Monday, January 12, 2015
426 - Keep Listening
Spirituality Column #426
January 13, 2015
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life …” – Jesus, John 10:27
“Be still, and know that I am God.” – Psalm 46:10
Our great mistake in prayer often is our own big mouth; or even in silence, the propagation of our own personal agenda.
Has your prayer ever sounded like this? – “God, here’s what I need. Here’s what I want. Here’s what I’m thankful for. Here’s what I’m sorry for. Here’s what I think is great about You. Now, let’s review that stuff I want You to do regarding my needs and the stuff I think You should fix. Got it? Great. In your name I pray. Amen.”
That’s not a proper conversation with God. That’s not supplication to a Lord and Savior. That’s not getting out of our own way long enough to allow the holy grace of Jesus to calm us, transform us, lead us, and help us. That’s not anywhere close to the sheep/shepherd dynamic Jesus suggests. That’s not listening.
John chapter 10 lays out the importance of listening for the voice of the shepherd. There are plenty of “I’ll do whatever you ask”-type verses in the Bible – Mark 11:24, Luke 11:9, John 14:13, etc. – toward which we gravitate when we want God to scratch one of our fallen-world itches. Nothing wrong with that … Jesus invites it.
But what God wants – what the existence of the Father-Son-Holy Spirit Godhead tells us – is relationship. That’s the source of His glory. That’s the importance and primacy of love. That’s why “God is Love” occupies the entirety of 1 John. Love isn’t filling out a divine order form on a prayer pad; it’s building a relationship through the give and take of communication, action, trust, and faith. When God invites prayer, whether through the Psalms, through Jesus, the Holy Spirit or however it may come about, God is not saying, “How can I help?” He already knows that.
God is saying, “How can we be closer?”
Listening is the core not only of great prayer but of the joy and peace we experience in the presence of and relationship with Jesus Christ. The fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden broke our relationship with God, but it didn’t break God’s love. The proof of that is Christ on the Cross, enduring death to save us from death; covering our sin to restore humanity’s glory as God’s image.
How should we listen? With enthusiasm, quietness, love, and faith.
Be still, and hear the simple sincerity of the Shepherd’s voice. Start prayer there.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) prays for the discipline to just shut up once in a while … and listen.
January 13, 2015
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville
Keep Listening
By Bob Walters“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life …” – Jesus, John 10:27
“Be still, and know that I am God.” – Psalm 46:10
Our great mistake in prayer often is our own big mouth; or even in silence, the propagation of our own personal agenda.
Has your prayer ever sounded like this? – “God, here’s what I need. Here’s what I want. Here’s what I’m thankful for. Here’s what I’m sorry for. Here’s what I think is great about You. Now, let’s review that stuff I want You to do regarding my needs and the stuff I think You should fix. Got it? Great. In your name I pray. Amen.”
That’s not a proper conversation with God. That’s not supplication to a Lord and Savior. That’s not getting out of our own way long enough to allow the holy grace of Jesus to calm us, transform us, lead us, and help us. That’s not anywhere close to the sheep/shepherd dynamic Jesus suggests. That’s not listening.
John chapter 10 lays out the importance of listening for the voice of the shepherd. There are plenty of “I’ll do whatever you ask”-type verses in the Bible – Mark 11:24, Luke 11:9, John 14:13, etc. – toward which we gravitate when we want God to scratch one of our fallen-world itches. Nothing wrong with that … Jesus invites it.
But what God wants – what the existence of the Father-Son-Holy Spirit Godhead tells us – is relationship. That’s the source of His glory. That’s the importance and primacy of love. That’s why “God is Love” occupies the entirety of 1 John. Love isn’t filling out a divine order form on a prayer pad; it’s building a relationship through the give and take of communication, action, trust, and faith. When God invites prayer, whether through the Psalms, through Jesus, the Holy Spirit or however it may come about, God is not saying, “How can I help?” He already knows that.
God is saying, “How can we be closer?”
Listening is the core not only of great prayer but of the joy and peace we experience in the presence of and relationship with Jesus Christ. The fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden broke our relationship with God, but it didn’t break God’s love. The proof of that is Christ on the Cross, enduring death to save us from death; covering our sin to restore humanity’s glory as God’s image.
How should we listen? With enthusiasm, quietness, love, and faith.
Be still, and hear the simple sincerity of the Shepherd’s voice. Start prayer there.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) prays for the discipline to just shut up once in a while … and listen.
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