Scripture Challenge {Week 12}

Happy Easter! I pray that you had a joyous day as you celebrated the Resurrection of our precious Lord Jesus Christ! Our day was wonderful but busy! Now onto our new word for this week:

Week 12 Challenge Word: Listen

How do you know God is speaking to you? Do you hear a roar of thunder? Or does a lightening bolt hit you and you say “Agh ha!” Is there a billboard along side the road that tells you what He is saying? No! Sometimes we wish His words would come to us that clearly but they don’t. God’s Word tells us that we are to listen to Him. At the time of the Transfiguration, God was speaking to the disciples from the cloud. Matthew 17:5 says “While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!'" Though we don’t hear that audible voice like the disciples did, we still are to listen to Him and obey Him. We need to take time and shut out the things around us to truly listen. And He is listening to us! When we pray, He is listening. He loves to hear from us each day as we studied during Week 9 when we studied Prayer. He is eagerly waiting to hear from us each day. But we also need to listen and pay attention to what He is telling us.

In my Bible, there was a wonderful devotion written by Eugenia Price. Part of the devotion says, “The voice of God is always speaking to us and always trying to get our attention. But His voice is a ‘still, small voice,’ and we must at least slow down in order to listen.” How true that is. We all get so busy with schedules, running kids around, and doing things for others that sometimes the slowing down and taking time to listen can be hard. I challenge you this week to make a point to slow down and listen each day whether it be during your daily prayer time, in the shower, after dropping off the kids at school, whenever. Do something different in your routine. Listen for Him. Be mindful of things that happen each day which might actually be God trying to get your attention. John 10:27 tells us “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” What a comfort that is. He knows my voice, He knows my name, He knows everything about me, and He just wants me to listen and follow Him.

Once again there were many, many wonderful verses on this word. And the three I chose were:

Proverbs 8:33 “Listen to my instruction and be wise; do not ignore it.”
James 1:22 “Do not merely listen to the Word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
John 10:27 “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me.”

For my card, I used up some older scraps, and I tried to photograph it like Erin had done last week but hers came out so much nicer. I still love the idea of photographing the cards on my Bible. Thank you Erin!

May the Lord bless you this week as you listen and obey Him. What a blessing it is to have such a Father that cares and listens to us. He still wants to hear from us even when we mess up. He is there to listen, and He wants us to listen to Him as our comforting, loving Father. Have a joyous week!