Word for the Day - Listening to God Options

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LISTENING TO GOD


Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. (Psalm 143:8, NIV)


Listening to God is like listening to anyone -- before you can hear Him, you must be ready to listen. Just as in a conversation, you cannot hear the other person if you are talking or if your mind is distracted. So it is with God. If you want to hear Him speak, you must be quiet and you must be focused on what He is saying. Regular conversation with God can transform your life! Consider identifying a place and time to meet with God every day.

Prayer is how you begin a conversation with God. Think of it as saying "hello."

Listening to God requires a deliberate choice to shut out the chaos around you and focus your thoughts. Is God someone you can hear? The Bible says He is, and the Bible is one of the main tools through which He speaks.

We live in a world of noise. Almost everywhere we go, we find sounds competing with our minds, keeping us from letting our thoughts get below the surface level. Hearing God's voice means not listening to the noise of the world around us. It's not easy, but it can be done.

King David, author of most of the book of Psalms, gave us a model for meeting with God, "Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul" (Psalm 143:8).

He sought God's direction in the morning, at the beginning of the day. Like a general in God's army, he wanted to hear from his Commanding Officer before he entered into battle. Beginning each day fresh with God is a great reminder that, as the Scripture says, His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22, 23). You must find the time of day that works for you, but morning is the best time if that is possible.

Do you want to hear God speak to you? Listening to God requires regular Bible reading, since the Bible is the Word of God.

Listening to God requires a heart committed to understanding His message. God often speaks to us in visual images. Consider the example of the prophet Habakkuk, in Habakkuk chapter 2. The prophet longed to hear from God! He was so determined that he was willing to stand and wait as long as it took. "I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me..." (Habakkuk 2:1).

Habakkuk found that God was faithful. "Then the LORD replied, 'Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay" (Habakkuk 2:2).

Listening to God requires a right attitude in our hearts. In order to listen to God and receive His instruction, we must want to do His will, much as Habakkuk did. God honors the heart that is fully surrendered to Him. If we are stubbornly clinging to our own desires, we are likely to get a garbled message that will not be God's voice at all. As a result, we are likely to continue pursuing a path that is contrary to the one God has designed for our lives.

Psalm 40:8 says, "I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart."

Do you desire God's will for your life above every other desire? If you do, you can trust that He will direct your path. Listen to His message, and be quick to obey. Write down what He tells you and be ready to share it so that others may understand.LISTENING TO GOD


Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. (Psalm 143:8, NIV)


Listening to God is like listening to anyone -- before you can hear Him, you must be ready to listen. Just as in a conversation, you cannot hear the other person if you are talking or if your mind is distracted. So it is with God. If you want to hear Him speak, you must be quiet and you must be focused on what He is saying. Regular conversation with God can transform your life! Consider identifying a place and time to meet with God every day.

Prayer is how you begin a conversation with God. Think of it as saying "hello."

Listening to God requires a deliberate choice to shut out the chaos around you and focus your thoughts. Is God someone you can hear? The Bible says He is, and the Bible is one of the main tools through which He speaks.

We live in a world of noise. Almost everywhere we go, we find sounds competing with our minds, keeping us from letting our thoughts get below the surface level. Hearing God's voice means not listening to the noise of the world around us. It's not easy, but it can be done.

King David, author of most of the book of Psalms, gave us a model for meeting with God, "Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul" (Psalm 143:8).

He sought God's direction in the morning, at the beginning of the day. Like a general in God's army, he wanted to hear from his Commanding Officer before he entered into battle. Beginning each day fresh with God is a great reminder that, as the Scripture says, His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22, 23). You must find the time of day that works for you, but morning is the best time if that is possible.

Do you want to hear God speak to you? Listening to God requires regular Bible reading, since the Bible is the Word of God.

Listening to God requires a heart committed to understanding His message. God often speaks to us in visual images. Consider the example of the prophet Habakkuk, in Habakkuk chapter 2. The prophet longed to hear from God! He was so determined that he was willing to stand and wait as long as it took. "I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me..." (Habakkuk 2:1).

