The Listening Prayer
Jesus said in Rev. 3:20 "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."
We are afraid of silence. It disturbs us, makes us uncomfortable. We have a tendency to fill it. With words, with music, with noise. Alone at home, we turn on the TV to run in the background for reassurance. To hear some voices. Anything but silence. We constantly plug our ears with our ipods.
Even more so when we talk to people. Let’s try to avoid any awkward silence. Somebody say something. Anything. And when others talk to us, often we don’t listen. We wait, ready to cut in the moment we see an opening in their speech. Cut in, and disseminate our thoughts and point-of-view.
And how about when we pray? We talk talk talk. I want this, I need that, please help me do one thing, avoid another. Talk talk talk. And then we say God does not answer prayer. Do we even give Him a chance to put a word in?
The thing is, we don’t just have a problem with silence. We also have a problem listening.
So what do we have to do to listen?
Firstly, we have to STOP. Stop whatever we’re doing.
When you travel through rural areas in Europe or the US, you will sometimes encounter a railroad crossing that doesn’t have a barrier or signals or flashing lights. How do you know it’s safe to cross?
First you stop. Then you look. Can you see a train coming? Then you listen.
So in order to listen to others, to really give them the time and attention they deserve for a meaningful conversation, we need to stop what we’re doing. If you have something to say to your partner or your friend, you do not want to compete with the TV or the radio or the dirty dishes or the dogs or the ipod or the internet. Both of you need to stop, look at each other and listen. Only then can a serious conversation take place.
So if we have to let go of all distractions in order to listen to other people that are a physical part of our lives, how much more do we need to stop to listen to God?
But in order to know when to stop, we need to know how God talks to us.
Unfortunately, there are many ways, and they may be different from person to person.
Looking at the Bible, God spoke to people as a voice out of nowhere, in their dreams, through angels and prophets.
So how about today? God can speak to us in many ways:
Of course He can speak to us directly. Are we listening?
He can speak to us in our dreams (and tell us to delete all porn.) Are we listening?
He can speaks to us in church – through the songs we sing, the fellowship with our FCC family, the sermon, the prayer, the communion. Are we listening or too busy to go or to critical or too pre-occupied with theology?
He speaks to us through the Bible. Are we listening? Or are we too busy feeling guilty or dissecting paragraphs to make them fit our world?
God speaks to us through other people – then and now. Just that the angels often don’t have wings and the prophets no long beards. He can use anybody as His messenger, Christians and non-Christians alike. But are we listening? To our colleague who comes to us to share his marital problems asking for advice but we shy away from listening because we don’t want to get involved? To the uncle who wants to sell 3-ply tissue paper in the hawker stall and tells us his life story but we don’t want to listen because we’re embarrassed and we don’t want to buy because we’re already giving enough to the church and anyway, it’s probably a scam and he will use it all for a can of Anchor beer? To our cell leader who asks if we can help out in church but 10.30 is so early on Sundays and we only got to sleep at 5 and we’d rather attend some other afternoon service? To our friend who is conflicted and who we know could be helped by hearing about our own example but we’re too shy to come out to him?
Are we listening?
God speaks to us through our own experiences – but sometimes it seems that we never learn. We have been rejected time and time again – by so-called friends, by so-called churches, by so-called Christians. And still, we are not listening. We don’t confront them, we don’t stand up for others when we see what happens to them, we don’t speak up for what is right and true.
So God Speaks to us in many ways:
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With words
- Through songs
- By learnings
But we don’t listen. We’re too busy making noise. Too busy talking. Too busy living our lives. So our prayers become a one-way-street. Talk talk talk. Thank you very much. In Jesus’ name, Amen. There is no silence, no listening.
And IF we’re listening, what are we listening with?
Sometimes, in a conversation, when people make their point again and again, we finally hold up our hand and say “Ok, ok. I hear you.” I hear you. With my ears. But I don’t necessarily agree with you. I may listen to what you have to say but that doesn’t mean that I’ll follow.
Listening to what God has to say to us requires more than ears. It requires us to listen with our hearts.
In the parable of the sower Jesus speaks of four different kinds of hearers or listeners.
1- The hard-hearted listener
2- The shallow-hearted listener
3- The clutter-hearted listener
4- The good-hearted listener
I. THE HARD-HEARTED LISTENER
Matt. 13:19 "When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path."
