The Joy of Listening to God

In my own struggle to learn to pray and listen to the Lord, I've been encouraged by the writings of many others who have been on that journey as well. One such author is Joyce Huggett.
Here are three very practical points from her book The Joy of Listening to God:

Guarantee God a certain time each day [specifically for listening prayer]: five minutes in the morning, perhaps, and five minutes in the evening. Don't set your heights too high. You can always give God more time than you promised initially but if you earmark half an hour and manage only five minutes your listening will be drowned by guilt feelings.

The most unselfish prayer is the prayer you pray when you least feel like it. Then you pray out of love for God, not because it appears to benefit you.

The crucial time is when we are not formally praying at all. True prayer must be integrated into our life. There is something phoney about the person who 'lives' in church but has a very bitter tongue.