- (MSG) God has no use for the prayers of the people who won't listen to him.
- Mark 7:99 (MSG) He [Jesus] went on, "Well, good for you. You get rid of God's command so you won't be inconvenienced in following the religious fashions!
- Jer6:10 (NLT) To whom can I give warning? Who will listen when I speak? Their ears are closed, and they cannot hear. They scorn the word of the LORD. They don't want to listen at all.
- Rom 1:24-25 (AMP) 24Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their [own] hearts to sexual impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves [abandoning them to the degrading power of sin], 25because they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, Who is blessed forever! Amen (so be it).
- 2 Chronicles 7:14 (AMP) If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.
Daily business issues-daily living issues-often seem to be out of the "realm" of prayer and reading the Word. It was the "big" issues that drive people to seek God; but it is those small, daily issues that we think we can handle on our own, that begin our slide down the slippery slope of idolatry where we worship the creature rather than the creator.
And if you are like me, you might dismiss some of the warnings in Scripture about ignoring the Law of the Lord. After all, Scripture is speaking to a nation of rebellious people. I'm not worshipping wooden or golden idols. I'm not building alters to some statue or fingering some beads in hope that if I recite words enough, I will be considered "good." I'm not a Religious leader (like a Pharisee) who Jesus scourged with words before they scourged him with whips. I'm not one of those has been "liberated" and worship the body to the point of finding satisfaction with men. No, I'm straight and I'm not like those kinds of people. Not I.
Then it hit me: I am just like them when I "do it my way" and ignore God's way. What I am often guilty of is simply not listening to God.
Running a business. Determining strategy. Developing and implementing a sales plan. Preparing to mentor. The stuff of life. Even as a young Christian, there were times I thought, God's Word had little to say to help me do those kind of things. How wrong!
His Word is the essential of life: it provides a foundation for our core values. It shapes our purpose. It gives us true meaning. All the business and personal activities are about who we are and how we relate to others. God's Law is about both: who we are in Christ (and without Christ) and how we are to relate to others (with grace and truth - as He did).
His Word is essential. In the morning I wash my face with water and sometimes with the Word - but the later is more important to the act of living than the former. And it is sometimes. I could cover up the smell of the night with cologne if I skip water; but I cannot cover-up the smell of my sin, my arrogance, and my pride by skipping the washing of the Word. Tuning my ears to God's thoughts begins with my eyes focused on His word and my heart focused on Him in prayer.
How interesting; God listens to us when we listen to Him. Are you listening?
Copyright (c) 2006 by P. Griffith Lindell
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