trying to hear God" will cause it to elude you. For you're affirming that you haven't heard or have yet to be able to hear. So, for as long as you are trying to hear from the LORD, you're not going to get much.

I believe that God speaks to us more than we realize. However, we are not trained enough to have the discipline necessary to hear Him or to realize that He is talking to us.

Here is what I was taught in a development group:

1.) Stop - Quiet your mind so that you can hear God's voice (Contemplate Habakkuk 2:1-2).
2.) Look - Look for vision as you pray - Through faith see yourself being spoken to by Jesus or being hearing from the LORD (Contemplate Hebrews 12:2).
3.) Listen - Recognize God's voice as spontaneous flowing thoughts which light upon your mind (Contemplate John 7:37-39).
4.) Write/Speak - Write down or speak out and share the spontaneous flow of impressions, thoughts, phrases, and images that come to you (Contemplate Revelation 1:10-11).

If this is done often enough, you'll soon become more familiar with the still small voice of God that is speaking through the abiding Spirit in your inner man. At first, it feels silly. It can be conjumbled. But with time, you'll recognize a certain quality to a specific flow of impressions. It will be very unique. As you learn to silence your own mind, you'll begin to distinguish this still small voice with more clarity. Once you do... the adventure begins.

A - Good thoughts.
An additional thought is that God is far more interested in reaching people, than in giving us the next great "revelation" or our next great sermon idea.
That is what most of his speaking to me has been about.