LISTENING TO GOD'S VOICE: Live Webinar with Fr. Rob Galea

hey guys it's so good to be here I'm our first sort of live webcast yeah I'm using new software and I'm just so blessed to be with you to talk to you about listening to the voice of God one of the things that is on my heart so much is that we God is in pursuit of us God loves us and God is chasing after us and wants to have a conversation with us but the problem is very often is that we don't spend enough time listening to the voice of God simply because we don't know that God is speaking all if we do know that God is speaking we don't know how God is speaking one of the most beautiful things about being a Christian is that we are in a relationship with God and the fact that you're in a relationship with God means that God has this conversation with us he speaks to us and we speak to him so again thank you for joining us on Facebook and on on YouTube I can see Daniel Jacqui Benjamin Lucy Valentina Irene and Pia I'm seeing here so many of you here just say hello I'd love to hear from you and later on also we'll be discussing and getting your questions in if you have any questions again this is a webinar talking about listening to the voice of God it's going to be a bit practical but also a bit theoretical if you want to grow in your faith this is an opportunity for you to grow we're hoping frg ministry is hoping to offer more of these webinars for you to be able to grow in your faith there'll be me talking there'll be a video of me talking and then there'll be questions as well and that I'll be happy to deal with so again thank you from Islamabad about that's amazing Jeni you well come here from Jakarta amazing this Sunday we have a live Mass and the music is from Jakarta so we're having music played from Jakarta and the readings from London England so join us on on you tube for that if it is youtube-dot-com forward-slash father Rob Galya bula bula vinaka from Fiji and so good to see you nice to see you from yeah anyway I think what we were doing California Christine great to see you and Dubai praise God for Dubai been to Dubai a few times love it it must be really hot there now freezing here in Victoria Australia Valletta Malta Viva Malta look nice to see you such a blessing to to have you in here as well 10 a.m. for once usually we have the mass in the morning it's like 2 a.m. for them but it's at the moment it's a reasonable hour for you so Malaysia as well and acara Accra Luxembourg anyway it will will acknowledge more of you as we go on so again blessed blessed to be here so let's go into this let's talk about listening to the voice of God God wants to speak to us is constantly in pursuit of us is loving us but I want to talk about how practical ways in which God speaks I'm going to have the video and it's going to be in two parts I'm going to play it here and then I'm going to stop the video talk to you again let's hope all this technology works and then after we play the video we'll have Q&A session and then we'll have prayer as well at the end so here we go this is the first part of listening to the voice of God guys so I thought I'd give you a little teaching about listening to the voice of God see God speaks to us he's constantly talking to us he's constantly wanting to communicate with us but the problem very often is that we don't know how to listen how imagine I could hear the voice of God imagine I could know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God has spoken to me how many of you would want that like suddenly I would I'd love to know when God speaks but there is maybe no way of knowing for sure whether God has spoken or not because if we did know for sure then I suppose we wouldn't need faith and this is what st. Paul says I walk by faith and not by sight and so we cannot really know what God is saying beyond the shadow of a doubt but there are certain things that we can use six things in particular I want to talk about that we can know that we can have that can actually help us listen to the voice of God see God speaks in many ways but I'm not going to this focus right now on the ways God speaks but I'm going to speak about ways we can listen to the voice of God and know that that voice was God and not our own imagination was not was something that we we came up with ourselves and even though we might not hear and understand all of these six things maybe there's a combination of two or three of these six things that can allow you to move ahead with some kind of certainty with some kind of assurance that God is in this so let's talk about the six ways that God speaks to us that we can listen to the voice of God and say number one the first and most important thing is prayer prayer isn't everything but it is the first thing take your discernment your you're trying to figure out what God wants moments you know take them to ride if you haven't taken him to God then you're not giving up so go and spend some time speaking to God about these hopes and these dreams but also listening to what God has to say God is speaking but we need to predispose our hearts to be able to listen to the voice of God that's one nothing the two Scripture open your Bibles dust off your Bibles read your Bibles but no your Bibles God speaks to us through his word it's not about opening the world Bible and using that as a sort of a fortune-telling book and opening and pointing at a particular verse and saying God says this no no the Scriptures know the heart of God's Word know what God is saying to his words so when you descend something you can make sure that it does not contradict the Word of God God doesn't contradict himself