It's hard to believe it's been a couple of months since I had a little episode with my heart, (the physical one), praise God I'm still here to share some things I learned. As I shared last time I shared on this topic there were 2 principles God showed me were important to see me through that incident. One was I had to stand faithful, no matter how things looked according to the senses, God can go above all we can ask or think. The second thing, although there were many, was to listen to what God was saying. It has often been said, "Listen to Gods still small voice," as I groped for a two thousand seventeen saying I heard that voice say, "Can you hear me"? "Can you hear me now"? At one time this was the mantra of a wireless communication company. Seeing how prayer is the greatest form of wireless communication I thought, Father you've done it again!
This also prompted me to recall an old children's fellowship song, Listen, Remember, and Obey. We need to listen to God; He's always speaking to us though His written Word, spoken Word, revelation, or any other way God works with you. We need to remember what He says, hold the Word of God fast in our minds.
Titus 1:9 Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
And then obey what He says.
James 1:21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
Then we need to act on what God says.
James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
We can't just talk a good game, and as sports enthusiasts would say, we need to get some skin in the game. Go all in; you can't serve God and mammon.
In order to put listen, remember and obey into action in our life we need to be humble. Humble as a Verb (used with an object like me or you), to destroy the independence, power or will of, (and I added of our own), to make meek: to humble one's heart, (and I added to become totally reliant on God).
1 Peter 5:6-7 6Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: 7Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
Think about that, casting all your care upon him; what a concept, why continually torture yourself with all the cares of life when you can make your problem God's problem. And He loves doing it for you.
Now at the risk of being nosey, how's your relationship with God? Are you sharing everything with Him, do you trust Him, are you patient, are you letting go and letting God?
While you're mulling that over in your mind let's look at some great believers and see how they handled things and their relationship with God.
Abraham, the father of believing, he was prepared to sacrifice his own child. It's a bit much to fit here so put this down and take your bible and go to Genesis 22:1-19 and read on.
Welcome back, I trust you learned some things while reading that record. Did you see great humility, listen, remember, and obey in there? You sure did!
The next example I'd like to look at is Moses, a man who next to the apostle Paul, received the greatest revelation; a man who God knew face to face.
Deuteronomy 34:10-12 9And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, 11In all the signs and the wonders, which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, 12And in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses shewed in the sight of all Israel.
Wow! In these 3 verses you see Moses relationship with God and his willingness to be humble, to listen, remember, and obey what God said. When you read about Abraham and Moses think about 1 Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
There's so many great examples in the Word like Noah, he had the willingness to build a boat, on top of a mountain, with the then known world laughing at him, because God told him to. And what about Jesus Christ, the master of humility, His life was a documentary on listen, remember and obey, Mathew 26:39 Not my will but thine be done.
Look at (NIV) Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Rest is relief or freedom, especially from anything that wearies, troubles, or disturbs, mental or spiritual calm; tranquility.
Do you know what the opposite of rest is? Disturbed; an outbreak of disorder; a breach of public peace: and you know where that kind of chaos comes from: the devil, the duke of discord. So don't go the way of the world.
We need to look to God, listen, remember, and obey His Word so we can live in peace, calm, and tranquility. Each day of our lives we need to become more God inside-minded.
One way we can do that is in Philippians:
Philippians 4: 4-8 4Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.5Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.6Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.7And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.8Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
We need to stand fast on the greatness of God's wonderful Word, listen, remember, and obey Him as we cast all of our cares on Him because He cares for us
Note: All scripture is from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. NIV indicates The New International Version, NKJV indicates the New King James Version, ASV means the American Standard Version, BBE means the Bible in Basic English, DBY means the Darby translation, NAU means the American Standard Version, 1995 Edition, and NAB means the New American Bible translation. For more information, go to the Works Cited page.