Are You Listening?

I have recently been doing a study on the Holy Spirit. I needed a change in my normal study routine. I usually just read through a book of the bible, which is great but I wanted to do something a little different, to change things up. So I looked up scriptures on the Holy Spirit and have been doing a study of my own. Which has really been awesome and insightful and as an added bonus I have some material to write for the Daily Feast.

So can I start by asking a question? When was the last time you had a vision while praying to the LORD? When was the last time God gave you some direct instructions, to do or not to do something? When was the last time God told you to do something while your were fasting and praying?

I have been reading how the Holy Spirit speaks to us His people and I found some really interesting things. Let me tell you three different scenarios.

Philip was told by the Spirit to go talk to the Ethiopian in his chariot-Acts 8:29.

Peter had a vision from the LORD while praying-Acts 10:10.

Paul and Barnabas were set on a mission trip by the Holy Spirit-Acts 13:4.

So here we have 3 different times when God told one of His followers, directly, what they should do. When was the last time something like that happened to you?? My guess is a long time, if ever!!

Does this mean that God is different now than He was back then? Absolutely NOT!!! The bible is clear, God is the same yesterday, today and forever. That means that it's not God who changed the way He speaks, it is us who changed the way we listen. Do we give God the opportunity to speak to us directly? I don't think so. In this fast pace society, we don't take the proper amount of time to spend with the LORD.

In each of these examples the Spirit spoke because the person gave the time and was open to being spoken too. It says that after the Spirit spoke to Philip, "he rose and went." This means he was sitting and probably praying or meditating. Peter went onto the rooftop to pray when he had his vision. Paul and Barnabas were in the midst of a church-wide praying and fasting worship time, when the Spirit told the congregation to "set aside Paul and Baranabas for work that I have for them." Can you imagine?!? When was the last time your church had a whole congregation fasting?!?

These early believers made Jesus such a priority in their lives that they took time out of their day to pray and meditate and fast and worship and listen and be open to the Spirit speaking to them.

One other cool thing about these scenes is that they tested the Spirit. Now notice they didn't put God to the test. They tested the Spirit to make sure that what was being said was from God and not some other place. After Peter had his vision, Chapter 10 says while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit told him some men were looking for Him. After the Spirit spoke to the congregation is says, after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them (praying some more) and sent them off.

So not only did these characters simply pray, they then took time to meditate and ponder or pray some more about what was spoken. They made it a priority each day to spend a great amount of time in the LORD's presence. It wasn't a fly by, do this as quick as I can to get it out of the way thing either. When I was a youth my pastor encouraged us to just take 5 minutes out of our day. 5 minutes!! Really...my Creator, Savior, LORD, God only deserves 5 minutes of my day?!? Let's get real.

Friends hear me on this, what I am talking about is real growth and maturity in our walk with Jesus. I have been feeling over the past months that it is time for us, me especially to stop living half way for Jesus and start producing some real fruit and maturity. Honestly that is what I want for all of us who claim to love Jesus. This is my soap box thing!!! I'm not trying to sound radical or anything, (of course all the "radical Christian things" I hear about today actually line up with what scripture says we should be doing, but whatever) I truly want to see us, followers of Jesus grow and mature and be effective.

Spending personal time with God is one of my biggest struggles. I am becoming more and more convicted of my lack of discipline, and I think it time for others feel this way as well. Maturity is not going to happen by itself, I need to make it happen. That means I may need to get up a half hour earlier to pray and study. Or quit this sports team or that club because it is getting in the way of what really matter. Or stop taking time to watch this TV show or that movie because it is hindering me from having an eternal focus. Do what I have to do!


God is the same today as He was back then, so He will speak to us the same direct way, if we are open to being spoken too. It's not that God can't or doesn't speak to us on fly by the moment situations but I believe we need to slow down and take time to hear His voice. When we give Him the opportunity to speak to us and open ourselves up to the Spirit, I have confidence that we will hear Him.

May our LORD be with you