We have multiple verses in the Bible when Jesus just went off by himself to pray and listen to God.

Mark 1:35 “He went to a solitary place to pray”

Mark 6:46 “He went to the mountain top”

Luke 6:12 “he went to a hilltop”

Luke 9:18 “he prayed alone”

Luke 9:28 “Jesus went to the mountain top”

And these are just a few references. We see that if Jesus was getting ready to work on feeding a multitude or healing the sick, he would go to a lonely place to pray and talk with God.

I always try to find time (for me) mostly in the early morning, depending on the location. I will just sit with a cup of coffee and listen to nature and see the sun rise. Nature is just waking up and I can just listen and hear what God is telling me he wants me to do.

I think we often just pray with a list that we keep repeating, but we don’t take time to be silent and let God get a word in as an answer to what we are asking for. Over the last year, I have really been trying to focus on just listening. And even though I don’t always get a response, I’ve gotten one so loud that it called me to action to learn and grow in my faith and look for ways to serve that I never would have thought I was called to serve. And now I pray for him to show me the way to live out this calling and learn more specifically what that looks like.

I recommend that we just start with a 5-minute time of silence to listen to see if we can hear what God is saying He needs us to do. If we really want to know what God wants us to do, we need to take this time of silence and listen--really listen.

Mike Wilson