LISTENING TO GOD

The Upward Look, by Jon Forrest
Listening to God


A woman sees a father shopping with a fussy two-year-old in his grocery cart. “Be patient, Billy,” he whispers. “You can handle this, Billy. It’s okay, Billy.”

The woman said to him, “I don’t mean to interrupt your shopping, but I just had to tell you how wonderfully loving and patient you are with little Billy.”

The man replied, “Actually, my son’s name is Patrick. My name is Billy.”

Can you relate to Billy? Do you ever find yourself in such a difficult situation that you need to tell yourself to calm down and be patient? My wife has a sign in her office that says, “Of course I talk to myself. Sometimes I need expert advice.”

I’m not sure about how successful self-direction is in correcting our direction, but I do know that the Holy Spirit is available to whisper to us thoughts of love and joy and peace and patience every moment of our lives so long as we are willing to stop, ask, and listen.

A well-known pastor had made an important decision to step down from a prestigious role in his denomination’s leadership. When asked by a reporter what caused him to do this, he said, “The Lord told me it was time.”

The reporter was stunned, “Do you mean to tell me that God spoke to you in an audible voice?”
“Of course not!” answered the pastor, “It was much louder than that!”

When we are tuned into God through Bible reading, study and prayer, God has a powerful way of directing our paths. He knows what we need and what we need to do about it. He can direct our paths when we stay tuned into Him.

As we do LIFE IN THE SPIRIT, we find His voice clear and concise. It’s when we do life in the flesh that our hearing becomes dull and insensitive.

Last Sunday we looked at the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit in our lives when we are submitted to him. This Sunday, we will continue in the 5th chapter of Galatians and see how we can tell if we are doing LIFE IN THE SPIRIT through inspecting the fruit of our lives.

Join us Sunday at FCC when we continue our series LIFE IN THE SPIRIT
When God Moves in to Stay and share a message titled Fruit Inspection based on Galatians 5:19-26

Listening to His voice,
Jon

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