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Listening to God
Listening to God is our Christian responsibility!
Do you remember the story of Samual as a young man sleeping in the House of God? Samual heard the voice of God and thought that it was Eli calling him.
Eli told him, “Go, lie down; and it shall be, if He calls thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord: for thy servant heareth…” I Sam. 3:9
My Experience
I woke in the night from a sound sleep with the jarring thought, “Pray for Bill Jenkins!” (name changed )
Problem was, I didn’t know a Bill Jenkins.
Never had.
I knew not to question God, however, so I prayed for the unknown person before falling back to sleep.
The next morning the unknown Bill was again in my prayers. By, then, curiosity had gotten the better of me and I turned to Facebook.
There were a good number of Bill Jenkins. My finger trailed down the lengthy list. I paused at number four–my slight touch and hesitation caused the profile to open.
My eyes fell on his most recent post, “Please pray for me…”
Chills coursed up and down my arms. This was the one.
He was a pastor seeking prayers. I prayed again. I read the comments on his post. Many were from members of his congregation. My comment explained my unusual means of arriving at his prayer request.
Bill’s church members began commenting on my comment. I began marveling at the way God works.
Bill and I still keep in touch for prayer needs, and God continues to keep amazing those of us who love Him.
Thoughts on listening
My husband, also a pastor, began musing upon this unusual nudge from God to me.
Maybe it wasn’t so unusual after all. Maybe God gives these calls for us to pray for others often. Maybe for each person needing prayer, many are asked to pray.
Maybe we often don’t listen to those whispers or attend those nudges God sends. Maybe we ignore them when they come.
How interconnected are we to others due to God’s touch which is both gentle and yet so powerful?
I later learned that Bill had overcome tremendous difficulties in his life. Perhaps challenges remained. God knew what that day held for him. I will never know. I knew only that God said to pray.
I don’t want to miss a single God directive.
I don’t want to let awareness wane on my part. I want to be used when God allows us to be a part of His miraculous work.
Don’t you?
Remember:
You want God to use you, and God wants to use you. You are endowed with His Holy Spirit dwelling in you to help you pray for others. Prayers always make a difference.
Let it happen!