Hi, my name is John Garfield, welcome to God Today. I want to talk to you for two minutes about listening skills. One of the things that I’ve realized is that God works through the desires of our hearts. And if we can learn to hear those things in our own heart and not in the hearts of other people, it actually unfolds the will of God.
Listen to Proverbs 20 verse 5, “The purposes of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out.” So how do you do that? It sounds like it’s some great prophetic gift, but I want to share a secret with you. When I talk to people and we do this in coaching, and conferences, and at work – all kinds of different settings – here’s the secret: ask. Learn to listen. Just ask people, “What’s your dream? What’s the desire of your heart? What’s God wired you to do?” And if you listen you’ll be able to discern what’s real and what’s not. That’s the easy part. The hard part is learning just to ask that simple question and listen to God give an answer.
So, the truth is, for all of us, we all operate out of purpose. There’s a reason why we behave the way we do. If we’re going to communicate with people and understand other people and help them take the next step, it starts by understanding where their hearts are and learning to listen. That’s the key, that’s what releases all of us. It’s that when we’re in sync with the desires of our heart and when we want to change something we change at a heart level.
Father, in the name of Jesus, help us to hear your voice and help us to hear what you’ve written in the hearts of brothers and sisters. And help us to release those dreams. In Jesus’ name, Amen.