Below I discuss my key take-aways, themes, and ideas drawn from the book.
Generally we are in God’s will whenever we are leading the kind of life he wants for us. — Willard (p. 13)
According to Willard, hearing God does not come out of a particular method or formula, but out of an intimate, conversational relationship with God. We become more attuned to the voice of God not through certain methods or more individual actions, but through deepening our relationship with Him. When we walk step-by-step, day-by-day with His Spirit in a conversational relationship, we will find ourselves hearing God more and more often.
Learning to hear God is much more about becoming comfortable in a continuing conversation, and learning to constantly lean on the goodness and love of God, than it is about turning God into an ATM for advice, or treating the Bible as a crystal ball. — Willard (p. 10)
An obsession merely with doing all God commands may be the very thing that rules out being the kind of person that he calls us to be. — Willard (p. 14)
Willard warns that we must be careful never to exalt hearing God’s voice to a higher place than it should be. Many of us may want to hear from God to tamper down our insecurities and bolster our sense of righteousness or spiritual maturity. The ability to discern God’s voice should be a fruit of the Christian’s love for God, not a primary goal or skill to be mastered.
Our concern for discerning God’s voice must be overwhelmed by and lost in our worship and adoration of him and in our delight with his creation and his provision for our whole life. — Willard (p. 10)
In a life of participation in God’s kingdom rule, we are not to make things happen, but only to be honestly willing and eager to be made able. — Willard (p. 179)
God is not a task master and our relationship to Him is not solely one of master and slave. We are invited into His kingdom work, to be free-agent participants joining Him in what He is set out to accomplish. It is through shared understanding and shared activity that we go deeper into our relationship with Him (p. 73). There are times He will make it clear to us where He is working and where we’re welcome to join. Other times, when we don’t hear from God, it does not necessarily mean we are in unrepentant sin or doing anything wrong to hinder our perceptions. It may simply be God honoring us as free-agents, having equipped us for every good work, desiring us to take initiative as we think is best aligned with His will.
Our individual initiatives are central to his will for us. — Willard (p. 13)
He does not delight in having to always explain what his will is; he enjoys it when we understand and act upon his will. — Willard (p. 40)