Can You Hear Me Now?

Question:  why do you love someone?  Is it because of what they do for you, how they make you feel, how they treat you, because of what they purchase for you?  What is it that allows your heart to care so deeply for this one?

Question number two:  what happens when all of their gifts cease?  When they stop listening to every word you say, when they take your feelings for granted, and when they stop catering to your every need:  do you still love them then?

Question number three:  when the good times end, do you still consider this person worthy of your affection?

Psalm 116 begins with the writer saying he loves the Lord because… Because why?  Because He heard him.  Because He listened to his voice, to his requests, and not only did the Lord hear the writer, He really listened.  He got up close so as not to miss a word.   

Ahh, how I can relate!  So many times in my life I have just wanted someone to listen to me, to put everything else aside and fully concentrate on the words coming from my mouth.  I longed for someone to hear what I was saying and not to interrupt during the pauses, the moments when the words weren’t coming out as succinctly as I needed them to, or to not butt in as I was collecting my thoughts so that my sentences would make sense.

Can you relate?  I’m sure most have heard that “God gave us two ears and one mouth to better hear and speak half as much” or something to that effect.  James may have said it best in 1:19:  “...Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry…”

When you are troubled and want someone to just listen to you, is there a certain soul who comes to mind?  Someone that you just know will understand, will nod sympathetically as you pour your heart out, and who will not interrupt with her own stories and try to fix you when maybe you aren’t really even broken but just a little scattered and need to just sort things out as she wordlessly just...just listens?

The psalm writer found that One when he looked to God.  And, apparently, he had called upon Him more than once since his love for our Lord filled his heart with thanksgiving and praise.  That type of relationship doesn’t just happen, you know.  It takes trust and attention.  Sometimes I test folks with a casual or outlandish remark to see how they will respond.  I’m seeing if they are going to allow me to explain myself or to just think “That woman is nuts!” and walk away or describe how they would never do or think this.  Depending on their reaction, I then know if I can further open myself up and find an earthly friend worthy of my praise and loyalty.

In conclusion, sadly, it’s rare that one can find that type of friend. Thankfully though, we don’t have to keep our thoughts and emotions and dreams and wonderings to ourselves.  Nope!  Our heavenly Father is there, waiting and wanting to bend low to hear our every word!  No wonder He is called the Lover of our souls!  May He love on you today, friends, as you call out to Him with your concerns, with your most personal cares, and with your cries?  He wants to to be your Friend.  While others--not when--don’t drop everything when your voice calls out, God does.  His ear is inclined to you.  

Be still. Please.

“...why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear?”  Acts 15:10

Don’t you just hate it when you let someone down?  To see the flash of disappointment in their eyes that they try to hide because they are nicer than you are and to see that they have better control over their emotions than you did with your tongue?

I do.  I’ve always been the sensitive one and hurt when others hurt.  While my mantra is that I am a lover and not a fighter, when I see someone taken advantage of or walked upon, my anger simmers and comes to a quick boil as I wonder how on earth someone felt s/he was so high and lofty that this type of behavior was exhibited, enforced, and/or expected.  I’m not sure when this exalted position of power came into place.  I only know that I don’t like it.

Let’s try to be nicer; more considerate.  As children of Christ, none of us has a more esteemed role than another.  Sure, some of us might have been in church longer.  Others might have had parents who were better examples than some may have had.  Still more are in between:  the ones who are still learning, still leaning on those everlasting arms, and still letting go of the strongholds that have bound for so long.  

We’re in this together, friends.  Let’s open those arms of welcome.  Extend those hands of fellowship, being sure to keep those index fingers extended with the other three alongside of them as the thumb embraces warmly the hand offered.  And those tongues?  Let’s allow them to flow from them words of encouragement and love.  Turn them upwards into smiles of acceptance rather than scowls of rejection.

Be gentle.  Be tender.  Be Jesus to them.

Let’s pray!

