.....Hearing And Obeying God!

"Now the LORD came and stood and called as at other times, "Samuel! Samuel!" And Samuel answered, "Speak, for Your servant hears." - 1 Samuel 3:10

There are two questions before us. The first question is: How many of us are willing to hear the voice of God? Jesus said, Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate (Matthew 23:34, 37-38). Were these people willing to hear the voice of God? Thousands of years before Christ was born in Bethlehem, the Holy Spirit said, "Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out, in the gateways of the city she makes her speech: "How long will you simple ones love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you. But since you rejected me when I called and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand, since you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke, I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you." - Proverbs 1:20-26

Lord, there seems to be a thousand voices calling to me in this world. Help me to discern Your voice above them all and obediently listen...Amen!

"Come now, and let us reason together," says the LORD, "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool." - Isaiah 1:18

The second question is: How many are worthy to hear His voice? In Acts 13:46b Paul and Barnabas told the people, "Since you reject it . . . we turn to the Gentiles." This is a terrible judgment. But here is the gist of what I want to say: A radical and sweeping reformation is imperative among the people called Christians - Protestants generally and evangelicals in particular. What is meant by reformation? Some may recoil from that word; I have heard people say, "I do not believe in reformation - I believe in regeneration." That sounds good and it gets some amens, but the fact is, if you do not have reformation you cannot have regeneration. The Holy Spirit will not come and regenerate carnal, stubborn people who will not obey Him. First there must be a reformation. "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. "Come now, and let us reason together," says the LORD, "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool." - Isaiah 1:16-18

Father, sometimes the cost of obeying You seems so great, so painful. But what infinite cost is not obeying You...Amen!


Come Lord Jesus!