Hearing God

God is not deaf. The One who made the ear is not hard of hearing, nor is He distracted from listening to the prayers of His people. He hears the faintest cries, for He is always right here beside us, and when He hears, He answers -- of that we have the promise and confidence of the Word of God. The depth and width and height of His love tells us that our cry to God will always evoke a response from our Father, for He cannot ignore us or turn a deaf ear to those He loves, any more than any of us can do so to a loved one, a family member. 

Jeremiah 33:3 Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.

It may be that we fail to notice God's response, if we fail to properly discern what God is doing or understand why He responded as He did. But we can always believe that God's love and grace is ever available to each person who sincerely calls on God. We have seen too many changed lives to believe otherwise. Blessed are those who give God the freedom to respond to their cries in the way He sees fit, and greatly to be envied are those who choose to be content with whatever form that answer takes.

1 Timothy 4:10 ...we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.

Let us hear what God is saying to us, both individually and corporately. His work of redemption from salvation to maturity, from start to finish, is still being revealed in the daily details of our walk in the Spirit that fills in the broad framework He has declared beforehand in His Word. We cannot afford to become complacent, dull of hearing, falling asleep. We must be alive in the Spirit, striving to hear His next instruction amid the din of the world around us, never growing weary in well-doing, fighting the good fight, ever warring against our carnal nature and reining in our natural appetites and worldly desires. 

1 Timothy 4
v.8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.
v.12 ...set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.
v.15 Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.
v.16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

Lord, we ask that You be new to us again. Move in our lives in a way we are not familiar with; bless us with more of You, aspects of Your mercies and love, freedoms and truth, victories and faith which we have not known before. We stand in the fear of God, utterly dependent on You for all that we have need of. We have learned of You before, walked in places we have never been, and have seen the absolute faithfulness with which You have led us through to victory and growth. Stir up Your Spirit in our hearts to enlarge our tents and expand our boundaries; we do not cast aside the confidence we have in You already but rather, we build on it and grow into it, line upon line, precept by precept, looking to You, the Living Word of God, to place us where You have planned for us. We submit our hearts and minds and lives to Thee, Father God, and praise You that Your love stands firm forever, and that You established Your faithfulness in heaven itself. Receive the renown, the joy, the praise and the honor from all the nations on earth as we declare all the good things You do.

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