How to Be Still and Hear the Spirit: 16 Ways to Let Go and Listen

Almost everyone who prays reaches a point where heaven seems quiet. We have asked, waited and read, and still nothing seems to answer. A teaching in the spirit of Joel S. Goldsmith, from the Infinite Way Message channel, "Why God Feels Silent… and How to Hear the Voice in Stillness", takes up that question. Its answer is simple and freeing: "God is not silent. God is not absent. God is not withholding a word from you."

The speaker says the trouble is not on God's side. It lies in how we listen: "It is simply that the mind of man has not yet learned how to listen to that which speaks without words." A companion teaching from the same channel, "The One Silent Practice That Awakens Christ Consciousness", adds further steps, which are woven in below. The steps set out, one by one, what the teaching asks us to let go of and how to become still and receptive.

The steps: letting go, being still and listening

1. Stop looking for a God who is far away

The first thing to let go of is the idea of a God out there who has to be reached, called on or talked into acting. The speaker calls this "perhaps the greatest illusion in religious thought". As long as God seems distant, we keep trying to close "a gap that does not exist." The presence is "closer to you than breathing, nearer than hands and feet."

This is the oneness Jesus described: "At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you" (John 14:20, NKJV), and his prayer "that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You" (John 17:21, NKJV).

2. See that the "silence" is the noise of your own mind

Once God is no longer far away, the speaker asks what really blocks our hearing. His answer: "God is not silent. Thought is loud." Worry, rehearsing problems, fear of lack and trying to control outer conditions are all noise. "It is not God who is silent. It is we who are loud."

3. Let go of begging prayers

Prayers like "God, help me. God, show me. God, fix this" carry "a hidden assumption, the belief that you lack something and that God must supply it." The speaker compares begging for intervention to "shouting across a stormy sea. The very effort, the very anxiety creates more waves." So the step is to release our "frantic prayers", stop "trying to make God speak", and "cease asking for signs and begin resting in trust."

4. Take no thought

The companion teaching calls the instruction to "take no thought" one of the most ignored in Scripture: "Jesus did not say take fewer thoughts. He did not say take better thoughts... He said simply take no thought." In the NKJV it reads: "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on" (Matthew 6:25, NKJV). The speaker explains that it "calls us to lay down the belief that we must manage life through mental effort" and is "the surrender of the personal sense of self. The sense of me that believes it must achieve, must fix, must heal, must protect, must provide." In short: "Christ consciousness begins where human thought ends."

5. Give up spiritual striving

Even trying hard to be spiritual can be noise: "the attempt to force an experience of God through willpower, effort or intensity." Stillness is not something we make happen: "This stillness is not something we create. It is something we allow. We do not achieve it through effort. We slip into it by relinquishing effort."

6. Let go of being the doer

Jesus showed the way, the speaker says, when he said "I can of mine own self do nothing" and "The father within me doeth the works." In the NKJV: "I can of Myself do nothing" (John 5:30, NKJV), and "the Father who dwells in Me does the works" (John 14:10, NKJV). Even our spiritual practice can become personal effort: "The moment you think you are accomplishing something spiritually, the personal self has re-entered through the back door." The correction: "Surrender the sense of personal effort. Let the presence do the practice in you." Kept up gently, "The presence begins to practice itself in you."

7. Pause, breathe and stop trying to solve it

"The harder you think, the farther the solution seems to drift." The teaching's practical advice is to stop for a moment: "when you pause, when you breathe, when you momentarily release the compulsion to solve, a subtle clarity begins to rise on its own." In stillness, "the personal sense of I must make something happen dissolves."

8. Become still in consciousness, not just in body

The stillness meant here is "not the stillness of sitting motionless, but the stillness of consciousness." The speaker links it to "the secret place of the most high", which Scripture describes this way: "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty" (Psalm 91:1, NKJV). The key point is this: "stillness is not the absence of thought, but the absence of resistance. It is the moment when we stop pushing, stop grasping, stop asking and begin allowing."

"Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10, NKJV).

9. Witness your thoughts and feelings instead of fighting them

When you sit down to be still, the mind may seem to get louder. "But do not be concerned. This is not a sign of failure." The companion teaching warns against "forcing silence or controlling the mind": "the mind cannot be silenced by effort. It is like trying to calm the wind by grasping the air." Instead: "Do not fight the mind. Do not resist its noise. Simply witness it." Thoughts then "pass through consciousness like birds crossing an open sky," and you discover "You are the awareness in which they appear." The same goes for feelings: "emotions are not obstacles. They are simply weather patterns passing through consciousness... Let emotions be as they are. Do not resist them. Do not indulge them."

10. Take the posture of receptivity: be willing to be reached

"Stillness quiets the mind. Receptivity opens the heart." Receptivity is "not a technique" but "a posture of consciousness." "Most prayers are attempts to reach God. But receptivity is the sacred willingness to be reached." The speaker puts it in Samuel's words: "Speak Lord, thy servant listens." He adds the Goldsmith counsel: "Do not pray for things. Pray for light."

11. Release your demands, expectations and personal will

Receptivity "feels like the loosening of the inner fist that is held tightly to fear, desire, and control." It means "the surrender of effort", not "the surrender of defeat." In practice: "We release every demand we have placed upon God. We release every expectation of how our prayer should be answered. We release every fear that urges us to force an outcome." It takes humility: to be "humble enough to allow spirit to reveal truth in its own way and its own time." "Receptivity is the letting go of personal will. Receptivity is the willingness to be taught by the spirit." That includes letting go of deadlines: "spirit does not work according to time." "Release all timelines. Let the presence work in its own way in its own rhythm."

