Dear Friend,

What is the first step when you believe God is speaking to you? How should you respond

to Him? What results can you and I expect as we listen to the voice of the Lord?

Reading these questions, you may be thinking it has been a while since you have heard

Gods voice. Or, you may realize He has been speaking to you all along, but its time to pay

better attention. It is not unusual for lapses or obstacles to develop in our interaction with the

Lord. The good news isthese barriers can be overcome.

My hope with this letter is to refresh the communication between us and the Lord. In

times like these, it is vitally important for you and me to improve our ability to hear from

God and respond properly to Him. The first step is to tell Him youre listening.

Lessons from Life

As you may have gathered, what I write in these letters comes directly out of my own

personal experience. This time is no exception.

Im writing this message very early in the morning. Why? Because at around 2:30 this

morning, it seemed clear that the Lord was speaking to me along the lines of this topic. My

first response? Maybe not the most spiritual. I took one look at the clock and rolled over to

go back to sleep. But when it seemed clear that the thoughts swirling in my mind were not

going awayand I needed to pay attention to themI chose a better response. At that point,

I simply told the Lord that I was listeningand I asked Him to continue speaking.

As I kept listening, the details of what I am now sharing with you became clearer and
clearer in my understanding, culminating with the writing process. I sincerely hope what I

communicate here will be timely and encouraging for you.

Starting to Learn Early

To be more specific, the words I eventually spoke in response to Gods early morning

promptings were right out of 1 Samuel 3:9 (NAS): Speak, LORD, for your servant is

listening. This reply was the instruction from Eli, the priest at Shiloh, to Samuel, who was

in Elis care and training. Realizing that God was speaking to the little boy, Eli told Samuel

exactly how to answer.

I find it interesting in the biblical account that the way Samuel answered in verse 10 was

a little different than what Eli suggested. Samuel simply said, Speak, for Your servant is

listening. Why was that? We find the answer in a preceding verse: (Now Samuel did not

yet know the LORD, nor was the word of the LORD yet revealed to him) (v. 7).

Like it is with you and me, recognizing Gods voice is a learning process. It comes as we

get to know Him better and better. For Samuel, the process began early and continued

throughout his life. May it be so for us as well!

Results of Listening Well

Samuels early encounter with the Lord teaches us one of the main benefits of listening

attentively when God speaks. If we listen well when God talks with us, He promises in

return to listen to us when we call out to Him.

It is significant that Samuels name means heard by God. Could it be that because

Samuel learned early in life to listen to the Lord, the result would be that his prayers would

be heard on high? There are many confirmations of this premise throughout the Scriptures.

One of the most encouraging is Jeremiah 29:12 (right after Gods promise in verse 11 to
give us a future and a hope): Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will

listen to you. Another is Psalm 34:15: The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His

ears are open to their cry, as well as verse 17: The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears.

We also see many warnings in the Bible about not responding correctly when the Lord

speaks to us. One of the most striking is a quote from Psalm 95 which appears twice in

Hebrews 3in verse 7 and 15: Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts

as in the rebellion. You and I must cultivate a soft heart, a listening ear, and a willing spirit.

A Wonderful Mentor

One of the traits modeled by Derek Prince that I always admired the most was his

sensitivity to hear and respond properly to the voice of the Lord. It was not uncommon for

Derek to stop in the middle of a message and say, I sense the Lord directing us to pray right

now. No matter how involved Derek was in any particular teaching, he put the highest

priority on responding immediately to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

A consistent theme in Dereks teaching was this matter of hearing and obeying the voice

of the Lord when He speaks to us. The following excerpt from Hearing Gods Voice, Part 1

is a clear example of the significance of listening properly.

I believe the one unvarying requirement which never changed from dispensation to

dispensation was the requirement to hear Gods voice. I believe that was what always

marked out those who belonged to God and made them different from all other people. They

had learned to hear Gods voice.

Ill now give you some examples from the Pentateuch (the first five books of Moses)all

of which show the unique importance of hearing Gods voice.

