Have you had your JOY JUICE today? Pay close attention to how it sounds as it’s
being poured out into your life!
God has
given us five senses. Sight, smell,
taste, touch and hearing. This week we
are focusing on “HEARING GOD”. We use
our physical ears to hear the sounds around us every day. But I’d like for us to think about listening
to God with an open mind and a willing HEART!
If we want
God to speak to us, we must first cultivate an open mind. We have to be willing, eager and receptive in
order to hear Him. In Luke 8, Jesus uses
the parable of the Four Soils to give us the keys to hearing God speak. Keep in mind that in Jesus’ day there were no
tractors or farm machinery to plant the crops.
The farmer would take his bag of seed, and toss the seeds by hand onto
the ground. As they landed on different
kinds of soil, some would thrive and others would die.
In this
parable, the farmer represents God, the seed is His Word and the soil
represents the different responses we can make.
Rick Warren teaches that there are
three mental enemies that can cause us to have the “hard soil” of a closed
mind, thus being unable to hear God:
- Pride…We think we don’t NEED God’s help because we can handle it ourselves.
- Fear…We are afraid of what God might say or ask us to do.
- Bitterness…When we hold on to a hurt and refuse to forgive, our heart grows hard and we become resistant to His love, Word and His voice!
Let’s prepare our
minds and hearts to receive God’s JOYful message!
Excellent message. Thank you.
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