The hard-hearted listener is lacking understanding. And it’s true, sometimes we need to listen very carefully so that we can understand what God is saying to us. It can come from unexpected angles that we never suspected.
And sometimes, those that are officially destined to share the Word don’t make it very clear.
A worker asked for a pay raise and got this note back from his supervisor: "Because of the fluctuation predisposition of your position’s productive capacity as juxtaposed to standard norms, it would be momentarily injudicious to advocate your requested increment." The puzzled worker went to the supervisor and said, "If this is about my pay raise, I don’t get it." "That’s right," said the supervisor, “you don’t get it.”
The hard-hearted listener becomes hardened because of a lack of understanding.
II. THE SHALLOW-HEARTED LISTENER
Matt. 13:20-21 "The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away."
We all know the routine: We join a gym. We start running. For a few weeks, it’s fun. We stay with it. Then, through lack of staying power, we start to slack. We go less often, miss a few gym days, other things come up and are more important (we’d love to go but there was this important work meeting or Mum needed our help), finally we drop out altogether. Our membership fee may still be deducted from our bank account, but it’s like in the old Dire Straits song: “Money for Nothing”.
Often, that’s what happens with people who start to walk with Christ. At the beginning, right after a tearful conversion at an altar call, they are enthusiastic, read their Bible every day, come to Church regularly, share the Good News with their friends and family, pray – but then life takes over, Sunday mornings become sleep-time, the Bible acquires a dust cover and their hearts become full – of other things.
The shallow-hearted listener will not remain faithful. When the going gets tough, they get going in the wrong direction.
III. THE CLUTTER-HEARTED LISTENER
Matt. 13:22 "The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful."
The clutter-hearted listener has cluttered up his life with the things of this world.
Some people have very full lives. Often, we admire them. We look with awe at how they manage so many interest and commitments: work, relationship, gym, clubbing, travel, shopping, volunteering…
If you want to know what’s filling up your life, have a look at your schedule for a typical week and see how much time you spend on what. Or have a look at your credit card statement at what you spend your money for. Usually, that’s a pretty good indication.
Then, still with your schedule in front of you, have a look at how much time you spend doing God’s work. Speaking to him in prayer. Listening to him when he tries to talk to you. Doing his work amongst the needy and the prosecuted in this world.
The clutter-hearted listener has cluttered up his life with things instead of seeking to please the Lord.
IV. THE GOOD-HEARTED LISTENER
Matt. 13:23 "But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."
The good-hearted listener hears the Word, understands it, and bears fruit.
How do you know a sermon was a good sermon? When people leave the church, you don’t want to hear them say "What a good sermon!" but "I WILL DO SOMETHING!" That’s the good-hearted listener! He listens, understands and PRODUCES A CROP. He acts!
The good-hearted listener allows God’s Word to bear fruit in his life.
So how do we listen?
- First we stop. We need to create listening space.
This is no excuse to stop going to work or going to school. But we need to stop cluttering our lives, every single moment with stuff, with noise, with distractions. We need to create a space and time when we’re quiet, when there are no distractions, when we can read the Bible or meditate on a picture, or just listen. Listen with our hearts. Close our eyes and feel God’s presence. We may fall asleep, but that’s ok. God can still talk to us in our dreams.
- We need to go through the world with an open heard, ready to listen.
That may mean less ipod. Less rejection of people that want to talk to us. Without listening, how do we know that it’s not God who speaks through them? It means leaving our comfort zone and engaging with other people, leaving our pre-conceived ideas and prejudice behind and LISTENING to what they have to say.
- Once we hear, we need to act.
God’s word is good news. It’s worth sharing with others – by becoming his hands in this world, by doing his work, by showing his love by what we do for those that need help. Isn’t that the kind of communion we have chosen?
Let us now take a few moments to listen. To be open to God talking to us. Through our minds. In our hearts. By way of our dreams. Through other people. Keep your eyes closed and listen.
Lord,
We fill our lives and hearts and minds with clutter.
No room
No silence
No opening for you.
We talk but we don’t listen.
You speak to us in so many ways but we find more ways to stop the conversation.
Because what you have to say may be uncomfortable.
Help us to open up, Lord.
We want our prayers not to be talking prayers
But listening prayers.
We want to listen with our hearts.
Then, filled with your spirit, we want to go out and make a difference.
Help us to understand what you want us to do Lord.
Help us make a difference today.
Amen.
