How I Learned to Hear the Voice of God: Lessons from the Birdsong

As weather changes and birds begin to migrate –
watch and listen and see how you can use birdsong to remind you to listen to God’s voice.

by cara mclauchlan

God speaks to us all the time, but we’re often too busy or distracted to hear His voice. Like birdwatching, which requires patience, quiet, and stillness, listening to our heavenly Father is not something we can rush or force. But if we take the time to slow down and wait for Him to speak, we may find we hear the voice of God a lot more than we expect to.

…Experience has taught me the only way to get better at birdwatching is to actually do more birdwatching. Similarly, if I wanted to hear more from God, I needed to position myself to actually hear Him. This meant I needed to spend time simply hanging out with Christ—just me and Jesus time with no expectations, no demands, and no requirements. Simply sitting still with God and letting it be about whatever He wanted it to be. Inspired by this idea, I began to practice listening for God’s voice in a more intentional way.

  1. GET AWAY WITH GOD – “Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed by” (Isaiah 26:20). 
  2. MAKE ROOM FOR GOD – “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:6).
  3. EXPECT TO HEAR FROM GOD – “Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire” (Deuteronomy 4:36).

I encourage you to find your own style of listening for God. 
Perhaps your God hangout time doesn’t look like mine —
lying down in a dark closet or listening for birds.

Perhaps you need to design your own method,
one that allows you to tap into a renewing time of connection with Him.
When you show up and keep showing up with a faithful, expectant heart,

He will show up too and reward you with more than you thought possible.

If you are beginning your journey in faith, invite Him to show you how and where to begin. Whatever your current relationship is with Christ, invite Him to reveal Himself to you in deeper ways. He speaks to us all day long and in so many ways; we need only be available to hear His voice. 

Read the entire post here.