Growing up, My devotions were dry, routine affairs. I'd whip through a chapter in the Bible. I'd run down a list of prayer requests, and I'd check that part of my day off the list. What a contrast with, say, a date with my girlfriend. When I took her out for dinner and a movie, sometimes we missed the movies because we couldn't stop talking. Our conversations had a momentum all their own.

How discouraging that the relationship that was supposed to be the most exciting and wonderful in my life had become a check on my to-do list.

Maybe you are like me - you grew up having monologues with God and have never heard before that he wants to talk to you. You've not really learned how to hear his voice.

I remember the first time I heard his voice. It was years later; I was desperate. I had been betrayed by someone very close to me and I needed to know that God cared. I asked him if he would share with me what he thought of me. The next thing that happened changed my life forever. God spoke inwardly to me in a way that might as well have been audible. He said, "Seth, I love you."

Listening prayer is about that kind of dialogue. To learn more, check out this article I wrote. Or, buy the book, "The Art of Listening Prayer."