Yes Lord

I wonder how many times God has spoken to me and I missed it?   I want to be so in tune with the Holy Spirit that when God tells me something I not only hear it but I jump and say yes.  In Acts 9 Saul was busy persecuting the church.  Jesus blinded Saul and sent him to a godly man named Ananias.  When Jesus called Ananias, he said "Yes Lord."  That is because he was used to hearing from God.  I have heard God's voice on many occasions.  Not audibly, but make no mistake, it was from God.  Do I always say yes Lord?  I'd like to say yes but I'm sure I have missed Him.  I want to hear more and see more.

Tap on the shoulder

This morning I did not have to be anywhere before 9 so I didn't set my alarm.  I woke up about 6:30 and decided to go back to sleep.  I was awakened at 6:40 with someone tapping on my shoulder.   I looked next to me and my wife was sound asleep.  I have been hearing a lot from God so I took this as a sign to get up right then.  Still not sure why this happened yet.  But maybe God wanted me to leave earlier and miss a bad accident or something.  I did read in Mark 6 about Jesus walking on the water.  It says he was about to pass them by.  I always thought that was for us to not let Jesus walk by us...in other words, always bee looking around.  But I discovered that term was used to mean that God was about to show His glory.  Pretty cool.

Listening day 1

I'm not sure which Google Bot will be reading this today.  So, it may only be me who reads what I'm writing.  Yesterday, I felt God telling me just to listen for a week.  I prayed much differently today.  I did pray for others but I did not pray for anything for me.  I just listened.  I felt God telling me not to listen to any books or podcasts today.  I sensed I was to worship and listen.  It is 8:42 AM as I write this.  I sensed God telling me I needed to have my eyes open and ears to hear and that He would give me a ministry opportunity today.  So, I will be leaving here in a few minutes expectant.

Listening to God's voice again

I've been reading/listening to Henry and Richard Blackaby's book Hearing God's Voice.  I listen to a lot of books and podcasts because I drive a lot on my rounds.  Today, they were talking about something in their lives.  It sort of depressed me because I wasn't experiencing the same victory.  I then prayed and asked God why my situation was the way it was.  As I was praying, the person whom I was concerned about texted me and asked for what I was praying for all along.  I can't make this up.  I can't go into specifics because I don't want to embarrass the other person involved.  But just what they texted me about was an answer to prayer. 

Seeking

Seeking is a word that has been going through my head a lot over the last year.  I was taking the time to write down thoughts that I felt the Holy Spirit was giving me.  I was hit and miss on doing it though.  Then after reading Atomic Habits, I started scheduling 5 minutes to listen to God.  That may not seem like a long time but I've become consistent.  Anyway, I keep hearing in my time listening to seek.  Then in my Bible Study in Matthew 6 today, Jesus said that we are to seek first God's Kingdom and everything else will come.  This seems to be counter-culture.  We are taught to go after what we want.  Things only come to those who get it.  God is not telling us to be lazy.   In fact, I think God wants us to work hard.  But we work hard for him and He gives us all we need.  That makes no sense from a worldly point of view.  It is easy to worry.  I wish I could say I have it together but I don't.   But I have been seeking God more and more every day.  My prayer is as I seek, I will hear his voice more. 

He did

We don't read much about Joseph the father of Jesus.  Apparently, he died before Jesus was crucified.  A lot has been said about the faith of Mary and rightly so.  I can't imagine how scary it was for her to become pregnant and to still be a virgin.  I can't imagine the jeers and the whispers she heard.  Then if that is not enough, she had to watch her innocent son be killed.

But Joseph's life isn't mentioned very much.  In Matthew1:19 it says that Joseph was faithful to the law.  When he found out Mary was pregnant, I can't imagine what was in his head.  Rather than get back at her, he was going to dissolve their engagement quietly.  If this happened today in the social media climate, I would imagine some of his friends would have had him post some tough stuff.

Yet, Joseph wanted to protect her.  He cared about her.  Then when he had a dream that explained how Mary got pregnant it all made sense.  However, only he knew that.  It wasn't like he could tell everyone on social media or the evening news that Mary was impregnated by the Holy Spirit.  When Joseph had the dream it says that when he woke up HE DID what the angel commanded him.  Joseph had a choice.  He chose to obey God. 

In Matthew 2 Joseph had another dream to take Mary and Jesus in the middle of the night and go to Eygpt.  In vs 14, it says "HE GOT UP."  In vs 21, he had another dream and was told to take his family back to Galilee.  The scripture says, "HE GOT UP."

Not much is written about Joseph.  But if all that was written about me is "HE DID" and "HE GOT UP" I'm good with that.  Obedience is why Joseph heard from God.  It is why God chose to place his son in the hands of Joseph.