Hello All!
I wanted to share what I’ve been learning recently as I’ve started working on my Master’s Program and begun preparing for my World Race Missions Trip. Currently I’m reading a book titled “The Art of Listening Prayer” by Seth Barnes for my Personal Spiritual Formation class. In this book, it emphasizes the importance understanding how our prayer is communication to and from God. And just like communication with any other person, communication can take many different forms (such as written messages, verbal, etc.). However, just like any conversation, as much as we are willing to talk, we must also be willing to listen. In addition, we must be expecting a response (that is, that God will answer us) and patient for that response. Just as us having a conversation with someone and them walking away just as you’re about to speak is rude, the same goes for how we interact with God. While we are to be honest and bring forth our desires, troubles, questions, etc., we must also be willing to listen to what God has to say in response.
For me, a couple of days ago, I was practicing this in which I was bringing some of my own personal pain and questions to God, asking his response. While it required me to completely surrender in my emotions and feelings, the response I received was well worth it. In this post, I’m just going to share a portion of what God revealed to me, as there were some personal things that pertained to me, but this portion really hit hard and I believe can benefit others as well. To provide some context, I was talking with God about me trying to live for others approval and how I was wondering if it was also tied to how I felt insignificant and replaceable at church. This was God’s response:
“Partially, yes. You evaluate your worth of serving at church with how many pats on the back you can get. But in that, you’re like a starving and desperate dog, desperate for attention, that you’ll exhaust yourself for the smallest crumb of affirmation. Instead of this, don’t equate your value based on who congratulates you or tells you ‘good job’, rather find your value in the type of work that you’re partaking in: the Lord’s work. And that is the greatest honor you can receive, knowing that your work has everlasting and eternal impact, not the temporal impact that solely your effort provides.”
Responding to God in honesty, I wrote back, “God, I’m hearing and reading this, but for some reason, it’s just not sinking into my heart. I don’t feel the weight I probably should feel.” And God’s response to that was:
“That’s because you don’t have an accurate/complete understanding of eternity. And part of that resides in your misunderstanding of what eternity and heaven will look like. You’re still in a temporal, present, earthly mindset.”
From that, God led me to the book of Matthew where he revealed some things to me about heaven and eternal life based on what is stated in the scriptures. But from this, I want to ask you a question, “Do you really understand the urgency of today and the impact of eternity?” Within our culture, our procrastination and putting off of things reflects the notion that many of us subconsciously buy into – we have plenty of time. However, scripture paints a different picture. For example:
“How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? You life is like the morning fog-it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.” – James 4:14
Just as this scripture shows us, tomorrow is not guaranteed. While we might think or live like we have all the time in the world, that is not the case. And because of this, we must understand the urgency of today and how both our words and actions have the capacity to impact someone’s eternity. While we may not be able to change someone’s heart, we can plant the seed in obedience. So here’s a final reflection question: “What’s keeping you from living for God fully surrendered to his will in this present moment?”
Love you all,
– Hunter Land