okay so know God's well know what he's saying the third thing is the teachings of the church what does the church teach you see if it is against the teachings of the church then I can tell you it's most certainly not the will of God God's use the wisdom of the church through the 2000 years to form this teaching and no other Church teaches but understand why why does the church teach what it teaches understand and learn to interpret the teachings of the church that's one beautiful way we know that we are in discerning the Word of God we are listening to the voice of God so we talked about three points and I want to bring in another three points very soon but if anyone has any questions at any time please feel free to to ask feel free to say anything now during these points the first three points that I made is that prayer pray is the first thing but not everything so we need to start off with prayer that's how we listen to the voice of God it's a conversation there's no way you can listen to the voice of God if you don't go to God in prayer then the second thing is scripture you see God has already spoken he's already spoken in his word the thing is we need to open the scriptures to understand the Word of God and to listen to the Word of God and allow him to impact our lives through it this is the logos the spoken word of God then there is the hurrah Matos christi which is the word spoken to us and the third is also the teachings of the church now so let's take a question here and this is from l's contra though I can't pronounce that I'm sorry and father why do we sometimes feel the presence of God so real in prayer but sometimes we don't how can we do what can we do to persevere in prayer when we feel nothing well some feeling is is great okay it's it's amazing that we can feel the presence of God but feeling isn't everything you see feelings are good guides but they're terrible leaders I mean you don't need to feel the presence of God to allow God to what just because you don't feel God doesn't mean God is not present okay God sometimes wants to wean us off the feelings he wants us to pursue him whether we feel him or not can we what can we do to persevere in prayer when we feel nothing well it's discipline making sure that you're disciplined every day in your prayer you're generous with God prayer ultimately when you are in a real relationship with God prayer is really about being generous with God you know sometimes I just sit down with God and I speak to God and I just be quiet and I say God I don't want to talk to you I don't want you to talk to me I just want to be still very often I don't feel the presence of God when I pray but I'm there I'm generous with God Briah is not about us it's about us being generous with God it's about God ok so let's see Jenny what do you do about our distractions in prayer well I'd say don't focus there are two things you can do one is just you praise God for the distraction something comes to your mind let's say you need to feed the dog and I'll just start praying you know God I thank you for my dog I thank you that you've given me the gift of the dog and I turn it back towards God and and I say God if there's the dog that needs to be fed please remind me when I finish this prayer another thing I do is I imagine an imaginary chest you know like a like a cub at a chest and I every time I get a distraction I in my imagination put it in that chest and then I imagine I imagine Jesus and Mary and Joseph sitting on this chest now that is some heavy weight that is some heavy weight and that's it and then come back to those and then once Jesus Mary and Joseph are holding those should they'll bring them back to you and I'll take a couple more questions and then we'll go back to the second part of the video father how do we overcome evil thoughts on a daily basis well I think it's about taking your thought process it you know from prison to praise its praising God through the difficulties through the bad thoughts through the negative thoughts through the last full thoughts through the frustrations and just praise God be a person of praise thank God all the time have this when these thoughts come to your mind it's okay a temptation is not a sin okay a temptation is a temptation becomes a sin when we give in to it okay so again that's so important and to realize that the distractions are fine they come they go so far this is an interesting one father sometimes I speak in tongues but I sometimes feel this I'm just repeating the same thing and it's just on my mind oh is it truly happening well I use the gift of tongues I think it's such a beautiful and powerful gift sometimes gifts of tongues it's not the Holy Spirit coming into your heart the arm tongue and moving your tongue it's actually you doing it but when you do it you trust that God is using it well it's like speaking normally when you speak how do you know that you're speaking you just speaking and then trusting that God is listening okay I'm gonna I promise I'm gonna come back to your questions if you have a question and I haven't answered it um I will come back to it but I'm gonna come go and go to this the second part of the the video the fourth thing is listen to the community others who are walking with God you see God doesn't speak to us only in isolation but he speaks to us to people who have walked with Jesus and know Jesus more than you do ask them talk with them discern with them I have a spiritual director I go to every month and I pour my heart out and I learned I get to discern with someone who has more wisdom more understanding and again also more objectivity they're out of the situation out