When I run or bicycle, I pray while I exercise. It becomes a time for me to subjugate my body to things that matter and become master while I speak with my Master. Consequently, I have been seeking correction and direction from Him for years, and sometimes I even say those words in my prayers. Every now and then, God tells me that He won't tell me what He desires to say because I don't intend to act on it anyway. Sometimes He withholds revelation because we don't intend to do anything about it.
People used to come to me asking for advice. I knew that most of them were hoping I would validate what they had already determined to do, so I gave them an option. I could tell them what I really thought, or I could spin in a circle on my swivel chair. From the number of times I spun around on the chair, you can tell that many of them were not intending to act on my advice, so I didn't waste my time. They already knew how I felt, and they went and did what they wanted anyway.
I really think God does the same thing. Unless our physical or spiritual well-being is in dire jeopardy depending on the choice we make, I don't think God pushes things on us. He knows when we really intend to act, but we don't. He sends forth sentiments freely and without reserve, so that we have every benefit. He doesn't tell any of us the future, because life is about faith more than it is about accomplishment. God expects us to act; it's less about the outcome than it is the action.
Some people wonder why God doesn't talk to them after they ignore Him for years. A few years after a woman I dated seriously for my part called me up out of the blue and asked me for a loan, I answered, "I'm fine, how are you?" I was disinclined to acquiesce to her request. I knew that the only acting in which she was interested was playing me for a fool, and she knew that I knew it too. If you have been acting according to your will as if you are God or as if you don't need God or as if you don't believe God cares about you, how can you possibly expect Him to do otherwise? He knows your heart. He knows you're doing it because you're desperate rather than because you are penitent.
Learn to be easily entreated by your Father God. The more we respond to promptings, the more we receive. Sometimes they are just listening tests. Sometimes they don't yield the fruit we hope. Sometimes we show up but the other person doesn't, and so it looks like it was vain. The trouble with treating people like agents is that there's not guarantee that they will make the highest choice. There is only opportunity. For those who intend to act, we continue to strive with them, and eventually some of them rise to the challenge and make something greater of their lives.
If you want to hear God's voice more strongly in your life, practice hearkening to His counsels. Ask for divine correction and direction and then follow the sometimes uncomfortable suggestions He makes to you. Many of the things are tough to swallow, but I have seen how following His advice has always been the right thing. I know what I think and why, and other interested albeit uninspired voices in your life may give you their perspective. Only God gives inspiration without an ulterior motive, since His purpose is your eternal life and exaltation. Seek His counsel, intend to act on it, act accordingly, and He will lead you to your land of promise like He did for Moses. He did it for me. I testify that He will do it for you too.
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