Equipped with the right tools, we can learn to listen to God. What are those tools? Here are the ones I have found helpful.
A regular time and place. Select a slot on your schedule and a corner of your world, and claim it for God. For some it may be best to do this in the morning. Others prefer the evening Others prefer many encounters during the day.
Some sit under a tree, others in the kitchen. Maybe your commute to work or your lunch break would be appropriate. Find a time and place that seems right for you.
How much time should you take? As much as you need. Value quality over length. Your time with God should last long enough for you to say what you want and for God to say what he wants. Which leads us to a second tool you need—an open Bible.
God speaks to us through his Word. The first step in reading the Bible is to ask God to help you understand it.
Before reading the Bible, pray. Don’t go to Scripture looking for your own idea; go searching for God’s. Read the Bible prayerfully. Also, read the Bible carefully.
Here is a practical point. Study the Bible a little at a time. God seems to send messages as he did his manna: one day’s portion at a time. Choose depth over quantity. Read until a verse “hits” you, then stop and meditate on it. Copy the verse onto a sheet of paper, or write it in your journal, and reflect on it several times.
Will I learn what God intends? If I listen, I will.
Understanding comes a little at a time over a lifetime.
There is a third tool for having a productive time with God. Not only do we need a regular time and an open Bible, we also need a listening heart. Don’t forget the admonition from James: “The man who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and makes a habit of so doing, is not the man who hears and forgets. He puts that law into practice and he wins true happiness” (James 1:25 PHILLIPS).
We know we are listening to God when what we read in the Bible is what others see in our lives.
Paul urged his readers to put into practice what they had learned from him. “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, do” (Phil. 4:9 RSV).
If you want to be just like Jesus, let God have you. Spend time listening for him until you receive your lesson for the day—then apply it.
From Just Like JesusCopyright (W Publishing Group, 1998, 2001) Max Lucado
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Amazing Situation
I am totally amazed a the power of water! As most of you know, there was some major flooding in the Trophy Club area this past week. There were two families in perticular that were heavily affected by the flooding and they lost almost everything.
We took a group of guys and gals over to their houses last night to try to help out in the clean up process. Here are some pics of the damage:
The water rose over 5 feet above a nearby bridge. Wow! I cannot believe what must have been going through their minds as the water was rushing closer and closer to their house. I cannot imagine what is going through their minds today as they continually have to deal with the clean up process, the paperwork that must be done with the state, and all the loss that they continually find.
My heart goes out to these families so much and i just hope that we were able to be God's hands and feet to touch their lives and make a difference. They are wonderful people and i pray that God's love is so abundant that they may not question Him at all.
Thanks to all the men and women that participated in this great time. You guys are awesome and just as Joel's said the other day, it is equally amazing that there are so many loving and caring people that are willing to help in times like this. I truly appreciate all of you and i saw God's hands doing some dirty but so rewarding work yesterday!
Stay Strong, PLD!
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Quiet Heroes... by Max Lucado
Quiet heroes dot the landscape of our society. They don’t wear ribbons or kiss trophies; they wear spit-up and kiss boo-boos. They don’t make the headlines, but they do sew the hemlines and check the outlines and stand on the sidelines. You won’t find their names on the Nobel Prize short list, but you will find their names on the homeroom, carpool, and Bible teacher lists.
They are parents, both by blood and deed, name and calendar. Heroes. News programs don’t call them. But that’s okay. Because their kids do … They call them Mom. They call them Dad. And these moms and dads, more valuable than all the executives and lawmakers west of the Mississippi, quietly hold the world together.
Be numbered among them. Read books to your kids. Play ball while you can and they want you to. Make it your aim to watch every game they play, read every story they write, hear every recital in which they perform.
Children spell love with four letters: T-I-M-E. Not just quality time, but hang time, downtime, anytime, all the time. Your children are not your hobby; they are your calling.
Your spouse is not your trophy but your treasure.
Don’t pay the price David paid. Look ahead to his final hours. To see the ultimate cost of a neglected family, look at the way our hero dies.
David is hours from the grave. A chill has set in that blankets can’t remove. Servants decide he needs a person to warm him, someone to hold him tight as he takes his final breaths.
Do they turn to one of his wives? No. Do they call on one of his children? No. They seek “for a lovely young woman throughout all the territory of Israel … and she cared for the king, and served him; but the king did not know her” (1 Kings 1:3–4).
