My favorite book of the Bible is the Psalms, and I’ll tell you why.
I love the raw emotional honesty and vulnerability that seems to pour forth from the pages of the Psalms. There is a Psalm for every occasion, giving readers of the Word language for nearly every human experience. There are Psalms for lamenting and anguish, thanksgiving and praise, joy and sorrow, light and deep darkness, hope, and beauty. So many times I have run to the Psalms when my own words wouldn’t come and have found solace in the humanness woven throughout each line.
Interestingly, there’s one word that can be found sprinkled in amongst a lot of the Psalms that always invites me to pay attention.
That word is selah.
Selah is a Hebrew word that is only found in the book of Psalms and some scholars have struggled to define its exact meaning. But many say that it means to pause, lean in, and listen.
It’s placed within a Psalm or at the end of a Psalm intentionally to invite you to reflect on what you’ve read, deeply taking in the meaning of the Scripture, and then to pause and listen for God’s voice.
Today’s world is full of so much noise that I often wonder if we’re slowly losing the art of pausing and listening. Many of us at times, myself included, rush through a day or even a Scripture passage for the intent of just getting through that we miss what God might be wanting to speak to us. We miss out on an opportunity for deep intimacy and rest with God because we don’t know how to pause, wait, listen, and receive.
But, that’s what life’s journey is all about, isn’t it?
We’re all here — journeying together — to learn and practice and ultimately grow closer to our Father in the process, which is why today, I want to introduce you (or reintroduce you) to the spiritual practice of listening prayer.
Listening Prayer Defined
I’m not sure what your church background looks like, friend, or if you even have one. And if you don’t, or if you do, you are welcome here. I can only speak from my own experience of being raised in a predominantly white evangelical Bible church. While I’m incredibly grateful for the theological foundation that my hometown church gave me, I will admit that it didn’t teach me how to rest and delight in God’s presence. That’s been something I’ve had to learn and grow in, and truthfully I still sometimes struggle and stumble and lean toward doing rather than delighting.
Listening prayer teaches us how to delight in our relationship with God. It slows us down and invites us to pause, rest, and enjoy walking with Him moment by moment in intimate communion and relationship with our Creator.
Listening prayer is the practice of pausing in God’s presence, waiting and listening for Him to speak, and then resting in Him as we practice receiving with open hands what we’ve heard or felt like the Spirit has spoken to us.
It’s a time of resting from doing, striving, and achieving, and learning how to simply be with God in His presence, ready and available to hold what He has for us in a moment, hour, or day.
I love this quote from Jan Johnson about the practice of listening prayer. She very beautifully explains the purpose and aftermath of a soul bathed in intentional pausing and listening.
“Listening prayer slows us down and detaches us from the hurried, harried culture. Life is less like a pressure cooker and more like a slow cooker as we experience space for our thoughts to simmer… Waiting and resting train you to be alert to God in all of life. You see and hear God in the flowers around you, in the books you read and in the voices of your teenagers. Honestly.”
The Story of Mary & Martha
There’s a passage in the Bible that immediately comes to my mind when I think of what listening prayer practically looks like in relation to God. That passage is Luke 10:38-42. Let’s read it slowly now.
“While they were traveling, he entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who also sat at the Lord’s feet and was listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, and she came up and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand.”
The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her.” (CSB, emphasis added)
Now, I would like to say that I’m naturally inclined to be more like Mary, but that just isn’t true. I think all of us carry inside of us bits and pieces of both sisters. I think our culture likes to place Martha on a bigger pedestal than Mary most of the time because from the outside, Martha’s hands are productive and full and that’s what’s usually recognized and praised. But I think what most people miss is that her hands and her heart are also very heavy with the expectation and burden of perfection, excellence, and striving.
It’s exhausting! And Jesus knew this, which is why He so tenderly and gently called Martha by name and pointed to a different, slower way of being with Him rather than doing for Him and the world.