of the emotions and this is one of the things that can stand in the way of listening to God and that is emotions emotions are beautiful beautiful guides but terrible leaders don't be led by your emotion and that's why we need others who are walking with God to help us understand and it's also for those of you who are religious so those of you who are in some kind of maybe priesthood your superiors these are the people God speaks through now sometimes we have to obey even when we think it isn't the will of God but we have to trust God and listen to our superiors even when it is difficult the fifth thing is the peace of God is the peace of God following your decision your discernment to the voice of God if you don't feel a sense of peace after what you think is the voice of God then it very well might not have been the voice of God now there's a difference between peace a lack of peace and discomfort God often makes us uncomfortable when he talks but is it followed by a sense of peace but you won't know this unless you go to the number one which is prayer but we're talking about so know the peace of God when listening to what God speaks through the peace in our hands and number six is that God doesn't contradict himself God is not schizophrenic God is not going to call you one way one week and then call you another way the other week if you've discerned it well stick to it even if you feel desolated even if it feels difficult even if you don't know where God is keep moving you see don't change your decision that you have made in a time of clarity during a time of desolation what I'm saying is that if you descend something well keep going keep going even when it really gets tough so these are ways in which God speaks God is speaking to us we need to learn to listen to the voice of God God is an amazing God who has an incredible amazing plan for your life he's speaking but you have to listen spend time listening spend time discerning now I just want to finish off with a final word for those of you who are trying to listen to God to figure out what God wants for your life maybe it's Mary and your priesthood God what do you want from my life well I start off with priesthood Amit is priesthood I tell you to pray spend hours is for everyone before the Blessed Sacrament spend I'm figuring out how that the practical things about the priesthood go on spend some time in the seminary go and talk to your parish priest go and listen - The Voice talk to other seminarians make sure you surround yourself with that vocation and for those who are looking for marriage that's another thing you need to invest in is God calling me to marriage I'd say three things one is this person is this person that I'm considering married is this person going to make me holy is this person going to make my children holy is this person going to lead me to God and leave me to more dignity or is this person taking away that relationship I have with God make sure that you're choosing a person who's going to draw you close to God but the second thing in this is to invest time in that relationship you see that you need to invest be with the person make sure you have a person but to spend time with the person loving them and knowing them and discerning whether they can make you the Saints that you were called to be so let's go back and after the webinar back to me okay so we're back again just to let you know before we continue that you can listen to our podcast Catholic influencers podcast FRG ministry comm forward slash podcast and also on YouTube we provide resources all the time youtube.com forward slash father of Gallia a live mass we have weekly songs webinars we have so much content that FRG ministry are providing if you are able to support us as well and there's a link there FRG ministry comm forward slash support us but let's get back now to the comments okay so let's get to your questions I'm going to pace myself I'm seeing a lot of questions so I tend to rush but I'm going to breathe and I'm going to I'm going to take it easy okay and take your questions again let's go some I don't know how to see which one's our questions okay let's see Valentina sometimes I don't I'm not able to follow or to listen to God during Bible readings as God guides me but sometimes I get a lot of Bible verses in my mind why that's why does that happen you see what you feed your body is what is going to come out so I assume and I'm that you are reading the Bible and so God is able to speak to you through what you've input into your heart so that's why if we feed ourselves negativity we'll feed ourselves bad things if we feed ourselves things that destroy our heart then God doesn't have much instruments many in enough instruments to speak to us constantly and this is why we need to feed our internal climate in a way that allows God to speak to you so why does it happen because you feed yourself the Word of God and so God is able to speak that way okay here's one I don't have I'm gonna be able to answer this for many youths being victim to premarital sex in the 21st Secretary first of all I did sort of victim to P metal sex you're not a victim if it's a choice okay like if you're not so so this is just clarifying that you're not talking about abuse because that's a whole other situation how should we overcome this premarital sex well I think again at the end of the day it's spending time with Jesus spending time focus spending time with the community and know what you want if you don't know what you want and why why are you not not having sex before marriage if you understand that if you believe that then you can hold on to that but it's about