You’re afraid of pride and it’s keeping you from hearing things I’d really love you to hear.
There are times when silence is actually very loud. It pulsates like a drum buried inside our ears. I stared at the far wall as the beat went on inside my head.
Pride.
You know, sometimes God speaks a word to us that brings everything else to a screeching halt. A bit of revelation that lights our hearts but deafens the world for a short time. This was one of those words for me.
I’d been sitting in our prayer room spending some time with God. I was having a great time just listening to the things he was whispering to my heart. Words about his love and his beautiful thoughts about me. Things I have become comfortable hearing. Things I’ve learned to agree with him on. It was very peaceful and I was experiencing a lot of joy just being with him.
But then he started telling me some things I felt were too lofty. There were things that if said out loud might give the impression that I’m full of nothing but pride. And I started judging myself as if that were true. I became every uncomfortable and began to squirm in my chair.
Those words can’t be from God. They are from my own vain imagination.
But then God spoke to my heart, You’re afraid of pride and it’s keeping you from hearing things I’d really love you to hear. And I just stopped and thought about how I’d closed the ears of my heart when I determined what was said was too much for me.
After a few minutes I decided to press forward in the face of discomfort, re-engage, and keep my heart open to the things God wanted to tell me. The things he began to share with me were amazing. They were things I wouldn’t have been able to hear just minutes before and truth be told, they still made me uncomfortable. Like it was a prideful thing to consider what he was saying was true. But the discomfort didn’t have the same bite. It had weakened considerably and my joy was growing once again.
If we don’t want to hear God, we won’t. Most of us are very skilled at tuning him out. This often happens when what we are hearing clashes with what we believe to be true. And it can happen in any circumstance, any situation.
Consider the mother hearing God say, trust me with your children, when she believes it’s her job to worry about them. Or the father hearing God say, trust me to be your provider, when he believes it’s his job to provide for his family. Or even the boy or girl hearing God say, you’re loved, beautiful, wonderful, highly exalted, royalty, a treasure, talented, pure, etc. when they really believe they are ugly, worthless, dirty, and unlovable.
It’s hard to keep our ears open when we reach the end of our theological rope. Oh, God wouldn’t say those things about me. Well, if they are words and pictures that add worth, value, love, and significance to you then yes, he would.
See, God loves us at a much higher level than many of us are comfortable with. Lies we’ve believed from the mouth of our adversary has birthed the discomfort. We must grasp courage and let the message play. When we do, we’ll find that God is saying things to us we never dreamed he would. And it will fill our hearts fuller than we ever thought possible.
HEY! You are so, so special to him. Accept that and listen to the words he’d really love for you to hear.
Blessings,
Jesse and Kara Birkey
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Jesse and Kara Birkey are committed lovers of Jesus who seek to show others the extraordinary life of Jesus is available for everyone. They have authored two books, been featured in films and seek to serve the Lord in whatever ways they can. Follow their blog here.
Bring Jesse and Kara to your venue. Find more information here.
Get a sneak preview of Jesse’s upcoming fiction, Finding Home.
Life Resurrected, Extraordinary Miracles through Ordinary People has been endorsed by Sid Roth and Mark Virkler and is a collection of inspiring stories making it clear that the extraordinary life of Jesus is available to all who love Him. It’s also the testimony of Jesse’s life, the road he travelled bringing him into the arms of Jesus. Get the paperback here. Get the Kindle Version Here. View the trailer here.
Marriage What’s the Point? One couple finds meaning in a crazy mess is the story of their marriage—The tragedy and the restoration. They bear their hearts in an attempt to get others to bear theirs and finally receive the freedom they’ve longed for. Get the paperback here. Get the Kindle Version Here.
Jesse is also featured in the film DeadRaiser, a movie shining the spotlight on resurrection testimonies across the nation. Find more information here.
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