Dearly Beloved,
God is trying to get your attention. Your attention is elsewhere. Not on Him. Your ears and your eyes are focusing on other people and other things and other thoughts, and not on Him.
God is using His voice, His power, His Spirit, His Word, His church, His children to try to get your attention.
“Why” do you ask? For what purpose is God trying to get your attention?
It is for these reasons:
- You are worried and concerned about many things, but only one thing is needed. And that one thing that is needed is that you sit at the feet of Jesus and listen
- You say prayers and sing songs and speak words with your mouth that are supposedly for God’s glory and in line with His truth but in fact your heart is far from Him. You need to have an agreement of your speech with your heart. Your heart needs to desire Christ and His glory and holiness above all else, and your speech and actions need to reflect this.
- You keep on judging other people and in fact the things you are judging them about are the exact same failings and sins that you yourself have committed. You need to stop judging and let God’s declaration of what is right and wrong come upon you. Let God convict you and deliver you from sin, and then once the log is out of your eye you can help the other person get the splinter out of their eye
- You keep on cussing and cursing and saying unhelpful, untruthful things that do not build up but instead tear down. God is calling you to stop saying hateful things, stop saying crude, crass and coarse things. Let the words of your mouth and the meditation of your heart be pleasing in His sight. Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is useful for building others up according to their needs so that it will benefit those who listen.
- You are consumed with anger. The anger is because you have been hurt and you’re afraid. Sometimes your anger is because you feel out of control. But God wants to give you a peaceful spirit, a settled spirit, the Spirit of holiness, His own spirit of truth and gentleness and restfulness. Stop sinning in your anger or something worse will happen to you
- You are running from the truth. As a matter of fact you already have been hearing the voice of the Lord in many different ways but you are ignoring it because you know it will cost you something. But the more you run, the more you hurt and the more fear you will have. Stop running, cease striving, be still and know that He is God. Wait patiently in His presence for Him to act. Those who wait on the Lord will be empowered to run, but not away from everything and everyone but instead on His path of righteousness, for His name sake and along the way you will be able to help other people because the truth from God will have truly set you free
God is trying to get your attention. But instead of listening you are trying to drown out His voice and cover up your sins and hide yourself from Him. But it is not working. The storm will continue to surge around you until you, like Jonah, admit that you are running from God and ignoring the Lord. Once you admit it, you will be able to find the deliverance and renewal of God in your life.
Dearly Beloved, you may not know how to stop and listen. You may not know how to stop running. You may not know how to get off the crazy ride that this world and your sin are taking you on. But I am here to tell you:
- Jesus Christ died for you and His grace is enough to save you
- God is willing and able to save you and make you whole
- Cry out to the Lord. Call on His name on you will be saved
- Repent and believe
- Turn away from your sin and the world
- Abandon your selfishness and hypocrisy
- Admit that God is calling you out and reach out to a spiritual guide (pastor, teacher, Christian brother/sister) who can help you find God’s path
- Let God remove the scales from your eyes so that you can see not only your sin and stuckness but also His amazing and all-sufficient power and grace which is able to forgive, cleanse and make you new.
Please, please, please, stop playing games with God and just get all in with Him. Hold nothing back. Pray and surrender and then watch and see what God will do for you and in you.
Pastor Michael Johnson 