to hear

Think of someone who is close to you.

When they are joyful, do you know it? If they are upset, can you sense it? Can you identify the times that you please them?

My Utmost for His Highest says,

"... If I love my friend, I intuitively detect what he wants, and Jesus says, 'Ye are My friends.' ...The destiny of my spiritual life is such identification with Jesus Christ that I always hear God, and I know that God always hears me (John 11:41). If I am united with Jesus Christ, I hear God, by the devotion of hearing all the time... What hinders me from hearing is that I am taken up with the other things. It is not that I will not hear God, but I am not devoted in the right place. I am devoted to things, to service, to convictions, and God may say what He likes but I do not hear Him."

This concept jumped out at me tonight. Lately, I have been hearing again and again the importance of drawing close to Jesus. It is not necessarily about the circumstances, but about the relationship. Life goes on, and well, it always will. Where we are in it is irrelevant if we don't have a foundation in Christ. He must be Who we know and follow, and then our lives will take shape accordingly.

So many times, I look at my circumstances and think: Why? How? When? Lord, for what reason? What does this mean?

We can ask God questions, and we should. Yet my focus would be better directed in His Word, searching out Truth and drawing closer to Him. The answer is often not a "yes" or a "no" or a "him" or a "that," but it is a lesson He teaches, a life that He touches, or a patience that He grows.

The deeper I know Christ, the more in tune I will be with what He is telling me. Just as I know it when a friend is pleased, I will know it when my ways are pleasing to the Lord. And just as I know when my friend is disappointed, I will sense it when my life does not match the Truth.

I know I may have used this example before, but my former elder once asked me, "How do they know when money is counterfeit?"

I didn't know the answer.

"They study the real thing," he said.

By knowing what is real, what is honest, what is lovely, and what is TRUTH, we can quickly discern what is not. And when the "what is nots" take over, it becomes very difficult to hear the Lord.

Let's devote ourselves in the right place!

Love you all!

T