What does Tribe teach about listening prayer?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At Tribe, the teaching on listening prayer starts with a single Hebrew word. Joy Abad brought the message on both occasions, and she built everything on the word shema, the root of the Deuteronomy 6 command to love God with all your heart. Shema does not separate listening from obeying. They are two sides of the same coin, and the listening comes first. For people wired to act, this is the uncomfortable part. Joy was honest that her instinct when she hears the word obedience is to find more things to do, but she pointed out that busyness and obedience are not the same thing. As she put it, "God, I'm doing all these things. And he's like, yeah. But who told you to do those things?"
The 1 Kings 19 picture of Elijah and the gentle whisper gave the practical frame. A whisper requires quiet, closeness, and full attention. Joy drew three words out of the passage: go out, stand, be on the mountain. That means making time outside your normal rhythms, being still, and finding real solitude where outside inputs are off. She was clear that this does not mean dramatic once-a-year retreats. Drawing on James Clear's thinking in Atomic Habits, she encouraged starting with a deliberately small amount of time each day, something so small it would be harder to skip than to do. The practice she described was simple: sit with a pen and paper, take a breath, and ask God a specific question about what He wants you to know, then write down what comes.
Joy was also honest about the resistance people bring to this. She named something a lot of people feel but rarely say out loud: "I haven't asked because I don't want to know what he has to say. That's a lot of good honesty right there." The teaching held that listening prayer is not a special gift or a dramatic experience. It is the first half of obedience, and without it, even sincere activity falls short of what God is actually asking for.
Taught from Deuteronomy 6:4-5 · 1 Kings 19:9-13 · Exodus 19:5-6 · James 1:22-24 · Matthew 7:26-27
“If you don't obey, you haven't listened. And if you're just doing, it is not the same as obedience.”
From Listen Before You Obey
The passage taught · 1 Kings 19:9-13
9 He came to a cave there, and camped there; and behold, Yahweh’s word came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
10 He said, “I have been very jealous for Yahweh, the God of Armies; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”
11 He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before Yahweh.” Behold, Yahweh passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before Yahweh; but Yahweh was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake; but Yahweh was not in the earthquake.
12 After the earthquake a fire passed; but Yahweh was not in the fire. After the fire, there was a still small voice.
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- February 5, 2024 Listen Before You Obey Joy Abad teaches Tribe church that true biblical obedience begins with listening, exploring the Hebrew word "shema" and how to quiet yourself to hear God's voice.
- February 4, 2024 The Simplicity of Listening A teaching on the Hebrew word "shema," showing why real obedience to God begins with listening, and how to create the quiet needed to hear His voice.