When God says things to you, He wants you to say them back to Him. That way, He knows you are listening.

I get in trouble if I don’t listen. I get into even more trouble if I don’t do what Mom says. Mom only says, “What did I just say?” if I’m not doing what she told me to do. When I do what she says, she says, “Thanks for listening.”

Listening is harder for me than hearing because listening means I have to do what I hear.

Sometimes I don’t want to do it, but I do because it’s better than getting in trouble.

Another thing about listening is that you have to be careful who you listen to.

Adam and Eve shouldn’t have listened to that snake, only to God. When you hear a bad thing, don’t listen! If you listen, you might do what you heard. Then you will get into trouble for two things: for doing a bad thing AND for listening!

You can get in trouble FOR listening and for NOT listening.

You shouldn’t listen to anyone who says something different than what God says. Listening is a big thing. There is a lot to know about it.
One thing that is harder than doing something you don’t want to do is knowing when you should listen to your own ideas instead of someone else’s. Sometimes I listen to myself and it works out great; other times, it turns out bad.
One day in the summer, I got out of the tub myself and slipped on the slippery floor and cut my toe on the heater vent. It was a bad cut that hurt a lot. It bled and bled. I should’ve listened to Mom when she said “Wait”, but I was ready to get out! That was one of the bad times.
One of the good times was when I wouldn’t get in the tub when Mom said to and I had a bad feeling about it. I told Mom how I felt and we checked the tub. We found pieces of glass in the tub that came out of our bath salt jar! We don’t know how it got in there, but listening to my heart kept us from getting cut up!

God shared His feelings with me.

You should always listen to your feelings when you are not being selfish about wanting things for yourself or if you feel scared about doing something that doesn’t usually scare you. You should not listen to your feelings if you just want your own way or don’t feel like doing what you are told.

When God lives in you, you feel His feelings!

When you listen to God, you get to feel God being happy inside you. (He shares His happy feelings with you, and you feel good!) When you don’t listen, you know what happens!
To know who to listen to, and how to listen, listen with your heart because that’s where He is!