Dear Lord God, for all of the times I prejudge or hold past transgressions against souls, I come sorrowfully before You, with head bowed low.  I know I have not always represented You well.  Oh that I had the eyes of Christ to see what You see:  that I had Your wisdom to see hearts rather than outward appearances that can be so misleading.

I don’t want to place a yoke on another’s neck, Father, when You have so lovingly and graciously taken mine from me.  Burdens of heartache aren’t always obvious, Lord.  We humans do a pretty good job of covering up when others don’t take the time to listen to us, especially when our words are few. We can get so occupied in our own stories of redemption and self that far too often we stifle the environment to what needs to be confessed or shared because we are oblivious to the sudden silence.  People aren’t always enthralled, Lord, with our tales as much as we mistakenly believe.  As we interpret their silence for anticipation for the rest of our stories, God, I ask that we make sure our audience is really still keyed in and realize we missed our cue and perhaps should exit stage left while their soliloquies are spoken.

May we--may I--be still and listen.  May I be welcoming yet quieter so that I  allow others the opportunity to be heard.  That’s what so many of us want, Lord:  just to be allowed to speak without interruptions as we work through the chains that have bound us.  Make me an instrument of Your peace is my desire, Father.  Play me, use me to soothe in the name of Jesus I ask.  Amen.

Day Twenty-Three

I have the distinct pleasure of being a part of a local church, Card Ministry, and a Wednesday morning Bible Study.  I also have an almost daily partner with whom to share a passage or two of scripture with, as well as many acquaintances on Facebook that constantly share encouraging pictures, quotes, and passages of scripture to remind all the day long of what a loving and compassionate Saviour I have.  Yes, I am the special one!  With that being said, how then can I add to the two verses shown in the picture that Jesus’ brother James wrote?  Hmn:  somehow I think we’re about to find out!

Nearly each Sunday and Wednesday evenings, prayer and praise requests are shared before the church service begins.  Pleas for loved ones who are ailing, prayers for family members who are wavering in their faith, and reminders of those in our community who are suffering loss are common.  Praises for the works Jesus is doing in lives, for healing of our members, and sometimes just for a pretty day can often be heard as well.  So, so far we are minding these verses from James.  Let me share them with you again, in case the picture’s writing is too small to see:

And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Confession.  “Confess your sins to one another,” James commands us to do.  But don’t stop there; don’t stop at the first part of the sentence and overlook the latter part.  “Pray for one another.”  

Wait a minute.  I thought we were talking about my sins, my needs, my failures.  Why would I go from confessing things about me to praying for others’ needs?  I’m the one in need of help here.

“That you may be healed.”

Ahh.  I get it.  When I take my eyes off of me, and put my heart into praying for others, I am then more like Jesus.  When I am more like Jesus, I become righteous through Him.  And then the last portion of the verse that says “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” shows what happens when Jesus steps in.  Great power happens.  The version you may be more familiar with says it this way:  “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (KJV).  My prayers become effective rather than just empty thoughts that really haven’t considered the needs of those I may be praying for.  They “avail much” which is just another way of saying that the results are fruitful.  If I’m only praying for myself and whining to others but not giving them due diligence in return, how can Jesus possibly make me better?  After all, isn’t He the One Who denied Himself so that you and I might have life, liberty, and salvation? If He did this for me, shouldn't I be doing it for others as well?

In short, when we have needs, faults, sins and confess them one to another, we are showing our humanity and our need for our Redeemer.  Then, after saying our piece and counting to three, then we start praying one for another, and we see others’ needs for a Redeemer to get them out of the messes they’ve gotten entrenched in.  We realize we’re all in the same boat and without Christ to allow us smooth sailing, then we are helpless and hapless.  By recognizing others before us, we are putting Christ first, as He taught us to.  

God is doing great things in my church.  He’s doing mighty things in my personal walk with Him.  Though I joked to my gals yesterday in BS that apparently they hadn’t been praying enough since my attitude was still a bad one all week, I had to reprimand myself and question:  “Stef, did you pray for them as much as you should have?  Did you speak to God personally on their requests or did you do a lump sum prayer and just throw their needs all together in one big heap and expect God to handle it?”  If I am not going to do my part, how dare I expect anyone else to do hers?  

