This past week at work was crazy! We had stormy weather which in turn makes for some stormy behaviors from kids and adults alike! I was exhausted by the time Friday came, and I am sure it showed in my words, thoughts, and behavior. On top of all of this, I have really been trying to start each day in prayer and reading a devotion/scripture. I did pretty good with that, but boy does Satan like to push his lies in on you when you are pushing out the bad and living for God.
We started our new Study Monday Night and I was encouraged by those who were able to be there, and for what I believe God will do in the lives of those who are attending.
Chapter One in our book: Discerning the Voice of God. starts with this scripture in Ecclesiastes.
5 Watch your step when you enter God’s house.
Enter to learn. That’s far better than mindlessly offering a sacrifice,
Doing more harm than good.
2 Don’t shoot off your mouth, or speak before you think.
Don’t be too quick to tell God what you think he wants to hear.
God’s in charge, not you—the less you speak, the better.
Ecclesiastes 5:1-2
WOW! Talk about really getting to the point! God's in charge not me! I could have just read that and stopped there! But my goal is to grow, and to deepen my relationship with God. I really want to hear from Him. And I know I can't do that if I am not spending time with Him, in His word, and with His people.
As I read through chapter 1, so many things stood out to me like:
If I wanted to hear, I had to listen!
Creating time, space, and opportunity to hear God is paramount for those of us who desire to sense His spirits conviction to receive his detailed guidance, and to discern His intimate leading.
If we want to be able to sense His direction, we must slow down, quite our hearts, and listen for the way His Spirit communicates.
When reading His word, it means approaching it with an open mind and heart that’s not already bogged down with my own opinions and ideas of what the text is saying.
In the regular rhythms of life, it means being willing to wait and watch, to sense where God is moving before I hurt to make a decision. It means not having all the answers I’d like to have but not becoming frazzled by that, staying quiet and patient as He gives me what I do need to know...
If we’re always impatient, we leave little space for Gods direction to resonate in our already crowded schedules.
One of the most common reason we don’t hear from God is perhaps the most obvious: We’re not listening!
I believe the most practical way we can begin to discipline ourselves in this area is our prayer lives.
We need to deliberately carve out time in our prayer life to be still and listen for Gods voice.
Deliberately listening for God’s voice seems to be a lost art these days . Let’s be honest, listening period is a lost art.
We think all of our bustle and busyness and the pursuit of Christian living somehow makes Him more likely to speak to us once He recognizes how hard were willing to work for him Oh how wrong we are with this kind of thinking!
The enemy win the victory every time we let our jam-packed schedule is invade the sanctuary for quiet time with God . And we allow it to happen, we set a precedent that the rest of our lives seem to end up following.
This is why I’ve been so deliberate the last two weeks, making sure that I am in his word and spending time with him before I do anything else each morning . I know however, that I definitely have a lot more work to do in this area . Some days I feel like I rushed through my time with Him so I can get onto the next thing.
Listening to God is a purposeful activity that we are supposed to start doing. It is the investment of time we was make in order to yield the spiritual dividends we so desperately need .
Carving out time in prayer to purposely listen for God’s voice-His voice and nothing else-retrains us so we can hear the spirits whisper and gain the ability to hear him clearly.
Stopping to listen to him enables us to become familar with what a sense of God’s presence feels like well in large in our understanding of his plans for us, seeing them emerge into the light.
Until we intentionally discipline ourselves to be still and listen, we’ll miss most of what He is saying.
So how do we do that?
For me I need to remove any distractions, this includes my phone, computer, and that never ending to do list. Fight the urge to get up and move, to redirect stray thoughts as soon as they pop in my head.
I am still working on this every time I sit to have quiet time with God. It has to be intentional.
How do you intentionally listen for God?
My Goal this next week is to slow down, speak less, listen more, and spend uninterrupted and intentional time with God, in His Word.
As I read through chapter 1, so many things stood out to me like:
If I wanted to hear, I had to listen!
Creating time, space, and opportunity to hear God is paramount for those of us who desire to sense His spirits conviction to receive his detailed guidance, and to discern His intimate leading.
If we want to be able to sense His direction, we must slow down, quite our hearts, and listen for the way His Spirit communicates.
When reading His word, it means approaching it with an open mind and heart that’s not already bogged down with my own opinions and ideas of what the text is saying.
In the regular rhythms of life, it means being willing to wait and watch, to sense where God is moving before I hurt to make a decision. It means not having all the answers I’d like to have but not becoming frazzled by that, staying quiet and patient as He gives me what I do need to know...
If we’re always impatient, we leave little space for Gods direction to resonate in our already crowded schedules.
Take into your heart all my words which I will speak to you and listen closely.
Ezekiel 3:10
One of the most common reason we don’t hear from God is perhaps the most obvious: We’re not listening!
I believe the most practical way we can begin to discipline ourselves in this area is our prayer lives.
We need to deliberately carve out time in our prayer life to be still and listen for Gods voice.
Deliberately listening for God’s voice seems to be a lost art these days . Let’s be honest, listening period is a lost art.
We think all of our bustle and busyness and the pursuit of Christian living somehow makes Him more likely to speak to us once He recognizes how hard were willing to work for him Oh how wrong we are with this kind of thinking!
The enemy win the victory every time we let our jam-packed schedule is invade the sanctuary for quiet time with God . And we allow it to happen, we set a precedent that the rest of our lives seem to end up following.
This is why I’ve been so deliberate the last two weeks, making sure that I am in his word and spending time with him before I do anything else each morning . I know however, that I definitely have a lot more work to do in this area . Some days I feel like I rushed through my time with Him so I can get onto the next thing.
Listening to God is a purposeful activity that we are supposed to start doing. It is the investment of time we was make in order to yield the spiritual dividends we so desperately need .
Carving out time in prayer to purposely listen for God’s voice-His voice and nothing else-retrains us so we can hear the spirits whisper and gain the ability to hear him clearly.
Stopping to listen to him enables us to become familar with what a sense of God’s presence feels like well in large in our understanding of his plans for us, seeing them emerge into the light.
Until we intentionally discipline ourselves to be still and listen, we’ll miss most of what He is saying.
So how do we do that?
For me I need to remove any distractions, this includes my phone, computer, and that never ending to do list. Fight the urge to get up and move, to redirect stray thoughts as soon as they pop in my head.
I am still working on this every time I sit to have quiet time with God. It has to be intentional.
How do you intentionally listen for God?
My Goal this next week is to slow down, speak less, listen more, and spend uninterrupted and intentional time with God, in His Word.
Have a Blessed Day!
Christina
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