Respecting what God is Saying

                                                                                                             

            As a little girl growing up in St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Waldo, OH, I remember how my mother would not let us leave the service once it started.  We would especially get in trouble if we had to go to the bathroom while the minister was speaking.  I remember many a Sunday being told with a forced smile, I had better wait until the preacher was done, and next time go before the service began.

            While I may laugh about this now, really my momma was teaching me a life lesson.  She was teaching me that what the man or woman of God was speaking was something I needed to hear. We were expected to be still in the pews.   She was teaching me that one needed to respect the word of God and the voice of God.  Now I’m not saying if people get up while a pastor is preaching because it’s an emergency is wrong, but what I am saying is that there needs to be a level of respect.  I’ve done the best I could in general to teach my daughter’s very similarly.

            Many people don’t respect what God is saying in churches and they don’t outside of them either.  How sad it is, and I know I’ve done this with God on occasion too, when we ask God to speak to us but it’s as if the moment he starts to speak we get distracted and ignore Him. 

            It is true that God can speak to us anywhere, but I think too many people are trying to multitask with the voice of God.  Too many aren’t really taking the time to hear what He’s saying.  If we seek Him, we will find Him (Deut 4:29), but so often we want Him to yell over all the noise and we forget that sometimes He speaks in the still small voice (1 Kings 19:12)

            I’ve spent about the last month traveling.  It’s amazing to me how many people in the body (myself included) are in the midst of a transition season in their lives.  I find so often that the Body of Christ are truly a body, and when one goes through it often many are doing the same.  In this season of ‘transition and realigning’ how important it is for all of us to be reminded that God speaks to His people.  Seek Him for the answers to the things you have been questioning.  Seek Him and respect His voice enough to hear what He has to say.  Remember He wants to talk to you.  He wants to instruct you.  He wants to bring you clarity.

            God has awesome plans for your life.  Get excited!