Position Yourself to Hear from God

It's been a while WorthWhile readers! I am happy to be bringing the word of God to you today. Thank you for joining me on this journey to discovering more of Jesus. Today we will be talking about how to put yourself in the right mindset and place to hear from God.

Let's start with a bible verse from Jeremiah 23: 16-18 KJV, "Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD. 17 They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you. 18For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?"

This verse is cautioning us to be careful of who we listen to. Just because someone is popular doesn't mean they are right. These "prophets" were leading people down a path of destruction by influencing them to do what THEY willed for their lives and not waiting and listening for God's will for their life. Sometimes bad things happen to us and sometimes we walk ourselves right into a bad situation because we are not following the direction of the Lord. The bible says in Psalms 37:23-24, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand." When we let God direct our steps, when we seek God, it becomes easier to hear His voice. We fall but can get back up "he shall not be utterly cast down" because God's got us "for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand".

We choose what we want instead of asking God what He wants at different times. It isn't that God isn't there but that we place ourselves in a place of noisy distractions. God is beside us, all around us and in us but we quiet the voice of God by allowing distractions like unholy music, unholy media content to fill our mind and although Jesus is there for us to tap into His spirit, we tend to look the other way. We can at times hang out with people who don't have our best interest in hand and don't walk with the Lord.

We can fill ourselves with content and listen to the voices of this world telling us we have to look this way and that way, do this to be cool and such or be open to the spirit of the Lord, be filled with His spirit and covered with His blessings. But what's it worth to be cool?

Let me tell you a little story...

There was a post on Facebook I saw of a vehicle all covered in dust and an old sheet, sitting in an old shed. The message under the photo said this, "No matter how good you are, if you are in the wrong place, you are worthless [or in my words, no one can see your worth].

Your worth isn't defined by your circumstance, but we determine if our potential can be used by tapping into the spirit or quenching the spirit of God all together.

It isn't worth much to be "cool" and "cool" is worth little and can leave you with an emptiness, being the lack of the Lord. Sure, there are cool things about being a Christian. There are blessings, having the joy of the Lord, fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ, the positive words of growth and seeing people come to the Lord and so much more.

If you're a missionary, you get to see the world. If you're a preacher you get to teach and see people get healed saved, delivered and grow in the Lord. You get to see people grow up, people marry and be merry and all sorts of wonderful things, along with fellowship. Another point to be brought up is that the preacher is not the only one that can have an extra special walk with God. Our souls are worth being saved, delivered and healed. God can bring peace to our hearts, but we have to be willing to listen to God. All the more for us to come up with a strategy to position ourselves to really hear what God is trying to say to us.

There are four simple steps I have found that can help draw us closer to Jesus.

The first step is, Make time for God. There have been times where all of us or many of us, have made time for our hobbies, watching tv or even working out but we don't designate even a small portion of our day to Jesus. God cares about what we care for and so when we have wholesome hobbies and desires, He wants to bless us with those.

The second step is, Open your heart to God. Praying the prayer in Psalms 51:10, "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."

The third step, now that we have prepared ourselves to hear from the Lord is to, Seek the Lord with all our heart. Jeremiah 29:13 says, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." This correlates with the scripture in Matthew 6:33, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

Previously in this chapter it touches on how even the flowers of the fields are clothed and does our God not care more for us than even the flowers. They don't toil or fret all the day long. They grow nevertheless and the birds of the air how they sow not nor reap, yet God feeds them. Just so, when we seek God, trust in God, we will have what we need. No, our situation may not always be perfect but our God is perfect. We need to be in tune with the spirit of God because He has big and better plans for our life.

God is trying to show us He's there not just in the big things like a big promotion or a fancy car but in the little things. A smile across someone's face toward you when you're having a bad day, the sun shining and the opportunity to spend time in God's creation.

The fourth step to positioning ourselves to hear from God is to pray and listen to God, giving Him a time to speak into our situation. We serve a big God, a just God, a God able to heal, save and deliver.

It isn't always fancy cars and nice dinners and popular people that cause us to have "made it" in life. Psalm 85:8, "Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for He will speak peace to His people, to His saints; but let them not turn back to his folly." It's easy to take too much on and lose it all again. This verse is telling us to listen, to seek God and know that He will reward us with peace. Peace is better than going back to our old ways of the flesh and stumbling. Without Jesus where would I be?

There was a time when I felt worthless and useless. A time when I couldn't see my value, but Jesus brought me out of the mirey clay, He put me on the rock to stay. And when I taught and disciplined myself to take time for Jesus, seek Him, hear what He had to say and open my heart up to God, it became clear to me that my worth lies in Jesus. My strength is in Jesus and my heart will always long for Jesus. We are His creation. He knew us even when we were in the womb. The God of the universe knows my name. How special is that? So, today I urge you to take even just five minutes today, maybe ten or even twenty minutes, to seek the Lord and find peace, joy, love and worth in Him today. Have a blessed day all and thanks for reading!