Tag: <span>listen</span>

Tune My Heart
Published March 25, 2024

Tune My Heart

It can be hard to hear God in the busyness of life. Take today’s lesson to hear how to listen better.

“And after the fire came a gentle whisper.” 1 Kings 19:12b

There’s a moment just before the performance begins where the lights go down and the symphony tunes. It’s a strange, cacophonous sound, nothing at all like the music that will start a few minutes later. I love that sound. It sounds like anticipation. It’s a sound that tells you that something wonderful is about to happen.

Tuning is not a warning bell; it’s an alignment. One musician plays a single note, always the same note, and each of the instruments joins in. They play, they listen, and they adjust and play again. They keep going until all the sounds blend together, until there are united and aligned, in tune.

I love the line in the old hymn “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” that says, “tune my heart”. I want that. I want my heart to sound like God’s. Did you know that if you put two grand pianos in a room and play a note on one of them the corresponding string in the other piano will start to vibrate? I want the note God is playing to resonate in my heart.

In 1 Kings, God tells Elijah to go and stand on a mountain where He will pass by. There is wind and fire, even an earthquake, but God is not in the wind or the fire or the earthquake. God comes in a gentle whisper. I need to be still and hear that whisper; I need to tune my heart to it.

I cannot do the things God has planned for me if my heart is out of tune. No matter how carefully I try to serve God, if my heart is out of tune it’s all just garbage. I think it’s so interesting that even professional musicians have to tune and they tune every single time they play. I want my life to be like that, to begin every day by listening for the voice of God and moving my heart – dragging it along sometimes – until my heart, my attitude sounds like God’s. I want to go through my days in tune with Him.

Father, As the hymn says, “Come, thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace”. Teach me to stop and listen for your whisper. Keep me still until the song of my heart sounds like You. Mold me so that when people hear my words and see my actions they think of You. Thank you for being patient with me. Tune my heart. I’m listening. Amen.

When is it hard to hear God? Where do you find it easiest to hear His gentle whisper?

By Claire Colvin
Used by permission

We Welcome your comments.

Enter Email
reCAPTCHA

 

FURTHER READING

•  How to be Filled with the Holy Spirit
•  How to Pray

RECEIVE These Devotionals Daily by email:  FOLLOW THIS Link to Subscribe

Follow Us On:  Facebook  • Twitter  •  Instagram  • Pinterest

thoughts by Claire Colvin Thoughts by Women

Stop for a MomentStop: Have you surrendered your all to Him? Are you still in control of your life?
Published January 9, 2024

Stop for a Moment

This  was a week of refreshing and renewal for me. Normally, going into downtime, I go in with an agenda. The last couple of years, that agenda was to meet my deadline to complete my second devotional.  So, needless to say, all of my time went into finishing and not really enjoying the time away.

This past year, I had no plans, no set agenda at all. Much of my day was spent soaking up God’s goodness. I decided to dedicate this year’s downtime to allowing God to work on me. I became the project at hand. And boy was I glad I submitted myself to His graceful hands.

There were moments that the pruning and the refining became a little harder to take, but I withstood the blows as He showed me myself. I walked away feeling much lighter than I have been in months.  I walked away, refreshed, refueled, re-energized, and most of all knowing that the Master did a major work on the inside of me.

I didn’t realize the disappointments, the highs and the lows, that I had endured throughout the year as I worked to accomplish the goals I set for myself had me numb to the state of my heart. I didn’t realize I was still doing only enough to get by until I surrendered my heart to the Master surgeon. It was then that it all became so clear that I was still running from the enemy in me.

I realized, during my much needed time alone with the Lord, that I had not fully grasped His love for me. I had not fully given my all to Him. I was still working to control the reins of my life. This is a losing battle that none of us will be able to master after giving ownership of our life over to the Lord, yet we still strive at it.

I want to challenge you as the New Year begins to take some time to reflect on where you are in your relationship with the Lord.

Have you surrendered your all to Him?

Are you still in control of your life?

Stop for a moment just to listen. You see, it is when we surrender our control that we find total satisfaction in life. No longer will we work to be like everyone else, life our lives in a hurried pace to accomplish one task after another, but we will find ourselves being satisfied with Him and Him alone. He is more than enough.

Lord, we desire to complete the race, the tasks You have set before us even in the area of Holy living. Help us not to get so consumed with winning in other areas of our lives that we neglect the needful part. We trust Your guidance in our lives. Help us to correct any steps that lead us away from You and your purpose for us In Jesus’ name. Amen

By Mary Pinckney
Used by Permission

We Welcome your comments.

Enter Email
reCAPTCHA

Further Reading

• Winning and Losing –  by John Fischer

• The Battle for the Mind –  by John Grant

• Do you know God?  This link explains how you can start to know Him

SUBSCRIBE BY EMAIL: FOLLOW THIS LINK

Follow Us On:  Facebook  • Twitter  •  Instagram  •  Pinterest

 

thoughts by Mary Pinckney Thoughts by Women