Listen and Obey

If you've been following along, you'll know that I've been reading Stormie Omartian's book, "The Power of Praying Through the Bible."

This week, we're on the third chapter which involves listening to God.

The section of Scripture to "read and consider" is Genesis 6:9-22, and the particular verse that Stormie has zeroed in on is:

Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God....Genesis 6:9

I can think of many in the Bible who "walked with God". But, Noah does stand out as example of a man who not only "walked with God", but he listened and obeyed to exactly what God was telling him to do.

Now, I can just imagine this: Noah going about his daily business, and God comes to him and says, "Noah, I want you to build an ark." Poor Noah! He doesn't even know what this means!

And Noah listened to God and obeyed exactly to what God was telling him to do, down to the last cubit!

I've always thought about the ridicule and the jokes that Noah and his family must have endured. Yet, Noah continued with his task to its completion, trusting that God told him to do this, and he must listen and obey.

God had looked upon His creation, and I'm sure He was saddened. All was corrupt with the exception of Noah and his family. They were the only ones standing firm and faithful in God. They stood alone for God in the culture they were living in.

Many centuries later, Jesus describes this time:

"For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving up in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man."........Mattthew 24:38-39

Jesus is giving a warning here about going about daily duties, our "to-do lists", letting the busyness of our day to day lives overtake us and prevent us from stopping and listening to God.

How easy it is to start our day with a "Thank You, God , for this day.....continue on with OUR list of requests from HIM, and then just move on.....move on without stopping to listen to what God is requesting from US.

This is what Stormie says in her book:

"What would our lives be like if we took the time not only to talk to God but to listen to Him as well? What if we determined to obey what He tells us to do--no matter how much our society might scoff at us?



Do you want to walk with God? Then in your prayer time, listen carefully for His voice. You may hear Him leading you in a new direction, with a new purpose, and with courage you never knew you had!"

Walking with God: Live each day with an awareness of God's presence, depend upon God's faithfulness even through times of doubt, talk with God, listen for the sound of His voice and then obey--knowing that if God has set you to a task, He will see you through to its completion.

My Father,

I come to You today to ask You to help me be a better listener. Help me not only to talk with You, but then to listen for Your voice throughout my day and obey Your instructions for my life.

Help me not to be drawn by the distractions of this world, but to lean on You for my strength and courage in doing whatever it is You are asking of me. Help me to be a person who says "YES" to you immediately, without hesitation, without even considering what "others" may think or say.

Call me to the task, Lord, and I will follow. I know that You will give me the strength, the building blocks, the courage to finish to completion whatever You call me to in this life.

Lord, You know this is a busy time in my life right now. I get so confused sometimes even knowing what to do first. Help me to remember to stop and say, "Lord, what is it that You want me to do today?" and then to listen for Your voice and obey.

Help me to stand firm in this world, standing true in my faithfulness to You, just as you stand firm and faithful to me.

In Your Son's Name, I pray,

Amen

Walking in the Garden With God

Last week, I did a post about a book I'm reading, "The Power of Praying Through the Bible" by Stormie Omartian. I decided to do a post every Friday sharing what I'm learning through this book, chapter by chapter.

If you didn't get a chance to read last week's post, check it out here.

This week the verses to read and consider are Genesis 3:1-9. The main verse that is concentrated on is:

"Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, 'Where are you?'".......Genesis 3:8-9

I have been in places that I imagine may be like that first garden....places full of the sounds of nature, overflowing with plants and trees that I have never seen before, even the timing seems just perfect!! And all of these combined bring on an intense longing to to have what Adam and Eve had--a nice, peaceful walk with God, a time to talk and listen to Him.

There are still places like this, but our world is changing--changing on a daily basis. Everything changed a long time ago when the very first two people created by God gave up the pleasure of having a close, intimate relationship with God to pursue their own interests.

What happened after they ate that fruit? They heard God walking in the garden. He was looking for them to enjoy their usual time together. But they were ashamed to see God, ridden with an overwhelming guilt, so they hid from Him.

Adam and Eve lost their very close, intense relationship with God on that day, and we're struggling to regain that closeness ever since.

God didn't hide from them. He was looking for them. They are the ones that hid from God in their shame, guilt and fear.

God knew exactly where they were, but He wanted them to know that He wanted to continue in this relationship He had established with them. He knew of their sin, but He came to keep His walk with them regardless of this.

We could easily place the blame on Adam and Eve for our own lack of a close relationship with God. We could say to ourselves, "But, look!! Adam and Eve ruined our chances for this a long time ago!"

But, here I have to stop and think before I criticize them unfairly. How many times have I repeated their exact same mistake by making choices that draw me away from God's presence?

Yes, I have experienced that intense fellowship with God, and I wish I could hold on to these moments and keep them with me--always having this feeling in my life. And then just hours later--what happens? I make a choice that draws me away from God, to turn my back on Him. In doing this, I'm really sabotaging my relationship with God.

