Listen

God spoke one simple word to me this morning when I prayed. Listen. How does a person listen to God? While He has the ability to speak in an audible voice, He has never chosen to speak to me that way. He has chosen to speak to me numerous times.

Nobody likes to be in one sided conversations where one person dominates all the talking. Neither does God. I promise you what He has to say is always more important than anything we have to say. Look at our prayers. Who does most of the talking? We rarely take time to listen. To read His word looking for Him to speak to us.

So I sat back putting my prayer concerns aside and listened. It is hard to still the mind and the still the heart to be quiet before the Lord. There is great value in this. Just read Ps 46:10. We are told to be still, or to put it another way, to cease striving. It is in those moments we come to know the Lord and hear from Him.

I sat before Him for several minutes when a scripture popped in my mind. A very familiar scripture. I felt impressed that I should read it and read it slowly and examine it closely. I knew the scripture by heart. God has used that passage in my life many times before. I read it. I reread it. I read it a third time to see if there might be something I missed. I squeezed that verse like a sponge to get every drop of truth out of it. I didn't see anything new.

David developed this habit of listening. In I Samuel 30 his wives were captured along with the rest of the men who served him. He inquired of the LORD what he should do and Jehovah answered him. David did this same thing many times. He inquired of God and God answered Him. Is it really that simple?

I forgot a lady's name this morning and asked God to remind me. A couple of hours later it came to me out of the blue. Coincidence?

I asked God what to preach this Sunday night and not long afterward a text settled in my mind along with a peace that was God's intended message for Sunday night. Am I making these things up?

We have trained ourselves not to listen. In all your study and the messages you have heard how much emphasis has there been on listening to God? How to practically listen? Do you practice the discipline of listening to God in your private times?

When I listen for God to speak I do a few things. I seclude myself. I want to be totally alone with just Him. I remove all distractions. No music, no video and no television. I keep my Bible close and my journal. Then I get still before God. Sometimes this doesn't happen quickly. My mind wants to race away with thoughts about the day and planning for the future. It is like pulling the reins back on a team of horses. I pull the reins back on my mind and heart.  When I do this long enough, God speaks. He primarily speaks through His word. That is why cultivating the habit of reading God's word daily is so important. When He speaks, I record those things in my journal.

I started asking questions this morning. What did God want me to see? What was I missing? I went through the verse word by word and phrase by phrase. Here is the passage.

Acts 16:9-10 (ESV)
9  And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
10  And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

The only visions I could say I've had in recent days are all related to Spring Creek, as I have shared in previous posts. I am already at Spring Creek  serving, so they are not the ones asking for help. Nobody has called me for help from anywhere else. Then it hit me. I remembered all the visions I had about Kermit, TX and Winkler County. They started back in 2014. I thought about all the trips I made out there. The prayer meetings. The Bible studies. Eventually the tent revival, or I should say the lack of a revival. We set up that tent and met for those meetings two and a half years ago. Since then, I've not thought about Kermit and Winkler county much except to wonder what all that was about.

I prayed for Kermit and neighboring town of Wink this morning. I even texted a couple of the contacts I have from that area. It did not make sense. I believe God planted me at Spring Creek. I have never been anymore content anywhere I've served. God has given me tremendous vision for the church. I love the flock. I am blessed to serve there. This whole Macedonian call made no sense to me this morning.

I was praying again not long ago when one of those dreams and visions came to me. It is like God turning on the television on in your mind. Only these mental pictures are not meant for entertainment. They are meant to reveal His heart and mind.

I see two bottle caps on the ground. Next to them are two green glass bottles of olive oil with no caps on them. Beside the bottles is a map with the words "Winkler County" on it. Two hands pick up the two bottles and pour the oil on the map. Then, a match is lit and thrown onto the map starting a fire. In the fire, the words "Winkler County" stand out in bold blazing red letters. One of the hands reaches into the fire and pulls out a hot branding iron with the words "Winkler County" on it and presses it to my chest near my heart. The map burns up in the fire and turns to ashes. The wind blows the ashes into the air and when the black ashes settle they form the words, "Unfinished business."

I don't know what all this means. Perhaps I am to preach an evangelistic meeting in Wink. Perhaps Spring Creek is to start a church in Winkler County. I don't have any details. So I keep listening. I trust God to show up and reveal the meaning of all this. It has been a very interesting day with the Lord thus far. It all started with listening.