Habakkuk found that God was faithful. "Then the LORD replied, 'Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay" (Habakkuk 2:2).

Listening to God requires a right attitude in our hearts. In order to listen to God and receive His instruction, we must want to do His will, much as Habakkuk did. God honors the heart that is fully surrendered to Him. If we are stubbornly clinging to our own desires, we are likely to get a garbled message that will not be God's voice at all. As a result, we are likely to continue pursuing a path that is contrary to the one God has designed for our lives.

Psalm 40:8 says, "I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart."

Do you desire God's will for your life above every other desire? If you do, you can trust that He will direct your path. Listen to His message, and be quick to obey. Write down what He tells you and be ready to share it so that others may understand.

When you listen to God and obey Him, you will discover a life that is full and rich with purpose, confident you are following the Master's plan.

(www.allaboutGod.com)

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WHEN GOD SEEMS SILENT
(repeat of an old favorite from 5/07)


I wait for you, O LORD; you will answer, O Lord my God. (Psalm 38:15, NIV)

We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28, NIV)


Late one night, in his apartment outside Chicago, Richard, a young theology student, decided to stake all his faith on the outcome of a single prayer.

"God," he cried, "I've got to find some evidence that You really exist. If You'll say a word, or become visible, or in some other way let me know for sure of Your existence, I'll give You the rest of my life." Then he added a threat. "But if You don't," he declared, "I'm not going to believe in You anymore."

All through the night Richard waited for God to act. Surely the God who had spoken from Sinai, who had healed the sick and raised the dead, would answer such a small request.

But God remained silent.

Before dawn broke the sky, Richard took his Bible and all his Christian books -- even the one he himself had just written on the book of Job -- and burned them on a barbecue grill.

What do we do when the God of the universe seems silent, unfair, or hidden? From the dawn of history, people have struggled with the issue that Richard faced. We pray for guidance, but none seems to come. We plead for loved ones to be healed, but they die. We want our burdens lifted, but more are added instead. Gradually the disappointment becomes an ache in our heart. We have heard the stories of miraculous rescues and healing from disease. We try to summon the faith that can move mountains. But instead of a voice thundering from Sinai we hear silence. God doesn't even seem to
bother to say yes or no. So we wonder, "Why does God let me down?"

Author Philip Yancey examines the experience of Richard and others in a book entitled "Disappointment With God," (Zondervan, 1988). During an interview [with] Christian Lifestyle Magazine . . . he shared some of his insight.

"We tend to focus on the high points, the exciting times when God directly intervenes," says Yancey. "I've heard lots of sermons about the first chapter of Exodus, where God starts moving to free the children of Israel from slavery -- the burning bush, the ten plagues, the parting of the Red Sea.

"But just before those incidents there's a little verse that says, in effect, that for 400 years there was no word from the Lord. Four hundred years -- that's twice as long as the United States has been in existence!"

Christians sometimes give the mistaken message that God is equally apparent in people's lives at all times, Yancey says. He continues, "In church parking lots, I've seen bumper stickers that say 'If you feel far from God, guess who moved?' The implication is that God hasn't moved -- it must be you.

"Yet I see some passages in the Bible that refer to incidents in which God clearly moved. For example, in 2 Chronicles there's a story about King Hezekiah. It says very plainly that God left him to test him that He might see what was in his heart." About one third of the psalms, Yancey notes, deal with the "dark times" of life. "Psalm 23 is a wonderful expression of faith and has been a comfort to people over the years," he says. "But back up one page. Psalm 22 starts off, 'My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?' It's the psalm that Jesus quoted when He was on the cross."

The book of Job deals with hard questions about God more directly than any other biblical account. "Many Bible scholars will tell you that Job was probably the first Bible book written," says Yancey. "It's very significant to me that God started off with those toughest questions first. I've never read an argument or a doubt about God that doesn't appear in the book of Job. Job really laid it out before God."

