Stop...Look...Listen

Most Christians today seem to be more concerned in having God hear what they have to say than they are in hearing what God has to say. I heard someone say one time,"Are you willing, not to present your program to God for His signature, not even to be presented with God's program for your signature, but to sign a blank sheet of paper and let God fill it in without your even knowing what His program is going to be?"
A little girl once said about her kitten when she heard it purring in it's sleep,"Oh Mama, the kitty's gone to sleep and left it's engine running!" You may run around but still be asleep spiritually. Unless you get quiet and try to seek the Lord, how are you ever going to get anything from the Lord? I've gotten more from the Lord when alone and in quiet than any other way. The Lord speaks in a still, small, but very definite, very firm, very loving voice, but if you are too noisy you're not going to hear it!
The only time you can hear is when you sit down and get quiet! That's why God has to knock so many people flat...to make them stop long enough to listen. Lord help us to get quiet before Him and listen ! You need to have quiet time with the Lord.
You're going to have to get quiet by yourself, somewhere, somehow, sometime, if you are going to hear from the Lord! The very fact that you keep quiet shows you have faith, it shows you are expecting God to do something and not trying to do it yourself.
If you don't know what to do, stop everything! Get quiet and wait for God. The worst thing you can do is to keep going when you don't know what to do! If you are not trusting, you're going to be in confusion all the time. Trusting is a picture of complete rest, peace and quiet of mind, heart and spirit. Your body may have to keep moving, but your attitude is calm. That's why you can have peace in the midst of storm and calm in the eye of the hurricane. Quietness is a sign of Faith!
Jesus, on the eve of His ministry, went out and spent 40 days and nights on the mountain Himself. He had to defeat the Devil first! I wonder how much of that 120 years Noah spent praying while building the ark ? It had never even rained before! But he just went calmly about his business building the ark.
The farmer is the perfect example of faith and patience. He just has to trust that the Lord will make the plants grow and not worry about it. God does the biggest part ...He makes it grow! All the farmer is there for is to supervise things. If there's any picture of a quiet type of personality, it's the farmer! His moto is,"Go slow!"
If you live in an atmosphere of spiritual and physical confusion, you'll develop a hardness against the voice of God, because you have to develop a deafness to all that noise! If you live in quiet and peace and calm and stillness, you'll find your ears becoming very keen and sharp.

Country people are usually slow and patient. They live next to God's creation and they are dependant on the Lord. We should take a lesson from the farmer! You need to learn to listen to the Lord most of all. You come to Him with respect and you sincerely present your petition and you wait to get the answer. The most important job you have is listening to the Lord: To Stop, Look and Listen! One of the biggest lessons you're going to have to learn is to wait for the Lord to work!

First Place

I was longing to serve the Master

But, alas I was laid aside

From the busy field of workers

In the harvest field so wide.

There were few, yes, few in number

And I could not understand

Why I should be left inactive

It was not as I had planned.

I was longing to serve the Master

And the need indeed was great.

For me it was easy to labour

But oh, it was hard to wait!

To lie quite still and be silent

While the song was borne to my ear

From the busy field of workers

In the harvest field so dear.

I was longing to serve, just to serve the Master

But He led to a desert place

And there as we stopped and rested

His eyes looked down in my face

So full of tender reproaching

They filled me with sad surprise!

Did He think I had begrudged my service

Or counted it sacrifice?

"Oh Master, I long to serve, just to serve Thee

There are so few at the best

Let me off to the fields," I pleaded

"I care not to stay and rest"

I knelt at His feet, imploring

I gazed in His face above

"My child", he said,"don't you know

Your service is nothing without your love ?"

I was longing to serve, to serve my Master

Oh this was my one fond thought

For this I was ever pleading

As His footstool in prayer I sought.

But there in that lonely desert

Apart from the busy scene

It dawned on me slowly and clearly

Where my great mistake had been

My mind was so full of service, just service

I had drifted from Him apart

And He longed for that sweet communion

The union of heart with heart!

Well, I sought and I found forgiveness

While my eyes with pain were dim

And now, though His work is still precious

The first place is kept for Him!

Remember that hurry is lack of faith and is of the Devil! If you're hurrying and rushing around,fretting and impatient, you'll never be able to focus your full attention on the Lord for the solution to the problem, the best decision for the situation! But when you have learned to stop, look and listen and wait in communion with Him, you will have learned how to make decisions! You will have learned to pray and to truly follow God.