Jesus welcomed the people, taught them about the Kingdom of God and healed those in need. Luke 9:11

Seeds of the Kingdom

A Speaking God

by Jim Graham

26 January 2009

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The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. The word of the Lord came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah…
Jeremiah 1:1-2, NIV

God not only LISTENS to the passionate pleadings from our mouths and the inarticulate cries from our hearts but He REPLIES. He does this in a multitude of ways through - the Bible; Christian fellowship; preaching; the natural world around us; the moral law within us; the prompting of the Holy Spirit; and a variety of other ways.

The important thing is that He wants a relationship with us - and you can’t have a relationship with anyone who never speaks to you or answers your questions. That is good news! The bad news is that God sometimes says things to us we don’t want to hear. That certainly was true in Jeremiah’s situation (Jeremiah 1: verses, 1, 6, 7, 11-17).


Once there was a man who dared God to speak.
Burn the bush like You did for Moses, God.
And I will follow.
Collapse the walls like You did for Joshua, God.
And I will fight.
Still the waves like You did on Galilee, God.
And I will listen.
So the man sat by a bush, near a wall, close to the sea
and waited for God to speak.
And God heard the man, so God answered.
He sent fire, not for a bush, but for a church.
He brought down a wall, not of brick, but of sin.
He stilled a storm, not of the sea, but of a soul.
And God waited for the man to respond.
And God waited………
And God waited……….
And God waited………
But because the man was looking at bushes, not hearts;
bricks not lives, seas not souls,
he decided that God had done nothing.
Finally he looked to God and asked, ’God, have You lost Your power?’
And God looked at the man and said, ’Man, have you lost your hearing?’

What do you think God is saying to you today?


Prayer: Thank you Lord that you have always wanted to speak to your people. Help me to so have my ears open that I will never miss hearing your voice. I want to both hear what you are saying and do what you want me to do because I love you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Jim Graham is the Pastor Emeritus of Gold Hill Baptist Church. He is also a member of the Advisory Board to Ellel Ministries International. He is to be one of the main speakers at the ARISE! Conference to be held at Blackpool from 25th to 28th February 2009. For further details please see the link or go to the Ellel Ministries website.

 

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