Have you ever been in the middle of a phone call with a friend, and the need arose for you to reassure the other person by uttering a phrase such as “I’m Listening?” Because the person on the other end of that call is unable to see your face, you desire to comfort them, to assure them that while they are sharing something heartfelt, you are hearing their words. The call hasn’t dropped, you are still on the line-there is great meaning in the words “I’m Listening,” and not simply that you hear what is being said, you are truly embracing a Listening Life.

Reading Mark Batterson’s Whisper (and I’ve only progressed to chapter three before penning this post) is challenging me to truly consider my communication style with God similar to what I share in Praying Promises. Perhaps my approach has been more floundering about rather than flourishing in the way that John 10:10 describes as an abundant prayer life. Maybe it’s time to switch from petitioning and lamenting to just repeating the words, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening” (I Samuel 3:9). Now, I’m not suggesting that the prayer cards I draw daily aren’t significant to bring before the Lord, for they all contain either names, Scriptures, or specific needs; however, they are all petitions, I’m asking for something, and I’m willing to opine that the Lord would be comforted in the same manner as the caller on the other end of the line, if I chose to Be Still and just whisper, “I’m Listening.”

Batterson shares the many ways that God has already demonstrated that He is able to communicate with us in a myriad of ways. “He can do it however He pleases! He can speak through burning bushes, Balaam’s donkey, or Bethlehem’s star. His voice can write on palace walls or shut the mouths of lions. It can quench the flames of a fiery furnace or stop a storm on the Sea of Galilee.” He continues with the premise of the book in sharing the seven languages of God with the primary language being Scripture and “the other six languages: desires, doors, dreams, promptings, people, and pain.” However, what really speaks to me is when Batterson explains that although God is capable of having an outside voice, of speaking through miraculous moments, more often He chooses to reveal Himself in a whispering spot when we surrender the noise of the world, and choose to say, “I’m Listening.”

Do you have a whispering spot? A certain “place or posture that helps [you] hear the voice of God more clearly.” Personally, my whispering spots move-sometimes it’s while relaxing in what I call “my outdoor living room,” often it’s while walking through the neighborhood listening to a message or song, and on many occasions the spot varies, wherever I am reading and He whispers a blog title. It might be a new thought or He’s just connecting what I’m currently reading to content of the past, but I’m learning to say “I’m Listening” so that those words land on paper and aren’t lost into the vast array of information in my mind. I am finding it necessary to adjust my posture, to lean in and truly listen because His voice often requires me to Notice a Nudge; it’s rarely a burning bush but more of a spiritual whisper.

What Batterson does encourage me, and I hope many others, to do, is to be intentional about listening and locating that whispering spot. “Your whispering spot will be as unique as you are, but you need to find a time, find a place…Finding a whispering spot takes time and patience. Finding a whispering spot takes effort and intentionality. That said, we aren’t always the ones who decide when or where or how it happens. Sometimes we find whispering spots, but sometimes whispering spots find us.” Regardless of the location God chooses for my whispering spot, I want to be ready to hear what He has to say, and that will only happen when I submit to “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.” This task is not an easy one for me, but I am determined to keep trying because I don’t want to miss what He has to say.

Have you experienced a time when you were able to say, “I’m Listening,” and it changed something within you? Perhaps it was a significant change that altered your life in a major way, or maybe, it was just something little, like God giving me a wink with the word flourish, but I hope you will share that Defining Moment in the comments below.

References:

Batterson, M. (2017). Whisper: How to hear the voice of God. [Kindle version]. Multnomah.