We must take time out of our busy schedules to listen to what God is trying to tell us. So often we get sucked into this culture where we are in such a hurry and everything needs to get done now. We often put God on the back burner until we have time for Him. When we get busy it really shows where God ranks in our lives. Do we make time to listen and meet with our heavenly father or do we make excuses and put off our quiet time until it is more convenient for us?
We need to take time out of our busy schedules every day to be in His presence and listen to what He's trying to tell us. We get so busy in our regularly scheduled lives that it is easy to put it off until later, but later never comes. We need to set aside a certain time every day to meet with God. Put it on a schedule, block out the time, and make sure that a reminder is there every day. If we don’t prioritize listening and we fail to put it on our schedules what are we really saying about our maker? That he is not worthy of our time, that soccer, football, dance, or any number of extracurricular activities are more important than God?
Ever noticed when we get extremely busy, it seems to get noisy and jumbled in our heads? We all know the struggle of going into an extremely noisy environment and trying to hold a conversation with someone. It is extremely difficult to hear and comprehend what is being said. This is a great example of how our conversations with God can be sometimes. If we aren't careful and don't set the right environment we can often put ourselves in these situations when meeting with God. The more voices we have and the louder it gets in our heads the more it opens the door for ungodly noise to creep in. The enemy thrives in noisy situations, any time it gets too loud to hear God clearly, it creates confusion and allows the enemy to sneak in and take over our thoughts, actions or emotions. The devil is a master of lies and confusion and anytime we give him the opening to creep in un-noticed we give him the ability to plant those seeds and lies in our lives, and relationships. So we must make the time every day to plug into the promises of heaven and re-align our hearts with God.
If we listen but don’t respond to what God has spoken to us what was the point. Why do we fight what God tells us? When we seek God and he answers why do we fight what he says? Sure some of the fight lies in pride, laziness, lack of faith, but mostly it is fear. We let fear get in the way of Gods decisions and answers for our lives. We let worries and anxieties creep into our thoughts and our minds. We cast God away as if He won't be there to pick us up if we fall. We let our fear of self-image get in the way of what God has for us. We look for excuses and reasons why we can’t do something when God gives us reasons why we can do it!
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.”
2 Timothy 1:7 NLT
“Then Gideon said to God, “If You will deliver Israel through me, as You have spoken, behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that You will deliver Israel through me, as You have spoken.” And it was so. When he arose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece, he drained the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water. Then Gideon said to God, “Do not let Your anger burn against me that I may speak once more; please let me make a test once more with the fleece, let it now be dry only on the fleece, and let there be dew on all the ground.” God did so that night; for it was dry only on the fleece, and dew was on all the ground.”
Judges 6:36-40 NASB
Like Gideon, we put our fears of letting ourselves or others down ahead of what God is telling us or worse we let doubts that we are not good enough, smart enough, strong enough, etc. make the decisions for us. Even after He tells us plain as day what to do we still fight it and say if this is You Lord send me a sign even though he has already sent 5 or 6.
Food For Thought:
Tomorrow isn't guaranteed so why do we let ourselves gamble with Gods will for our lives? What should truly scare us is that we now have less time to live Gods will for our lives. We should live every day as though it were our last. Some of the hardest questions to answer are the "why" questions. People have had debates for years on this simple question "why?" It’s hard enough to answer here on earth. Imagine standing in front of the Maker being asked "why"; why did you ignore my calling for your life? Why did you not follow through on what I told you? And when/if you do accomplish it why did it take so long? We let the Devil creep in and steal our will and ambition for fear of loss, regret, or failure. For every answer God gives, the devil provides an excuse. You can't have both so do you take the answer or the excuse?
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