Discipleship Devotional Study Guide – Becoming Like Christ – Day 183 – Mark 4:21-25 – What You Hear – Growing As Disciples
He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you–and even more. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.” Mark 4:21-25 (NIV)
Pay Attention
Are you paying attention? Am I paying attention to what? Are you paying attention to me? Are you listening to my voice? Can you hear my gentle whisper? Are you quieting yourself before me? Are you withdrawing from the noise and busyness of the world so that you will be able to hear from me? Those are very good questions. How can I answer them? It is the desire of my heart to listen to your voice. I want to be able to hear your gentle whispers. I want nothing more than to hear from you. Sometimes, maybe more often than not, I think that I am hard of hearing. I am quite sure that I have not heard what you have wanted to say to me. That’s not good. No, it is not.
What would you like to do differently? What kind of effort are you willing to make so that you will be able to hear from me? I will establish a regular time and place to meet with you. I will withdraw from the noise and busyness of the world. I will quiet myself before you. I will meet with you in your word. I will meet with you in prayer. I will meet with you in worship. I will draw near to you. I know that you will draw near to me. I will submit my heart and mind and life to you. I will ask you to guard and guide my thoughts. I will ask you to show me what I do not know. I will allow you to speak into my life. That will be very good.
Is there anything else you would like to do differently? Yes, without a doubt. What’s that? I have been uncritically allowing my ears to hear what is neither healthy nor helpful to me. I have allowed my heart and mind and life to become polluted by the thoughts and opinions and values of the world. That is not good. No, it is not. So, I will ask you to help me to place a guard over my ears to protect me from what I should not allow into my heart and mind and life. That will be very good.
What will you do when you have heard from me? First of all, I will assume that you are not simply conveying information to me. That may be possible. But it is much more likely that you are wanting me to take some course of action. So, I will take action. I will put into practice whatever you have shown me. I will not sit around. I will go and do what you ask me. That will be very good. Speak to me Lord, I am listening. Yes, I will, you can count it. Thank you, Lord.
Lord, I will pay careful attention to what you say to me. I welcome you to speak into my life. Guard and guide my life by your words. Mold and shape my life by your words. Make me fruitful for you by your words. I will put into practice whatever I hear from you. Amen
Key Question… How are you distancing yourself from what is not healthy or helpful for you to hear?
Living It Out… Pay careful attention to what you hear from the Lord so you will be able to put it into practice.
Seeing It Happen… Have faith that the Lord will help you to pay attention and put into practice what you hear from Him.
Get Ready To Share… Share with another person or your small group how you are putting into practice what you are hearing from the Lord.
Prayer To Bless Others… May you pay attention to what you hear from the Lord.
For today’s complete 4 page Discipleship Devotional Study Guide click here:
Please consider sharing these devotionals with others through the social media you use.
Individual users may save the Discipleship Devotional Study Guide to their desktop for private use. All the blanks in the study guides are fields that allow typed responses. To use the fields on the study guide you may need to open the guide with a free version of adobe reader.
By Jon Ulrich © All rights reserved Copying not permitted www.GrowingAsDisciples.com
