February 18, 2010

• Lord, give us ears to hear like Nehemiah, Isaiah & Samuel

  Continuing in my series of reflections on prayer...
  
  Over the past week or so, I've posted a few prayers based on Nehemiah (please see here, here and here), and I've been continuing to ponder Nehemiah 2:5:

  And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' graves, that I may rebuild it.”

  That made me think of Isaiah's call from the Lord:

  And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
  

  And I heard...

  Nehemiah also had heard God calling Him... In Nehemiah 2:12, we read Nehemiah refer to what "my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem."

  When was the last time You heard God?

  How can we hear God calling us?

  How can we hear the voice of the Lord if our prayer time is full of our speaking to God?

  Do we ever give Him time to speak to us?

  How can we be receptive to what God is desiring to put into our hearts for His people apart from sitting silently before Him?

  How can His heart's desire be implanted into our hearts apart from our cultivating listening ears before Him?

  So often we think of prayer as our talking to God, a one-way street. Of course, we are to speak to God in prayer; yes, that is part of the blood-bought privilege of prayer, but let us not forget that prayer also involves our listening to God. Prayer is intimate fellowship and communion with the living God and that is a two-way communication. Certainly the living God wants to communicate to us. Certainly our God has something He wants to speak to us, does He not? He is God after all? How much time do we sit and listen to other people (conversations, messages, blogs, books, sermons), but how little time do we spend listening to our God?

  How can we know God's will if we are not listening for His voice as we pray and read His Word? If we continue to speak and speak and speak, but we are never still or quiet before Him, if we never sit before Him silently, how will we hear His Holy Spirit speaking His word and His calling into our hearts? I know you are here because you have already heard Him speaking to you, that He has already been drawing you to more intimate communion with Him. I am praying He might still our souls and give us ears to hear Him, to hear His voice so we might know how He wants to send each of us...He has redeemed us so we might walk in good works He has ordained for us. O, may we not waste our lives in walking in works to which He has not called us! I am praying He would make clear to each of us what holy ambition He has for each of us. Yours will be different from mine, certainly, but let us all turn our ears to Him and listen to Him so we might hear and respond in obedience to His still small voice when He is speaking to us.

  There is much rebuilding to be done in His Church. You know I am burdened for the state of the Church in much the same way Nehemiah was burdened for the people of God and the city of Jerusalem. My prayer is that as you read and reflect on these things, God would put a desire in you to go away and shut yourself into your closet and listen to Him...really listen...

  I am continuing to pray He would raise up laborers for the harvest. We are all laborers called to His harvest. May He give each of you listening ears and a circumcised heart to hear and obey Him with joy, for the edification of His Church all to His glory.

  ~Karen

  I Samuel 1:1  Now the young man Samuel was ministering to the LORD under Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.
  
  2  At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place. 3  The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was.
  
  4  Then the LORD called Samuel, and he said, “Here I am!” 5  and ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down.
  
  6  And the LORD called again, “Samuel!” and Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” 7  Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.
  
  8  And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the young man. 9  Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant hears.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
  
  10  And the LORD came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.”

  Lord, You have taught us to pray.
  Lord, teach us to pray again.
  We are Your children only by Your love, mercy and grace.
  We are not our own, we have been bought with a price, Your precious blood.
  We confess we so often begin to live to ourselves.
  Forgive us when we forget You have a holy calling on each of our lives.
  We confess we so often speak to You and so seldom listen to You.
  Forgive us for speaking when we should have been silent.
  Still our hearts and souls before You.
  Give us ears to hear You.
  Give us ears to hear You like Your servants Nehemiah, Isaiah and Samuel.
  We are Your servants, O Lord.
  Our lives are not our own.
  You have purchased us.
  We know You have saved us so we might walk in good works by Your power, to Your glory.
  We know the harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few.
  We have seen the ruins.
  We are mourning here.
  Sometimes we don't know where to begin the ruins are so great, both in our own hearts, not to mention in the Church.
  Open our ears, Lord, so we might hear Your voice over our own voice and the voices of the world and the devil.
  We love You.
  We love Your Church.
  We know our love is small but we pray You would increase our love for You and Your Church.
  We are Yours to do with as You will.
  We offer ourselves to You.
  Do with us as You will for the sake of Your Church, for the sake of Your Name, for Your glory alone.
  Open our ears to hear.
  Speak, Lord, for Your servants are listening.
  Put into our hearts the holy ambition You have for each of us to serve You.
  Circumcise our hearts to desire to obey Your word to us.
  We are trusting You will equip us with everything we need to do Your will and work what is pleasing in Your sight (Heb. 13:
  Amen.

  Psalm 116:16  O LORD, I am your servant;
  I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.
  You have loosed my bonds.
  17  I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving
  and call on the name of the LORD.
  18  I will pay my vows to the LORD
  in the presence of all his people,
  19  in the courts of the house of the LORD,
  in your midst, O Jerusalem.
  Praise the LORD!
  
  Hebrews 13:20  Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21  equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

  Please sit silently before Him and listen.
  Then after a time, please add your prayers as He leads.

  • 2:11 PM
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