Are you a busy person? Does it seem like you’re always doing something? Perhaps, you’re even too busy to take much time to pray.
I was having a conversation the other day with a couple of girls (teenagers) and one made a comment that they pray when they’re in trouble and ask God for help. That’s cool. But, as I pointed out, why not talk to Him at other times as well, thanking Him for things He has done and asking Him for direction in life.
Then I remembered reading this passage from the Gospel of Luke…
38As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. Luke 10:38-39 (NIV)
While it is great to ask God for help and direction and thank Him for what He has done in your life…It is equally as important to LISTEN to what He is saying to us. Have you ever taken time before the Lord just to listen?
I was listening to the radio on the way to town the other day and Charles Swindoll was speaking on “waiting before the Lord.” The message was the same as simply being quiet and listening to what God was trying to say.
Young’s Literal translation translates verse thirty-nine as follows:
39and she had also a sister, called Mary, who also, having seated herself beside the feet of Jesus, was hearing the word, Luke 10:39 (YLT)
So “listening” to what God says to us in stillness is not the only way to hear what God is saying. He speaks to us through “the word.” The Greek word here is “logos” which we have come to know refers to Jesus as the expression of God’s thoughts (John 1:1-14). The written word, the Bible, is God’s written communication of His thoughts to us.
So, practice “listening” to God this coming week, in the quiet and stillness of your day (even if it’s only 5 minutes!), and by reading His Word and asking Him what He wants to say to you through that particular scripture you are reading for that day.
SEEK FIRST THE