Mary understood the true importance of pausing, slowing down, and spending time at her Savior’s feet, listening to His voice. She trusted that the meal would get cooked in time and the kitchen cleaned when it needed to be and chose to be present to her God and receive His rest. In sitting at His feet and listening to His words, Mary was better equipped to love, show patience and grace, and be the walking, talking image of Christ that she was placed on this earth to be.
Jesus Himself said that Mary, the listening one, made the right choice because it was Him and unhurried time in His presence that she chose over the outward noise of doing and achieving.
She received the gift of rest and presence that day which came from time spent pausing and listening, and we, my friend, are invited into the same restorative space that Mary chose to enter into.
Listening prayer can help us get there.
Practicing Listening Prayer
Now that we’ve defined the purpose of listening prayer and explored a Biblical passage that illustrates what this practice looks like in relation to God, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty of how to engage with it.
Step 1: Find and prepare a quiet, sacred space
To begin practicing listening prayer, it can be helpful to find a calm, quiet, and distraction-less place where you can fully engage with this practice. Prepare this sacred space by grabbing your favorite blanket, making a cup of hot tea or coffee, lighting a candle, or having a handheld cross nearby to comfort and ground you.
Step 2: Open with a short prayer
As you settle into the quiet and get comfortable, try opening your hands in a posture of receiving, taking a few deep breaths, and offering up a short prayer as a way to focus your mind on the presence of God. This could be a prayer of thanks or praise or you could even borrow Samuel’s prayer from 1 Samuel 3:9, “Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.”
Step 3: Pause, listen, & wait
Listening prayer is all about being open and receptive to the presence and voice of God. As you sit, close your eyes and wait for God to speak. Listen closely for a word or phrase that comes to mind, or even an image, song, or color that the Holy Spirit places in your mind’s eye. Give the Holy Spirit full permission to guide your imagination and as you sit, wait and listen for what He may say or show you through it.
There really isn’t a set timeframe for this practice, it’s however much time you and the Spirit feel is needed for the moment. If you do need a starting point, I would suggest starting with at least 10 minutes of listening prayer and waiting to see what the Lord has to show you.
Now, if you’re just beginning with this practice and you’re finding it difficult to concentrate or settle in, be patient and gentle with yourself. It may take 5-10 minutes just to quiet your mind, which is totally normal! If you do find that you keep getting distracted by your thoughts or your to-do list for the day, return to the prayer that you opened with, centering yourself once again on the presence of God, and keep waiting and listening.
Also, don’t be discouraged if at first you don’t hear or see anything from the Lord. Most of us adults have become detached from our imaginations or have trouble quieting ourselves long enough to listen for or even recognize the voice of God. If this is your experience, give yourself grace, and keep showing up openly and receptively. Maybe this could be a safe space for you to learn how God speaks to you and become familiar with how His voice sounds to you.
Besides, even if you don’t hear or see anything (which may be the case at times), you are still practicing sitting and resting and being in God’s presence, which is a very beautiful thing. Actually, I believe it’s the most important thing! Remember, the goal with listening prayer, or with any spiritual practice, isn’t to achieve a desired outcome, but to rest in God’s presence and receive His love right where you are, as you are.
Step 4: Reflect on what you heard or saw
John Dewey once said, “We do not learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on experience.” After engaging with God through listening prayer, take 10-15 minutes to reflect on your experience with God. Continue the conversation with Him by talking to Him about it or perhaps try journaling about your experience, recording what you heard or saw and what it means to you on the blank pages of your journal. Reflection often reveals hidden things and brings clarity to muddy thoughts and situations. Sit for a few moments in prayerful reflection with God and see what materializes.
What Listening Prayer Teaches Us
Something interesting that I’ve found to be true for me while engaging with this practice is that the more I enter into listening prayer, the greater desire I have to listen well to those around me. Because listening prayer invites me to practice being receptive and open to God, I find that when engaging in conversation with the people in my life I’m more inclined to practice active listening, and my responses come from a more loving and authentic place within me.
I’ve also noticed that it has helped me become more self-aware of what God is saying through my emotions, longings, and dreams. So not only does listening prayer help us become familiar with the voice of God in our lives and grow our relationship with Him, but it also trains us to be better listeners to ourselves and others.