being sold out for Jesus that Jesus is everything your everything so much so that you will do anything to hold on to him and to choose him first because at the end of the day what good is it to gain the whole world but to lose your own soul your own piece okay so from Gloria my father is there a certain language that we must use talking to God and is there the Racquet technique of use of Prayer is no no just speak to God in your language speak to God as God it's a relationship you know and he knows you and he created your language he created your words to speak to God as a friend I often say this like when I wake up in the morning I say good morning Jesus when I'm upset III tell God that I'm upset if I'm angry I tell God that I'm angry if I'm frustrated if I'm joyful I just praise God so there's no technique of Prayer now there are techniques we can use in prayer that are really powerful and for example the rosary and the other devotional is the Divine Mercy chaplet and there's the the Divine Office as well that religious and priests commit to pray these are and the sons you know their beautiful ways of Prayer but at the end of the day remember it is relationship about relationship okay this father up I don't feel like spending time with God how can I reinvigorate the zeal with God and spend more time with him look analogy now I don't analogy sometimes it's a bit like it's not perfect but I haven't been to the gym for three months the gym has been closed I was like every day I would wake up first thing I want to do is to go to the gym I haven't been there for three months I really I want to go back but I know it's gonna be really hard but I know so that if I give myself a week of discipline of overcoming that apathy of overcoming that lack of zeal eventually I'm gonna find the joy in that again because I'm gonna start seeing the results again I want to starts feeling strong again I'm gonna start feeling like I can do this again it's the same with prayer so you need to discipline yourself with the prayer until the the the technique comes back again you start seeing the results you start seeing God working in your life you start seeing you the joy and the peace coming back okay um so how here's an interesting question how to pray for a miracle ask for one simple as that ask for one my father thank you for the learning experience that's a yes okay thank you bless you hello I'm not sure of Amma Ronson I thought I wanted to ask how will be able to distinguish between God's voice and our own voice during discernment yes and that's where the six points that I gave you is it I'll bring it to prayer too is it according to the Word of God it if it contradicts the Word of God then it definitely isn't from God teachings of the church no the teachings of the church no the catechism of the Catholic Church even the Vatican Council two documents go to YouTube learn staff and the teachings of the church listen to the community this is discerning community five the peace of God that follows that's how you know it's not and your own voice and God doesn't contradict himself so and it takes practice okay now one of the things I do is RI I write a journal and and sort of when I write my journal I go back to it a few weeks later and see whether it was God's voice so sometimes we have to practice it's like an art of discerning God's voice in hindsight okay so writing down what God said and then a few weeks later you can discern a few years later sometimes can discern hey that was God's voice no actually that wasn't that didn't sound that doesn't sound like that so it's practicing the presence of God so we'll pray for those will soon have some time of prayer as well why is it so difficult to discern God's call very often because we're too distracted were too distracted were too busy we're too worried and we turn to ourselves instead of turning to God that's why it is so difficult very often that we were not ready to listen greetings from Indonesia and from India how to distinguish between the voice of God and my own thoughts again I've already just spoken about that I gave the video about that those are the six points as well that's how you distinguish between your voice and and at the end of the day there are three voices there are two listen to this your voice there's the voice of God and then there's a voice of evil okay if you listen to your own voice don't worry if it's a voice of evil sometime you know because there's a lack of peace but if it's your own voice don't worry you'll learn eventually you'll figure out that it is not God's voice when you start to see it's about training yourself to understand and to know the voice of God how do you know if God is listening to your prayers well God said it I believe it that settles it God said he promised in his word that he would listen to our prayers and so we believe that and we trust that we know that he's going to listen whether he answers the way we want to or not that's a whole other thing prayer is not about changing God prayer is about allowing God to change us to transform us okay so let's see I'm not able to pray when I'm sad and depressed how should I pray during time this time I think it's just being still with God I know how difficult it is to pray when you're sad and you're depressed but it's and this is why we need to prepare ourselves during those times we are not to be able to build a muscle to keep going during difficult times sometimes one of the most powerful prayers I find when I'm depressed when I'm down is the rosary it is so powerful because at the end of the day it's Mary fighting your battles for you and and just surrender it's a prayer of