We have discovered from Luke 8:4-15 that Jesus taught us how to hear God's voice. Our attitude or mindset makes a huge difference in listening to God. We learned: #1 from the soil that was hard packed - Cultivate an Open Mind; #2 from the ground that is shallow - Allocate Time to Listen.
The third attitude Jesus explains by describing soil that that allows the plant to grow, but the growth is stunted and choked to death by thorns and weeds. Here, we learn Step #3 from the ground that yielded weeds and briars - Eliminate Distractions. When our minds are too crowded with thoughts, worries, plans, goals, bills, etc the words that God speaks to us are crowded out. Ever experienced that when you went to pray and you could not concentrate because everything else came into your mind?
A pre-occupied mind produces a distracted, unproductive life. God does have plans for your life - don't allow all the other things to push them out. Jesus describes some of the distractions:
1. Worries - the pressures that pull us in different directions.
2. Riches - Busy, busy, busy making money.
3. Pleasures - God does give us our senses to enjoy life and to enjoy pleasure but recreation cannot be focal point of life.
4. Relationships - Fostering relationships that occupy all of our time, making it impossible to develop our relationship with Christ.
5. Responsibility - Always busy with projects and things that crowd out the time we could spend listening to God.
What are the weeds in your life that choke out God's voice? Weeds grow because of neglect. It does not take any effort to grow weeds - they grow overnight by themselves!
Time to weed the garden and make room for joy, peace, and purpose ~
Bob
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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