Listen with Your Spirit by Deborah ellis
(Note from Linda: The following was shared by Deborah on the private website and I greatly appreciate her permission to share it here because it’s such wonderful counsel for everyone standing for marriage restoration, and we will indeed be blessed and encouraged when we learn to listen with our spirit!)
Hello family, I am thinking of you all today and I just wanted to encourage everyone to “Listen with your spirit!” Do you hear that? That is the sound of our God at work on our behalf; moving mountains; restoring love and peace; healing broken things; authoring new things and finishing the things he authored (Hebrews 12:2)!
This is the Christmas season and many people say that Jesus is the reason for the season, and that is true. But we are also the reason for the season. I say that because you (and I) are the reason Jesus came to earth; we are the ‘reason’ He came (John 3:14-17). His love for us brought him to earth and the Word became flesh and dwelled among us (John 1:1-3 and John 1:14). So please recognize that we are very special; God thought we were worth the sacrifice of His son! So what a priceless treasure we are!
Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. What God has promised, He is able also to perform. Listen with your spirit! God is speaking! When you pray, ask God for wisdom and as you go about your day, LISTEN! He may not speak right away, but later you may get an inclination or a prompting to do something or not do something and if you pay attention, you will know that it is HIM! God loves you! God’s eyes are on you! So pray and believe with all of your heart.
Mark 11:24 says “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” As we consider this scripture, let us ask ourselves, “What is my part?” Our part is to pray and BELIEVE. We are to believe when we pray; NOT when we see the results (Colossians 4:2). And we must believe God ABOVE everything else. I would rather doubt what I see and doubt what I hear, than doubt God. Please make up your mind to do the same; if God’s Word said it; then it shall doubtless come to pass (Isaiah 55:10-11 and Isaiah 46:10-11)). So no matter what you see or hear – just believe! Again, I would rather doubt what I see and doubt what I hear than doubt God!!!
Most of us can serve the Lord and be prayerful and trusting for a little while. But will we continue to pray and trust even though God hasn’t shown up when we thought He should or “when” we expected Him to? Have we put a time limit on God? Hopefully not; but if we have, I pray that we will remove it. We can’t allow the passage of time to cause us to move in one direction or another. So we have to take our self imposed time limits off of God and let Him work. He is faithful who has promised (Hebrews 10:23)! We have many examples in the Bible of people waiting to receive their promise, and God was ALWAYS faithful to them and He is ALWAYS faithful to us.
And since we tend to let our emotions run away with us, it is best not to make any big decisions when we are emotional, and it is best to keep our mouths shut. And that’s when we have to turn to God and resist everything that is not of God (James 4:7). And it is not always the devil we have to resist; because many times it is our flesh we have to resist…SO RESIST IT! And look for the way out, because God has already made a way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13). Remember that what God has promised is IMMUTABLE – just Believe! Don’t give up!
Wait in the Lord! Do not faint (Isaiah 40:31)! Trust in the Lord – He is not late. And daily rely on God’s Word to strengthen you and keep you. Stay plugged into Him each day by reading and studying His Word. And every day when you wake up, let God be the first thing on your mind and the last thing on your mind when you go to bed at night. Commune with God all throughout your day; talk to Him and listen as He talks to you. And when you feel ‘out of sorts’, put on your headphones and sing out loud to the Lord and the angels will join you! But sing to the Lord and make a joyful noise!
And finally, we must all watch what we are saying; God is DOING what we are saying (Numbers 14:28 and Job 3:25)! I love and cherish you all!