Are you paying attention? - Tuesday Praise & Pray (for others) July 11, 2023

Isaiah 42:20 - You have seen many things, but you pay no attention; your ears are open, but you do not listen.

Take a good look at this verse. Does it apply to you? Don't worry about whether you can name other people who are guilty of this. Focus on one thing - does it apply to you?

I know it applies to me. I have seen God do ridiculously wild miracles in my life and that of others. He has proven Himself capable over and over. Yet and still, I am one of those people today's anchor scripture speaks of - one who has seen but failed to pay attention and that's heard but closed my ears so as not to actually hear.

Think about it. If you've seen the wonders of God in your life or someone else's then how can you doubt that the same God is capable of doing the incredible again? And if you've heard Him speak to you personally or through the Bible, then how could it ever be possible for you to not apply what you heard and learned in your life?

These are questions we all have to wrestle with in an effort to put our faith, no matter how small, to work so we avoid the pitfalls of those who have eyes but don't see and have ears but don't hear. These are the sort of people that Jesus spoke to in parables according to Matthew 13:13. They didn't have access to the deeper revelations and understandings that He shared with those who obeyed Him and submitted to His authority.

How do we avoid this? We have to be more intentional in our walk with the Lord. We have to look for and recognize miracles, no matter how big or small they seem, and rejoice for them. The fact the bus was still there though you got there late is cause to glorify God. That there was one last box of the item you went to the store for is reason enough to thank the Lord. See what the Lord has done for you and praise Him for it. If you are grateful for the little, He will surely give you more.

And as for the hearing, when the Lord teaches or tells you something, don't just think, "Oh, that's neat!" Create time to think about what you've learned and how to apply God's lesson in your life. Then, put it into practice. We recently learned about staying away from gossip, for instance. How many of us remember that lesson while we peruse our favorite online 'watering holes' or when we get comfortable with friends, family or coworkers? Or, how many of us are putting God's Royal Law into action in our life on a regular basis?

Becoming a person who pays attention to what God shows us and applies what He tells us requires us making choices to achieve those goals. We'll do great on certain days and not others, sadly. Nevertheless, our God who sees all, will acknowledge how we are putting our faith to work and reward us for doing what pleases Him. We'll grow in the ways of the Lord and become more like David, a person after God's own heart.

May the good Lord continue to help us as we learn to appreciate what He shows and tells us. And may we go stronger in our faith and usefulness to the Kingdom of God, IJN Amen.

See you at Noon EST for P&P time.

To read more:

1. Trust God - Tuesday Praise & Pray (for others) June 30, 2020

2. Rely on God, Not Man - Tuesday Praise & Pray (for others) July 21, 2020

3. Rely on God - Tuesday Praise & Pray (for others) March 9, 2021

4. Faith vs Trust - Friday Praise & Pray (for others) September 10, 2021

5. Listen, Obey, Trust - Friday Praise & Pray (for others) August 12, 2022

6. Focus on God's Works - Tuesday Praise & Pray (for others) September 6, 2022

A Person After God's Own Heart - Friday Praise & Pray (for others) July 7, 2023

King David was described as a man after God's heart. But, have you ever wondered what that means and how you can equally be described as a person after God's heart?

The scripture, as usual, gives us understanding in Acts 13:22 - Later, God removed Saul and let David rule in his place. God said about him, "David the son of Jesse is the kind of person who pleases me most! He does everything I want him to do" (CEV). A person 'after God's heart' is someone who pleases Him. And to be such a person, we have to be like David in that we do everything God tells us to do.

Many may wonder how David could ever be described as someone who did everything God wanted him to do. After all, David watched Bathsheba having a bath, lusted after her and slept with her. This despite her being a very married woman. And David didn't stop there, after trying to pin the pregnancy that he caused on Bathsheba's husband, he eventually set the man up to be killed on the warfront. All so he could have Bathsheba to himself. Therefore, how could David ever be described as a man after God's own heart?

Or, what about the fact that David disobeyed God's law by conducting a census of all the men in his nation, without having those men pay an atonement to the Lord. Exodus 30:12 - “When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the LORD a ransom for his life at the time he is counted. Then no plague will come on them when you number them. As a result, the entire nation of Israel experienced a three day-plague that killed 70,000 people (2 Samuel 24).

