I have not written much in recent days. I do not feel I was supposed to. God did not give me anything to say and therefore I have spent my last few weeks praying, reading, and listening.
There is a lot to listen to. With the upcoming 2016 Presidential election some candidate is always on the news with a catchy soundbite. Scientist and economist have plenty to say as well. A-list celebrities are rarely at a loss for words as well as world class athletes. There are millions of voices screaming to get our attention, to join their side, to view things from their perspective, to get us to spend our money on certain products, and even religious leaders trying to inspire or inform us.
Those are not the voices I have spent my last several weeks tuning in to. It is God's voice I am after. We should want to tune our ears to Heaven shutting out the maddening noise of a society out of control. This requires more than speed reading the Bible. This necessitates more than a quick dash through prayer.
In these days I often am prostrate on the floor crying out for God to speak. I read His word with a new found craving for His message for me and not just for another sermon. As of late my single greatest desire in prayer is to hear God speak. I want Him to speak to my life. I want Him to speak to me about my family. I crave for fresh words for Faith Community Church. In this troubling age I yearn for God to speak words of direction for ministry.
I do not want to live the remainder of my life as an echo of other's voices and opinions. I want to hear from God above all. I admit this is often frustrating. I can think of a dozen things off the top of my head I need God's counsel on and the truth is there are no specific answers to these things in a Bible passage. For example, should I continue to pursue my education at the next level, should we hold revival meetings this fall, where does God want Tanner to go to college next year, whom has God appointed as our next worship pastor, etc. There are no clear cut answers to these questions in the Bible but God does have answers. So I tune my ears to Heaven and wait for God to show me what to do next.
I do not always trust my decision making. I have made many costly mistakes over the years. I do not trust reason for reason does not always lead to the will of God. I do not trust my impulses for I am prone to jump way too early and often leading to many hardships instead of waiting on God.
Tuning your ears to Heaven does not come easily. With all the voices vying for our attention it takes disciplined effort to hear the Lord speaking. I still say the Bible is the primary place God speaks but I will not go so far as to say it is the only place God speaks.
I am more convinced in this season of life that God has much more to say to His people than we are willing to listen. It is true that what God has to say to us is much more important than anything we have to say to Him. Most of us agree with that statement and yet seldom take the time in our devotions and prayer lives to listen. If we would tune our ears to Heaven I am confident God would lead us into many more ministry opportunities with people.
Let me give you a couple of examples. A man in our church was walking the other morning at the track. There were several people on the track that morning but one lady cried as she walked. The man from our church and another Christian man felt the nudge of the Holy Spirit to pray for and with that woman right on the track. Another man in our church told me the story about being in a meeting with several people. He noticed one man visibly upset. He took him aside and found out the man was going through a divorce. The two of them left the meeting and spent the day talking. A friendship developed lasting for several years. That meeting turned into ministry could turn into a lucrative business deal down the road. The man in our church was only responding to an internal leading of the Lord to minister to this other hurting and broken man.
If we tune our ears to Heaven how many times might God use us on a given day to minister hope and the love of Jesus to people? How many clear decisions would God give us peace about making.
I love to write but I do not want to write another sentence if He is not the One prompting me to do so. I do not want go through life making good decisions that might not be God decisions. I want to hear God about our nation, about my community and about Faith Community Church. I want to hear God about the things on His heart and mind. Like the boy who would one day be a prophet prayed in [I Samuel 3:10, "Speak Lord for your servant is listening." May we all listen as we tune our ears to Heaven.
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