“That you may be healed.”  Oh Lord, sometimes I feel so very broken.  My body seems to be falling apart and my soul?  Oh my soul, Father!  It’s tattered, bruised, and weak.  As I told Steve the other night when he was once again trying to fix me, I don’t need him to take on that responsibility.  YOU are the Healer, Lord.  But he’s human and it’s his nature--much like mine and those reading this--to want to fix things, to offer helpful solutions, to loan out self-help books and/or offer websites that tell you how to cure/mend/fix/repair and the like.  I mean, aren’t we the wise ones who know so much?  Why listen and then pray with that soul instead of using our vast knowledge and experience to correct those many blights in others?

Yeah, I know why, Lord.  We don’t want to give up control.  We want to appear strong, hip and with it, and yes, we want to save others when clearly this is not our job.  In order for someone to confess his/her faults, there needs to be someone to listen, right?  Help me, I ask, to listen.  To pat comforting taps on an arm.  And then?  Remind me to be quiet except when I then take that soul’s hand in mine and pray to You and let Your power show itself mighty.  That’s my part, Father.  May I remember it and let You do Yours as I step out of the way and watch.  These things I pray in the sweet name of Jesus Christ, my Healer, Redeemer, and Saviour.  Amen.

Shouldn't you be minding your own business instead of mine?

"Ma'am, can I ask you a question?" He looked at me, trying not to be embarrassed.  "I hate to be nosy but..." He hesitated as I looked at him, knowing what he was going to say next.  "Did you have surgery on your nose?"

He looked at me with such concern, both for my well-being and in case he had offended me.

I smiled at him and said I had.  He asked if it was because of skin cancer and I replied yes.  We went on to talk of the procedure I had done, had it hurt, did it hurt still, and then--this is key--then he mentioned his wife had found a spot on her nose and was going to have to see the doctor for more treatment on it.

"Big deal, Stef.  We all know you had this done.  We asked about you too.  What makes him so special?"

Can I answer you back in the most loving of ways?  The difference with this man was he asked about me.  He asked about my pain, my procedure, my experience.  He didn't butt in with his own horror tales or to tell me of his Uncle Herman's wife's sister's cousin who had cancer of another sort and how we needed to pray for them.  He asked about me.  He wanted to know about me.  He cared about me.  This stranger in Food Lion that I'll probably never see again took time out of his busy day to confront someone that he felt compelled to offer some sympathy to.

How often, friends, do we hear of another's woes and interrupt that soul to tell of our own miseries?  Do we do this to commiserate with him/her or are we just really so self-centered that we have to have the focus on us all of the time?  Please please please don't take this wrong but instead do this:  the next time you see or hear of someone who is sick, in the hospital, or has fallen on hard times, ask that person if it hurts, if it is okay now, and if not, is there something you can do.  Show this person that you are willing to give two minutes of your time to hear, to listen to the grief s/he is going through.  After all, isn't that what you really want too:  someone to just listen?  Not offer advice, not quote scriptures to you, not tell you about the malpractice suits filed against the doctors three states over for some mishap regarding Aunt Bertha's neighbor's friend Junie--who by the way we need to pray for because that one is in such a state.  Seriously?

Let's stop the gossip.  Let's stop comparing war wounds.  Let's just be still.  Pat that hurting one's hand.  Look him/her in the eye and show your love and concern.  Ask if there's anything you can do--'cause you know pretty much s/he isn't going to ask, that you just listening for these precious moments meant more than any casserole, any "putting you on the prayer list," or any other thing that put you in the limelight instead of the injured one.

1 Corinthians 12:17

If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?

Be nosy, sisters and brothers.  Let's take care of our other body parts, friends.  We need each part to function.  Let's be sure to give the care needed where it is needed, okay?  Great!