Tag: Hearing the Voice of God

Today’s Word Is PROPER

FINAL ISSUE
Fri-Jul-24-2020
It’s Humor Day!

At the conclusion of the sermon, the worshipers filed out of the sanctuary to greet the minister. As one of them left, he shook the minister’s hand, thanked him for the sermon and said, “Thanks for the message, Reverend. You know, you must be smarter than Einstein.” Beaming with pride, the minister said, “Why, thank you, brother!”

As the week went by, the minister began to think about the man’s compliment. The more he thought, the more he became baffled as to why anyone would deem him smarter than Einstein. So, he decided to ask the man the following Sunday.

The next Sunday he asked the parishioner if he remembered the previous Sunday’s comment about the sermon. The parishioner replied that he did. The minister asked: “Exactly what did you mean that I must be smarter than Einstein?”

The man replied, “Well, Reverend, they say that Einstein was so smart that only ten people in the entire world could understand him, but I’m pretty sure that for you, it would be less than that.”

Hmmmm … I hope that doesn’t apply to me! Although, I have wondered at times if what I was saying made sense!

And now for the verse of the day …

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9)

In the world of gardening, there is a certain predictability to planting a certain type of seed and knowing how long it will take to break the ground and become fruitful.

In the kingdom, seeds are being planted as well. We invest in the lives of people by “doing good.” These words and acts of kindness are like planting seeds of faith, hope, love, and joy into the lives of people. The reason we don’t want to give up on someone is because it is not predictable how long it will take the seed to sprout and grow. Everyone has a timetable that only God knows.

After planting some seed corn, there is a “proper time” for a green blade of the soon-to-be cornstalk to break the surface of the ground. Depending on the outdoor temperature, it could take anywhere from 5-14 days. If it has been two months since you planted it … well … it’s not going to happen.

In the natural world, we can know the “proper time.” In the spiritual world, God knows.

So … as for the people we invest in by planting seeds, we cannot give up, because only God knows why it is taking longer than we had hoped. A friend of mine tells the story of his 88-year old father coming to the Lord after decades of prayer by various family members. Now he is thankful he continued to pray and wait, never giving up.

Of course, we should not assume that this verse is only about salvation issues. It is about many, many things. It is about the next breakthrough in the life of a family member … or the success of the ministry you are involved in at your church … or the accomplishment of a vision that God has laid on your life … or the lifting of a burden that is causing great sacrifice and hardship. Do not let yourself become weary. There is a “proper time” in which the Lord does all things.

And so, it is that a “proper time” has arrived for me. The adventure of writing daily devotions has been a fulfilling journey for me. I thought I would be doing this for years to come, or at least that was my plan. But the Lord has something new in mind for me, though I am not fully aware of what it is.

I pray that something I have shared of the Gospel and of myself has touched your life and moved you forward in your faith … or perhaps even helped to launch your journey of faith in Christ. I thank you for your comments and encouragement.

“The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face to shine upon you,
And be gracious unto you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)

Blessings,

Chaplain Mark

Today’s Word Is HEARING

Fri-Jul-3-2020
It’s Humor Day!

An elderly gentleman named Frank is having a regular checkup at Dr. Jones’ office.

At the end of the exam the doctor says, “Everything looks OK. Do you have any questions or other concerns?”

Frank replies, “Well, Doc, there is one other thing. My wife Beulah is hard of hearing and I’m having trouble talking her into going to get it checked. Any ideas how to convince her?”

Dr. Jones suggests, “Try this. When you get home and get in the door, say something to her while her back is turned. If she doesn’t hear you, get closer and try again. Keep doing this until you figure out how close you have to be before she can hear something. This should help her to realize that she has a problem.”

Frank gets home and Beulah is facing the kitchen sink doing dishes. So, Frank says, “What’s for supper, honey?” … No response …

Frank moves halfway to the kitchen and repeats, “What’s for supper, honey?” … Still no response …

So, Frank gets right behind her and rather firmly repeats, “What’s for supper, honey?”

Beulah wheels around, hands on her hips, gives him a glare, and says, “For the third time, chicken!!!”

Oops …

By the way, not all hearing is with the ears. Many times in the Scripture, the idea of hearing has to do with whether what was said not only got into someone’s ears, but went further … into the heart and mind. Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Matthew 11:15) Obviously he meant both to hear and to understand!

By the way, a similar phrase … “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” … appears seven times in Revelation … once at the end of each of the letters to the seven churches. There are church folks who hear but don’t hear.

In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus calls a person “good soil” if they are able to hear the word, understand, and act. “But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.” (Luke 8:15)

Sometimes things that are said to us “go in one ear and out the other.” I am sure I have missed some of God’s whisperings because I didn’t pay enough attention to what he was trying to convey through something I heard or saw or read. It takes effort and concentration to hear these subtle inputs from the Lord. Thankfully, once we practice and understand how it works, we can develop a habit of hearing his voice better.

My elderly grandfather was kindly referred to by everyone as “hard of hearing.” You had to get right next to his ear and speak loudly and hope for the best.

I certainly would not want to be considered by others as “hard of hearing” in a spiritual sense. That’s something worth thinking about for a minute of your time. Am I hearing God well? Does he have to shout in my ear from up close? Am I tuned in to his voice so that I can hear him, even if it’s a whisper?

Blessings!

Chaplain Mark

Today’s Word Is … CLEVERLY

Mon-Nov-25-2019
How cleverly you defend yourselves against all that might do you good.

After 7 years of college and graduate school, and reading what professors told me to, the first post-graduate reading I did was the series of 7 books by C. S. Lewis called The Chronicles of Narnia. If you have never read them, you should do so. Three or four of the books have been made into movies. Even though they are touted as children’s books, there are such deep truths in them that any adult would grow forward in life and faith by reading them. (They’re also light and fun.)

In the sixth book called “The Magician’s Nephew,” I came to a sentence that rocked my world …

The children in the story were asking Aslan the Lion (the Christ-figure in this series of books), why their Uncle Andrew was such a grouch. How did he get to be that way? And Aslan gave a strange but profound answer …

“Oh, sons of Adam and daughters of Eve, how cleverly you defend yourselves against all that might do you good.”

I was stunned enough by that sentence that I suspended reading the book for a few days while I thought about that. Do I have creative excuses for not doing the things that would really be of benefit to me?

When is the last time you should have gone to some event with a friend but instead said, “No thanks, I’m too tired (or too busy).”? What are the things you have skipped out on that would really have done you great good?

Now, I’m not suggesting you wear yourself out and fail to take needed rest or to keep proper boundaries. Nor do I propose that you say “yes” to every invitation that comes along. But looking back over the last year or two or five of your life … what if the good invitations or ideas you declined added up to 148, and the ones you accepted came to just 15? Then this may not be about getting your rest … it might be about “cleverly defending yourself against all that might do you good.”

Blessings,

Chaplain Mark