Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)

When I was younger there was a song that was sung by the Stylistics and also recorded by Marvin Gaye & Diana Ross. It was entitled "Stop, Look, Listen (To your heart). Maybe you know the lyrics "Stop, Look, Listen to your heart, hear what it's saying".


Well my friends, maybe it is time to Stop, Look and Listen to what is going on around us and to what the word of God has to say about it. From an external viewpoint the news is full of stories about natural disasters, wars, suicide bombings, parents killing their children, wrong doing by leaders in high places of authority and responsibility (including our government and places of worship). Every day it seems as if there is something new and sensational to grab our attention. It seems as if we are surrounded by doom and gloom. Maybe we should Stop, Look and Listen to what God is trying to tell us.


From an internal viewpoint, what is it that is going on in our lives that should be raising a red flag to get our attention? Are we controlled by our addictions (sex, drugs, alcohol, money, gossiping, pride, power, etc.)? What is going on in our lives that we do not want other people to know about? What is it that is keeping us separated from God? It seems as if our attention is always being directed from one thing to another. Either we are having a problem with our mate (or lack of one), our children, with the cost of food and gas, our health or that of a loved one, our job, etc. What can we do in order not to be negatively affected by these things?


I am reminded of when the Israelites were in the wilderness and complained that their path to the Promised Land was too difficult. They spoke against (i.e. "dissed") God and Moses in chapter 21 of the Biblical book of Numbers. They also complained about the nourishing food (manna) that God had been providing them daily since they left Egypt. Rather than complain, the Israelites should have Stopped, Looked & Listened to what God had to say. Maybe He would have said "I know that the road is difficult, but remember that I am with you and am protecting you from all evil (i.e. stuff going on around you) as long as you trust me".

Does this ring a bell? Are we complaining about life? Are we now starting to doubt that God can take care of our needs as He has done in the past? Do the obstacles in our lives seem insurmountable?

Maybe what we are going through will equip us to help someone in the future. Let’s take inventory of ourselves. Do we have a fair portion of health and strength? Do we have a place to live and clothes upon your back? Can we contact and talk with loved ones? Let’s count our blessings. Then maybe we can thank God for what we have and Stop, Look & Listen to the rest of the story told us in Numbers chapter 21.

As a result of the Israelites complaints and lack of trust God sent poisonous snakes among them and many died. God then told Moses to set a fiery serpent upon a pole and anyone bit by those poisonous snakes would live if they look towards the pole and not down at the snakes in their midst.

My conclusion is that even though there are poisonous snakes (wars, suicide bombings, personal problems and addictions) all around us and some of us may have already gotten bit or have been affected by them, let us not become agitated, angry or depressed but let us call upon God to help us. Then we shall live.

Some of you may say, “That is the Old Testament and was written in ancient times for the Israelites.” I would answer that comment by saying this particular narrative shows us what God expects of His people and how He responds to those that trust Him. Additionally in John 3:14 it says:

"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up”.

This New Testament passage states that we should now place our focus and trust in the crucified Christ and remember “those who look to Him by faith recover spiritual/mental health, even as all that looked at that serpent recovered physical health.”

If we do this, we shall live peacefully and confidently in the midst of all that is going on around us. It is time to Stop, Look & Listen to what the word of God has to tell us.

Peace,

Al

Stand Up & Stand Still

The world and its disappointments, tragedies and interruptions will always be with us. Therefore we have a choice to make.

Either we can let this worldly stuff influence our relationship with God or we can let our relationship with God affect how this worldly stuff influences us. I choose to allow my relationship with God to influence how this worldly stuff affects me. In order to do this we should ask God to help us deal with this stuff in a way that brings Him glory. I have practiced this approach for the past 8 to 10 years and find that my life actually works better when God is involved daily.

It has not always been that way. I have failed many times in Finances, relationships, career, etc. It was not until I asked God to work with me did things start to get better.

For instance, I was $250,000.00 in debt once and kept asking God to tell me what to do in order to eliminate this debt. He gave me very simple steps to take that I thought were ridiculous. However, after my way had failed a number of times I decided to try it His way. WOW, each simple step led to another simple step and in less than 3 years my debt was eliminated.

This brings me to another point. When we ask God to help us, we must be willing to participate in the solution He provides us. That is to say, "If we don't do anything, God won't do anything." Therefore we need to submit our will/ego to His will and do exactly what He says.

For example, God kept telling me to make a simple phone call, but did not tell me why I should make it. It took faith for me to make that call because it was to a vendor whom I owed over $60,000.00.

When I made the call and asked for the owner, the owner stated that he was not concerned about the amount of money I owed. His reasoning was that people who owed him money and were not going to pay him back would not call him. He reasoned that since I called him then I intended to repay him. As a result, we worked out a plan for me to keep purchasing product from him while paying him back at the same time.

The point of the above story is that God asks us to do little stuff and we fail to see the big picture of how that will fix our problem. As a result of that lesson, I learned to ask God to tell me only what I need to do "Today" and I do it. I let Him handle the details of how this step fits into the big picture.

The point of this story is that we should not try to out think God. If I had never made that call, I would never have resolved that issue.

Peace,

Al