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Active
Listening
By Jerri Phillips
It’s Thursday night, nearly 11:00
pm. I’m feeling pretty rotten for
not having gotten any writing finished
this week, and as I write this, I have no
idea what to write about or what to say.
While I used to panic badly when this
happened, I do not find myself in a
frenzied mental state now. Instead, I
find myself writing whatever is coming to
mind knowing that eventually my brain and
spirit will align properly and something
will come from this. How do I know? It
just happens. Amazingly, if I am just
obedient to sit at this computer and let
my fingers move, God finds a way to
muscle in through the distraction of a
crying baby who is learning to soothe
himself to sleep and a three-year old who
can find any excuse under the sun not to
lie down and close her eyes like she is
supposed to do. To my great amazement,
the Lord wades through the busyness of my
day and mental “stillundone”
list to take my heart and spirit and lead
me where He needs me to go so He can
accomplish His purpose. Until that point
of connection, I try to move in the
direction I know He has ordained for me,
waiting to find Him, knowing He wants to
find me as well.
Sometimes it’s hard waiting. I
don’t particularly enjoy sitting
seemingly waiting mindlessly. At one time
in the past, I would just walk away.
It’s the whole “leave it alone,
and it’ll come to you”
philosophy. Sometimes it did, but more
often than not, I just tossed and turned
in bed as the pressure to get an article
finished weighed more and more heavily on
me. Finally, I became incredibly tired of
this pattern, so I looked to the Bible
for some direction. What did the godly
and righteous do when it was getting
crunch time and they needed a
breakthrough?
As I began to meditate on this, two
immediate passages came to mind. The
first person I thought of was Jesus in
Gethsemane. It was the night of His
betrayal. He had spent three years with
His followers. They had lived together,
eaten together, and ministered together.
In three short years, He had tried to
teach them all He could to prepare them
for the time when He would no longer be
with them. On the night before His
crucifixion, I wonder what went through
His mind. This band of disciples was
still arguing over who had the privilege
of sitting by Him in His kingdom. He was
still dealing with that wild canon,
Peter. He had tried to prepare His
followers for the reality of His death,
and yet, being God, He knew they were not
ready. He had fed them and washed their
feet. His last act before them was the
obvious affirmation of the identity that
defined His life, that of servant. Did
they understand? Did these men who would
be the foundational building blocks of
the church after Christ was gone
comprehend the profound demonstration of
having the dirtiest part of their bodies
washed by the Messiah? At that time, no,
they did not, and their actions made that
obvious. Still, Jesus’ death was
imminent. He had done all He could, and
His time was at hand. What would He do?
I think Jesus did two key things to
prepare Himself for the suffering and
agony to come. First, He made an obvious
statement of His identity in relation to
the Father. Christ came as a servant, not
a worldly king or megalomaniac. He did
what His nature compelled Him to do; He
served. Often, we think of Jesus’
service and think it was a great
sacrifice for Him, but in truth, serving
was what Jesus did without even thinking
about it. It wasn’t a burden. It was
an identity, and it brought completeness
and wholeness to Him. Knowing how much
working in my gifting relaxes me, I
imagine that serving others did the same
for Jesus. For Christ, serving
wasn’t a job, it was the core of His
personality, and He did it with joy. By
affirming His identity as a servant, He
aligned Himself with the Father’s
purpose for Him. There is always strength
to be found when we are in step with the
Father’s will for us.
Second, Jesus prayed. He left the hubbub
and chaos, took some close friends, and
prayed. Too many of us would have become
frustrated with our unfaithful, fatigued
friends, and we would have thrown up our
hands and said, “Fine. You know
what, I need support, and you can’t
stay up long enough to pray with me.
Fine. Let’s just leave.” Jesus
didn’t do that. In fact, despite His
repeatedly telling the disciples to pray
and their repeated failures, He persisted
in His purpose. Do you ever wonder why? I
think it is because Jesus didn’t
need His friends. He wasn’t in need
of close proximity to His buddies. It
wasn’t bonding time in the Garden.
Jesus wanted the support of His friends,
but He needed the Father, and He was not
about to sell out on the latter because
He couldn’t depend on the former.
Time was running out. The reality of the
torment facing Him was heavy, and He was
feeling the crunch. He didn’t need
some clichés or trite sayings, He needed
His Father, and prayer was the
connection.
Now move ahead forty-five or so days.
Jesus has faced the cross and defeated
sin, been buried and resurrected to
defeat death, and had been transformed to
return to the Father completely
victorious. The disciples are in
Jerusalem waiting for the Counselor. They
have no idea what to expect or where to
go next. They only know that they have a
commission. “Go ye therefore, and
teach all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Ghost; teaching them all
things whatsoever I have commanded you;
and lo, I am with you always, even unto
the end of the world. Amen (Matthew
28:19-10).” Exactly how they were to
tell all nations when they don’t
speak all languages and when they are to
go is unknown to them, so you know what
they do? They pray.
They knew the Holy Spirit would come.
Jesus had told them that it would, but
when? How? A lot of questions remained,
so those who were gathered together did
the only logical thing. They went to the
One with the answers. They prayed.
When I am struggling with questions, need
for direction, or a trial, I try to
follow these examples. First, I try to
make sure that I am aligned with the
Father so that I may converse freely with
Him. Second, I converse with Him.
Sometimes the answer comes quickly. Other
times, the answer seems to take a long
time to reach me. That is simply how
things how works.
It’s nothing personal, and God is
not punishing me or making me impress Him
enough for Him to respond. Sometimes
answers take time. My daughter wants her
closet painted pink. I have no problem
with that. The doors are open most of the
time because it is an extended play area,
and it would look nicer painted. I spoke
with my husband, and he agrees that this
is a good idea. However, it didn’t
get painted that day. I am working on it,
but it takes some preparation. First, I
have to find the right paint at a price
that is reasonable for a closet. Then I
need to tape it off so we can get the
right pink and purple patterns. Somewhere
in there everything has to be moved out
of the closet. Of course, I have to make
sure drop clothes are well placed, and
when all that is done, I have to find a
time when the baby is asleep or in
someone else’s care so I can
actually do the painting. The answer to
Anna’s request is yes, but I have to
get all the sub-issues lined up in order
for that yes to be manifested into a
bright pink and royal purple closet. I
want her to have it, but I am still
dealing with some details.
Maybe God is still working through the
details for you, too. Maybe you have
asked for direction or a blessing, and
the answer is slow in coming. Don’t
panic if the answer isn’t
overnighted to you. The delay
doesn’t necessarily mean the answer
is a no. It may simply mean that there is
a lot of preparation to be done.
So, what do you do while you are waiting?
Do what Christ did. Keep doing what
brings you joy because joy is a fruit of
the Spirit. If you are joyful, you are in
the Spirit, which means you are malleable
and in relation with the Father. Also,
spend time conversing and relating to the
Father. He wants to share His heart with
you, and He will share it as long as we
are available to listen.
Well, I guess there was something to say
in my apparent state of nothingness,
wasn’t there? Amazing how God can
take an available body and willing heart
and accomplish things, isn’t? Of
course, I really don’t want to make
this a habit. I’d prefer a little
more notice on what to write than I had
this week. In fact, it would be nice to
have some idea of next week’s topic
so I can start mulling it around in my
brain, and while I like being at my
computer, I know there is more to
receiving from the Lord than just sitting
here, so if you’ll excuse me,
it’s time for me to go pray.
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