Your servant is listening” (1Samuel 3:10). In the gaps, we need to say what Samuel said, “Speak, Lord. God is always speaking and He’s always wanting to use us, but we must learn to listen and to ask. We’ve become good at keeping our mind occupied at all times, which keeps us from being still, listening to God or even asking Him what He’s saying. Too often we fill our gaps with music, books, conversation and more. It can be between customers, between reports, between classes, etc.
He calls this, “Listening in the gaps.”Įach of us have gaps in our day and in our life. Sometimes what God spoke to him was for the whole audience. God began to point out people in the audience for him to minister to. In between the jokes, while people were laughing, he began to ask God, “What can i give this crowd? What do you want to say?” It changed how he did comedy and the lives of people who go to his shows. In one of his shows, he described how he used to think about seven jokes ahead in his act. Not only is he funny, he also shares his faith and encourages believers. There’s a comedian named Michael Junior who I listen to from time to time. Are you honoring Him in all aspects of your life? Have you been relaxed on your spiritual disciplines? When we honor God, He shows up in our life in real ways. If it’s been a while since you’ve heard God’s voice or experienced Him in a real way, take a close examination of your life. In Matthew 13:57-58 it says, “Then Jesus told them, ‘A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his own family.’ And so he did only a few miracles there because of their unbelief.” Our belief and honor have a lot to do with how much we experience the power of God in our life. God had enough of it and spoke to Samuel a prophetic message of how He was going to remove Eli and his sons from their positions. He no longer slept in the tabernacle tending to the candlestick, he allowed his sons to steal God’s offerings and turned a blind eye to their promiscuity. The reason why the messages and visions were rare is because Eli had quit honoring God’s presence. He was their spiritual leader, but the first verse says, “Now in those days messages from the Lord were very rare, and visions were quite uncommon” (NLT). In 1 Samuel 3, Eli was the High Priest of Israel. Listening is a great way to honor God’s presence. If I want more of it, I have to make time to listen instead of just talking through that time to Him about my needs. There’s a direct correlation between my listening to His voice and experiencing His power and presence in my life. I’ve noticed when certain disciplines, like listening in my prayer time, are low, there are fewer experiences with God. It helps me to visualize the different aspects of my disciplines, see where I’m gaining ground and where I’m losing ground. I take a spiritual growth assessment a couple of times a year to get a snapshot of where I am.
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