surrender to God through Mary it's the most beautiful prayer and I love the prayer of the Rosary here we'll have a when qu Gloria when choosing a spiritual director are there certain characteristics that he or she should have well I'd say first of all this person needs to love Jesus and needs to maybe know Jesus more than you do have to be able to to have listened to the voice of God what they should have ultimately is as no personal interest in you because otherwise they cannot discern with you so if you notice that there's a too much of a close relationship sometimes it's good to step back okay ma'am so it it's about them stepping back and listening so I love the spiritual direction is like the story in the Bible of I think it's Eli and solemn no one of those Samson no not even Samson one of them and they the and they they hear the voice of God I forgot his name someone tell me and they're listening to the he's listening to the voice of God and he's a the story is that he thinks it's the voice of Eli but instead the Eli keeps pointing him and says now listen to the voice of God so this is what a spiritual director does teaches you to listen to the voice of God in your life Samuel that's his name Samuel how do you find the spiritual director and contact your parish that's a good place to start also if you're in for example Australia or in Malta I know that there are the there are people you can look online their spiritual direction online doesn't need to be a priest doesn't need to be a nun there are people trained in spiritual direction who are not priests and nuns okay and there so you also look in your area and contact you your parish and see if they can refer you to people who to a spiritual director is it so no it was solemn I had forgotten that Samuel Samuel but thank you and be Samuel thank you Marita okay so I'll see if there are a couple more questions and then we'll go to some time of Prayer um again I've answered this question any suggestions of how to fight through depression I devotionals us so powerful such powerful ways of praying like the divine mercy and also the rosary pray pray those things I saw such powerful weapons when you feel down ok father is it necessary for us to ask God in detail about our wishes in prayer because he already knows and therefore why should we ask him well I think we're missing the point if we sort of limit God to a sort of a needs person God it's about relation spending time with Jesus yes he does know everything you need if you don't feel like telling God in detail about your needs just worship him sit with him love him let him hug you let him embrace you but Jesus does say in his word ask and you shall receive seek and you shall find knock and the door will be opened because he wants us to ask like a child who asks their mom their dad for something their mum dad knows they need them but the fact that they ask brings joy as well to mom and dad sometimes so but always with God he has another question I'm sure that you have heard God writes straight on crooked lines so presumably even if we make the wrong decisions God can change our course absolutely God is like a GPS okay we go off the road and he tells us route recalculation and he takes us back to the narrow road and here's this my papa got stolen two years ago I felt like I gave up since I need tips okay look it's heartbreaking huh it's terrible I can't imagine what would happen if my dog was stolen um but God didn't do it okay God didn't steal your puppy God what happens is that situations happen but God can use this pain to draw us close to him turn back to God turn to Him ask him to hold your puppy he loves your puppy too okay I don't to look after your puppy and he looks after you as well and ask him to fill that that sort of emptiness that this experience has left for you but I'll pray for peace for you as well see if we can get this question in there were times I was drawn to something that I was good in part but I felt a strong desolation upon considering this particular part is that opposition from evil to stop going forth the Lord showing that well okay so what this person is saying is that they made a decision and then they felt not good about it they felt desolation upon making it does it mean that it is not God's will not necessarily okay that's one of the ways that God shows us that it is not good because sometimes we make a decision to do something and we don't feel good about it because it's making us uncomfortable but if it's for example contradictory to the Word of God if other people are advising you that it is not right if people who love you and love Jesus are telling you that that's not good if it's against the teachings of the church Scripture so a few of these things can help you discern but that could be a very much a lack of peace definitely could be a sign that maybe that is not of God Father please answer me do you do charismatic services not live at the moment everything here on YouTube because of the kovat right now we need to believe in something divine apart from our need for God okay let's go love a goddess okay interesting interesting yes but the you see love is something that a Jew Jesus is love God is love but to have something divine apart from God is also against a commandment that Jesus tells us to love him and him alone and with all of our hearts and in our lives so yeah but I thank you thank you for your input there okay um father how to receive the gift of tongues and guide me through it I've read that I'd love to talk about that maybe we'll do it another time and about it praying for the gift of tongues ask God to speak to you he promised us this