Listening to God

Oh my gosh!! It has been so long since I have written on here!!! Crazy stuff!!!

I have just (FINALLY!) bought a laptop cable, which means my laptop is now working! Yay! Tis exciting times!

Man! So much has been going on in the last two months, God has been really working. I think what I want to talk about is how to listen to God. I have recently been thinking a lot about the power of the mind and the power of suggestion, and how this can sometimes lead us to think this is God's will or this is isn't what God wants. We can get caught up in our own desires or fears so something which may seem good at the time can get caught up with what God really wants.

There are so many encounters throughout the old testament in which people listening or did not listen to God. Moses, David, Abraham etc etc....
As then, it still so important that we are craving for God to speak to us and with that we need to ensure we are softening our hearts so our ears can listen.
One of my favourite books in the Bible is Ecclesiastes (I would like it to be known that at the moment my i-tunes is not changing songs, so I was listening to Saviour but now its stuck on Shayne Ward's Hang Up. Bad times!!! I don't even know how this is on my i pod. For the record its a really bad song!!!!! Argh!! Oh wait its working!! Change songs!!! Woop!)

Anyhooo...back the the issue...Ecclesiastes. Yeh! I love it. Although it is very morbid, for example " Everything is meaningless" Eccles 4:21. However, if you delve into the scripture it has some amazing points about how we need to live our lives, notice I didn't say should be how we need to lead our lives.

The area that I am going to look at is Ecclesiastes 5:1-7. Titled "Stand in Awe of God", so you're already expecting some heavy stuff. I am going copy and past this part of scripture just because I am cool like that!

"Stand in Awe of God
1 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.
2 Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.
3 As a dream comes when there are many cares, so the speech of a fool when there are many words.
4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. 5 It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it. 6 Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. And do not protest to the temple messenger, "My vow was a mistake." Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands? 7 Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God."

I added the emphasis for efftect. Just incase you wondered!

Wow! There is a lot here and to be honest sometimes this can be hard to understand. It is very easy to read the bible and take it the way you you want and not what God wants. I know I do that a lot.

We are told that when we enter the presence of God that we should be careful. We should be waiting and willing to listen to God. The first step to listening to God is the act of submission. If we stroll right in there with our own ideas and preceptions then it is very unlikely that what we are in the right frame of mind to listen. It is the same with any form of listening, in an arguement with your girlfriend/boyfriend, if you're convinced already and have your set attitude you're never going to listen to what they have to say, as your mind is already made up. When listening to God we need to become objective, the one thing I have learnt at uni is that everything is subjective. Every piece of literature I have read or lecture I have listened to has had somewhere someones opinion inflicted upon it. This is why it is so important to become submissive when attempting to listen to God so our own subjective self is not imparted upon God's words.
I do love it when it says "go near to listen" because its like a beckoning call to us. If we are not near to God then we are not going to be able to listen to him. We do this by spending time with him, starting changing areas so our lives become God honouring.

Maybe the writer himself struggled with keeping his mouth shut! As he instructs us that we shouldn't be "quick with your mouth, do not be hasty with your heart". The human emotions are an powerful force, especially girls! Man! Sometimes being a girl is awesome but sometimes it sucks a little! Althought we don't like to admit it we are a lot more emotional than guys. Fact. Sometimes our emotions can overcome what God wants, however, I do believe that emotions are a good indicator to the workings of God. There has been a number of times in which I have prayed for certain emotions to go away and thankfully God has blessed that, but the times where God didn't take away the emotion and in hindsight there was a purpose for that. So please don't dismiss emotions, God wouldn't bless us with emotions if they weren't to be used. The writer is simply saying be careful because sometimes we say things that are not exactly what God is pressing on our hearts.

It is pretty cool how the writer reminds you that God is in Heaven, although you may simply being thinking "well der!" he continues by stating "and you are on Earth so let you words be few" meaning that God is a higher being than you and somtimes it is essential just to listen. Not kinda sit there with a massive list of thank yous, asks and guidance requests but simply just sit there and be reminded that God is God.

It is pretty awesome stuff.

Once we've listened to God what then, I hear you cry! Well thankfully the writer answers this quite sweetly. Well kinda?! He starts to discuss vows we make to God. According to my study bible, at the time a vow was MASSIVE! Once a vow has been made it shouldn't be broken. So once we believe we have listened to God we then to ensure the instructions we've recieved need to be carried out. There is no point listening if we have no intention of carrying it out!

There are words of caution through this message. Just because the message we may have heard is strong and seems good, we need to to ensure and persue. Just as quickly we enter something we shouldn't ask quickly leave it. Like the writer says "do not be hasty" and this needs to be taken into consideration when we believe we've heard God, as sometimes the Devil's words can become louder and seem easier.

I encourage you to seek God's guidance and just simply listen to what he has to say.

Til next time!!


xx