Call and Listen

Here is another entry following a few days since the last. Though, originally, I wished to do this every day, I have been making an effort to keep this from becoming "work" for me, but rather an account of what I think God is doing in my life. Recently, I have realized that I doubt the Lord, and that I need to push onward with my faith. I feel as though prayer is something I need to do more than write about my faith. Though my efforts are not showing leaps, but rather short steps, I realize that God is calling me, not to an immediate position of leadership, but to a life of an example of Christ. I am very selfish in my faith and am beginning to see that this call is not for my benefit alone, but for the benefit of those I interact with. Denying yourself is very difficult, but as a servant of Christ, we are not here to serve everyone else for our glory. We are here to serve God, and to reflect His glory in our lives.


Being a Sunday, I normally do not have the opportunity to go to church because of work. The Lord has allowed me to not have to work today and I did go to church. The sermon was given from 1 Samuel chapter 3 on God calling out to Samuel, who served Eli. Now, Eli was not a perfect man, yet he was the authority that Samuel served. When God calls to Samuel the first three times, Samuel believes that it is Eli who is calling to him. Though the second time, Eli tells Samuel that it is God calling to him and that he must respond to God, and not think it is Eli. This sermon has confirmed for me two things (so far) I am focused on this week. The first is that God is merciful and will continue to call on me even when I do not listen. The second is that I cannot serve two masters effectively. Though God has blessed me with the gift of serving, I now see that I am becoming too focused on my job, that I am missing out on the opportunities that God offers me to serve Him. Though I do not believe that God is calling me to leave my job right now, I know that he is asking me to put him first, to listen to him, before I seek the advice of other people (which I have done so much in the past).

Though God has blessed me with wise people in my life, I have come to understand that when we hear a call from him, we should not look to other people for advice on the Lord's work, but we should simply listen to what he is saying. We should be like Samuel and humble ourselves as His servant, and not our own. We should respond to the call that we hear from God, so that he can approach us without our distractions and without our limitation of serving two masters. God wants us alone (not lonely), so that we can focus on nothing else except him.

[I find that TV is my first distraction that can take away my time from God. I pray that God will give me the strength to fast from watching anything dishonoring to him this week. May the Lord be with you in all that you do, for His glory, Amen.]