Take the Time to Hear God – Episode #682

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Take the Time to Hear God
Episode #682
12/29/2019

With Martha Kilpatrick and hosted by John Enslow
The whole problem with Israel was one thing: They didn’t hear God. And hearing God means taking the time to listen for His voice. Is that something you do?

John:
So the other day I was walking and after we had done the interview with John about listening and waiting. And I had a thought about an aspect that is true and prevalent and a reality of it. And this is one of those lessons I’ve learned bumping my head because, you know, I, I came, I would come away and I’d almost have a sense of rejection if God didn’t speak when I went to meet with Him. It felt, it felt like He wasn’t available. And it just, you know, kind of, I don’t know, made me feel rejected. Does that make sense?

Martha:
Um hmm.

John:
So, so I basically learned that listening is an investment; that I can’t go expecting immediacy of an answer. I’m not going with a demand that He answer me now. Sometimes there’s points that I get where I, I have to have an answer. I’m like, “Okay, this is something I have to do now and I have to hear now.” And I, I do.

But when I’m basically seeking Him, when I’m looking to Him, when I’m looking to increase my knowledge and love of Him, that’s something that you’re going and you’re investing. And what I’ve, I’ve experienced and what I’ve learned is that that’s like paying it forward; that you’re banking it forward on a spiritual investment. And that will pay dividends; I mean it, it will pay.

Martha:
I’m thinking of Daniel, how he waited two weeks in, in a crisis and it seemed like probably God wasn’t, wasn’t listening but all the time there was a war going on in behalf of his request.

John:
Yeah, he had no idea the, behind the scenes…

Martha:
Right.

John:
…so to speak. Yeah.

Martha:
What his prayer began was a war in the heavens.

John:
Wow, that’s amazing.

So what, what I’ve come to learn is that even if I don’t hear His voice immediately, that He will eventually speak. And it’s an investment in my time, it’s an investment with, with Him. I’m basically investing my time. I’m investing… I’m showing Him, “I prefer You in this. I want You in this. I, I’m, I know You’re the source. I know You have answers. I’m investing.” It’s really an investment. It’s investing into the life with Him, the life for Him, and…

Martha:
You know, John, when I wrote Adoration I talked about time and I said that, if, “Tell me what you do with you time and I’ll tell you what’s first in your life.” To invest time in God is, oh, the payoff is so amazing. Time is our crisis…

John:
Right.

Martha:
…in these days of…

John:
Right.

Martha:
…life. And time is what we don’t ever have enough of so we think. So, to give Him a block of time for nothing, for no reason except to be there, will get an enormous blessing from Him.

John:
It does and it seems like it’s fruitless at the time. It feels like, “Okay, well I just, literally I wasted, you know, two hours just sitting here and I heard nothing, I haven’t read anything, I don’t know anything more.” But what will come is the answer, later.

Martha:
Really, John, as I’m brooding on this this morning, I see that the number one relationship in our life is God. And it will not be a number one relationship unless we invest in waiting, listening to Him. It’s all about that relationship. That’s your, your great lesson.

John:
All about relationship.

Martha:
It’s all about relationship.

John:
Yep, absolutely.

Martha:
So waiting is the method of the relationship.

John:
Hmm.

Martha:
It’s the central, for me, the central method of living in relationship. When I, when I read that book by Murray that I spoke about a few days, a few weeks ago…

John:
The Waiting on God book?

Martha:
Yeah. I was astounded at the scripture about it. I had never put it all together. But I realized that I live waiting. And it’s, to hear God’s voice has to be the first priority. Well, it’s… Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” In other words, life comes from His voice and it’s worth investing, as you say, in time with Him to, to get that voice, because it’s life.

John:
Um hum.

Martha:
It’s nourishment. It’s increase.

John:
And it may not be seen in the moment.

Martha:
Right. And it’s the test.

John:
It is the test.

Martha:
Waiting is the test.

John:
You know I’m going listening to hear. It is His to speak and He will speak. He is gonna speak. But it may not be in the moment.

Martha:
That’s good to know because I believe that waiting is actually surrender of your will to His will.

John:
And it’s faith.

Martha:
Yeah, that’s right.

John:
So He’s…

Martha:
Yeah.

John:
If you are going investing, you’re expecting a return on your investment. And if you’re doing that, you’re doing that in faith. And faith is the only thing that pleases Him. So you’re bringing, bringing God pleasure when you go and you wait because you are preferring Him and you are investing in Him.

Martha:
Wow. And it’s, it’s the practice, “Be still and know that I’m God.” It’s the practice of quiet because you have no agenda, no expectation, no imagination, no soulish, you know, interference.

John:
But it will try every bit of your soulishness.

Martha:
Yes, it will.

John:
It will literally try you because, you know, you will have the buzz of the fly or the, the creak of the door that bother you.

Martha:
Right, yeah. Yeah.

John:
You will have, you know, you have to choose to settle and you have to choose to, to stop and that has taken me a long time to develop. It’s not something that you just go and you’re immediately there. It, it took years for me to, to learn how to go and listen and, and…

Martha:
And be still.

John:
…and be still.

Martha:
Because you can do that now.

John:
Now I can. I couldn’t before.

Martha:
Yeah.

John:
Not, not easily.

Martha:
So it’s no logic and I…

The… Surrender to me is the word underneath waiting. And I think sometimes we have to be more surrendered so that we can hear the, the thing that God is saying that’s so profound. So sometimes it’s needed to wait and surrender so that you can actually come to the place of being able to comprehend what He’s saying.

It’s never fruitless. That’s what you’re really saying. It’s never fruitless. I’ve waited months for sometimes for some answers. And it’s, and, not unusual to wait a year for a word about something that is, that I want to solve or help. So, it’s, it’s… I, I just… You’re making me see it, too, it’s absolutely necessary to go through this.

John:
It’s vital.

Martha:
It is.

John:
It is.

Martha:
It’s really life or death if you get down, right down to it.

John:
Absolutely.

Martha:
If you can’t hear God…

The whole problem with Israel was one thing: They didn’t hear God. And if you don’t hear Him, you can’t obey Him. If you don’t hear Him, you won’t know Him. And they would not listen. Many times, He said, “You do not listen, then you do not obey.” So you have to listen before you can obey. And, and as you say, you listen. In the morning, you go to walk and the answer comes down the road.

Take the Time to Hear God – Episode #682 – Shulamite Podcast

The whole problem with Israel was one thing: They didn’t hear God. And hearing God means taking the time to listen for His voice. John and Martha talk about how vital it is to invest your time in waiting on God to speak. Is that something you do?