Listening to God

In order to listen to God, I need to be silent.

In a conversation, I cannot expect to hear what the other person is saying if I'm talking over them. Now I haven't spent a ton of time with little kids, but I've been around them enough to learn how they tend to monologue around and over each other. Sometimes each child will be narrating what they are doing, but no one is listening, because they are ALL talking.

It is entertaining at times to witness kids monologue-ing instead of conversing, but how often do we do this to God? We say we talk with God, but we monologue the whole time. We talk AT God, not WITH Him.

This isn't to say that we should NEVER talk in our prayers, but maybe a larger portion of our prayers should be listening. Then maybe our monologues will turn into the dialogues that they should be.

What does this look like?
*I outline my problem to God*
~I listen for guidance and directions~
*I pray for people*
~I listen for guidance and directions~
*I pray for events*
~I listen for guidance and directions~
*I ask God questions like these: What would you have me do, Lord? / How would you have me respond, Lord? What do you want me to say, Lord?*
~I listen for guidance and directions~

My overarching goal is to speak when God gives me words to speak and to be silent when God would have me be silent.

Will this mean that I will be talking less? Yes
Will this mean that I will be listening more? Yep

I want to be a person who speaks the very words of God. Words of HOPE. PEACE. ENCOURAGEMENT. MERCY. GRACE. By being silent and listening, I want people to know that when I speak, it's because God is prompting me. That's living intentionally and speaking thoughtfully.