THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - October 19, 2014 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus (Ephesians 4:21). This verse is not asking if the believers have heard the sermons being preached in their churches or if they have been taught by a good Bible teacher. It asks if they have heard Him? and been taught by Him - and this means the Lord Jesus Christ! This is God speaking out, even to people who attend church and participate in religious activities CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? A great question for Christian to ask each other is What has the Lord been telling you lately? Without being hyperspiritual, it is a definite feature of the Christian life that God communicates with the people He loves in various ways and it is His desire that we will hear Him! Hearing from God and learning from God should be a constant part of our lives if we have a working relationship with God. Jesus tells us that this is possible when, referring to Himself as the good shepherd, He says: the sheep hear his voice (John 10:3, 14). In Revelation 2:7 Jesus speaks to the Apostle John in heaven and says: He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. And In teaching the parable of the seeds, He repeats this expression: He that hath ears to hear, let him hear (Luke 4:8). The issue here is not how God speaks to man, but whether or not we have ears to hear - spiritual ears - and are we listening? Are we getting the message? Is God able to speak to you when He needs to? Sometimes when God calls to us all He gets is a busy signal! The French mystic Francois Fenelon once remarked: How rare is is to find a soul quiet enough to hear God speak. And Jesus said a similar thing in Revelation 3:20: If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. It might amaze us to realize how many divine dinner invitations we may have turned down because our voice mails were too full of other thoughts and considerations to hear God calling to us. Always be available to let God speak to you. It is important in the midst of all our daily responsibilities, our service to God, our constant pursuit of entertainment, and even our prayers that we give God equal time and let Him speak to us. He may have something to say which will change our lives! And, guess what, He always does if we will just listen! EXTRA THOUGHTS: It is fascinating to imagine what it was like for the Jewish people in the Old Testament to hear God speaking audibly from the top of Mount Sinai (Deuteronomy 4:9-13, 32-26) what actually happened when hundreds of times the Bible says that the Lord spoke to Moses or one of the Old Testament prophets. We also know that God spoke audibly from heaven at the baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:17) and at the time of His transfiguration (Matthew 17:5). Jesus spoke to Paul in Acts 17:4. So we know that He can do that! But the thing which Paul is addressing is the receptivity of our hearts to Gods attempts to communicate with us. Have you cultivated a relationship with God such that He can speak to you whether through a Scripture or a through a friend or a set of circumstances or perhaps the still, small voice of His indwelling Spirit (I Kings 19:12)? It doesnt matter what means God uses to speak to us (He used a talking donkey to speak to Balaam in Numbers 22:28-30); the question is are we listening? David was a great man of God because the one greatest desire of his life (the centerpiece of his life) was fellowship with God and communication from God. In Psalm 27 he says: One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple (Psalm 27:4). Then he adds: When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek (Psalm 27:8). This, to me, is one of the tenderest verses in the Bible. It is God saying to David David, can we talk? Can we spend some time together? I have some things that Id like to say to you! And David responds with a big Yes!
Posted on: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 10:34:41 +0000
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