The Interior Life – Maintenance of the Inner Man -- Part 7: A Listening Spirit

MESSAGE SUMMARY: Paul, in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 , describes the characteristics of the inner life and the maintenance of the inner man: “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.". The Spirit is that part of us that communes with the Lord when we become a Christian. Without Jesus, we are not fully alive because, without Jesus one has a dead Spirit. It is by Grace that we are saved and then our faith in Jesus awakens our Spirit. We listen to and for the Lord with the Holy Spirit. God desires to speak to His people. God wants to speak to us and tell us about things in our lives like what His will is for us. However, we live in a noisy world; therefore, listening to and for the Lord is difficult.

All the noise in the world and in our lives, has conditioned our Spirit to be dulled in listening to and for the Lord. Our Spirit is constantly under bombardment and distraction. As God spoke in Psalms 46:10 : “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”. With the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as Christians, God will speak to us in a variety of ways: 1) through the still small voice; 2) as we study the Bible – the Lord’s voice is both His spoken Word and in His written Word; 3) in our prayer, which is both talking and listening to God; 4) through teachings and sermons; 5) through our Christian friends; 6) through music; and 7) through the desires of our hearts, as the Psalmist tell us  in Psalms 37:4: “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.".  However, be careful trusting the word from yourself if you are not in the Holy Spirit.

We need to be to listen to and for the Lord. These are exercises, in our lives, that we can practice to tune our Listening Spirit to the Lord: 1) build times of silence in our lives; 2) practice solitude – being quit and alone with the Lord; 3) read and study His Word; 4) pray in intercessory prayer – talk to God in the behalf of others; 5) keep a prayer journal; and 6) obey God – when God speaks to us, He expects us to obey, as we find in Jeremiah 7:23 : “But this command I gave them: ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’". If we don’t obey the Lord, He will quit speaking to us: “What’s the point?”.

TODAY’S PRAYER: Keeping the Sabbath, Lord, will require a lot of changes in the way I am living life. Teach me, Lord, how to take the next step with this in a way that fits my unique personality and situation. Help me to trust you with all that will remain unfinished and to enjoy my humble place in your very large world. In Jesus’ name, amen. Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day (p. 129). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT. If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! (Luke 11:13 ).

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV):  Jeremiah 33:3; John10:27 ; 1 Kings 19:11 ; Genesis 22:18 . (Click the blue below to read the full Bible text for these scripture references in BOLD.).

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