SPRUCESample

PRAY

No one likes to be put on hold, but it happens to all of us.

You call to make a doctor's appointment and hear, "Could you hold please?" You want to get information about your credit card but get an automated message telling you your approximate wait time. According to a survey commissioned by text-message service TalkTo, 86% of consumers report being put on hold every time they call a business - every time!

Maybe you have felt that is what you experience when you call out to God. You tell him your problems, you ask for his help and then it feels like you have been put on hold.

But waiting on God is not the same as being put on hold. He is not too busy for you. He is not distracted. He has not forgotten you - but hearing His voice does involve a specific kind of proactive waiting.

Habakkuk demonstrates.

Habakkuk 2:1I will climb my watchtower and wait to see what the Lord will tell me to say and what answer he will give to my complaint.

Habakkuk says he would "wait" before the Lord. To wait before the Lord, in the context of the Old Testament practice always infers that the one who waits begins by seeking God in prayer. Notice how these actions are connected.

Psalm 40:1 I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and He turned to me and heard my cry.

Lamentations 3:25
The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.

Micah 7:7
But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord,
I wait for God my Savior;
my God will hear me.

Did you notice the words that show us what those who are waiting were doing? Hearing from God begins with seeking God in prayer - but not alone.

The Apostle Paul explains that we need a partner.

Romans 8:23-27And we believers . . . have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory . . .And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.

FOCUS ON WHAT IS REVEALED:

• What have all believers been given?
• What is a weakness that we all share?
• How are we helped?
• In what way does this provision from God give you confidence as you seek Him and His will?

S.P.R.U.C.E.

The second key to hearing from God is to PRAY, but not alone.

P-PRAY with the help of the Holy Spirit, and for the help of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer inviting the Holy Spirit to give you understanding, teach you, and guide you is necessary to have open ears ready and willing to hear God speak. In our human weakness, it is impossible that we could understand the mind of God so we ask for the help of the One who does.

1 Corinthians 2:10-12 But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.

God has things He desires to reveal to us. These things, though, can only be received through the Spirit of God given to us so that we can understand. We wait to receive what God has to share by first praying for His help through His Spirit. It is a waiting, open-handed prayer asking for a discerning mind. It is using the waiting time to let the Spirit soften your heart, quiet the distractions, and prepare to receive what God wants to give. Far from being "on hold" this kind of prayer is active preparation to both recognize and understand what the Lord desires to share.

✏️How are you encouraged knowing that God will help you understand His voice, His will and His ways?