Ears to Hear

To echo Pastor Anthony's comments about our time of ministry last night, it really was an awesome night of worship, prayer, and testimonies!

There are Tuesdays that seem to be a little more difficult than others... If we look at it from our human perspective, that is. Some nights, the Lord moves in a very tangible way. Other nights, we may not have any known evidence of what the Lord is doing, we just have faith that He moves even when we don't see it with our physical eyes. Last night was a night for both. We saw the Lord physically touch a man's foot, which was awesome! But my thoughts mainly rest on the almost 2 hours we spent listening to those around us. One of the team prayed before we went downtown that the Lord would give us ears to hear the stories of the people around us. There are so many times we ask people questions such as "How are you?", but don't really take the time to listen to their honest response. Hearing that prayer being prayed, it was definitely a challenge to commit to listening to people, especially the ones that we know can talk for hours. Literally. 

I find it funny that usually the very things we pray for (without even really knowing what exactly it is we're praying for) end up happening. You know, kinda like praying for patience. When we ask for it, the Lord seems to find plenty of opportunities for us to exercise it! Sure enough, last night turned out to be one of the nights that we spent mostly listening to people. For hours. A group of 4 of us listened to a man share his life story with us. How the Lord had shown him so much kindness and favor, yet he still has a hard time choosing the right thing. He was so honest about seeking to only satisfy the flesh. I think back on our conversation, remembering the many times I wanted to interrupt and tell him we needed to go back to the group, or say in a nice way that we had someone else to pray for. But weren't we doing the very thing we went downtown to do in the first place? I really have no idea what the Lord might have done in that hour that we listened to him. Not saying a word. Just nodding our heads. But maybe that was the very thing he needed in that moment. Four listening ears that said non-verbally that someone loved him, cared about him, and would actually take the time to listen.  

I am challenged. And humbled.

Lord, give us ears to hear. To hear Your voice. To hear the voices of others.