Over the thousands of years since Job was written, people have continued to wrestle with the silence of God and how to make sense of it. Yancey cites the experience of C.S. Lewis, as recorded in A Grief Observed, after the death of his wife. "He writes there," says Yancey, "that during the happy times, when things were going well, it seemed that he was close to God. He would pray and feel a kind of intimacy." But after the death of his wife "it felt like God had slammed the door in his face and he heard the sound of locking on the inside."

As Yancey himself struggled to make sense of God in an unfair world, he tried to think of the person he knew who was most like Job. "I came up with Douglas," he says. "Douglas was a good man, like Job. He had a lucrative psychotherapy practice that he left to start an inner-city ministry with poor people.

"Shortly after it got going and bearing fruit, his life fell apart. His wife contracted cancer, which spread to her lungs. While they were struggling with that, they were involved in a tragic automobile accident. A drunk driver skipped over a median strip and plowed into their car, head-on. Douglas's 12-year-old daughter went through the windshield. Douglas hit his head on the steering wheel and suffered brain damage so that he could no longer even read a book."

Yancey talked with him over breakfast one morning: -- "Douglas," he asked, "of all the people I know, you're the person who has the best right to be disappointed with God. How do you handle it?"

"Well, Philip," he replied, "I learned a long time ago not to confuse God with life. Is life unfair? You bet. But is God unfair? That's a different question."

"We sat there together," Yancey continues, "and talked about such people in the Bible as Abraham, Daniel, Job, and Noah. All of them went through times much like Douglas did, when God seemed far away, when life seemed unfair. But each one of them developed a kind of faith that could survive those times. As someone once remarked, Job developed a faith that could not be shaken because it came out of being shaken."

"Before we left," Yancey says, "Douglas turned to me and said, 'If you're ever tempted to confuse God with life, I would encourage you to go back to the Gospels and read the story of Jesus. If anyone didn't deserve the pain that he got, it was Jesus. The cross of Jesus Christ demolished for me for all time that notion that life is supposed to be fair.'"

Difficult as the dark, lonely times may be, they may produce stronger faith than those times when God is clearly visible. In leading the children of Israel, Yancey noted, "God was certainly evident. They could look out their windows and see a pillar of fire or cloud. Every morning they ate breakfast that God provided for them.

"But it got old after a while. The miracles got old. They no longer thanked God for them. Instead, they started grumbling about not having the leeks and garlics of Egypt. They seemed to look for ways to defy God. . . God was so close that it stunted their growth."

In stark contrast to the petty grumbling of the Israelites stands the trust of Job, forged on the anvil of adversity. "The prelude to the book of Job is amazing," says Yancey. "You've got a scene where God and Satan are discussing the human experiment. Satan is saying, Job doesn't love You -- he loves his ranch, his happy family. You take those things away and he's not going to love You anymore.'

"We talk about the patience of Job," says Yancey, "but if you read that book, he's kind of an ornery guy. He expresses every disappointment, every doubt, and every bit of anger against God. But he doesn't give up. He doesn't turn his back on God. He hangs in there, and in the end, God wins.

"I think that's a pattern for every one of us," Yancey states. "Every time I'm in a place such as Job was in, I can either believe God or turn against Him.

"We read in the book of Job," Yancey continues, "about how Job and his friends spent days and days trying to figure out what was going on. They couldn't. Only after the experience was over could Job look back and say, 'Now it makes sense.'"

So how do we handle the dark times -- the times when God is so silent that we want to force Him to speak, when we want to throw our Bibles on the barbecue? Yancey finds the answer in the example of Job.

"The key is that Job believed God even during the period when it didn't make sense," he explains. "I think of Romans 8:28. It doesn't say that we'll get only good things. But God can even use hard times to work together for the good of those who love Him.

"To me," Yancey says, "faith is a projection into the future. I may not be able to figure out what's going on right now. It may be hard for me to trust God. He may seem far away. But I'm going to go ahead and stake my faith on Him. I'm going to trust Him and believe that one day it will all make sense.

"I once heard someone define the difference between magic and religion," Yancey concludes. "In magic, we try to get the gods to do our will, as though they were our little pets. In religion, we commit ourselves to doing God's will."

