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."
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I'd have to say I agree with all five points. And, I also believe it's a combination of all five. Unbelief really is a result of an undeveloped spirit. And, because our spirit is undeveloped, we have an inability to hear, or a "selective hearing" mindset. We want to hear what we think God wants to say to us. Which can also be a result of a callousness in our hearts. And callousness comes from the world around us, and even from neglect - we focus on things that we shouldn't be focused on.
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