Instead of waiting patiently for His soft whisper, I make a choice that goes completely against God's will for me.

Most of the time, I have to admit, this occurs when I insist upon keeping to my own schedule for my life instead of trading this in for God's agenda for my life. And then my relationship with Him seems distant rather than close.

I want to keep these close moments in my life--having them with me always. Prayer is our way of communicating with God. The power in our prayer life flows out of God, not out of me.

This is His power, not mine. I won't experience God's power in my life if I'm being insistent upon my own agenda and my own schedule. I need to trade in my dreams for my life for God's dreams for my life--His plans and purposes for me, not mine.

If I fill my life with my commitments, instead of God's commitments, I'll miss out on those special times with God when He is holding me close and filling me with His presence.

The world we now live in will relentlessly fill us with other "things we have to do", if we don't plan and hold sacred our time with God, intentionally building our lives around our times to walk and spend time with God.

It's important to remember, that just as He did with Adam and Eve, God will come looking for us, calling to us: "Where are you?"

And, I'm thinking how this would make God smile if I were waiting expectantly for His visit, eager for Him to take a walk with me--instead of Him having to come search for me and calling out:

"WHERE ARE YOU?"

My Father,

I am longing to always have a close relationship with You. Help me to not be drawn by the distractions of this world so that You have to come searching for me. Let me instead be waiting expectantly for You to come to me, as I know You will. Help me to experience Your love and power in every moment of my day.

Enable me to hear Your voice through all the clamor around me, calling to me,"Walk this way, my child. Come walk and talk with me". And let me answer to You instantly, without a moment's hesitation. Give me the strength and courage to always say "yes" to You, my Lord.

God, I know I am a sinner. Help me to seek You and not hide from You. You already know all about me and still You love me. Help me to come to You quickly with my shortcomings, my failures, my sins--seeking Your forgiveness through Your Son, Jesus.

Help me to keep my walk with You close and constant, always seeking You for every decision and making Your choice and not my own.

In Jesus' most precious and Holy Name I pray,

Amen

If you have read this today and been touched in any way, I urge you to visit us at "The Lighthouse of Prayer" so that we can pray with you. I'm heading off to there now to offer my prayer for an area in my life in which I'm not 100% leaning on God.

Beth

The Breath of Prayer

I'm reading a book I've recently purchased called "The Power of Praying Through the Bible" by Stormie Omartian. I'm taking this book slowly--not rushing through this--because there is a lot to learn and absorb in this book. The author starts in Genesis, going through the Bible through to Revelation--a little excerpt on a verse with a portion of the Bible to read and ends with a prayer.

I thought I would take a few minutes to share the first few pages of this book with you.

The first prayer study is called "God's Connection with Us". The portion of the Bible to read is Genesis 1:26-2:7, and the particular verse to focus on is Genesis 2:7:

"The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being."

As God created the world into being, He didn't remain impersonal in His creation. He became personally involved with human beings, breathing the very breath of life into us. By doing so, He gave us the ability to speak. Without breath, we wouldn't be able to perform this feat.


We breathe in and out, and we speak with the inspiration and expiration of our breath.

I remember each of my children's first words--how thrilled I was to hear them speak!! Even their first sounds which I had to deciper to understand!! But, I understood what they were saying and was awed when they began to verbally communicate with me and others.

God gave us these abilities. He bestowed them upon us--the ability to breathe and the ability to speak. When I think of how thrilled I was to hear my own children's first words, I am just wondering how thrilled God must be when we speak to Him through prayer. He is waiting there, listening for us to speak to Him, utilizing the ability that He Himself gave us.

I remember when I first re-turned to God. I was hesitant to pray because I really didn't know how. I heard others praying, and I was just amazed. I had never heard prayer before. This wasn't something we did in my home during our growing up years. In church, only the Pastor of the church prayed--no one else.

So, I was at a loss as to where to begin.

If you are like I was and feel hesitant to speak to God through prayer, Stormie gives a little hint in her book. Start small. Breathe a prayer to God. Say "Thank you for" slowly, breathe in slowly using this time to think of what you are thankful for. Then breathe out saying the words to express your gratitude to God.

Sounds simple enough, doesn't it? So, start praying today to thank God for whatever you are thankful for in your life at this given moment. It doesn't have to be something big.

Breathe in--"Thank you, God"........Breathe out........."for your unfailing love."

A simple prayer to God that He is waiting to hear. He's there waiting for each of us to speak to Him. just as we waited for our own children to speak to us. Start simple by just breathing your prayers to Him. He gave us the breath of life. Breathe back your thanks to Him.

Please be sure to visit "The Lighthouse of Prayer" and breathe your thanks to the LORD.


Beth