And as we do His will, we let God be God -- even when He seems to be silent.

Marilyn Thomsen
(Ms. Thomsen is director of
public relations at
Christian Lifestyle Magazine)

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TALKING TO GOD


The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers. (1 Peter 3:12, NKJ)


As a teacher with many years of experience in high school and college classrooms, I have observed many kinds of students. One in particular is what I call the "just me and the teacher" student. This pupil has a kind of one-on-one conversation with the teacher -- almost as if no one else were in the class. The teacher's rhetorical questions, for instance, result in verbal answers from this student -- oblivious to anyone else's reaction. While the class is filled with other pupils, this one seems to think it's "just me and the teacher."

As I watched one of these students recently and saw him command the teacher's attention, I thought: he's on to something; he has the focus we all need to have when we pray.

The thought that millions of other Christians are talking to God as we pray should never cause us to feel that we are less important. No, as we talk to our everywhere-present, all-knowing, all-powerful God, we can be confident that He is giving us His full attention. David said, "This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him" (Psalm 34:6). God directs single-minded attention toward our praise, our requests, and our concerns.

When you pray, to Him you are the only one.

Dave Branon

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TALKING BACK TO GOD


How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted. . . Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? . . . I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. (Habakkuk 1:2-4, 13; 2:1, NIV)


The prophet Habakkuk stands at his watchpost and rampart waiting with bated breath for a response to his "complaint" (Habakkuk 2:1).

Talking back to God is not unique to Habakkuk. Abraham, Moses, Jeremiah and Job all did not hesitate to complain to God. Indeed, the line between petition and complaint is a find - if not blurred - one, for both kinds of prayer recognize that something is amiss that only divine agency can resolve. God wants us to lift up our needs and concerns in prayer, even if they have to be cast as complaints. God revels in the freedom of communication, even, or perhaps especially, when it becomes brutally and passionately honest.

William P. Brown
(Obadiah through Malachi)

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TALKING ABOUT GOD


Talk about [God] when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. (Deuteronomy 6:7, NIV)


Last year I was teaching a Sunday School class on evangelism. . . In one of the sessions, I was explaining the idea of holy conversation, and the lights went on for one of the men in the class. "That's our problem," he said. "We just don't talk about the gospel. If we can't have this sort of conversation in church, where can we have it?" In the subsequent discussion, we realized that it wasn't a lack of interest or commitment to the gospel that impeded this kind of conversation. It just wasn't on our agenda - and we needed to get it back on the agenda.

My friend Barry Taylor tells the story of a pre-release screening he attended of the 1999 film "The Third Miracle" (starring Ed Harris and Anne Heche). Barry was the musical supervisor on the film as well as the composer of a number of the songs. (He is also a pastor.) The aim of the screening was to get feedback that would assist the producers in their postproduction work and subsequent marketing. So at the end of the screening they asked the audience about the film. But the audience didn't want to talk about the details of the film; they wanted to talk about God - the issue raised by the film. And they did so, vigorously, despite all the efforts of the producers to focus the conversation on their agenda. Here was a purely secular
audience pursuing its fascination with the spiritual.

So what is the point? Just this: in the forty years or so that I have been engaged in the ministry of evangelism, I have never encountered such openness to talking about the gospel. People want to talk about God. And we need to be part of that conversation.

But we must have something to contribute to the conversation. This is the rub. Committed Christians are not always seen as good conversation partners - especially when talking about God! Why? Because we have a history of coming across with pious platitudes or canned formulas. It's like all we want to do is to convince people that we have got it right about God and that they had better listen up and get with our agenda. This is not conversation. It's monologue. Worse than that, it's ideological monologue that has little room for the give and take of ordinary conversation. We are selling a product (Jesus), not ruminating on God. We have an agenda (that they get converted). So we don't always come across as genuine or fully honest in our conversation. Nor do we really listen to others. We are too busy getting our pre-planned points across.

Does this sound too harsh? Probably. Furthermore, it is a caricature of a caricature. But alas there is enough truth in this stereotype that we need to stop and consider how we understand the art of Christian witness. Are we trapped by a programmatic understanding of witness?

