Thursday, July 2, 2020
Thursday Devotional - How Persuasive are You?
Wednesday, July 1, 2020
The Art Of Listening
His disciples came and asked him, “Why do you use
parables when you talk to the people?”
He replied, “You are
permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others
are not. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be
given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not
listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from
them. That is why I use these parables,
For they look, but they don’t
really see.
They hear, but they don’t really listen or understand.” Matthew 13:10-13
We must always prepare ourselves to listen to what He has in
store for us. In today’s verses, Jesus
shared with His disciples the purpose behind His parables. It forced them to pay attention and hear what
He had to say. It also required greater
thinking to thoroughly understand what He wanted them to learn. It is great to talk with God about our
troubles and shower Him with praises.
But every so often, I find myself doing all that and not really
listening to what He wants me to do.
Perhaps I read something and might dismiss it or hear His prompting but
fail to act. Listening to God is the
only way to acquire wisdom. Prime
example. Have you ever tried to read a
book with someone trying to talk to you?
It is far easier to reflect on what is read in a nice quiet place than
amidst calamity about you. More
importantly, how much do you retain when uninterrupted versus interrupted? The point is if you are busy talking to God
or listening to other things, how can you truly hear Him? And if you cannot hear Him, how can you
acquire the wisdom He provides? How can
you pause and reflect to understand what it all means?
God expects us to listen to Him. Put another way and as today’s verses point
out, we cannot be close to God unless we gain knowledge of who He is. The importance of this lies in verses from
the book of Proverbs, where it says:
Joyful is the person who finds wisdom,
the one who gains understanding.
For wisdom is more profitable
than silver,
and her wages are better than gold. Proverbs 3:13-14
Wisdom and understanding are the true currencies in the
Kingdom of God. As such, let us focus
our attention spending time on what God is saying to us. Do you dedicate time to ensure you are
listening to Him? What techniques allow
you to best meditate on what God is telling you? My prayer is that we utilize time and efforts
toward hearing God through the art of listening. Amen.