Another fruit that I think grows naturally from practicing listening prayer is the fruit of patience. As we wait for God to speak and to move in our hearts, we wait with patience and hope, trusting that His presence is with us. As we go out into the world and live into our lives, that fruit of patience grows as we release the tightly held grip on our own plans and schedule and relax into being present to the moment.
A Blessing for Those Waiting & Listening
As you go from this place and begin cultivating your own practice of listening prayer, I pray these words of blessing will follow you and ground you.
May you lean into the quiet, patiently waiting for God to speak.
May you come to hear and behold the many ways God reveals Himself to you.
May you come to know the sound of His gentle voice, like a sheep knows her Good and faithful Shepherd.
And in those sacred, silent moments with God, may you come to know yourself as He so intricately and intimately knows you.
Amen.
“For God alone, my soul waits in silence;
From Him comes my salvation.”
(Psalm 62:1, AMP)
With you on the journey,
Celia
Life Lately
A Breath Prayer for Your Weekend
Inhale: Speak, Lord.
Exhale: Your servant is listening.
(adapted from 1 Samuel 3:10)
*If you’d like to learn more about the practice of breath prayer, download this complete digital guide to practicing breath prayer.
Resources & Good Things to Pick Up
Check out this article written by Jan Johnson on her perspective of listening prayer: Listening Prayer: Waiting, Resting, & Delighting in God
Here are a few things to listen to surrounding the topic of listening prayer:
Prayer Exercise: Listening Prayer from the Beholding Prayer Podcast (Strahan Coleman) — Strahan will walk you through an 8-minute listening prayer practice. If you like prompts and need a little extra guidance getting started, this might be a good option for you!
My mom is an ovarian cancer survivor who decided to create an encouraging planner for those walking through their cancer journey. It would also be a life-giving tool for caregivers and loved ones walking beside their cancer warrior. The ‘For Such a Time as This’ planner is officially available for purchase now here: Quiet Hope Co.
My Etsy shop, The Beholding Co., offers contemplative resources to help you slow down, seek still moments, and behold God’s presence with you in the everyday. Purchase some breath prayer cards, a Lectio Divina bookmark, and more.
Grab a copy of my Bible study, You Are Beloved: a 21-day study on how to root your identity in the love of God, over on Amazon. If you’d like a free 3-day sample of the study, reply to this email and I’ll send it right over!
My friend and licensed spiritual director, Kari Bartkus, offers an 8-week journaling program for those who want to process their grief and trauma with God within the safety of blank journal pages. I’ve completed the program myself and can say confidently that it was incredibly impactful and healing: Journal Gently
An Invitation to Pause & Reflect
A regular practice of reflection helps us recognize what’s going on beneath the surface of our souls so we can name it in the Lord’s presence. Because as we learn to name what we feel, what we need, and what we long for, we’re also learning to discern the Spirit’s sweet, gentle voice within our hearts and lives.
Take a few moments today or this weekend to journal or contemplate with the Holy Spirit the following question(s) or prompt(s):
Did you notice any resistance this week as you entered into listening prayer? If so, what did that resistance reveal to you?
What did you hear God speak to you, or what did He show you this week through your listening prayer time?
I just keep thinking of more and more things!
Celia, you mentioned the word selah in the Psalms. Some of us attend a women's retreat in Michigan each June. It is located at a conference grounds with a large staff for the summer. Each evening at 9:00 p.m. everyone is invited to the Tabernacle for a quiet time of worship and prayer. It is totally optional and lasts about 15 to 20 minutes. The lights are low, and the worship team on stage is very subdued and unobtrusive. Staff and guests alike are invited to come and sit in God's presence before they scatter to their lodgings to sleep for the evening. It is such a lovely practice! It provides so much peace and just brings a settling at the end of the day. Of course, they call this gathering "Selah".
I just completed my first ever formal time of listening prayer. What a lovely time it was! I have always been intimidated by this silence, but this morning definitely proved I don't need to be. Thank you Celia!