The other day I was contemplating on what lengths we cause God to go to sometimes just to get our attention. Many times we get so busy within our own little worlds with things that are "yes important" such as family, ministry, career, entertainment, etc. that we often forget to "Stop, Look, & Listen" for the MOST IMPORTANT. What's that you ask. GOD!
God yearns to have constant dialogue with His children. Not once a month, once a week, but on a daily basis. He often speaks to us but because our antenna is not synchronized to the Holy Ghost radio signal we don't even hear Him. Imagine if Abraham's spirit wouldn't of been in tune with God's Spirit when he had the knife raised in the air ready to come down upon his son Issac. He would of not heard God's voice "Lay not thy hand upon the lad". Needless to say the story in Genesis would of been a lot different.
If we desire to hear Gods voice, have a healthy relationship with Him, & not miss His will in our lives we (I'm including myself here) must "Stop, Look, & Listen" on a daily basis. Stop to speak to God (PRAY), Look at His word (STUDY), and Listen for His voice (THAT'S WHEN WE STOP TALKING).
Now I could already hear somebody saying "Whatcha talkin bout Willis"! "My relationship with God is good"! "I mean just look at how saturated my calendar is with ministry & activities for God"! My response to you is I've heard that one before. Where you may ask. Matthew 7: 22-23 "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works"? Let me stop here and say WOW! These dudes were heavy duty. In our day they'd be considered superstars. Just look at their resume. Prophesying (with accuracy), Casting out devils (like it aint no thang), & many wonderful works (talk about a miracle crusade). To their surprise the Lord's response wasn't "Man you guys were awesome", no it was more like "And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity". God dropped the "I never knew you" BOMB on them. How is this possible? Surely we would expect these guys that apparently had it all together, to have it all together".
When I read this passage of scripture for the first time it scared me half to death. After the nightmares stopped about this passage I began to look at how this could be. The only thing I was able to discover (bare with me here) was when Jesus tells these apostolics "I never knew you" the Greek word he uses for knew is (ginosko) which is defined as "to become acquainted with, to know, & it's a Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse between a man and a woman". In other words "INTIMACY". Kind of like in Genesis 4: 1 "And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived...". Or like in Luke 1: 34 "Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man"? I realized that more important than being a superstar in ministry is to have an intimate relationship with God. My Pastor has always said "God is more interested in who we are in him, than what we could do for him".
So here's a word to the wise. Why not "Stop, Look, & Listen" before God makes us "Stop, Look, & Listen". Perhaps through a dilemma with no way out, or a hospital bed such as I found myself in a few weeks back. What about a jail cell. Extreme you say. Maybe, maybe not. Don't force God to get your attention. God loves you so much he'd rather we suffer a little now than an eternity later. 2 Peter 3: 9 "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance".
God yearns to have constant dialogue with His children. Not once a month, once a week, but on a daily basis. He often speaks to us but because our antenna is not synchronized to the Holy Ghost radio signal we don't even hear Him. Imagine if Abraham's spirit wouldn't of been in tune with God's Spirit when he had the knife raised in the air ready to come down upon his son Issac. He would of not heard God's voice "Lay not thy hand upon the lad". Needless to say the story in Genesis would of been a lot different.
If we desire to hear Gods voice, have a healthy relationship with Him, & not miss His will in our lives we (I'm including myself here) must "Stop, Look, & Listen" on a daily basis. Stop to speak to God (PRAY), Look at His word (STUDY), and Listen for His voice (THAT'S WHEN WE STOP TALKING).
Now I could already hear somebody saying "Whatcha talkin bout Willis"! "My relationship with God is good"! "I mean just look at how saturated my calendar is with ministry & activities for God"! My response to you is I've heard that one before. Where you may ask. Matthew 7: 22-23 "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works"? Let me stop here and say WOW! These dudes were heavy duty. In our day they'd be considered superstars. Just look at their resume. Prophesying (with accuracy), Casting out devils (like it aint no thang), & many wonderful works (talk about a miracle crusade). To their surprise the Lord's response wasn't "Man you guys were awesome", no it was more like "And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity". God dropped the "I never knew you" BOMB on them. How is this possible? Surely we would expect these guys that apparently had it all together, to have it all together".
When I read this passage of scripture for the first time it scared me half to death. After the nightmares stopped about this passage I began to look at how this could be. The only thing I was able to discover (bare with me here) was when Jesus tells these apostolics "I never knew you" the Greek word he uses for knew is (ginosko) which is defined as "to become acquainted with, to know, & it's a Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse between a man and a woman". In other words "INTIMACY". Kind of like in Genesis 4: 1 "And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived...". Or like in Luke 1: 34 "Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man"? I realized that more important than being a superstar in ministry is to have an intimate relationship with God. My Pastor has always said "God is more interested in who we are in him, than what we could do for him".
So here's a word to the wise. Why not "Stop, Look, & Listen" before God makes us "Stop, Look, & Listen". Perhaps through a dilemma with no way out, or a hospital bed such as I found myself in a few weeks back. What about a jail cell. Extreme you say. Maybe, maybe not. Don't force God to get your attention. God loves you so much he'd rather we suffer a little now than an eternity later. 2 Peter 3: 9 "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance".
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