Thank God that He "does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities" (Psalm 103:10) but instead shows us mercy, because it is this same mercy that David benefitted from each time he sinned against God. This was because in every instance of iniquity, David soon placed himself at the feet of the Father for forgiveness and mercy. And having received both, he never returned to the error of his ways. That is true repentance - to confess, seek mercy and never do what is warned of in Proverbs 26:11 - As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.

We must be thankful for Jesus because through Him we also receive grace despite our iniquity. He intercedes on our behalf at the right hand of God when we repeat our sins. Even when we renege on our apologies and pledges to "never again." This is why we are told in Acts 13:38 - “Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.

Given our sinful nature, we don't deserve grace, yet, He provides it. And that grace, combined with our repentance and God's never-ending mercy, enable us flawed human beings to be men and women after God's own heart. Just like David. Understanding this and taking things day by day, in faith that God's grace will get us through, is how we become people who do everything God wants.

May the Lord help us to never listen to satan's lie that there is no redemption for us. May we keep our eyes on the cross and the salvation Jesus bought for us there. May we submit to God's molding grace as He builds us up for His greater purposes, IJMN Amen. That the Lord shall testify about us that He has found a person after His own heart. Someone who will do everything He says. IJN Amen.

See you at noon ET when we'll gather to enter God's gates with thanksgiving, praise, and worship. We'll then pray for people, putting our own issues to the side. And, during the last 10 minutes of fellowship, we'll pray to be more like David - men and women who please God and are described as being after God's own heart. God bless you and see you then!

To read more on the issue of obedience, consider:

1. Don't Delay To Obey - Tuesday Praise & Pray (for others) December 15, 2020

2. Hear, Accept, Obey - Tuesday Praise & Pray (for others) June 22, 2021

3. Listen, Obey, Trust - Friday Praise & Pray (for others) August 12, 2022

4. God's Best is for His Children - Tuesday Praise & Pray (for others) January 3, 2023

5. Obedience - Friday Praise & Pray (for others) June 2, 2023

Don't Uproot Your Seed - Tuesday Praise & Pray (for others) July 4, 2023

Tara is a little girl sent to spend time with her grandfather, a farmer. She enjoys her summer running around the property as well as playing with the piglets and chickens.

Her grandfather takes her out to the field and shows her how to plant a flower seed just the right depth into the earth. She's about to dump too much water from her watering can when he stops her, teaching her not to flood it out.

Every day, she runs out to that patch of ground where she planted her seed. She waters it just enough and tells it to grow with a smile. As time goes by, however, she's disappointed that nothing has shown up. Summer is coming to an end and she is yet to see her seed grow into a pretty flower as her grandfather promised.

One afternoon, a man walks up to the fence and waves her over. She doesn't go too close, he's a stranger after all, but she answers his questions thinking he must be a friend of her grandfather's. The man asks if she's planted anything and she tells him about the seed she's waiting on. He produces a beautiful flower. He tells her to dig up the seed and put the flower there instead.

Little Tara is excited! Finally, she'll have a flower with colorful, red petals! She races out to the field and digs up what she planted. She discovers a shoot with roots but it didn't have flowers yet. In its place, she sticks in her new flower, smiles and skips off to go feed the chickens.

The flower is wilting by the next morning, so she waters it. Two days later, it's dead. She drags her grandfather to show him what happened but he's confused. Through tears, she eventually tells him what happened and he shakes his head with a sad sigh.

He explains that she never should have pulled up what she planted because it only had a few days left to shoot up past the dirt. It would have displayed lovely blue flowers that she could have taken home to her mother. Poor Tara wails as he comforts her.

More often than not, you and I are that little child. We sow a seed of prayer in faith but because we don't see any evidence of it, we effectively dig it up. Our impatience makes us subject to the devil's lie that there's a pre-grown flower we can have, instead of waiting for what we've sown to grow.

When we uproot our prayers, we're sadly left with nothing to show for our efforts, just like in Tara's situation. The prayers we planted 'die' and the counterfeit we believed in evaporates.

May the good Lord help us whereby we grow in patience and wisdom. May we remember our prayers, wait on them to be fulfilled, and not accept satan's deception that there is an alternative to waiting on God, IJMN Amen.

To learn more, please read

1. Seeds of Blessings

2. Sow Seeds of Righteousness

3. Viable Seeds

4. But, Can You Wait

5. Wait on God

6. Waiting on the Lord's Solution