Again the LORD called, "Samuel!"
And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me."
"My son," Eli said, "I did not call; go back and lie down."
Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. The LORD called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me."
Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, "Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, 'Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.' "
So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, "Samuel! Samuel!"
Then Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening."
God speaks in an audible voice to some, in a silent spiritual urging to others, and still others hear Him when they read the Bible.
We want to hear God, but sometimes our own expectations get in the way. We want God to speak in a certain way, and when He doesn’t live up to our expectations, we think He’s not speaking to us.
But He is speaking. We have to learn to look for the message in the mess of our daily lives.
In the sidebar, there is a sign-up box for my ezine and weekly tips. The purpose of the weekly tips, is to get people to see God in the ordinary things we see every day. He doesn’t hide his message from us. We don’t have to climb to Mount Guru to find God. He’s here with us in our world every day.
If we read the Bible in the morning, but don’t hear from God, we need to change the way we’re reading it. God lays out His message in the Bible, in the newspaper, across the internet, and sometimes in the note from your child’s teacher. Be curious enough to find God’s message in your every day routine.
Can we stop telling God that He has to send us a sign? Can we be real with Him? Maybe start treating God like we love Him?
We can be content in our relationship with God. We can be together with God and participate in a conversation without asking Him to do something for us. He doesn’t make us do anything to earn His love, so why should we expect Him to do what we want in order to earn our love?
Practice listening. If you set a time for a conversation with God, would you let Him do most of the talking?
Do we let our friends talk when we’re with them? Of course we do. When we’re not with our friends, we’re still content in our relationship even though we phone them, email them, or text them during the day. Have you ever scheduled your friends to be with you one hour each week, hog the conversation, not let them get a word in, and then complain that they never speak to you?
When we hear a message from God in our neighbor’s words, our job is to pay attention. We can be content just being with God, but curious enough to find out what He wants to say. God can speak to us any way He wants, but when He does, we should stop and focus on Him.
Contentment in a relationship with God is a basic part of having a friendship with God. We can build up to contentment in our relationship with God if we feel like we’re spiritually as young as Samuel when he first heard God. Even Samuel had to start somewhere.
Step six of hearing from God is being content in your relationship with God while curious enough to look for His message in many formats.
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