Hindrances to hearing God

On p. 94 of "Starting Well: Building a Strong Foundation for a Lifetime of Ministry," authors Richard Clinton and Paul Leavenworth cite three major hindrances and two additional hindrances to our hearing God:

1. Unbelief -- an unwillingness to trust God and His ability to come through on His promises.

2. An undeveloped spirit -- a lack of sensitivity to the Spirit based in a dependence upon sight rather than faith.

3. A spirit of deafness -- an inability to hear because of unforgiveness in our lives toward self, others, and/or God. Unforgiveness can provide Satan an inroad into our lives for "torment."

The two additional hindrances to our hearing God are:

4. A callused conscience -- a lack of moral sensitivity because of sin and rationalization.

5. Neglect -- an inability to hear because we are not spending time with God.

This list originally comes from chapters 3-4 of Larry Lea's book "The Hearing Ear."

Learning how to hear the voice of God

In my Focus of a Warrior men's group, we currently are reading a book called "Starting Well: Building a Strong Foundation for a Lifetime of Ministry."

There's an entire chapter on hearing and obeying the voice of God. The authors outline on pp.87-92 six basic steps in learning how to hear the voice of God:

1. We need to want to hear the voice of God.
2. We need to get to know Christ through the reading and studying of the word of God.
3. Consistently obey the clear teaching of the Bible.
4. Learn to meditate on the word of God.
5. Learn to discern the Spirit.
6. We need to step out in faith when we are reasonably sure that we have heard from God.

It can be tough for me to step out in faith, yet I find that when I do, my world gets reconciled.

The religion of "B.C."

I always enjoyed the comic strip "B.C." by Johnny Hart. I also enjoyed the "B.C." video game that I played on my cousin's Commodore 64 growing up, although it was a little boring just rolling along on the stone wheel.

I didn't realize, though, the religious influence that Johnny Hart infused into his comic strip. A Religion News Service article includes a bit of the background:

'He wanted people to know that God had a sense of humor,' said his daughter Perri Hart. 'He really always felt that this was what he was called to do.'

Johnny Hart's widow and daughter have compiled the religion-themed "B.C." comics into a new collection, "I Did It His Way."