There is another side to the problem. So far, I have been talking about people from fervent Christian traditions where witness and evangelism are central concerns. What about those of us who come from more mainline traditions where talking about our faith is not the norm? We face a different problem. It's almost as if we are slightly embarrassed about our faith, as if this isn't something to be discussed in public. So mostly we just try to do good things. We get involved in the right causes, but we seldom articulate what we believe, lest it be taken as bad manners. It's no wonder that the
so-called mainline church continues its relentless decline year after year.

So what is this thing I am calling holy conversation? Perhaps we can get at a working definition by first looking at the nature of meaningful conversation.

First, in order for meaningful conversation to flourish, we need to be good conversation partners. Often Christians are not considered to be such since we seem to want to present a "plan of salvation" rather than talk things over. Meaningful conversation involves a give and take that engages both partners.

Second, meaningful conversation deals with issues of consequence. Meaningful conversation is not necessarily "heavy." It is often good fun even thought the issues may be "heavy" and real.

Meaningful conversation doesn't have to produce a winner and a loser. Meaningful conversation is open-ended. It stops and starts and often goes on for months at a time. Meaningful conversation may produce more questions than it does answers. And it's these questions that get us thinking. Even after we say goodbye to our friend, we keep pondering what we talked about.

Meaningful conversation deepens friendship; it doesn't drive people apart. Meaningful conversation draws others into the circle of our conversation: "Hey Joe, what do you think?" It brings us into larger arenas for conversation.

Meaningful conversation changes people. And the change extends to both conversation partners. One of the problems with how evangelistic conversation has gotten stereotyped is that only one person is expected to change: the other one. "As for me, well I'm the Christian. I know Jesus so I don't need to change." This is not true since each of us is on a spiritual pilgrimage in which growth and change is normal and expected. In fact, conversation produces conversion on the part of both conversation partners.

In the end, holy conversation is simply vigorous, ongoing, good-hearted conversation around the whole topic of God and how to bring God into our lives in a life-changing way. As such, it is a wonderful experience.

Richard Peace
(Holy Conversation: talking
about God in everyday life)

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TALKING THE TALK AND WALKING THE WALK


Be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. (1 Timothy 4:12, NKJ)


The preacher was speaking tongue-in-cheek when he complained, "My wife is absolutely unreasonable. She actually expects me to live everything I preach!" It's so much easier to tell someone what is right than to practice it personally.

When my son and I play golf together, I can tell him exactly how to play the hole and hit the shots. But my own ability to hit those shots is sadly limited. I suppose this is what is meant when we refer to athletes who "talk the talk, but don't walk the walk." Anyone can talk a good game, but actually performing well is far more difficult.

This is particularly true in the challenge of following Jesus Christ. It is not enough for us to talk about faith -- we must live out our faith. Perhaps that is why Paul, after giving instructions to his young protégé Timothy about how to preach, included this reminder: "Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. . . Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them" (1 Timothy 4:12,15).

As Christ's followers, we do not have the luxury of just talking a good game -- we must live lives of exemplary faith in Jesus Christ. We must walk the walk.

Bill Crowder

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LISTENING TO OUR FRIENDS


If only you would be altogether silent! For you, that would be wisdom. (Job 13:5, NIV)


It is about 9:00 in the evening. My wife Ginny and I are sitting in our living room. I am reading a book. Suddenly she says, "Honey, I want to talk with you for a few minutes." She begins to talk - then she abruptly asks, "Are you listening?"

I am tempted to reply, "Of course I am. I'm only two feet away from you." But actually my mind is still on what I am reading. I need to close the book and give my full attention to what Ginny is saying. She deserves that from me.

Job too was frustrated because his friends were not paying attention to what he was saying to them. He sensed that while he was talking they were planning their next response. They were bent on trying to convince him that his suffering was punishment for sin in his life. They were not listening to the deep cry of Job's heart.

Many of us are poor listeners too. Teenagers can be frustrated because their parents always have a quick answer, when actually they just want someone to listen to their struggles and accept them. One teen said, "Sometimes I would just like to talk until I know what I want to say."

