God is a communicator. As I contemplated that, I thought, "Some, (even in the church) would say today that God doesn't speak audibly anymore." I know that isn't true, because I have heard Him. But, hearing God isn't just a subjective experience for some, it's His nature. God has been speaking audibly since the beginning of time. Speaking is his main form of communication to us!
Think about it.....He spoke all of creation into existence. God walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the garden. God spoke to Moses through a burning bush and on mountain tops. God spoke to Samuel, calling him by name in the middle of the night.
In 1 Samuel 9:17 it says, 'When Samuel caught sight of Saul The Lord said to him, "This is the man I spoke to you about, he will govern my people."
It isn't just in the Old Testament either. It was recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke and 2 Peter, an audible voice from heaven spoke over Jesus in front of crowds saying, "This is my Son in whom I love and am pleased." God speaks to some through dreams, visions, the Living Word and even nature. God still speaks, so why aren't more people hearing him?
In today's world, especially American culture, we are bombarded with distractions. Bombarded is a war term and let me be perfectly clear: this is a WAR! It is a war for your time and attention. Time is our most valuable resource. Think about that....More valuable than money or knowledge. That is why most people are quicker to write a check to a cause they believe in than they are to volunteer to do a task or man a booth. There are only 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week and most of us pack in as much as we possibly can into those precious moments. Time is our most valuable resource and as we use it up, deep down inside, we know it cannot be replaced. Once it is gone...it's gone forever.
Time is Precious
Psalm 139:16 says, " Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."
God knows everything about everything, including time. He is the ultimate planner. From the moment of creation He had every detail down to every second. Humankind has become more obsessed than ever at prolonging life, time manipulation and turning back the clock. We want instant, quick, or drive through everything in an effort to cram as much in as we possibly can or hoping to alleviate pressure from our over booked lives.
The enemy of our souls, Satan, does not know how much time you have on this earth. You do not know how much time you have either. Only God knows and the lie that is bought time and time again is that you can cheat death, get a new life, or extend it artificially. The idea of a fountain of youth or hopes of immortality is nothing new and one of Satan's deceptions.
Ecclesiastes 9:12 says, "Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come."
No man knows, but God does. He has eternity with us after this life, but this life was designed with time constraints. This life was designated a start and stop for each of us, a birth and a death. Why do you think that is? I believe it is because our life was designed with a purpose. We have purpose to fulfill within the time of our conception to death. The journey we walk individually with God and corporately as believers is our most important work. We grow closer to our Creator and deepen our relationship to Him, while encouraging others and pointing the way to Jesus. It is our greatest purpose.
Do you think Satan wants us to fulfill that purpose?
Distractions....distractions....
Merriam Webster's online dictionary defines distraction as:
-the act or state of being distracted, mental confusion, literally to draw apart, turn aside or in different directions at the same time. To stir up or confuse with conflicting emotions or motives. Can also be an amusement-a harmless distraction.
That definition clearly shows us the tactics of the Evil One. He is constantly trying to get us off course from God and our earthly purpose. He wants to mentally confuse, draw us away, turn us aside, get us running in all directions, stir us up, leave us conflicted and if that isn't time consuming enough, fill us up with harmless amusement leaving us empty and exhausted. He does it to divert our focus so we will not hear God clearly, grow, mature or be effective for the Kingdom of God.
It's like try making a phone call with kids in the room! I was interviewed via phone call from a producer of Good Morning America a few years ago for our church. We scheduled the interview, I prepared what I wanted to convey, settled the kids with a sitter and locked myself in my minivan for the phone call!
We have to focus and pay attention to God's voice with that kind of intention. Carve out time, remove as many distractions as we can and listen intently.
Hebrews 2:1 says, "We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away."
I recently was teaching my 8 year old how to cook a pot of Cream of Wheat for breakfast. He kept wandering away from the stove and was distracted by the television show the other kids were watching. I kept finding myself saying, "Pay attention....Gabe....Gabe pay attention to the stove....Gabe, pay attention to what you are doing!!!!"
God's Word tells us to 'pay attention', Satan tries to get us distracted. It's a simple as that.
Distracted by Work (pharaoh, Moses and the Hebrew people)
Read Exodus 5:1-9
Here are a few interesting points to note about this story:
-God spoke a task
-His People were trying to obey
-Pharaoh's plan was to overwork them so they would have no time to listen to God.
Question: are you overworked to the point that you loose focus on the things of God? Are you too tired at the end of the day to be an effective listener?
Read Luke 10:38-42 (Martha and Mary)
Some points worth mentioning here:
-Jesus loved this family John 11:5 says "Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus."
-Martha loved Jesus, she opened her home despite the danger, welcomed Him, honored Him and wanted to serve Him and the disciples as the woman of the house.
-Mary loved Jesus, she sat and listened to Him seizing the opportunity, sat at His feet showing a submissive spirit and eagerness to learn, she chose deepening her relationship with Christ over the preparations.
-Martha allowed her act of serving to distract her, grumbled against her sister, was distracted, KJV says "cumbered", in the Greek is (perispao') means over occupied, too busy about a thing. She crossed the line from caring- to- OCD!
-Martha was more concerned with works not relationship
-Matthew Henry 1706 Commentary says, "Wordly business is a snare to us when it hinders us from serving God and getting good into our souls."
