5 Words for Your Relationship Toolkit: I’m Listening
November 22, 2020
NO, To lesser things to focus on the greater
THANKS, Seeing wonder around us
HELP, Accepting the gift of help
SORRY, Heal as you get real
Every character quality we first learn in our living relationship with Jesus
I’m Listening
1 Sam. 3:9-11 So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” And the Lord said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle.
1 Sam. 23:1-2 When David was told, “Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are looting the threshing floors,” he inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” The Lord answered him, “Go, attack the Philistines and save Keilah.”
1 Sam. 23:3-6 But David’s men said to him, “Here in Judah we are afraid. How much more, then, if we go to Keilah against the Philistine forces!”
Once again David inquired of the Lord, and the Lord answered him, “Go down to Keilah, for I am going to give the Philistines into your hand.” So David and his men went to Keilah, fought the Philistines and carried off their livestock. He inflicted heavy losses on the Philistines and saved the people of Keilah.
1 Samuel 23:7-8 Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah, and he said, “God has delivered him into my hands, for David has imprisoned himself by entering a town with gates and bars.” And Saul called up all his forces for battle, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men.
1 Samuel 23: 10-13 David said, “Lord, God of Israel, your servant has heard definitely that Saul plans to come to Keilah and destroy the town on account of me. Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me to him? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? Lord, God of Israel, tell your servant.” And the Lord said, “He will.” Again David asked, “Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me and my men to Saul?” And the Lord said, “They will.” So David and his men, about six hundred in number, left Keilah and kept moving from place to place. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he did not go there.
Isaiah 30:21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
John 10:4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.
Comforts/ Teaches/ Convicts/ Encourages
ISA 50:4 The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.
“My own experience to listen to God is a process that starts awkwardly and grows slowly but develops and matures until it is hard to see how you could ever have lived without it.” (Rusty Rustenbach)
Listening to God requires us to stop distractions
Psalm 37:7 Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him
Listening to God opens up when I ask him questions
Every character quality we first learn in our living relationship with Jesus
Listening to others requires us to stop distractions
“Unfortunately, many of us are too preoccupied with ourselves when we listen. Instead of concentrating on what is being said, we are busy either deciding what to say in response or mentally rejecting the other person’s point of view.” Dun
I’m Listening
Listening to others opens up when I ask questions
Proverbs 18:2 Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions
Proverbs 20:5 The purposes of a person’s heart are deep waters, but one who has insight draws them out.
He who can no longer listen to his brother will soon be no longer listening to God either; he will be doing nothing but prattle in the presence of God too. This is the beginning of the death of the spiritual life. . . . Anyone who thinks that his time is too valuable to spend keeping quiet will eventually have no time for God and his brother, but only for himself and for his own follies. D. Bonhoeffer
Tell Me More
I’m Listening, Tell Me More