The first is found in Exodus 15, verse 26. Israel had come to a stage in their journey

through the wilderness where they were very thirsty. There was a pool of water there called
Marah, but when they wanted to drink the water, they couldnt because it was bitter. When

Moses prayed, the Lord showed him a certain tree. When he cast the tree into the water, the

waters were healed and the people could drink. In this context, the Lord said this to Moses:

If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight,

give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on

you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.

What is the primary requirement? If you will diligently heed the voice of the LORD your

God. The Hebrew says, If you will listen, listening.

I interpret that to mean that we have to listen to Gods voice with both our earsthe right

and the leftthat is, to listen, listening.

Expressing Your Willingness

Through all that has been presented, do you sense the Lord stirring your heart right now?

Is He prompting you to adjust your ears and your heart to hear and obey? Are you seeing the

necessity to open up your spirit to Him in a greater way?

If you feel like you havent been very successful in this process of hearing and responding

to Gods voice, dont be discouraged. You and I can do a course correction right now. We can

simply let the Lord know of our hope to respond more appropriately to His voice. Will you

join with me as I express that desire?

Lord, I am so grateful for this reminder that You are actively speaking to me. Please

forgive my insensitivity and preoccupation with other mattersallowing barriers to arise

that obscure and drown out Your voice.

For my part, I want to get rid of those obstacles today. With this prayer, I am actively

opening my ears and my heart to You, dear Jesus, and to all You want to say to me. Please

speak to me, Lordfor your servant is listening.

 I am starting the process today to hear You betterto listen more carefully and intently.

Thank You for the promises in Your Word about all the benefits of hearing You. I am so

grateful that in return for my improved listening, You have pledged to hear me when I call,

and to listen when I cry out to You.

Today, I am taking the first step to refresh my communication with You, Lord. This is my

declaration: from this point onward, I will be actively listening to hear and obey Your voice.

Amen.

He Will Answer

The prayer and declaration we have just voiced can be life-changing for you and me. In

fact, I would encourage you to test your wings in the days ahead. If there is a matter

requiring specific direction from the Lord, place it before Him over the next few days. Then

set aside some regular times to wait quietly in His presence, listening for what He wants to

say to you regarding this concern.

Our hope is that you will experience His faithfulness to speak to you directly. We know it

will help when you begin by telling Him youre listening.

Would you consider including us in your pursuit to hear directly from the Lord? We

would count it a privilege to link arms with you, adding our prayers to yours regarding the

matters that concern you. Please feel free to let us know what those needs are, and the staff

here at DPM-USA will join with you in prayer.

For additional encouragement, we would also like to offer the full message by Derek

Prince from which the earlier excerpt was taken. Simply use the link below to download the

free MP3, Hearing Gods Voice, Part 1."

 We are so grateful for the partnership of so many people who, like you, are praying for us

and supporting us financially. As a result, we are able to extend Dereks teaching all around

the world. Thank you for standing with us in these days. We are touched by your

commitmenttotally thankful for the love and generosity you have shown us.

Wonderful Results

With our commitment to listen to the Lord more closely, you and I have made a very good

start today. We have begun a new learning process, inspired by the life of Samuel. The first

step we have taken in hearing Gods voice is to let Him know we are truly listening. With

that matter settled, He promises to speak to us. Then the reciprocal benefits beginwe have

the privilege of talking with Him, knowing that His ears are open to our cry.

Here is another interesting result, taken again from the life of Samuel. The third chapter

of 1 Samuel begins with these words: Now the boy Samuel ministered to the LORD before

Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation.

Just one chapter later, primarily through the willingness of Samuel to hear and obey the

Lord, we read these words in 1 Samuel 4:1: And the word of the LORD came to all Israel.

What a change had taken place! May we see the same positive result in our own times.

What will bring it about? It starts with you and mewhen we tell the Lord were listening!

All the best,

Dick Leggatt

President, DPMUSA

P.S. Thanks again for being such a vital part of the work of Derek Prince Ministries. We are

so glad the Lord has joined us together for such a time as this. Please make sure to download

the free message, Hearing Gods Voice, Part 1. We know it will add substantial insight and

encouragement to your life.