I don’t believe God just gives you one moment in life, but rather many special moments. There are moments when God speaks to you and you have to decide, what am I going to do? Will I say yes? When we say yes, I believe God uses us to change lives; the ripple effect goes on through the world. So often we miss those moments God wants to offer. So how do we get them? That’s what I want us to think about, three things I want to say.
First of all, you and I need to cultivate a receptive, listening heart. We live in a world full of so much noise. We run from the moment we get up to the moment we go to bed at night. Many nights, I come home so exhausted I face plant into bed. I’m not sure I brought a very receptive or listening heart on days like that. It’s the world that we live in. We’re bombarded by communication and people who want our time. Facebook, Instagram, Tweets, texts, emails; it never ends. Do you cultivate a receptive and listening heart? We are a few weeks into a brand new year and it’s a good time for all of us to renew our commitment to step back and commit to slowing down, to have a daily devotional in our lives. This might mean you disconnect for 10 minutes to sit quietly, connect and pray. Disconnect from your phone, computer and TV and just take a moment to pray and give thanks. When you step away from all the craziness and noise, that’s when you cultivate a receptive, listening heart. That is when you will hear God speak.
Secondly, you and I need to practice knowing the presence of God. Of course, we believe God is all around us, God is working in the world every day, but a lot of times we don’t see it because we are so busy and overwhelmed. I don’t know about you but I look at my day and I run so hard I’m trying to check off the list and I come to the end of the day and I feel further behind than when I started the day and I just feel overwhelmed. We can feel overwhelmed cause we don’t know how we’re going to figure out the finances, you feel overwhelmed when you face medical issues and you don’t know the answer, you feel overwhelmed when you struggle in relationships and how are we going to make this work out, you can feel overwhelmed with so many different struggles in your life and when you feel overwhelmed you start to feel alone. When you’re alone and overwhelmed it’s hard to hear God. Practice the presence to know that God is near, that you see God work and you’re not doing this alone.
Third, you and I need to remember that we stand in God’s grace. So often we forget and we get down on ourselves. You and I live in a lot of regret. To dwell on the mistakes, you’ve made, the failures you’ve had, it not only makes you feel bad, but it also causes you to forget that God has a message of grace that says you are forgiven, you are loved, you are still special in God’s eyes, He STILL wants to bless your life and use you to help change this world. If you and I will remember to stand in God’s grace it will help us to be able to see, we will start to hear God speak to us. The opportunities are there and when you say yes you will discover the power of one moment.
