Who's Listening Anyway
”when he (The Holy Spirit) said, “Go to these people and say: ‘You will always be listening, but never understanding; and you will always be looking, but never perceiving. For the hearts of these people have grown callous, their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them’” (Acts 28:26-27).
I have always struggled with doing two things at one time. I know so many people who can do several things at once: be online, have a conversation, keep up with the game on TV, text a client, cook dinner and know what their kids are into. I’m so envious! Why can’t that be me? Why can I only focus and do one thing at a time really well? Sometimes, I just have to laugh at myself.
As an interior designer, I have learned that to really understand how to help my clients, I can’t do anything else at that first meeting but ask questions and listen. I can't take notes either, because I might miss something while I'm writing. When I listen, I listen intensely, because I want to capture every microscopic detail.
This past year I have been trying to listen with this same intensity to God’s Word and the Holy Spirit. Wow! How different my experience with God has been since I began this more thoughtful journey. I see Him everywhere and in everything in my life! More importantly, so many things make more sense. What I have found is that you can’t know God through someone else. You have to want to know Him for yourself. He can’t just be a Sunday encounter. Your relationship with Him has to be anchored to more than a single experience each week. You have to want to seek Him on your own every day... intensely.
As we learn to listen more intently to His voice, perhaps that new habit will help us listen in a genuine way to the voices of those around us who are hurting. And after we truly hear and understand, then we must ask our Father to help us respond to what we’re hearing in appropriate ways -- as we also share the hope that we have in Christ Jesus.
By Kimberly Pope
I have always struggled with doing two things at one time. I know so many people who can do several things at once: be online, have a conversation, keep up with the game on TV, text a client, cook dinner and know what their kids are into. I’m so envious! Why can’t that be me? Why can I only focus and do one thing at a time really well? Sometimes, I just have to laugh at myself.
As an interior designer, I have learned that to really understand how to help my clients, I can’t do anything else at that first meeting but ask questions and listen. I can't take notes either, because I might miss something while I'm writing. When I listen, I listen intensely, because I want to capture every microscopic detail.
This past year I have been trying to listen with this same intensity to God’s Word and the Holy Spirit. Wow! How different my experience with God has been since I began this more thoughtful journey. I see Him everywhere and in everything in my life! More importantly, so many things make more sense. What I have found is that you can’t know God through someone else. You have to want to know Him for yourself. He can’t just be a Sunday encounter. Your relationship with Him has to be anchored to more than a single experience each week. You have to want to seek Him on your own every day... intensely.
As we learn to listen more intently to His voice, perhaps that new habit will help us listen in a genuine way to the voices of those around us who are hurting. And after we truly hear and understand, then we must ask our Father to help us respond to what we’re hearing in appropriate ways -- as we also share the hope that we have in Christ Jesus.
By Kimberly Pope
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