Listen When He Speaks, February 2017: Perseverance

On the calendar, February is the shortest month, but I’m sure that it’s the longest, at least here in northeastern US. What better time to focus on Perseverance?

The suggested verse for memorization this month is 2 Corinthians 4:16.

31 Days in January

If you were around for Listen When He Speaks in January, it’s likely God didn’t speak to you only on our theme of Renewal. It’s a great one, though, isn’t it? And it can speak to all Four Cs of Listen When He Speaks.

Character: From day one of Listen When He Speaks we have seen how God interacts with His people. He is holy, and loves us with a holy love. He knows that our growth in holiness is what is best for us, and He’s willing to let us hurt to remind us of our need of Him. One way to look at holiness is as wholeness. As we grow in holiness – yes, it can be a painful process – we become more complete. Wholeness doesn’t need to do anything less than the best for itself and others.

Comfort: Life hurts. It can be bewildering, and we get tired. God doesn’t leave us to suffer or question alone.

Confirmation: I’m kind of a mess. Depression has knocked me down so hard I thought I’d never get back up. But God brings me through. I have a glitch in my brain, but it’s not in what I think I can do on my own that God is glorified. He is strong in my weakness. I do what we are called to do: give others the comfort He has given me.

Conviction: While I know I’m on the right track with Fruit of Brokenness and Listen When He Speaks, it’s just possible that I may not be getting things right in other areas of my life… No, not just possible, or even probable, it’s true. God lovingly uses His Word to show me things I may not like to see in myself. When I see them in light of His holiness, well, they’re just not so worth holding onto… But too often I’m like the man who looked at himself in the mirror, then walked away and forgot what he saw.

28 Days in February

Regular time in God’s Word is vital for the life of the believer. Listen When He Speaks is meant to help us establish, reestablish, or continue a daily habit of reading Scripture, and take the time to listen to what God says each day through His Word.

What do we write?

When a passage stops us in our tracks, we need to stay. Not just jump back in, full-steam ahead. Write it down.

What is God saying?

Pray… talk to God and ask Him for wisdom to understand and humility to obey.

What does the passage tell you about who He is?

What does it speak into your life and circumstances? Does it wrap you in a comforting embrace, or give peace about an action or decision? Does it point out an area in which your actions or attitudes dishonor God, or shed the light of Truth on a lie you believe?

Return to the passage and consider the context. Is there something in the surrounding passages that gives you a deeper understanding of what the text meant to its readers then, and what its message is to believers now?

Consider the words of the passage as you go through your day. Meditate on them. Don’t just close your Bible and leave His words there until it’s time to pick it up again.

Sometimes we’ll find passages we want to learn more about. If you’re not sure where to begin to go deeper into a topic, feel free to contact me, and I’ll do my best to point you toward the right tools.

The best and first tool to understand Scripture is Scripture itself. What else does the Bible say on the subject?

Devotional Bible reading is great, and we need to dig in and study Scripture, too.

What if I don’t hear something to stop and listen to?

Did nothing jump out at you in a particular day’s reading?

Sometimes the best thing to do is to keep reading until He does. Do you feel Him nudging you on? GO WITH IT!

Maybe you need to quiet your heart and mind to spend more time in prayer, and then reread.

Feel like the passage is done with you for the moment, but you didn’t have that stopped-in-your-tracks moment? Check out How Do I Listen if He Doesn’t Speak?

Always start with prayer.