4/5/2023
Sitting at the feet of God
The Week That Changed The World
As we spend time in his presence today, I pray that God will speak clearly as we learn to listen to his voice.
Introduction
As we continue our week of preparing our hearts for Easter, today we’re going to look at how God speaks. We often associate prayer with taking time to talk to God. We may even be consistent in sharing our worries and requests with him. Yet the power of prayer isn’t fully realized until we learn not just to talk, but also to listen. God desires to speak to each of us. He longs to lead us, teach us, and remind us of his great love. And as we spend time in his presence today, I pray that God will speak clearly as we learn to listen to his voice.
Scripture
“Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
Luke 11:28
Devotional
If God could speak audibly to you right now, what would you like him to say? Are there questions you would like him to answer? Directions you wish he would give? Wisdom you need from his omniscience?
These questions seem almost facetious, don’t they? Have you ever heard God speak in an audible voice? I haven’t. Does this mean that God does not speak to us?
Not at all. He just doesn’t always speak in the way we expect. And we also have to make time to listen.
Today is Wednesday of Holy Week. The Bible doesn’t record a single event of this day. But we do know that Jesus was staying with his disciples at the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in Bethany (a suburb of Jerusalem).
How did he spend the day?
Probably teaching his followers about tomorrow's trials, preparing them for the shock and pain they would soon face. He likely comforted his close friends on the eve of his arrest. And he prepared himself to go to the cross for us. As Jesus often prayed early in the morning (Mark 1:35) and late at night (Luke 6:12), so he spent this day in communion with his Father.
When last did you spend time listening to your King?
His Spirit speaks to us rationally through the words of Scripture and the use of our minds. He speaks to us practically through circumstances and people. He speaks to us intuitively as he moves in our emotions and attitudes.
The point is: God wants us to hear his voice and know his will even more than we do. We just need to make time to listen.
Mother Teresa said that when she began her religious life, she spent 90 percent of her prayer time talking to God. At the end of her life, she was spending 90 percent of her prayer time listening to God.
Let’s follow her example as we enter into guided prayer.
Today’s devotional is written by Jim Denison
Prayer
1. Take a few moments to be alone with your Father. Visualize Jesus at Bethany surrounded by his disciples and friends, yourself among them. Picture him in the center of the room and sit at his feet.
“Jesus entered a village. A woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching” (Luke 10:38–39).
2. Spend a few minutes in thanksgiving and praise. Thank him for what he did for you this Holy Week. Praise him for his love and grace. Listen for his voice in response directing you to biblical truth or speaking to your spirit.
“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!” (Psalm 100:4).
3. Close your time with your Father by committing to him your grateful obedience. Ask him for the next steps he intends for you. Then, if you can, journal any word you feel you heard from him. Ask him to help you obey what he has revealed to you.
“Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Luke 11:28).
Worship
Go
Listening to God is a vital part of knowing God as we love him with all our heart, soul, and mind. But it is also a means to the end of helping other people know him as well.
When we love Jesus by sitting at his feet and listening to his voice, he will usually show us how we are to love someone else in response. Then they will be drawn to love our Lord, hear his voice, and lead someone else to him. In this way, God’s kingdom multiplies across our world.
Whom will you tell about your Savior today?
Extended reading: Luke 10:38–42
Listening to God is a vital part of knowing God as we love him with all our heart, soul, and mind. But it is also a means to the end of helping other people know him as well.
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