How to Listen to the Spirit While Witnessing
John 5:19 says, "The Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing."
If you want to be more effective in your place of mission, a top skill to master is learning to listen to the Spirit..
We do this because the Holy Spirit is the One who brings experiences of God’s love, conviction of sin, and the call to follow Jesus. In the final part of this short series on listening in the place of mission, we share some insights on how to be attentive to the Spirit as you bear witness to Jesus.
A few posts ago we gave you 14 Tips to Listen Well.
Then last time we shared, How to Ask Great Spiritual Questions.
Today, we want to help you listen to God in every situation where you are His witness.
The Problem
As we follow Jesus out on mission, we are constantly encountering a wide range of people and situations. This is wonderful in terms of Kingdom opportunity!
However, the problem comes with the fact that most of us try to muddle through without proactively asking for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in that specific moment.
When we try to share our faith outside of the empowering of the Spirit, we aren’t going to be very successful!
The Solution
The breakthrough for us came with a simple realization: we had to learn to pause in the moment and (internally) ask God what He was up to in that person and place.
It was amazing the insight that started flowing once we took on this discipline!
To put it simply, the process is this:
Pause, listen to the Spirit, and pay attention to what He’s showing you.
Spiritual Nudges
As you learn to pause and ask, sometimes you won’t sense anything at all - and that’s fine. But other times you will!
If you do, ask Him what He needs you to do. It might be background info. It could be a pointer for steering the conversation. Perhaps it’s a warning not to follow a particular direction of conversation.
The other evening I (Alex) had a drink with a neighbor who walked away from God in his childhood. Today, many decades later, that spiritual side of my friend is starting to come alive again.
As he was sharing about his life right now, and some specific challenges that he and his wife face, I was internally asking the Spirit for direction. I felt God give me a specific question - which, when I asked it, unlocked a whole new level of candor and reflection on the part of my friend. After an almost 10 minute answer, he said to me, “Thank you for that question - it was such a good one, it really made me think!”
If we can learn to lean into the Spirit’s nudges, and follow with obedience, we will see far more fruit.
So this all starts with you learning how to listen to the Holy Spirit while in your place of mission.
Everyday Practice
To grow in this gift, it is wise to practice listening to the Holy Spirit in everyday situations where you are not sharing your faith. Basically, you ask the Holy Spirit to train you to hear His voice in the small and inconsequential things.
Examples might be asking which route to take when driving to work, or what outfit to wear that day, or when to go to the grocery store.
This is NOT saying that you always need to do this - God likes us to grow up and have opinions! However, in this training process, it is taking something where it doesn’t really matter if you ‘mishear’, and using it to sharpen your spiritual hearing.
By practicing in things that don't carry any real significance, you will focus on learning how to discern His quiet voice and to immediately obey, so that when the things that do matter come along, you are already well-practiced and familiar with His voice.
So, for instance, you discipline yourself to ask, “Which route do I take home today?”. Then see what happens. And also pay attention when you ignore that still small voice.
So in each situation, pause and listen to the Spirit.
Here’s the Full Video:
Homework on Listening to the Spirit While Witnessing
What practical discipline can you take on to grow in the skill of listening to the Spirit in the everyday moments of life?
Who are the people where, when you’re with them, you need to be listening better to the Spirit?