The prophet said the same: "In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength" (Isaiah 30:15, NKJV).

12. Seek to know God, not to fix your life

A common mistake, the companion teaching says, is "trying to use truth to fix problems." "Truth cannot be used. God cannot be used. Spiritual principles are not techniques." The correction is clear: "Do not practice to change conditions. Practice to know the presence. Conditions will change as a byproduct of transformed consciousness." Gathering more teachings is not the goal either: "Seek realization, not knowledge. One moment of silence is worth more than a thousand teachings remembered by the mind."

13. In a crisis, take away fear's power and hold two truths

God feels most silent in illness, money trouble, a broken relationship or grief. The speaker says that what drowns out the Spirit then is "the intensity of your own fear". Fearing a condition raises it "to the status of a second power." We are not asked to pretend: "We do not condemn ourselves for trembling." Instead, we "hold two truths at once". We take sensible human steps, and inwardly we know our true being is whole. "You do not deny the condition. You deny its power to separate you from the presence." He adds: "The presence does not always change the circumstance immediately, but it always changes you." The companion teaching applies this to conflict too. Seeing others "as expressions of the same one presence that lives as you," we let go of reacting: "You stop reacting to appearances. You stop defending, attacking, correcting, judging."

14. Listen for peace, not for words

Many people think God is silent because they are listening for the wrong kind of voice. "God is not found in the earthquake, nor in the fire, nor in the mighty wind," the speaker recalls. That echoes Elijah's story, where "the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice" (1 Kings 19:12, NKJV). "God rarely speaks in sentences." Guidance may come as "a softening of fear," "a sense of clarity where confusion once stood," or "a deep breath that you did not consciously take." "God is not heard in words. God is heard in peace." So it does not help to chase spiritual experiences: "Do not seek experiences. Seek only to be present with the presence. Let revelation unfold without expectation."

15. Know guidance by its quality, and honour the gentle nudge

"Recognize guidance not by its volume but by its quality." Guidance from the Spirit "carries peace with it". The human mind "carries tension, urgency, or fear." "Human thought pushes. Spirit invites." Guidance can feel like quiet well-being about a path, "a gentle restraint", or an idea that arrives "fully formed". So the step is not to brush it aside: "Perhaps the peace you felt was the answer. Perhaps the small inner nudge was the direction." "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me" (John 10:27, NKJV).

16. Practise the presence all day, and be gentle when you forget

Listening is not just for meditation. It is "the continuous recognition that the kingdom of God is within you". As Jesus said, "the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21, NKJV). It means turning first to that kingdom within: "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you" (Matthew 6:33, NKJV). It comes "not through discipline, but through remembrance… Not through constant thinking about God, but through constant listening for God." Few words are needed: "too many words will draw you back into the mind and the mind is the curtain that hides the light. A simple inner awareness is enough." It goes into the everyday: "Preparing a meal, speaking with a loved one, engaging in work." When the noise comes back, there is no need for self-blame: "Do not judge yourself if fear returns. Do not despair if you momentarily forget the presence, for the presence does not forget you."

Putting it into practice: a simple daily rhythm

On waking: let the speaker's words settle quietly, without repeating them mechanically: "The presence goes before me. The presence walks with me. The presence fills my consciousness now."
A few quiet minutes: sit, breathe and let go of the urge to solve anything. Don't ask for things. Ask for light, and wait in the spirit of "Speak Lord, thy servant listens."
When something disturbs you: don't fight it or blame yourself. Pause for one breath and remember: "the kingdom is here. The presence is here. Let me be still and listen."
If thoughts or feelings crowd in: don't push them away. Witness them like clouds passing, and rest "in the one who is aware of the mind."
Through the day: notice the quiet nudges, the peace or the gentle hesitation, and test them by their quality. Peace means invitation. Pressure means personal thought.
At night: look back gently at where peace showed up during the day. Those moments may have been the answer.

Signs that stillness is taking root

The companion teaching describes quiet signs that this receptivity is growing: "a growing sense of inner stillness", "a softening of fear and anxiety", "a reduced interest in controlling outcomes", "a new way of seeing others", "a deeper sensitivity to inner guidance", "a dissolving of the sense of hurry", "a lessening of personal importance" and "a quiet joy that has no cause". As the speaker sums up: "Rest, yield, surrender. Take no thought for your life. Let the presence reveal itself."

Closing

The teaching ends by turning the opening question around: "God was never silent. It was only I who had not yet learned how to listen." Letting go means dropping the idea of a distant God, the begging, the striving and the fear. Then what is left is the stillness where the Spirit is heard. As the speaker says, "you walk no longer toward God. You walk with God, within God as the expression of God."

Sources

Why GOD FEELS SILENT… and How to Hear the VOICE IN STILLNESS | JOEL S. GOLDSMITH, Infinite Way Message (YouTube): https://youtu.be/-DO0NF5w5ys. The narrator presents the teaching of Joel S. Goldsmith. Quotes are taken from the video's transcript.
THE ONE SILENT PRACTICE THAT AWAKENS CHRIST CONSCIOUSNESS | JOEL S. GOLDSMITH, Infinite Way Message (YouTube): https://youtu.be/PbfmWNbeDdo. Narrated companion teaching on Joel S. Goldsmith's message. Quotes are taken from the video's transcript.
Scripture passages checked on BibleGateway.com (NKJV): Psalm 46:10; Psalm 91:1; 1 Kings 19:12; Isaiah 30:15; John 5:30; John 10:27; John 14:10; John 14:20; John 17:21; Matthew 6:25; Matthew 6:33; Luke 17:21.