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Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Do You Hear the JOYful Message?



            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:

  1. Pride…We think we don’t NEED God’s help because we can handle it ourselves.
  2. Fear…We are afraid of what God might say or ask us to do.
  3. 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!



           

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