I suspect that David would have traded all his conquered crowns for the tender arms of a wife. But it was too late. He died in the care of a stranger, because he made strangers out of his family.
But it’s not too late for you.
Make your wife the object of your highest devotion. Make your husband the recipient of your deepest passion. Love the one who wears your ring.
And cherish the children who share your name.
Succeed at home first.
From Facing Your Giants
They are parents, both by blood and deed, name and calendar. Heroes. News programs don’t call them. But that’s okay. Because their kids do … They call them Mom. They call them Dad. And these moms and dads, more valuable than all the executives and lawmakers west of the Mississippi, quietly hold the world together.
Be numbered among them. Read books to your kids. Play ball while you can and they want you to. Make it your aim to watch every game they play, read every story they write, hear every recital in which they perform.
Children spell love with four letters: T-I-M-E. Not just quality time, but hang time, downtime, anytime, all the time. Your children are not your hobby; they are your calling.
Your spouse is not your trophy but your treasure.
Don’t pay the price David paid. Look ahead to his final hours. To see the ultimate cost of a neglected family, look at the way our hero dies.
David is hours from the grave. A chill has set in that blankets can’t remove. Servants decide he needs a person to warm him, someone to hold him tight as he takes his final breaths.
Do they turn to one of his wives? No. Do they call on one of his children? No. They seek “for a lovely young woman throughout all the territory of Israel … and she cared for the king, and served him; but the king did not know her” (1 Kings 1:3–4).
I suspect that David would have traded all his conquered crowns for the tender arms of a wife. But it was too late. He died in the care of a stranger, because he made strangers out of his family.
But it’s not too late for you.
Make your wife the object of your highest devotion. Make your husband the recipient of your deepest passion. Love the one who wears your ring.
And cherish the children who share your name.
Succeed at home first.
From Facing Your Giants
Friday, June 01, 2007
Jeremiah 31:31ff
Listen to these words from Jeremiah 31:31-34:
31 "The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, " declares the LORD.
33 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
I am amazed by this prophecy. I think this is so powerful that in the midst of the prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, God is telling them about the new covenant in Christ. God is so good.
While studying Jeremiah, the question has come to my mind many times: Why is God so harsh with the people by sending them into captivity for 70 years? That is some peoples entire life time.
As a step back and look at the situation and read more of the book, I realize that many times God has given them the opportunity to avoid this situation and also many times he has made the promise to bring them out of the captivity (29:10ff). So, I see that it is almost like the parent/child relationship that we deal with. We don't like to discipline our children, but we know it's the only way they are going to learn some lessons. The fact that the captivity is 70 years seems like and eternity to us but to God it is but a glimpse of time. My human eyes and mind may not understand, but from God's perspective, it is another situation where he is preparing his people for Christ to come.
I see the difference in the way God deals with his people in the OT vs. the NT. However, one thing comes to mind: even though He seems more "harse" in the OT, He continually gives his people chance after chance to avoid the problems. Then, just like me and you today, they still do things their way. God has to discipline them like we do our children.
His love is just as immense in the OT as it is in the NT. I love this study because it is showing me again how amazing God is and how faithful he is! Praise God!
Stay stong, PLD!
31 "The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, " declares the LORD.
33 "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
I am amazed by this prophecy. I think this is so powerful that in the midst of the prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, God is telling them about the new covenant in Christ. God is so good.
While studying Jeremiah, the question has come to my mind many times: Why is God so harsh with the people by sending them into captivity for 70 years? That is some peoples entire life time.
As a step back and look at the situation and read more of the book, I realize that many times God has given them the opportunity to avoid this situation and also many times he has made the promise to bring them out of the captivity (29:10ff). So, I see that it is almost like the parent/child relationship that we deal with. We don't like to discipline our children, but we know it's the only way they are going to learn some lessons. The fact that the captivity is 70 years seems like and eternity to us but to God it is but a glimpse of time. My human eyes and mind may not understand, but from God's perspective, it is another situation where he is preparing his people for Christ to come.
I see the difference in the way God deals with his people in the OT vs. the NT. However, one thing comes to mind: even though He seems more "harse" in the OT, He continually gives his people chance after chance to avoid the problems. Then, just like me and you today, they still do things their way. God has to discipline them like we do our children.
His love is just as immense in the OT as it is in the NT. I love this study because it is showing me again how amazing God is and how faithful he is! Praise God!
Stay stong, PLD!
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