beautiful gift and just it's about practicing as well being able to practice that okay last question here for now and then we go to prayer okay father can we question God yes yes yes can we chat with him is it good for us to ask God for in the terms of Hajj it is good to question to ask God to it's not to deny God to question God is an act of faith because you're believing that God is going to listen to you you're turning towards God as opposed to away from God question doubt that's okay but don't let your doubt stop in doubt keep questioning and keep seeking God God's gonna speak to us God is speaking to us is in pursuit of us let's just listen let's just listen so let's pray we're gonna pray I'm gonna pray for you if you have your requests just throw them on the comments here I'm I won't be able to bring them all up you know what even if I don't address your questions don't worry don't worry God knows okay so let's pray together in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit amen father God we welcome you we welcome your Holy Spirit we welcome your presence here with us I'd like to pray for every person who is listening here who's tuned in here but you know their heart and you know their desire to listen to your voice how amazing Lord it would be if we like Mary were able to listen to your voice like when the moment the angel Gabriel appeared to to Mary but the thing is very often we don't we it's not clear but we're lost were confused in our suffering we're lost and confused and our doubt Lord Jesus the amazing thing is that you are present you're present in our hearts you're present in our lives I'm not Jesus you were right there and you want to speak to us you want to love us I'd like to pray for those who are struggling with prayer now Jesus give them this grace to be able to pray lord I pray for those who are doubting give them Lord Jesus a hug hug them Lord Jesus and show them that you are close that you with them lord I pray for those who are struggling with exams those who are struggling with work those who are struggling with their health Lord Jesus you know you know their needs come Holy Spirit with your presence come with your presence come with your fire come with your love and Lord whisper into their hearts just how much you love them what I'd like to pray for those who are bringing their prayers to the comments just seeing here for those of University exams who praying someone praying for their auntie and someone who to find the full-time job and for those people who are sick in Florida a little girl with cancer Lord Jesus heal those people Lord provide for those people Lord you know every one of their needs lord I pray for success in the Lucy's final trimester as well and stable finances all these people who need you Lord Jesus what I pray for for all of these needs Lord I pray for teenage children that that need prayer to know you Lord and Jack is two sons as well Lord we just give them all to you all to you come Holy Spirit come and take over Lord come and heal Jesus Jesus come and refresh what I pray for families that they may be brought together I pray Lord Jesus for those struggling in relationships Thank You Holy Spirit thank you Lord that you here and you know all of these questions you know of these doubts I pray for and then find that pray for Dina who's praying for a visa and ticket to Sweden Lord Jesus you know provide provide thank you that you love your children so much I'd like to pray especially for moms and dads who are praying for their children I know I think my mom also is is listening in at the moment and I asked her also to pray with me my mom is is the reason that her prayer the reason why I'm here today and so just to ask her as well my mom to pray with you I pray for moms and dads who are praying for their children Holy Spirit just give them give them this grace to know you give them this grace to come to you give them this grace to have a relationship with you to listen to you and so we'll pray together as as a family together we'll pray our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil hail Mary full of grace Lord is with thee blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus Holy Mary Mother of God pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death amen and glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end amen and I'll pray for God's blessing on you may Almighty God bless you the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit amen once again thank you so much for joining us I'd remind you please tune in to our podcast FRG ministry come forward slash podcast Catholic influences also on youtube subscribe to the channel and get involved with providing rosary weekly rosary for you songs prayer just weekly live Mass so much as well and also if you're able to support this ministry we are totally dependent on the charity of others this is a non-for-profit charity that provides all of this and so we can continue to serve you so please consider that as well and once again thank you so much for tuning in I'm sorry that I didn't I wasn't able to answer all of your comments and questions I'm gonna be praying for you but please also pray for me and remember remember to listen to the voice of God god bless you and hopefully we'll have another webinar like this god bless

Channel: Fr Rob Galea

Views: 14,811

Keywords: Prayer, Discernment, Catholic, Catholic Teaching, Catholic Schools, High Schools, Catholic Resource, School Resource, Catholic School Resource, Jesus, Secondary School, Catholic Speaker

Id: 9JJ7HZ8HgDs

Length: 40min 0sec (2400 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 18 2020