We live in a world that’s hypersensitive, driven by instant gratification, and constantly chasing the next thing. We’re always moving, always evolving, but how many of us actually sit still long enough to evolve?
How many of us can sit in silence without reaching for a distraction? Without our phone, our schedule, or our never ending to do list, or even our own voice filling the room? How many of us have truly mastered the art of listening?
We discipline ourselves in so many areas of life, yet we don’t discipline ourselves spiritually. We train for sports, or performance training with weights and cutting with food for our waistlines. We study for exams prioritizing our time to stay focused without distractions. We work hard for promotions committing overtime hours and going the extra mile forgetting to even eat at times because the goal is all consuming. We save for retirement working our entire lives to be comfortable in our later years. We understand that discipline today produces fruit tomorrow. What we sow we will reap.
But somewhere along the way, many of us have lost that same discipline in our walk with Father God. From Genesis to Revelation, Scripture is filled with examples of what happens when people stop listening. Eve listened to another voice causing the great fall. David followed his own desires that led him to fall into adultery for lusting after another man’s wife. Samson ignored repeated warnings to not be involved with the Philistine woman that later was the end to his demise. Jonah ran from God’s direction to preach that ended up with him in the belly of a whale for 3 days. Martha stayed busy while missing out at just being taught with intimacy while Mary chose to sit at Jesus’ feet and get her tank filled. Time and time again, the pattern is the same. When we stop listening, we start leaning on ourselves and miss out on Gods purpose and plan for our lives.
Now let’s look at Jesus. How many times do we read that He withdrew to pray? Do we really think the Son of God spent all those hours doing all the talking? Jesus said, “I do nothing of Myself but as my Father taught Me, I speak these things.” (John 8:28) His life wasn’t fueled by impulse like ours, the Son of God had self control desired directly by intimacy. Every miracle, every conversation, every place He went flowed from His relationship with the Father.
How would He know what to do if He wasn’t listening? Every step Jesus took was intentional because it was directed by the Father. He met the broken, the forgotten, the outcast, and the overlooked not by accident, but by divine direction. Yes, He healed publicly, but He ministered to hearts privately. He wasn’t simply walking around performing miracles to prove who He was, He knew who He was. He moved because His Father led Him. He knew He wasn’t going to lead on His own account, that’s why He listened intently.
That same invitation has been extended to us. How cool is it that we can have the same access to the Father as Jesus demonstrated?! God is not looking for workers, He is looking for sons and daughters who know His voice. God is looking to partner with us in Kingdom business, and covenantal partnership is born out of intimacy.
We often ask God to use us, but have we first allowed ourselves to know Him in the secret place? How do we get to know one another if we don’t hear the other person out? You can only give what you’ve first received, so if we haven’t received His love, how do we genuinely love ourselves as He commanded? If we don’t understand our identity as sons and daughters, we’ll spend our lives trying to earn significance through performance. Identity is never built on what we do for God. It is built on who we are with God, in relationship, in that quiet still time of listening. Intimacy isn’t optional just on Sundays, it an essential part of spiritual growth. It’s a lifestyle that needs to be practiced daily.
The woman with the alabaster jar (Matthew 26:6-13) understood this. She didn’t come to Jesus with a sermon, a label, a platform or her own personal agenda. She came with adoration. This woman poured out what was most valuable to her upon the One who was infinitely more valuable. The fragrance that filled the room wasn’t just perfume it was a symbolic devotion.
A life continually poured out before the Lord shows a posture of intimacy. The more time we spend with Him, the more sensitive we become to hearing His voice. We begin carrying an awareness of His presence wherever we go. Whether we’re at work, in the grocery store, at the gym, or sitting in a coffee shop, we aren’t simply living our day, we’re walking with Him, it’s now changed into a lifestyle.
Then, at any moment, Father God may say “that one,” and highlight a person that He may tell you to go and talk with them, start a casual conversation that leads to praying for them, encourage them, perhaps He wants you to give to them. Or in most cases to love on them. Not because it makes us look spiritual, but because He knows exactly what that person needs and we simply don’t know unless we are listening to the One who knows.
How often do we serve because it’s expected? How often do we help because it’s simply the morally right thing to do? We absolutely should love people and meet needs that is the standard Jesus set for us all. But what if God is inviting us deeper than the standard? How do we mimic who Jesus is and what He did? What can we learn from the practices Jesus demonstrated?
If we’re honest, sometimes we’re simply going through the motions. We know Christian language, we know church culture, we know how to serve. But knowing what to do isn’t the same as knowing what Heavenly Father is saying.
When we operate apart from intimacy, we can develop a counterfeit confidence. We become confident in information while lacking revelation. We become efficient at ministry but disconnected from the heart of the Father. That’s why we must continually examine our motives. Am I serving because I love people, or because I want to be seen? Am I speaking because God is leading me, or because I feel the need to feel relevance? Am I building His Kingdom, or driven by creating my own “Christian image?”
Without intimacy, our works may impress people, but they won’t carry the fragrance of Christ. Real transformation doesn’t come from our effort. A life that glorifies God comes from spending time in His presence. His glory both transforms us and radiates from us to become changed into Christ likeness.
Jesus said we would do greater works because His Spirit would live within us. But how can we expect to move in what God has for us if we aren’t listening to the One who supplies the power? Think about it this way, when you’re driving somewhere that is unfamiliar, you don’t just start guessing which turn to take, you use a GPS. It tells you where to turn, where to stop, and which route to take. The Holy Spirit is our GPS system. Yet many of us have started driving before we’ve asked for directions.
What if we listened more than we spoke? What if we truly consecrated ourselves, removed the distractions, and simply waited before the Lord? How would this change the Christian body on a collective level?
Maybe your mind would wander at first down memory lane. Maybe old wounds would surface. Maybe hidden fears or unresolved pain would come to the surface. That’s not failure in self discipline, that’s where healing begins. God doesn’t expose our hearts to shame us. He reveals what’s hidden because He wants to heal it, to restore what was broken. It’s the self discipline of surrender that leads to the invitation of rebuilding.
As He heals us, He forms us. As He forms us, He teaches us His voice. And as we learn His voice, we become trustworthy partners in His Kingdom.
We can only give away what we got. In the quiet, God doesn’t just prepare you to minister to others, He ministers to you. He prepares our hearts by dealing first with our own.
When you’ve learned to recognize His voice, obedience becomes easier because you know the One who is speaking. God cannot lie. If He is directing your steps, it’s because He already knows the outcome.
So yes, keep loving people, keep serving, keep praying, keep meeting the needs of others. But don’t forget to be still, to wait and listen. Because sometimes the greatest thing you’ll ever do for the Kingdom of God won’t begin with speaking, it will begin with listening.
His ways are higher than ours. His thoughts are greater than ours. Trust Him to direct your steps, cultivate a lifestyle of intimacy, and when He whispers “Go meet her/him where they are,” go with confidence, not because of who you are, but because you’re certain of the voice of the One who sent you.