Listen!

But God’s Spirit speaks to and through those who listen to him June 30, 2025

2 Samuel 16:13 So as David stood there among his brothers, Samuel took the flask of olive oil he had brought and anointed David with the oil. And the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David from that day on.

2 Samuel 23:1-2 These are the last words of David: … The Spirit of the Lord speaks through me; his words are upon my tongue.

1 Kings 11:38 [God said to Jeroboam through his prophet Ahijah] If you listen to what I tell you and follow my ways … as my servant David did, then I will always be with you.”

Jeremiah 23:18, 21-22 Have any of these prophets been in the Lord’s presence to hear what he is really saying? Has even one of them cared enough to listen? … I have not sent these prophets, yet they run around claiming to speak for me. I have given them no message, yet they go on prophesying. If they had stood before me and listened to me, they would have spoken my words.

Acts 2:30 [Peter preaching on Pentecost, referencing Psalm 16] But David was a prophet.

A friend gave me wise counsel regarding a problem I shared with her.
My husband encouraged me by running an errand on a busy day that I had forgotten, accompanied by kind words.
On a day I felt like I had blown it in several areas, a mentee told me her sessions with me have helped her overcome obstacles and draw near to God.

All of these happened in the last week. In each case, I felt that I received through others words from God that nourished my soul and lifted my head. I believe they fit within a broad definition of prophecy: hearing and communicating words from God that bless us and others. As Paul put it, speaking truth in love, in a way that is good and helpful and encouraging (Ephesians 4:15, 29).

Leanne Payne often said, “God is constantly speaking words of love to us.” Am I still and attentive enough to hear what our Father is saying, or am I too anxious to fill the space with my own words?

Shutterstock: N. D. DSouza

Listening to God doesn’t come with any agenda other than accurately hearing what God is saying to us. Words from God always align with Scripture and with God’s character. Exceptionally, they may be predictive of the future.

When people claim to have heard messages from God for others yet do them harm rather than good, or when these “words” don’t line up with Scripture or with God’s character, they cast doubt on whether hearing from God is a real thing. Perhaps you’ve been hurt by someone claiming to know God’s perspective or direction for your life.

Jeremiah, cited above, records God’s frustration with that kind of “prophecy,” false because of failure to humbly listen to him. We must always take great care with our words, but especially when we think we’ve heard from God for someone else. I wonder how much “church hurt” is rooted in this kind of abuse.

Some Scripture authors, such as David with his psalms, may not even have been aware that their writing was prophetic in the predictive sense—yet New Testament writers refer to them as Messianic. An example is Peter’s quoting of Psalm 16 in Acts 2. Did King David consider himself a prophet, as Peter declares? I at least have not thought of David that way, and commentators express a variety of opinions about this.

Hearing from God is a huge topic that can’t adequately be covered in one blog post. It’s clear, though, that David listened to God, and in the power of the Spirit, communicated God’s words to others through his psalms, words that still bless us today.

I want to listen like that.

Word of God Speak, Bart Millard and Pete Kipley, Mercy Me

Doxology

But God’s kingdom encompasses all he created March 28, 2024

Psalm 103:19-22 The Lord has made the heavens his throne; from there he rules over everything. … Praise the Lord, you armies of angels who serve him and do his will. Praise the Lord, everything he has created, everything in all his kingdom.

Litany of Penitence 12

For our failure to commend the faith that is in us

Lord, have mercy upon us,

For we have sinned against you.

In The Psalms, Jesus’s Prayer Book, Volume 3 Psalms 73-106, Douglas D. Webster says:

“Psalm 103 reminds us that we bow before King Jesus. The third stanza widens the circle of praise to include all of creation. All the angels and the heavenly hosts are summoned to worship before the throne of him who rules over all. Total praise. There are no spectators. Everyone is in the choir and everything is centered around the throne of the Lord. … Whatever your perspective on worship styles … in the end we’ll be worshiping together. … The key concept for the future of the human community is doxology.”

So, besides confessing our failure to “commend the faith that is in us,” how can I, how can you, share our hope with all whom we love, so they too can join this worship fest around the Throne? How can we free the River of Life to overflow from our hearts?

Shutterstock: Stanislavskyi

A beautiful hymn, based on Psalm 103, celebrates much of what we’ve been considering this Lent as we’ve worked our way through the Litany of Penitence: Praise my Soul the King of Heaven, by Henry Francis Lyte, 1834, sung by St Laurence’s Church.

This evening our church has a Maundy Thursday service. The word Maundy comes from the Latin for “commandment” – Jesus’s “new” commandment (John 13:34) to love others just as he has loved us. If you know Spanish or Portuguese, think mandamiento or mandamento. The service includes footwashing (John 13:1-17). At the end of the service, the lights will slowly dim as the altar is stripped of all ornamentation (and we remember Jesus’s arrest). As we find ourselves in total darkness, a voice reads Psalm 22. We exit in silence.

Tomorrow, we watch with Mary as her Son hangs on the cross from noon until 3:00 p.m., when he cries “It is finished.” Artists in the congregation have created pieces depicting each of the Stations of the Cross. (I featured last year’s Good Friday artwork on this blog.)

On Saturday, a quiet day of meditation, I’ll post the final prayer from the Litany of Atonement and the final line from Psalm 103.

Easter Sunday at 6:00 a.m., we enter the sanctuary in darkness, and the first half of the service is held by candlelight. Gradually, daylight filters through the stained glass, but remember, the last time we were in this space, it was stripped of all other adornment. When the lights suddenly come on, though, and the organ and trumpets and choir announce Jesus’s resurrection, we see the church filled with fragrant flowers. All of our senses are engaged in this magnificent celebration of restored Life. Once again, we can sing and say “Alleluia,” which we have not done since Lent began.

While all this is wonderful, I find it bittersweet, because Karis loved Easter so much. But in a flash I remember: all we can do is but a shadow of the incredible joy of being in the very Presence of God on his rainbow throne. We may still experience waves of grief. But for her, and for each one of our missing beloved ones and yours, all is glory.

I’ll wish you and your family now a lovely Easter.

Ideas for Lent 2024

But God is holy Feb 16, 2024

Psalm 103:1-2 Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me.

I didn’t manage to write a post yesterday, so I’m a day late with my ideas for this year’s Lenten season. Here they are:

Key off Psalm 103, one or two verses at a time, so we keep in mind God’s character.
Use the Litany of Penitence, one strophe at a time so we can think carefully about each one and make whatever confession we need to make, based on the Spirit’s conviction. The Litany has twelve stanzas, so using two per week will bring us to Holy Week.
Keep track of our progress using a Lenten calendar. The one I’ve chosen (thanks, Suzanne Werder) is a journey with Jesus to the cross. I suggest you download and print this and use color and symbols of your choice to represent your experience day by day. Of course, you can use other Scriptures to enrich this plan.

It would be great for us to use half an hour each day for prayer during Lent, but anything we manage to do is better than nothing, right? Decide for yourself how much you want to invest in this spiritual heartcleaning.

Today, and the next couple of days, as we think with King David about God’s holiness in the context of how praiseworthy he is, let’s start with a general confession. “We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and strength” fits with the first two verses of Psalm 103. Try to write down at least a paragraph of response to the psalm and the confession (below). What does God’s holiness mean to you?

Most holy and merciful Father: We confess to you and to one another and to the whole communion of saints in heaven and on earth, that we have sinned by our own fault in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.

We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and strength.

We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

We have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven.

We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ served us.

We have not been true to the mind of Christ.

We have grieved your Holy Spirit.

Lord, have mercy upon us, for we have sinned against you.

Holy Forever, Chris Tomlin