Begin the New Year with New Ears
Did you hear that?
My eyes widened as I listened to the noise coming from the backyard one morning.
“I wonder what it is,” my husband, Keith, replied. We looked in the direction of the backyard as it continued. “Is it an animal crying or is it a bird?” I asked. Neither of us could spot an animal or a bird; but I settled on it being the later.
That evening we sat down to visit; only to be disturbed again by the noise. “I’m sick of that bird,” I confessed to Keith. I was reminded of when my daddy used the term “sick and tired” to describe a situation he longed were different. Is there anything you’re “sick and tired of”? Perhaps the extra weight you carry that makes you sluggish. Perhaps you’re “sick and tired” of the guilt that weighs your heart. Or, maybe you’re “sick and tired of” the same marital, financial, or family problems you carry from one year into the next.
Keith responded to my being “sick” of the annoying “bird.”
“Are you sure it’s coming from outside? I think it’s mechanical,” he replied, looking upward in the house. I had no idea what he was thinking as he headed upstairs. However, he was correct. The solution to the problem wasn’t quieting a bird in the backyard. It took him going upstairs to find the solution.
New Year Resolution Revolution
This year, what if instead of flippantly making New Year resolutions to fix what we’re “sick and tired of,” we went “upstairs” for the solution? What if we prayerfully asked our Heavenly Father for His perspective on how we might change or attain goals? As we begin 2016, we might consider:
Is My New Year Resolution Coming from My Father
New Year resolutions can be earthly or heavenly. A heavenly resolution is a result of prayer when we ask our Father, “What do you want of me?” Or, if we already know an area about which God has convicted us, then our resolution is to follow His voice when He prompts us to turn from sin and toward obedience.
Will I Pay Attention and Obey My Father’s Voice this Year
Numerous voices vie for our attention. Noise can keep us from hearing God’s voice.
To hear God’s voice we need to be still. We need to listen.
I invite you to join me for two upcoming opportunities to become better spiritual listeners. The first is this Monday at noon at Hill Country Ministries, 1127 East Main, Suite 200. I’m holding a New Year Prayer Journaling Workshop.
What Is A Prayer Journaling Workshop
I’ll be sharing different ways to record not only the prayers of our heart that we voice to God; but also various ways to journal… when God speaks to us.
Does Our Heavenly Father Still Speak?
Yes, which leads me to the second opportunity. Saturday, January 23, 9-12, Trinity Baptist Church is opening its doors to the community for my conference; “Listen UP! 31 points about the Holy Spirit every Christian should know and how to better discern HIS VOICE. I misjudged what I thought was a bird. I don’t want to miss what my Heavenly Father says, and I bet you don’t want to, either. Join me January 4 for the Prayer Journaling Workshop and January 23 for the Listen UP! Conference. Let’s enter the New Year with our ears tuned upward!
“So choose life in order that you may live…by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him;” Deuteronomy 30:19b-20a.
Heavenly Father, thank You that You care about areas of our lives and sins we’re sick and tired of. Thank you for Your solutions. Help us take advantage of every opportunity to tune our ears upward to become better spiritual listeners.