Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God

by Dallas Willard

Book Overview

Being close to God means communicating with him--telling him what is on our hearts in prayer, and hearing and understanding what he is saying to us. But how do we hear God's voice? How can we be sure that what we think we hear is not our own subconscious? What role does the Bible play? What if what God says to us is not clear?

The key, says bestselling author Dallas Willard, is to focus not so much on individual actions and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1514011573
• ISBN13: 9781514011577
• Release Date: April 2024
• Publisher: IVP Formatio
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

A Conversational Relationship with God

This is not a book on figuring out the will of God, though knowing and doing what God requires is discussed as an essential aspect of having a relationship with Him. This is not a book on prayer, though prayer is discussed as the essential medium for a personal relationship with God. It is about living with God as a shaping force in our lives. The genius of this book is found in that it describes a relationship with God. It tells us what life in relation with God looks like. Willard suggests that it is our difficulty in hearing the voice of God (the word of God) that hinders our relationship with Him. The book answers the question of whether or not we actually can hear the voice of God, how God speaks to us, how we can know it is really God, and how we are to respond when God speaks. Having a conversational relationship with God is grounded first and foremost in faith. We must trust in the One who holds the future, who reveals His will, and who wants to take up residence in our hearts. We must believe that God wants all of this for us. A conversational relationship with God means that we cultivate a heart that is able to hear God speak. We are able to know and sense God's presence with us. We are aware of God's presence in our circumstances, we are able to hear the Still Small Voice of the Spirit, and we are able to read the Bible in such a way that it shapes the manner in which we live. Like any relationship or any form of communication, this takes time, maturity, practice, and skills. Willard provides insight into all these areas. There are no quick roads to blessing in this book. Willard provides no shortcuts because God offers none. He merely asks us, "Do you trust God enough to care about what He says, listen for what He says, and then live according to what He tells you?" May it be so.

The Panacea book on Hearing God!

I stopped recommending a platitude of books for people to read who are trying to get a common-sense grasp of one of the most conjectured topics in Christendom- hearing God. Now I recommend they read this book first. It has such breadth and practicality to it, it really leaves no stone unturned on this topic. Well organized and well thought, the book is not simple, but is simply read. Some books on this topic easily burp with sectarian or thoelogical bias, but Willard doesn't fall into that trap. Instead, he retains clear convictions while being spectacularily Biblical. In the end, he gives excellent fore-thought for the person who might want to actually take his book to task through action. Like "Divine Conspiracy", this book has many generations in shelf live. No serious investigation into this topic should pass over this book.

For those who want to know God's will.

This is easily the best book on finding God's will I have ever read. It succeeds because Willard recognizes there are no formulas. The way to find God's will is to find God and learn how to converse with him. Willard argues that in seeking God's will, we generally are asking the wrong questions: "What job should I take?" "Whom should I marry?" Those questions are legitimate but should be secondary to desires to have a deep relationship with God. It is in that relationship with God that the questions of our lives get answered. Willard then explores what the Bible teaches regarding ways in which God communicates with us. Excellent.

An excellent, non-trivial account of guidance.

I first read In Search of Guidance because of the great experience I had with Willard's other book, The Spirit of the Disciplines. In Guidance we are presented with non-trivial explanations on how to align our lives in such a way as to be open to the direction of God. I was particularly impressed with the depth of the book. Before even stating how we are to hear God, Willard discusses the role our beliefs have in the matter. This seems so obvious, but it is so often overlooked. It is obvious because if we do not believe that God speaks through events and other happenings we will always be waiting for the quintissential lighting bolt of inspiration. Willard also discusses the role our very lives have in communion with God. He states that if we are not living lives in alignment with God's will it will be pretty hard to hear God, since in essence we are ignoring Him in our very being. Thus Willard elaborates on two themes that I have not found in other books. Only after this discussion does Willard launch into how we come to recognize God's voice - not normally in a thunderous clang but in the small whisper leading us to right action. This was especially important to me because I have had much contact with Christians who seem paralyzed if they get no momentous sign from God after a few prayers. But Willard tells us that sometimes - believe it or not - a person may not hear that big bang and make a decision and still be following the will of God since whatever choice they make will be in accordance with God's will, granted that they are living a life in close communion and alignment with God. I commend Willard for this penetrating book. At least for an engineering mind like mine it made great sense and certainly explained the totality of my interaction with God in asking for guidance.

Make this the companion to Willard's other xlnt books

Dallas Willard's consistency over many years of writing becomes incredibly clear as you read this re-release. Contrasting this earliest book to The Divine Conspiracy (1998) and The Spirit of the Disciplines (1988), one sees how well Dr Willard's work holds together. Each book emphasizes a theme and each stands strongly on its own (you'll note he is not your "book a year" kind of author--lot's of quality here). I am on my 3rd read of this in about a year and continue to chew it thoroughly. Hats off to IVP for re-releasing it (though I like the original title better). I commend it to readers tired and frustrated with much of what is taught about prayer and where they are and God is in all of it. Dr Willard has been given a great gift and he shares it freely here.