Although you may have cultivated a relationship with God and are praying, asking, and beseeching the Creator for help, support, and reprieve, it may be complicated to know when you have a reply. This has to do with the expectation you may have of how God communicates. This may have been influenced by Hollywood movies, and if you are expecting to hear a thundering voice, you will be disappointed.
If prayer is talking to God, meditation is listening to God. Please take a look at my previous blog: How to Pray for an understanding about the mechanics of prayer. Once you have completed your prayer request, you have to let go and surrender the prayer into Source with all the mana, vital life force, and certainty that the Creator will respond. Often that response arrives in the most unexpected and miraculous ways. For you not to miss the reply, you have to be listening. It is meditative state in which you are empty of expectations and are simply paying attention to whatever subtle nuances, sensations, and changes may be occurring in and around you.
Although there are different types of meditation, the basic principle is that you have to become empty: empty of thoughts, ideas, and emotions. You have to let go of everything and surrender into Infinity so that the matching solution to your prayer will come back to you. How you achieve that emptiness varies: Some listen to guided visualizations, recite mantras or chants, stare at a dot or a candle, let go of your thoughts by trying to become mindful. What works for me is to use a breath control technique and recite a mantra. This leads me into the empty state.
God’s response is never loud, and for you to perceive it, you have to also become a witness. You have to observe without having any objections. With certainty you await God’s answer, but without prejudice. It is as if every cell in your body has ears and all you are doing is listening. Listen to any minute changes that may be taking place around you. It is often subtle, like a wave of knowingness that washes over you, an epiphany that makes you perceive your disempowerment in a different light, a vision, or a soft voice. Sometimes you simply feel great support, like you are being held, repaired, or healed.
On many occasions, the answer does not come during the meditation but sometime thereafter. It arrives through some synchronous experience, like having a conversation with someone and deducing the answer from the interaction, reading a magazine and finding that words or sentences stand out, or seeing the response on an ad on the side of a truck. It could be anything. The key here is that when you see it, it stands out, and you know that you got your answer.
I should also warn you that you should be careful about what you listen to. It takes experience to discern what comes from God and what comes from other sources. Many people of faith are not listening to God. They are hearing what they want to hear for they have an internal editor that is filtering what comes in. That editor is fear. They are not being a witness. They are not observing without objection. They have so many fears and preconceived notions that they are hearing dogma or inherited ideas. At times, they also hear their negative ego, wants, and desires. If the message is flattering you and telling you that you do not need to do any more self-development work, for God and the angels are going to take care of it for you, the message is not from God; it is coming from another source.
Remember when God speaks, it is a subtle voice and presence. There is always rightness and deep healing with the message. As always, use your discernment to determine the true provenance of the message. Watch out for flattery or promises that seem too good to be true. God is 96% of everything that is contained in this universe. In fact, it exists in the spaces between the protons and electrons of the atoms of your body. Disconnection and separation from that force is an illusion. Pray and listen to the truth: God has never left you.