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The Daily Word of Righteousness
Listening to Jesus, continued
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. (Revelation 3:20,21—NIV)
Jesus is knocking at the door, Revelation tells us. He wants to come in and dine with us on His own body and blood.
The next verse (Revelation 3:21) talks about our sitting with Jesus in His throne. I think the two ideas are related. As we keep looking to Jesus for every detail of life, listening for His voice, and obeying His voice, He and the Father take Their rightful place on the throne of our personality.
It is the Judge who is standing at the door, James says, so we can expect the Lord to keep directing us to put to death our worldliness, the passions and appetites of our body, and our self-will.
It does no good to listen for the voice of Jesus if we are not ready and willing to do exactly as He says!
Every five minutes—"What are you saying now, Lord?"
Do you want to live like this? I do. This is the rest of God, where we cease trying to create our own heaven and earth and enter the Heaven and earth God has prepared from the foundation of the world.
I have learned a few things along the way about listening to Jesus. I will pass them on to you. Maybe you will get a helpful thought or two. It really is a dangerous way to live. You have to be very careful, very watchful to see if what you are hearing is really true in the outside world. You can be deceived if you are not carrying your cross and living as a Christian should. Above all, be ready to listen to the elders, also to your husband or wife. Have a teachable spirit and God will send people to keep you in line.
Do not, for heaven's sake, listen to Satan when he says: "What I am telling you seems to be against the Scriptures but God has made an exception for you. Do not confide in other people because they will never understand!"
Sometimes God does tell you something that is for you alone and not to be shared. But be very careful with this!
Also guard against voices that flatter you: "You are called to be a great prophet and to take spiritual dominion over your geographical area." This kind of flattery is seldom of the Lord. Watch out for voices telling you how great you are, what a great ministry you have, etc.
Jesus' sheep know His voice. The lambs are not always that discerning.
Both God and Satan are very practical. Both of them live in the present and deal with us in the present.
We humans tend to live in the pleasures, hopes, dreads, ambitions, and fears of the future. God deals with right now—"What are you saying to me right now, Lord?" God is not concerned about the future. This may be because He controls the future. The future will take care of itself if we are doing what God wants right now.
To be continued.