James 1:19
19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,
God is not meant to be kept in the periphery. He is meant to be at the center. Just thinking about God is not enough. You must spend time with Him and truly communicate with Him. You must set aside time each day to listen to Him.
You can spend a lot of time telling God what you want, what is wrong and even thanking Him. But do you spend time listening to what He has to say? Are you giving Him space in your life to communicate with you? What is God telling you today? How is He guiding you? How is He encouraging you? If you don’t know than you haven’t spent enough time listening.
The enemy wants you deaf to God’s guidance. He wants your conversation with God to be one sided. You do all the talking and therefor never get the chance to hear what God has to say. You never get the chance to grow in Christ. The enemy is aware that one sided conversations don’t grow relationships. That type of relationship is immature and all about one person. This is exactly where the enemy wants your relationship with God, focused on it being all about you. Taking time and never giving God time prevents the relationship from gaining depth.
God wants your relationship to be about growing with Him. He will listen to your comments from the periphery but wants more. He wants you to stop and take a step inward, towards Him, and listen. He wants you to not just go through the motions to check off your morning prayer box and hope it gets you somewhere. He wants you to get to know Him. You don’t listen for many reasons. The main reason is you don’t want to hear the hard stuff. You don’t want to do what you don’t want to do. God is on your side. All He asks and all He shares with you is for your good. Embrace the hard stuff. Listen and obey.
Prayer
Father God,
Thank you Father for helping my relationship with You grow. Thank you for drawing me close to You. Forgive me for the times I remain distracted and don't try. Forgive me for the times I keep you on the periphery. Guide me today. Help me to settle down and listen with my soul. Help me to hear all You call me to be and do. Thank you for bringing me back to You when I wander and get wrapped up in myself. I want our relationship to continue to grow. Continue to show me truths about myself and help me to be honest with myself. May I be "quick to listen and slow to speak."
In Your name,
Amen
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