This is from the book Open Heart Open Home by Karen Burton Mains
Good conversation is a matter of listening. When a Christian, filled with the Holy Spirit, listens, he listens on three levels. He listens to what words are being said. He listens to what the person really means by those words, and he listens to the voice of the Spirit within who is giving illumination to his hearing.
And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Elias. Mark 13:35 (KJV)
This is from the book God Will Make a Way: Stories of Hope
A Bible translator was having difficulty finding a word for “obedience” in the native language of the people he was serving as a missionary. Obedience was a virtue that seldom seemed to be practiced among the people with whom he wanted to share the Gospel. Then one day as he was returning home, he whistled for his dog and it came running to him at full speed. An old native, observing the dog’s quick reaction, and admiringly in the native tongue, “Your dog is all ear.” The missionary knew immediately that he had his word for obedience.
Are you “all ear” to the Good Shepherd today? Are you listening intently for the command Jesus will give that will be the way out of your present difficulty? Are you being attentive at all times, waiting for His instructions on how and when to go? Or are you being distracted by the things of this world, such as television, movies, video games, overwork, or spending too much time on a sport or hobby?
We are in danger of missing God’s way out of any period of distress or danger if we fail to be “all ears” to His Word and His Spirit. Being “all ears” means continuously listening for God’s counsel and direction and then, when He tells us to do something, to do it immediately–no matter how strange it may be! If Naaman had only washed in the Jordan River six times, he would not have been healed.
The keys to God’s deliverance include faith and obedience, and they keys to obedience are a willing heart and a listening ear.
He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Matthew 11:15 (KJV)
This is from the book God Will Make a Way: Stories of Hope
A man who had lived in the Middle East for quite some time and was very well acquainted with the shepherds in the nearby hills was out riding his horse one day when he came to a spring of water. He stopped to rest and shortly, a shepherd came down a steep mountain path near him, his flock of sheep following behind. Not long after, another shepherd with another flock came down to the water by another path, and after awhile a third. The three flocks mingled together, so that the man began to wonder how each shepherd was ever going to find his own sheep again.
At last one of the shepherds arose and called, “Men-ah”-which is Arabic for “follow”–and his sheep came out from the larger flock and followed him back into the mountains. The man noticed that the shepherd didn’t even turn around to count those that followed. Then the second shepherd got up and called out to this sheep, “Men-ah!” and those that belonged to his flock left that others and followed him back up the path.
The man was intrigued by what he saw and he said to the third shepherd, “I think I could make your sheep follow me.”
“I doubt it,” the shepherd replied.
“Give me your turban, your cloak, and your crook,” the man challenged,” and we’ll see.” He put on the shepherd’s clothing, took the crook in his hand, stood up where the sheep could see him and called out in his best Arabic, “Men-ah! Men-ah!” Not one sheep took any notice of him.
The man asked the shepherd if the sheep ever followed anybody but him. The shepherd replied, “The only time a sheep will make a mistake and follow a stranger is when it gets sick.”
It is only when we become sick with sin in our souls that we fall prey to the enemy’s call. As long as we are following the voice of the Lord, we are safe and blessed.
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. John 10:27-28 NKJV
This is from A testament of Devotion by Thomas Kelly
The outer distractions of our interests reflects an inner lack of integration in our own selves. We are trying to be several selves at once without all ourselves being organized by a single, mastering Life within us.
A man shall be commended according to his wisdom: but he that is of a perverse heart shall be despised. Proverb12:8 (KJV)
Hours behind the runner in front of him, the last marathoner finally entered the Olympic stadium. By that time, the drama of the day’s events were almost over and most of the spectators had gone home. This athlete’s story, however, was still being played out.
Limping into the arena, the Tanzanian runner grimaced with every step, his knee bleeding and bandaged from an earlier fall. His ragged appearance immediately caught the attention of the remaining crowd, who cheered him on to the finish line.
Why did he stay in the race? What made him endure his injuries to the end? When asked these questions later, he replied, “My country did not send me 7,000 miles away to start the race. They sent me 7,000 miles to finish it.”
For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. Hebrews 5:12 (KJV)
I remember stealing six softballs when I was working as a stock boy in a five-and-dime store in my early years in high school. And I remember trying to find a place to hide them when I got home. I don’t know what in the world I planned to do with six softballs. To this day it just baffles me, the logic of it. But I stuck them in the back of my drawer and my mother found them. My father presented himself to me and told me that we were going to make a trip back to the store where I was going to talk to the owner and I was going to confess.
I will never forget his instructions on the way, I mean, I was sitting there just dying thinking about it. It was just like passing razor blades to think about standing in front of my employer. Well, I stood there and told him what I had done. My dad was waiting in the car. He didn’t go in with me. And I heard my boss say, “You’re fired.”
I stumbled back out to the car and sat down. I was as low as I could remember ever being. On the way, I remember my dad beginning to rebuild my emotions. I had done wrong, and I had learned in incredible lesson. He didn’t overdo it, but he drilled into me that when you steal, you get fired. And if you don’t get fired at the moment, you lose something that can’t be bought with any price, and that’s your self-respect. I remember, too, we go on the subject of what in the world I was gonna do with those six softballs.
But there was something about the ornament of grace that came around my neck from my father who before we went in the house took the time to put his arms around me and to understand. This teenage kid was most concerned about my father’s not telling my friends. And as far as I know, he took that story to his grave and never told on me.
Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; Genesis 19:24 (KJV)
No matter how low down you are; no matter what your disposition has been; you may be low in your thoughts, words, and actions; you may be selfish; your heart may be overflowing with corruption and wickedness; yet Jesus will have compassion upon you. He will speak comforting words to you; not treat you coldly or spurn you, as perhaps those of earth would, but will speak tender words, and words of love and affection and kindness. Just come at once.
Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. Be clean!” Mark 1:41 NIV
A family is like many things, perhaps most like a garden. It needs time, attention, and cultivation. The sunshine of laughter and affirmation. It also needs the rains of difficulties, tense moments, serious discussions about issues that matter. And there must be spade work, where hardness is broken loose and planting of fresh seeds is accomplished with lots of TLC. Here are some suggestions for fifteen rows worth planting:
Four rows of peas: Preparedness
Perseverance
Promptness
Politeness
Then three rows of squash: Squash gossip
Squash criticism
Squash indifference
Along with five rows of lettuce: Let us be faithful
Let us be unselfish
Let us be loyal
Let us love one another
Let us be truthful
And three rows of turnips: Turn up with a smile
Turn up with a new idea
Turn up with determination
The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan; an high hill as the hill of Bashan. Psalm 68:15 (KJV)
