Member Writings

“The Lost Art Of Listening”

James 1:19-20 NLT

Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters; You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.  Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.

There are a lot of situations in life that we must take the time to understand so that we can learn.  We spend our young lives taking directions and instructions not only from our parents, but also from our teachers at school as our bodies and brains grow and we absorb valuable lessons.  We spend years and years feeding our brains information and processing all of it so that we can continue to learn and grow. 

One of the greatest lessons in life is the art of listening.  It doesn’t do us any good to just listen good enough to get a decent grade and then forget what we’ve learned.  When we are taught lessons by whomever, we should always listen and seek to learn so that we can succeed in all situations and circumstances that come our way. 

Listening is definitely an art.  We learned at a young age the challenges of listening.  For some, listening comes naturally as we are eager to learn.  For others, listening takes a lot of work because we get distracted and lose track of the lesson being taught.  However, I think in some way we all struggle with listening for one reason or another.  James knew this and he shares a very powerful passage here as he teaches us that we all need to be quick to listen. 

Friends, it’s a sad reality we must face that we have become people who are not quick to listen, and instead are quick to speak and get angry.  That seems to be a large majority of people in the world today.  So many people get so angry and determined to get their opinions out all before they take time to actually listen to what others say. 

What if we actually took the time to listen to others and started learning before going off on our tangents?  I’m not trying to get political in any way and I don’t like politics to be honest.  I am saying that it is so important, now more than ever, to stop spewing out what we think and feel all the time and take time to actually listen.  Most of all, we need to listen to God and let Him guide us. 

Instead of us being slow to listen, quick to speak and quick to get angry, we need to take a step back and start being quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to get angry.  If we practiced this in our lives and in the Church today, it would be amazing what we would learn and the love that would abound as we actually took the initiative to listen and love one another. 

God, help us to always strive to listen not only to You most of all, but to others as well as we seek to share Your Love. 

Weekly Devotional Blog Site www.zwdevotions.com

“The Ultimate Refuge”

Psalm 91:1-2 NLT

Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.  This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust Him.

We all have different ways we enjoy being refreshed, don’t we?  A glass of ice water or a pool on a hot summer day; taking a book and going to the beach to relax and get some rays; taking a hot shower on a cold winter day.  These are just a few of the many ways we seek to be refreshed.  Whether it’s something we consume or a place we go, we all have different ways of refreshing ourselves.  Right now, you can picture your favorite spot to go to so that you can feel at peace and get some relaxation.  We all have our favorite things and places for refreshing. 

As I think of all the things people like to do and places people like to go to get refreshment, it reminds me of the great blessings God has given to all of us to have these opportunities.  We all need times to get away and be refreshed.  We can’t always work, work, work.  We need times to get away and calm our minds and just relax.  We need to relax our minds and just get lost in letting our minds stop thinking so much.  Refreshment is something we all long for so often in the midst of our busy lives. 

I hope that we are all thankful, most of all, for the refreshment we have as we take refuge in God.  When we live and dwell in the shelter and presence of God, that is refreshment like nothing else.  When we take the time to just be in His presence and soak in all that He wants to give us, we experience peace and safety, even while living in a world of chaos.  The chaos of the world will most likely never end or slow down, so we need to make it a priority to “check out” often to refresh in Him.  As much as the world provides ways of refreshment, there is no refreshment like being in His presence. 

When we let Him become our refuge and place of total trust, we find peace like we’ve never experienced before.  We find ourselves at the peak of true enjoyment.  There is absolutely nothing like resting in the shelter and shadow of Almighty God.  When things are crazy in my days, as they often get for many of us, I like to just rest in Him.  I know that He will give me refreshment and peace that no one else or nothing else can give in this life. 

I pray that we all will find times each day to escape the chaotic world around us and just get lost in His wonderful presence.  We all need this, especially with all the craziness going on around us this year.  We need Him now more than ever and He will provide this peace and refuge. 

Will we seek ultimate refuge in Him?

Weekly Devotional Blog Site www.zwdevotions.com

“Encourage, Love And Support One Another”

Hebrews 10:24-25 NLT

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.  And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

This past week I have found it more challenging to think about what I want to write and share about.  Some weeks the words just flow easily from my heart.  Other weeks, I find it very hard to articulate exactly what I’m feeling and what I want to share with others through my devotional writing.  The past weeks, I’ve been thinking and talking with friends and family about all the craziness of life.  While God has definitely continued to bless us in many different ways, the craziness of life is still present and we work through it by trusting in His guidance each day.

As I find myself scrolling through facebook, checking the news reports on my phone, listening to various conversations around me at work, I just have to wonder what this world would be like if we really took this passage to heart and lived it out.  What if we really challenged ourselves to encourage, love and support one another as God has commanded us to do?  What if we took this command seriously, as God wants us to and really loved one another? 

It seems these days so many people are so focused on getting their opinions out and making sure they are heard.  While this is healthy when done in the right way, we always need to remember that no matter what, God has called us to love, encourage and support one another.  I think about that when I’m with my wife and kids especially.  Am I loving them or just venting my opinions out to them about how I feel about things?  Do I take the time to really love them and hear how they are feeling?

Friends, sometimes we just need to take a step back and really listen to what others have to say.  Many months ago I watched a devotional series by Francis Chan and I was really impacted by how he talked about how, in this world today, so many people are so focused on airing their opinions and not just listening.  We really need to take the time to listen to others.  It’s important to show others we care and help motivate them to doing great things. 

I want to encourage all of us to focus more on encouraging others around us each day.  This is not to say we can’t share how we feel about things with others, but we need to make sure we are focusing on loving, supporting and encouraging people.  That is what God wants us to focus on as we seek to share His Light. 

Father, help us to encourage, love and support one another as You have called us to do.  Help us focus not on getting our opinions heard so much, but listening to others and seeing how we can help them come to know You.

Weekly Devotional Blog Site www.zwdevotions.com