They ask in many different ways, but in conversations with working Christians two key questions often emerge. "How do I hear God?" and "How come God isn't answering me?"

They ask in many different ways, but in conversations with working Christians two key questions often emerge. "How do I hear God?" and "How come God isn't answering me?"

Sometimes the answers to those questions aren't easy to find. There are moments of pain and struggle that seem even darker because it feels like God isn't paying attention. Though Scripture promises He never leaves us, we often find ourselves feeling like He's gone. Those are hard days when pat answers serve only to make us more frustrated. Those are the days when Christian friends should sit and be with us, but keep their answers to themselves.

Usually, though, the answers aren't hard to find: We just don't want to hear them. God's direction in our lives often sits right in our line of sight, unseen because we've ignored common sense instructions on how to hear Him. Here's a list from Scripture of five top reasons we can't hear God:

** Selfishness. "You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures." (James 4:3)

** Unforgiving spirit. "But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering." (Matthew 5:22-24)

** Doubt. "But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." (James 1:6-8)

** Harbored sin. "If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear..." (Psalm 66:18)

And the number one reason we don't hear God?

**Failure to faithfully read the Bible. Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path. (Psalm 119:105); "So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:11)

Practicing an awareness of His presence means just that: practice.