Watch THEN Listen

Look among the nations and watch—be utterly astounded! For I will work a work in your days which you would not believe, though it were told you. Habakkuk 1:5 

Christians habitually seek God's voice through prayer, through His Word, or through His messengers. Yet sometimes we fail to hear God speak through His activity, even though He is working all around us.

If you are sensitive to what God is doing around you, He will clearly speak to you through His activity. You will know that God is at work, because what you see will astound you, and human power and wisdom will not explain it. When you experience events that surpass your understanding and ability, it may be that God is communicating a critical message to you.

If you want to hear God's voice, look around you to see what He is doing. When you are watching for God at work, what you see will reveal His character, and you will have a fresh understanding of how to respond to Him. - Blackaby Experiencing God Day by Day 

This is a very interesting, powerful and very personal post today.  I would like to say that I am amazed that it came up this way but God tends to orchestrate things that we aren't expecting.  An so He did. 

This particular devotional from Blackaby certainly hits me where I am not at in my life.   God has promised and proven time after time that He is at work and will remain at work in my life.  Not because of anything good in me, but because of His promises to me.  To never leave me or forsake me also means He won't leave me in the state He found me.  

Over and over again in the Gospels you can find parables of farming.  Of seeding the ground, of tending the soil, of pruning what is there, to harvesting at the end. 

We are all a work un progress who are in Christ.  To those who haven't believed yet, you too are a work in progress.  Dear unbelieving one...do you realize there are people praying for you?  There is.  Many here and now, many whom knew you who are before His Throne in Heaven directly mentioning your name to the King of Kings. 

My work on me began in 1974-1975.  God showed me convincingly that He loved me and wanted to save me.  He wants the same thing for you.  

That began a lifetime of changes in me.  Subtle ones to huge ones.  Always with care and often taking me places in growth that I have never expected.  Jesus came into me not to leave me the way He found me, but to make me into who He knew that I could be.   We all have our own ideas of how our life should be like.  We live in a world that tries to define our lives for us. They try to convince you of how you should feel, what you should think, how you should be towards others. What is acceptable and what it thinks you should not accept.  Let me explain something to you.  If the world is talking and you are listening then odds are good you are not listening to God. 

Only in Christ is found wisdom and knowledge that brings health and healing and happiness.  Jesus promised peace unlike any the world could possibly comprehend. We strive and look for gems in life to satisfy our needs and desires among a manure pile.  I'm telling you what you are looking for is only found in Christ. 

Rose colored glasses are a filter to the truth.  They will never help you. 

In my life Jesus has taken me through astounding and amazing things.  I  liken them to workouts and surgeries.  Ever watch a potter working on a masterpiece?  At times it's like watching paint dry.  Other times you can see where progress is being made. Still others you wonder if he stopped and was done or should there be something more.  Then a while passes and he begins again because the work is so intricate that constantly working at it would overwork the piece.  Then he does more then stops. Does more then stops.  Then a huge piece is removed, to be replaced with something grander that we weren't expecting.  And the work continues. 

That's life as a Christian.  The Master makes the decisions on the Masterpiece.  Not the other way around. 

The sooner we get that the better the work goes.

I didn't get it for a very long time.  God still is at work in me.  He has me now where I am a masterpiece in awe of what He is going to do next, rather than aski why is He doing what He is doing. 

I have never regretted coming to Jesus to be saved.  I am so glad He didn't leave me the way He found me.  He loves me too much to do that.  He loves you too much to do that.  Think about that today.