Day Sixteen

Am I devoted to Jesus or to my To-Do list?

Jesus wants us to be so devoted to Him and our lives to be so intertwined with His that all that we do throughout the day is a direct result of our time spent with our Father. Too often, we go ahead of God by making our plans and our lists of what needs to happen and what needs to get done. You see, we do it all backwards—we make our lists and then ask God to bless our tasks and efforts rather than first spending time alone with God and then making our 'To Do' lists.

Why is this so hard for us? Why would we rather be in charge of our lists? Quite frankly, it has a lot to do with that word ‘charge’. We love to be in charge. We love to be in control. It makes us feel safe. It makes us feel busy, which makes us feel useful, which makes us feel important. On the contrary, waiting on God to direct us through our day feels scary. We don’t know where it might take us and what we might have to do. Waiting on God to lead us can also be frustrating for our task-oriented souls. By golly, we want an answer and a solution yesterday! We’ve been brainwashed in our results-driven world to believe that if we’re not ’doing’ than we’re not producing. Waiting on the Lord to direct us means cultivating a relationship with Him that involves stillness and solitude so we can hear His gentle, quiet voice.

Do we have a posture of listening to our Father? Are we inclining our ears to hear? Our attitude should be as Samuel’s in 1 Samuel 3: ’Speak, for your servant hears.’  In ‘My Utmost for His Highest’ Oswald Chambers writes, ‘What hinders me from hearing, is my attention to other things. It is not that I don’t want to hear God, but I am not devoted in the right areas of my life. I am devoted to things and even to service and my own convictions...I become deaf to Him because my attention is to other things—things which I think I must do. This is not living the life of a child of God.’

Jesus said, ‘You are my friends if you do what I command’ (John 15:14).  Are you listening so that you can obey?

Dear Heavenly Father,

I come to You asking You to give me a listening ear. Lord, Your Word says, ‘Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. (Rev. 3:20).’  Forgive me for far too often running ahead of you and doing my own thing. Forgive me specifically for _________.  Lord, I invite You in today to the table. I will recline and rest at the table of Your presence and eat from the abundance of Your Word. As I feast on You, unclog my ears of my agenda. Your Word calls Your Spirit my Counselor—be my Counselor and direct me in the ends and outs of today. Whether I turn to the right or left, let my ears hear a voice behind me saying, “This is the way; walk in it (Isa. 30:21).” Give the women at Deeper Still ears to hear on June 10-11. Make their ears attentive and inclined to Your Word. Give them discerning hearts and ears that will seek out Your Truth (Prov. 18:15). Lord, Your Word tells us in 2 Tim 4:3 that in the last days, people will gather teachers around them that will only tell them what their itching ears want to hear. Lord, infiltrate Beth, Kay and Priscilla’s message with Your Truth and Your Truth alone. Even if the message is hard for some to hear, open up their ears to it and give them a heart of repentance.

In Jesus Name I Pray,
Amen.