God’s Talking. Are You Listening?

A question to you today (maybe its a question to myself as well):

Are you paying attention to what God is saying to you?

Some of the ways that God can speak to us: The Bible. Good teaching. People. Circumstances. A prompting in your spirit.  A physical voice (haven’t experienced that one yet).

I want to talk “people” today. Specifically one person. Your Spouse.

How Well Do You Listen to God by Listening to Your Spouse?

Are you listening to the God receiver that he put right next to you?  No, I’m not talking about the Blackberry or Iphone.  I’m talking about your spouse.  As a guy, I know that my wife hears from God in a completely different way than I do… and most times, she hears much better than I.  Sometimes we hear him together — but it usually takes me a while to get to that point.

I have a friend who just accepted a new gig.  He and his wife went on an exploratory trip to the new city in which they would be living.  He described the trip as difficult, because his wife was SO against moving.  They spent a  day looking around, but nothing could jar his mate out of her slump.  They made it back to the hotel and went to bed tense — but not angry at one another.

At 4AM, she woke him saying he needed to take the job.  As much as she didn’t like it, she knew that it was the right thing.  Then they frantically hopped out of bed and into the car so they could tour the new city again – because the first day was lost to managing attitudes!

A Wife’s Sixth Sense

Wives have that sixth sense thing going on.  I believe its because God wired them to have more connections in their brains.  They recognize signals from people, and things that we men have no clue about.  They have this keen awareness because they are wired that way.  Its an amazing thing.  They can talk on the phone, ramrod a child, be making dinner, and still keep it all together. T hat’s how God made them.

When your wife gets a download from God – do you discount it? Do you hold it carefully – or speed by it?  Do you test it and pray about it yourself?

A Short List to Help Your Listening

• *Ask God to give you both the answer. I believe it was John Maxwell who said that he specifically asks God to give he and his wife the answer – so they will be together on their decisions.
• *Listen deeper than the words. In our daily life its easy to take each other for granted and assume you already know how she is going to answer your questions.  Stop.  Listen.  See what God is saying.
• *Weigh it against what you know, or think.  Lots of times I hear something, and it just passes out of my mind without much of a thought.  What if we slowed down enough to really hear what God is saying?
• *Acknowledge. Hey, honestly, it might not always be God.  It may just be your wife asking you for some of your attention.  Maybe you should give it to her.

TALK TO ME: How do you hear God in your Marriage?  Do you find that one of you has more of a direct line, and the other seems to hear in different ways? (those are always fun stories – share yours in the comments below – or shoot me an email!)

Photo by Hans Van Rijnberk

Tagged as: Listening to God