Listening Prayer: Finding God's DNA for your Network


Doug Clark - February 25, 2013

Image of In Depth PrayerYou have probably heard the story of Charlie Frank and his elephant Neeta. Frank raised her from birth, training her to be a circus performer. When he retired he gave her to the San Diego Zoo. After 15 years of being separated, Frank visited Neeta. He was 100 yards away from her and he called to her and immediately she came to him and performed her old routines on his command!

The story of Neeta is a great illustration of the elephant's love for and intimacy with her trainer, her familiarity with his voice, and desire to obey his commands. In fact, it has a lot to teach us about our walk with Jesus, too

Listening to His Voice

Practically every Christian believes in prayer, but when we're honest, most of us would say that we're not very good at it.

But that can change! Most people think of prayer as "talking to God." But God's Spirit longs to also teach us to listen as we pray. Whether you are alone, or leading a movement in your community, listening as you pray provides the opportunity to draw on the unique "DNA" God equipped you with when you became a Christian. And He wants to reveal to you His special plan for reaching and equipping teenagers where you live!

Jesus told His disciples that His sheep "hear His voice, and He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out…He goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice." (John 10:3-4)

The kind of prayer that can make a network take off is pretty simple: listen to God, and follow His voice. If you do, it could be one of the deepest, most exciting adventures you've ever experienced.

Three Lights for Listening

Bill Gaultiere is a Christian psychotherapist and spiritual director who leads a ministry called Soul Shepherding with his wife Kristi in Southern California. In Bill's article, Hearing God's Voice Today, he says that God leads us using "The Three Lights" – like a GPS navigations system — to understand His will.

Gaultiere says, those "Three Lights" are:

  • God's Word. "God uses the Bible to speak to us and everything He says to us is consistent with what He's said in the Bible."
  • Providence. "God is the sovereign Lord and He uses circumstances in our lives to open and close doors for us."
  • Spirit impressions (thoughts from God). "When God speaks directly to us it is usually by his Spirit giving us impressions in our minds and hearts."

But how does the "GPS" work, practically speaking, in the experience of Christian leaders? A second article, "Methods for Hearing God's Voice," looks into how the GPS worked in the lives of some contemporary leaders (including Dallas Willard and James Dobson) and historic leaders (such as Ignatius of Loyola). For Gaultiere, Willard's book Hearing God is a key source, from which he quotes, "'Hearing God as a reliable, day-to-day reality for people with good sense' is possible," writes Dallas Willard" (page 70).

These methods aren't formulas or cookie-cutter steps. They are a mix of principle, art, and spiritual discipline that offer a chance to risk, fail, and continue to grow and learn as believers. But since when are youth workers afraid of risk? Gaultiere cautions:

By speaking of "methods" for hearing God's voice I don't want you to misunderstand me. Hearing God is certainly not a mechanical sort of process in which we put our prayers into the vending machine and out comes the answer we want! It's not like if I do A then God will do B. No! We can't engineer our way into hearing God's voice. The Lord God is sovereign in all things and in any given situation he may choose to speak a message to us or not. God is the initiator in the spiritual life — always.

It's been said that if we want to catch the "wind" of God's Spirit, we can't summon it; but we can set our sails so that when He chooses to blow, we'll be ready to sail.

Imagine what can happen as ministry network leaders are passionate and intentional about tuning in to God's Spirit and finding out the exact DNA of the cooperative efforts the Lord wants for their community. It's not only possible; it's an adventure that God invites us into, giving ample promise and confidence that He WILL speak and reveal His will!

Image of In Depth InteractiveListening Prayer

The principles in this article should prove useful not only to you as you consider your ministry network, but in every area of life: career, family, your church and how you counsel others. As you read "Listening Prayer," you may also want to go deeper:

  • Read through the online articles referenced in the article (Three Lights and Methods).
  • Share them with your core leaders (or prospective leaders). Take some unhurried time to enter into God's presence together. Consider a prayer retreat. (We can recommend leaders who can help you or even lead this kind of experience.). Invite people you know as prayer intercessors to pray for you and share their insights.
  • Ask godly people in your community, "What guidance, direction or impressions have you experienced when you've prayed for this community?" In other words, do a little Christian research to find out what God may have already revealed to other believers about His DNA for ministry where you live. Talk to veteran pastors, intercessors, and Christian community leaders for their insights.
  • If you are ready to really "go to school" on this topic, read Dallas Willard's book Hearing God. You might also consider John Dawson's Taking Our Cities For God, which might open your eyes to spiritual realities about your community that you have never considered.
  • We come together in groups to plan events. We open in prayer, asking God to bless our planning, and then our tendency is to proceed full-speed ahead with our own ideas. What would it look like if "listening prayer" was the FORCE behind our meetings? Try this:
    Youth leaders gather together at their network meeting. We begin to pray and listen. "What is it You want to say to us, Lord, about You, about us, and about reaching more kids in our community?" We wait quietly for 30 minutes or so. Some journal. Some reflect with eyes closed. We listen. We wait. We keep listening for Jesus. Then we gather again to share our thoughts and impressions. We discuss them and see what plans begin to unfold.
 

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