Learning to Listen

One of the lessons I'm learning this summer is the lesson of listening.  All people have problems, they really do.  So many people just need someone to be a listening ear for them, and I just happen to be that "ear" at times.  It can be hard for me at times it's like, "I just want to talk!  I need someone to listen to me!"  But I've learned listening is such an important, essential aspect of ministry!  I now look at it as a privilege - a privilege to be that person who others are not afraid to open up to.  It's amazing that people trust me, see me as a safe person, or whatever it is!  As I think of listening I remember, God listens to me - He listens to people period!  He listens a lot!  He listens to many prayers we have, and He listens to us praise Him - even when the music isn't perfect or beautiful or heavenly!  He is my example!

Beyond learning to listen to people, I'm learning to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit.  Being a girl with lots of emotion, I'll admit, I've struggled with this.  I've wondered, "How do I know if this is just me thinking or if it is really an impression of the Holy Spirit?"  I don't have it all figured out yet, but it seems at the times when I question, or fight back, that it is usually the Holy Spirit!  The natural heart is selfish and stubborn!  And beyond that, my natural heart is doubtful!  I want to be told every detail, and I want to understand things, not follow a simple impression that doesn't make sense.  Learning not to doubt, not to try to figure everything out, not to wonder if I'm able, but just to say "Yes", to that impression of the Holy Spirit, is an important lesson God is patiently growing me in.

Sunday I had the opportunity to learn to listen and obey the Holy Spirit. Saturday the pastor's daughter and I had passed out flyers inviting people to the meetings in an area not from the church.  We hadn't finished the neighborhood, so I decided to go back Sunday.  As I drove there I was strongly impressed I should also invite people on a neighboring street.  I decided to work the other neighborhood first though.  After finishing it, the impression again came that I needed to do that one road.  "But do I have to do it now?  I'm hungry and getting tired, I can always come back to it later."  But then the Holy Spirit spoke back through my thoughts, "There may be a person there NOW who needs to be invited."  And with that I couldn't say no, and leave the street for later. 

In just a few houses down the street I came to a house with a big sign that said "Beware of Dog".  Now, honestly, I'm not afraid of dogs.  But with a big fence and gate up, I wouldn't break through to get to the house.  The gentleman who lived there just happened to be outside of his house, and when He saw me, he walked to the gate and we started talking.  After inviting him to the meeting and drawing his attention to the fact that we all have problems, and emphasizing how the meetings show that we all have hope in Jesus, He opened up and started sharing with me some of the things he had gone through.  He had been a foster child, abused, unloved, went through many different homes.  He had been shot at and yet the bullets never hit him, he had almost died at another time as well.  He recognized that there must have been a reason his life had been spared, and He saw God as that reason.  "I'm not the most religious person, churches are so hypocritical", he told me.  I mostly just listened, but as we spoke, some of his Bible questions came up, so I couldn't help but ask "Could I get your contact info and we could get together and go over some Bible studies that answer your questions?"  He said he would like that.  When I left he told me to keep in touch and to call him.  He also asked what church I was with and when I said Seventh-day Adventist and told him it was the one near him, he said "I helped put a beams in that church!  I have a relative who is a Seventh-day Adventist."  I couldn't help but tell the man that God had sent me to his house today, and that this was no coincidence!  I left very thankful that I had listened, and realized that only God could get the glory for that Divine appointment!

What if I had said no to the Holy Spirit?  I wonder how many times I have missed an opportunity because my thoughts were focused on self or going in some other wrong direction, instead of being in tune with the Holy Spirit!  Pray for me, this is spiritual warfare!  And I appeal to you, bring every thought into captivity, and obedience to God (see 2 Cor. 10:5).  God is willing to use us ALL as we learn to just listen to the promptings of His Spirit!

Prayer

This morning I realized I needed to take more time to pray.  There were a lot of little things that had been bothering me that I just needed to work through with the Lord.  I knew they weren't big issues, and yet, I had never took time to pray through each one and put them into perspective.  Yes, I had been praying, but not enough.  I needed over an hour to really pray through everything that was on my mind.

As I brought every little thing before the Lord, wrote in my prayer journal, and thought of Bible verses that applied to things I was dealing with, peace came.  God was answering my prayer by helping me put the little things in perspective, and really focus on what was the big issue - I hadn't been focusing on Jesus enough, I had been focusing on self!

As I concluded my time in prayer, I had to bring up one more little thing.  I admit, I'm not the most organized person.  It bothers me greatly when I get unorganized, I strive for perfect organization, and yet, it's not something that comes naturally for me.  I had lost a little pink pad of sticky notes.  On the pad of paper I had written a name of someone I needed to call to invite to the evangelistic meetings coming up.  As I prayed that God would help me find the sticky note, I thought to myself, "This will take more than just praying!  How naïve to think I can just pray about something.  I need to stop praying and search everywhere for the paper I've lost!"  No sooner had this thought slipped through my mind, my eyes glanced away from my prayer journal, an my hand picked up the little pad of paper I had been missing!  The paper had been right in front of me on my desk the whole time I had been praying, I just hadn't thought seen it until I prayed for it!  The moment I prayed I would find it, God showed me it was right there in front of me!

Yes, God asks us to work, God asks us to be diligent, and yet, how often is the answer to our prayer so much easier than we think it is!  Our problems are nothing to God!  In my prayer time, I was also praying for some "big" things too, some things I probably won't get answers to for years, and yet, those things are easy for God to answer too!  Just like God knew where my pad of paper was, He also has a plan for my future!  He is already working out an answer to all my prayers!  God knows the end from the beginning, and at the moment we pray, He is already answering our prayers and working out all things in our future according to His purpose!  Praise His name!