-(Verse 41) Jesus says, "Martha, Martha....Only one thing is needed" ...Jesus is telling Martha she is making dinner too complicated. Commentaries suggest the 'one thing' was one dish. Scholars think Martha was putting on an extravagant spread with several main dishes for Jesus and His followers. She was trying to impress him with her ability.
-(Verse 42) Jesus makes it clear to Martha that he is impressed by Mary's choice. Mary chose to focus on Him and receive his word into her heart.
Question: Martha's heart started out in the right place, but she was thrown off course. How do we know when something is us or when it's God? (Especially in ministry), how do we know when to say yes and when to say no? Here are some ideas to help us discern God's yes from our flesh:
-submit it in prayer
-listen for God's voice and know His motives
-check your motives, is it flesh or spirit driven?
-guard your heart/ schedule/commitments- especially if you have trouble saying NO!
-examine the fruit: Is there fruit? Is it good fruit (joy, growth, nourishment, satisfy, multiply, etc.) or bad fruit (stress, anxiety, confusion, rooted in flesh, selfishness, desire for status or power) Does it shine Jesus to others?
John 15:4, "Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me."
-Does what you think you should 'do' challenge you to grow or chain you to obligation?
-Does it come from a desire to control things or does it encourage others to participate and learn from you?
-Does it bear fruit in others of maturing independence or cause dependence on you, not God?
-Does it take away the opportunity for new people to step up and grow in that area of their lives?
We all have a deep need to be needed. God designed us with purpose and we walk around looking for opportunities to use our gifts. Satan knows that, and will exploit our desire trying to get us running around over worked, pre occupied, distracted, unfulfilled, and confused as to what God wanted us to do all along.
Have you ever read, "If you give a mouse a cookie?" It's about a mouse who wants a cookie, then he needs milk, which makes him want to draw a picture for the fridge, and on and on until the house looks like a bomb exploded and he ends up remembering he wants a glass of milk...and then a cookie. It's a cute kid's story, but a great example of how easily distracted we can become if we let it happen.
Not so Harmless Amusement
God wants us to have joy and enjoy our journey here on earth. That is not what I'm talking about here. 'Harmless Amusement' means taking something fun and enjoyable too far. They can be a hobby or interest that seems irrelevant or trivial. Some are so small we don't even register a hidden danger or trap. I like to call them Timesuckers!
Examples of Time Suckers:
Facebook Games Television Politics Fantasy Football Sports
movies shopping Romance Novels Scrapbooking
Timesuckers in moderation or occasionally seem harmless, but the trap is set. The enemy will try to get us to make them part of our daily routine. Soon we are focused on ourselves and gratifying the desires of our flesh. We end up out of time, energy or separated from God. A harmless amusement can quickly turn into an addiction or strong hold squeezing prayer and Bible Study out of our daily routine.
The GOOD News.....We Have a Choice!
Romans 8:5 says, "For those who love according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit.
Proverbs 4:25, "Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you."
-be fixed in Hebrew (yashar) means to go straight, be led, just, lawful, smooth, upright
(Remember that to distract means to draw apart, turn aside, confuse)
While studying this topic of focus and battling worldly distractions I kept hearing the hymn "Turn your eyes upon Jesus...."
Chorus:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
I researched this song and here is what I found.
When Helen Lemmel was only twelve years old, her family moved from England to America. Her father was a Wesleyan Methodist pastor. Although talented enough to succeed as a professional singer, Helen Lemmel sought fulfillment using her musical gifts as a form of ministry to God. She joined the faculty of the Moody Bible Institute, teaching vocal music. She served in this capacity at both their Chicago and Los Angeles campuses.
It was in the year 1918, when she was fifty-four years old, that Helen Lemmel wrote the beautiful and challenging hymn, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus." She had been visiting with a missionary friend who had shared with her a gospel tract, titled "Focused." The pamphlet included the statement: "So then, turn your eyes upon Him, look full into His face and you will find that the things of earth will acquire a strange new dimness." The words seemed to repeat themselves over and over in her mind during the following week. In her memoirs she reports the following:
Suddenly, as if commanded to stop and listen, I stood still, and singing in my soul and spirit was the chorus, with not one conscious moment of putting word to word to make rhyme, or note to note to make melody. The verses were written the same week, after the usual manner of composition, but nonetheless dictated by the Holy Spirit.
In her later years, Helen Lemmel settled in the Pacific Northwest, making her home in Seattle, Washington, where she became an active member of the Ballard Baptist Church. She became blind It would seem that she made the words of her hymn her personal creed as she continually turned her eyes toward Jesus, serving him faithfully until the day of her death, November 1, 1961, at the age of ninety-six. Helen wrote over 500 hymns in her life.
Helen knew about distractions and choose to focus on Jesus, even when she could no longer physically see.
What's the Bottom Line?
What my heart desperately wants to convey to you through this study is that God is a communicator. He speaks! He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
Secondly I want to expose the truth that the enemy does not want you to hear God! He uses every distraction he can throw at you so you won't.
Third, if we remove as many distractions as we can, carve out time to listen, we will hear Him!!!!
I want to end this study the way we started it with Hebrews 2:1, " We must pay more careful attention to what we have heard, so that we will not drift away."
I pray God seals these Truths in your heart and gives us ears to hear and eyes to see Him. I pray that we all grow in this area of our walk, becoming more aware and sensitive to the voice of God. I pray we can spot distractions and effectively remove them from our lives.
Thank you for studying the wonderful Word of God with me.
"My sheep listen to my voice, I know them and they follow me." John 10:27
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