Deep relationships are built on acceptance, understanding, and being a good listener.

Herbert Vander Lugt

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LISTEN WITH YOUR HEART


Then [Jesus] told them many things in parables, saying: "A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop -- a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. (Matthew 13:3-8, NIV)


In the silence of our hearts, God speaks of His love.

Mother Teresa


How can you hear the Voice of God?

Are you trying to tune in a signal on something big? Should I get married? Change jobs? Have children? Go to school? Go on a mission?

Does God really communicate with us? Send messages? If yes, why don't always hear them? If you don't, does that mean they're not there? Well, is the air in this room filled with radio waves? Text messages? TV signals? Are you hearing them? No, but they are here, and if you had a receiver (cell phone, wireless laptop) tuned in, you could.

In the Bible, God is speaking constantly to folks all over its pages, from Adam and Eve to Peter. In my computer Bible program I searched for the phrase "And the word of the Lord came to" and I got an immediate 600 hits. The Bible is a record of God sending messages to people who tuned in and how those messages affected them.

So why don't we always hear God's voice clearly? Is something wrong with our receivers? Last week for three days I couldn't get on the internet. RoadRunner had to "boost" my receiver. Does your spiritual receiver need a booster?

The Bible word for your spiritual receiver is the Heart. It says Listen to God's messages and take them into your heart (Job 22:22).

This is the point of Jesus' parable of the Sower, only he uses farm imagery. The soil is the heart receiver. God is a Sower, the seeds are the messages that God broadcasts to the heart/receiver/soils. Jesus says we need to troubleshoot four kinds of heart/receiver/soils.

1. Hard Hearts -- Some seed fell on the road and birds ate it (Matthew 13:3), because the soil was hard. Bitterness over a hurt in life makes some people encase their hearts and refuse to listen. Or selfishness: If my church changes that, I won't listen anymore. Or stubbornness: Even if I know a habit is killing me, ruining my family, my health, closing off God, I refuse to listen. But then how can I hear any God messages?

2. Shallow Hearts -- Some seed fell on rocks, quickly sprouted but withered in the sun (Matthew 13:5). Faith that fires up quick can cool down fast. A need is met . . . it feels good, worship is exciting. But slowly the boulders of life make it tough to hang in. Sometimes trusting God with finances is an issue. We become shallow in generosity out of fear. I read last year that U. S. Christians gave $2.9 billion to aid missionaries overseas. Sounds great. But then we also spent $13 billion to buy chocolate. There's a chance in our time to end hunger; but people of faith must go deeper than supporting chocolate.

3. Cluttered Hearts -- Some seed fell among thorns, and when it came up was strangled (Matthew 13:7). It is hard to hear God's voice when there are a million other voices screaming. If life is too busy to hear God, offload something. If your heart is cluttered with thorns of pain and worry, find ways to get out of the weed patch for a while. Go on a retreat. Even for an hour. Choose someone to walk through the thistles with you. Weed your heart garden so they don't choke off the life-giving voice: "You are my beloved, you are so special to me, I am with you, and want you to find joy in serving me."

4. Good Hearts -- Some seed fell on good soil, grew up and produced an abundant harvest (Matthew 13:8). Good hearts hear good news and produce good fruit. So how does one come by such an open soil for God's life-giving messages? So you can hear the voice of God more clearly?

* Humble yourself as a child. I visited a brother in Milwaukee County Jail this week. He has lost so much -- lots of dignities; even had to wear the same orange suit for 3 weeks. As painful as it is, though, he is wide-open spiritually; 100% tuned-in to God's word, prayer, and Christ. There is not much he can do. But then a good receiver isn't doing; it is receiving. Humble yourself as a child. Pray the humble prayer of a broken King David: "Create in me a clean heart, O God; put a new and willing spirit within me." (Psalm 51:10).

* Express your faith with new clarity. Even with your doubts, cross over the line. Like the worried father who begged Jesus to help his child, pray: "Lord, I believe; help me with my doubts." (Mark 9:24) Cross a line into deeper faith -- maybe as you come to communion, or make a special offering, or make a decision, decide to be baptized, give a worry to God. See if it won't tune in His voice more clearly.

