Listening to the Lord is a learning process. We are to follow where He is leading us. We are challenged by the question of Jesus in Luke 6:46 asking why one calls Him Lord and not do what He says. We are to come to Him and put into practice what He teaches.
Keeping a journal of what He seems to be bringing to mind for consideration and action is helpful. A journal may consist of notes jotted on the year's calendar or phrases penned in a pocket notebook, or paragraphs filling a school notebook, a computer page or a diary.
Directions from the Lord may be fleeting thoughts that are easy to dismiss as one proceeds with routine daily activities. Setting aside a time to learn from God and record what He seems to be instructing can be an act of love for Him. Each person will be guided in an unique way for unique responsibilities because each of us has his own gifts, talents and call by God. (I Corinthians 7:7)
Thursday March 4, 2010
Excerpt from my journal:
Write from your heart.
Write what is most important.
Write praise and thanks to the Lord.
Write of heartaches and joys.
Write conversations with God.
But, most important, LISTEN to Him.
Be taught by the Lord.
Read from the Scriptures and write what seems most important for the day.
Ask the Lord what He wants you to know, do, say and pray.
Expect His truth to fill your heart.
Seek His perspective, instructions -- seek Him.
Try to follow His lead, His Way.
Ask for His help to be the person He wants you to be.
Accept His holy hand of care, anointing, forgiveness, love.
Accept Him into your daily life.
Live free from fear, anguish, useless toil because of His leading and your following.
He is the Shepherd. You are the sheep. Listen to His voice and walk as He leads, today, tomorrow, forever. Amen. Amen.
Jesus refers to those who believe in Him as His sheep. He is the good shepherd who knows His sheep and they know Him. His sheep listen to His voice and follow Him. John 10:10-15 and 27-30
February 2010
Excerpts from my journal:
Loving care of others,
prayer and praise and worship
are as a fragrance,
a sweet aroma to God and others.
(II Corinthians 2:14-16 and
Hebrews 13:15-16)
God knows our hearts and if we are sincere.
(Mark 7:6-8)
I Samuel 16:1-13 tells of the Lord sending Samuel to anoint David to be the next king when he was just a shepherd boy. The Lord does not look at things the way man does. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed David and from that day forward the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power. One of David's prayers can be our prayer. He requested that God create a pure heart and steadfast spirit within him and not ever take His Holy Spirit from him. (Psalm 51:10)
The opposite situation was explained in Acts 7:51-58. Stephen stirred the anger of the leaders by accusing them of being stiffed necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears. They knew the law, but refused to obey it. They refused to be led by the Holy Spirit. Their hearts were not truly consecrated to the Lord.
In another situation, Act 15:8-11, Peter explained that God knows the heart and showed that He accepted the Gentiles by giving the Holy Spirit to them. Their hearts were purified by their faith and the grace of Jesus Christ.
God looks for a heart that is responsive to Him, receives His direction and does not grieve the Holy Spirit by resistiing His guidance.
Paul's testimony, as recorded in Acts 26:9-24, explains that he had an obsession. He opposed those who believed in Jesus Christ. He put many in prison and approved of their deaths. But as he was on the way to Damascus, a light, brighter than the sun, blazed around him and he fell to the ground. Jesus told Paul (also called Saul) that He appeared to him to appoint him as a servant to tell others what he had seen and what Jesus would show him in the future. He was to forward what God would teach him causing eyes to open and lives to turn from the power of Satan to God so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and be sanctified by faith in Jesus.
Acts 9:1-25 tells that Saul was blinded by the light and had to be led into Damascus. The Lord instructed Ananias to go to Saul and place his hands on him to restore his sight and to pray that he be filled with the Holy Spirit. Paul was no longer blind and got up and was baptized. At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.
The Book of Acts gives many accounts of how God changed hearts and empowered new believers to tell others about Jesus being the Son of God sent for the salvation of all who believe in Him. What cannot be done by one's own effort can be achieved by the Holy Spirit working through one's life to the glory of God.
Excerpt from Journal February 6, 2010:
Who would sacrifice their sinless life for those who do not understand or care? Who would be willing to have their body nailed to a cross and raised into the air to be mocked by many? Who would take the punishment for others in this way?
Jesus Christ, Lord of heaven and earth suffered this ultimate humiliation for you and for me. Even though we were not yet born, His act of love and sacrifice was for all, down through the ages. What love! What a gift! What an act of compassion!
Receive His sacrifice for you. No one is worthy or able to earn this gift. Choose to accept His act of love. Choose to live at the foot of the cross: forgiven, loved, protected, honored in heaven because of who He is and what he has done, not anything we have done or could do or plan to do.
Righteousness comes to the sinner, you and me, by an act of faith in Jesus: believing He is who He says He is and the surrender of our will to His. Thy will be done. They kingdom come. Forgive and forget the hurts of the past and come under the cleansing blood that He shed for you and me.
Live a life of love in the light of His truth. Live a life of the forgiven for the purpose of loving and forgiving others. Live in truth and the light of His glory. Amen. Amen.
Matthew 27:26-50 and Mark 15:21-39 and Luke 23:32-46 and John 19:17-37
Romans 3:20-25 and Romans 10:1-13
Beverley Roehr