Hear to receive the new - Tuesday Praise & Pray (for others) May 10, 2022

I'm always amazed at how two people can have the same problem but God's solution for each person can be completely different. I think of the times Jesus healed blind men in the New Testament. In Matthew 9, there were two blind men and He simply touched their eyes. In John 9, He spat on the ground, made some mud and placed it on the blind man's eyes.

Jesus was God personified on earth. He didn't need to be creative when healing people and yet, He seemed to go out of His way to heal people differently each time. This begs the question, why?

Praise God, He didn't leave us to wonder. On more than one occasion, He explained He did things the way His Father instructed Him to (John 12:49, John 7:16, John 8:28). To achieve this, He clearly had to listen to the Lord's voice right?

We need to do the same. Hearing the Lord is a fundamental part of our walk with Him. It is so fundamental that God repeatedly commanded all who belonged to Him to listen and obey Him. One such instruction is found in Ezekiel 3:10 - And he said to me, “Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all the words I speak to you.

Hearing God's word means different things to different people. For instance, God spoke to Abraham in his sleep (Genesis 15:1). We are also told that God spoke to people through prophets as He did to King Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20. Then there's Daniel, to whom the Lord sent an Archangel to give him the answers to his prayers (Daniel 9-10).

Just as there's no limit to how God can and will do something, there is also no limit to how He communicates with His people. Some hear the Lord's instruction in a song, others, while watching a show. Then, of course, there's also the receipt of His word through scripture. Have you ever had that moment where you stumble upon a Bible verse and it just happens to be the precise answer to a prayer?

We have to train ourselves to hear the Lord, for we need His voice to keep us from harm. After all, we are told in Psalm 119:105 - Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. This will require we pray, create quite moments to commune with Him, and of course, actually obey the instructions we receive.

Psalm 81:8 - Hear me, my people, and I will warn you— if you would only listen to me, Israel!Failing to hear God means we miss out on the warnings. It means we fall for satan's lie that God can only do things one, solitary way. And when that happens, we won't be in position for the unique way He's planned to answer us or elevate us for His purpose. We'll be stuck waiting to see a repeat when His plan is for something brand new.

Let us seek a deeper hearing of the voice of God. Let us train ourselves with the grace of the Lord and the help of the Holy Spirit so we become the children who look forward to and await the new from a good God who loves us. May the Lord Almighty help us.