* Ask questions of God and expect answers in time. Once your heart is softened, ready to go deeper, less cluttered, ask "Lord, what would you have me do?" Whatever the issue, just ask. Then get quiet and listen, really listen. I dare you to try it this week. See if you don't begin to get strong impressions, compelling thoughts, new ideas flowing in. Don't filter them. Write them down. Listen. Jesus promises: "Ask, and you will receive." (Luke 11:9)

* Finally, risk taking action on what you hear. If there is one thing that blocks a heart from receiving more answers from God it is failing to act on the last answers. Has God been gently, persistently nudging you to take a step in your life, in your faith, your family, your work? You ask: "God what are you waiting for?" And God asks: "What are you waiting for on what I told you yesterday?" God says: "Don't fool yourself into thinking you are a listener by just hearing My word. Act on it!" (James 1:22)

* * * * *

God is saying something to you today, I just know it. Soften your hard heart. Deepen your shallow heart. Clear out your cluttered heart. Open up the good heart God has put in you. Let it tune in and receive the signal of His loving voice.

Let's take up our faith. Come, LET'S GO!

Amen.

Frank Janzow

[unapecora]

LISTENING TO HIS MASTER'S VOICE
(repeat of an old favorite from June '06)


If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD . . . (Exodus 15:26, NIV)


The label on all RCA records at one time included the picture of a dog listening to an old Victrola with the caption, "His Master's Voice."

Dr. Eugene Nida of the translation department of the American Bible Society has pointed out that the dog listening to the Victrola will hear an imperfect transmission of his master's voice because the needle scratches the surface of the record. However, no matter how scratchy the record sounds, the needle cannot obliterate the sound of the master's voice -- the message still comes through loud and clear.

Expanding on this concept a little more, we can see that the Bible is represented by the record and that the imperfections of human nature and the limitations of human knowledge are represented by the needle. . . But despite [our] limitations (which are the direct product of human freedom and its resultant sin), we can still hear our Master's voice with absolute clarity, just as the dog does on the record label.

Walter Martin
("Thy Word Is Truth,"
Christian Research Newsletter;
www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/cri/crninfo.html)

[unapecora]

JESUS LOVES THE DEAF


In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll. . . (Isaiah 29:18, NIV)


Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man. After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man's ears. Then he spit and touched the man's tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, "Ephphatha!" (which means, "Be opened!"). At this, the man's ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly. Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. People were overwhelmed with amazement. "He has done everything well," they said. "He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak." (Mark 7:31-37, NIV)


Jesus took the Deaf man away from the crowd to a quite place as Jesus wanted to give him undivided attention. Jesus ministered and talked to him in a special way. Jesus wanted to be alone with this deaf man. He put His finger into the ears of the deaf man, and He spat and touched the deaf man's tongue.

Why did Jesus do this? Because Jesus was using a simple sign language with the deaf man. By looking heavenward, Jesus showed the deaf man that the help comes from our Father God in heaven.

Jesus' compassion for all deaf people is seen through this. When deaf people pray to God, He understands what you are saying, even if hearing people do not always understand. Jesus said to the deaf man, "Ephphatha!" which means, "Be opened." Jesus opened the deaf man's ears and loosed the strings of his tongue. The deaf man received full speech from Jesus, and could talk with other people. BUT Jesus had given the deaf man more than this -- Jesus had given him a hearing heart!

And this is a lesson for all of us -- both deaf and hearing: A deaf heart is worse than closed ears. Many hearing people are deaf in their hearts and do not hear or accept the Word of God.

An ear of the heart of the deaf man was opened to hear the Word of God.

Is your heart deaf? Jesus wants to give you a hearing heart, an amazing answer found in Isaiah 29:18, "And in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book. . ." It is more important to have a hearing heart than hearing ears so we can accept God's Word into our hearts and grow into the saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paulo Pinto
(www.deaf.org.za)