Continuing with our series on listening to how we can hear God speak - we discovered on October 28th (see post) that our listening needs to be tuned by #1 Cultivating an Open Mind (Luke 8:5,12)
Jesus tells us in the parable of the sower in Luke 8:6,13 that the second type of soil (attitude) is one that is shallow. The ground in this type of soil of the heart is only about 4" deep and is on top of bed rock. The seeds do take root quickly, but when the sun shines on the tender plants (problems come), they die because there is no depth.
How can I hear God speak? #2 Allocate Time to Listen.
Be quiet! Schedule an appointment with God and give Him your undivided attention. We cannot hear God when we are in a hurry: "Quick, Lord, speak; I have a lot of things to do today!" We don't treat people we love and want to hear in that fashion! God gets only the left overs with this mindset.
Shallow soil has an emotional reaction to what is heard by a speaker, but the truth of the message never sinks into the heart. We are moved, but there is no life change. As verse 13 says, we "received the word with joy, but. . . . . . The problem is that we can be thrilled but not transformed!
To hear God speak it is important to set aside time to be quiet and listen carefully to the words of the Lover of you soul.
Listening ~ Bob
No comments:
Post a Comment
Welcome to the table, friend!
This is where we gather and hang out. I'd love for you to pull up a chair and jump right into the conversation. Or simply say 'hello.'
l'll be dropping in to visit you sometime soon ...
Linda