Listening to the whispers of God
In Mark 14:12-25 there is an unusual story of Jesus sending two disciples out on their own to discover where Jesus had planned for them to celebrate the Passover meal that evening. Jesus is cryptic. He gives them instructions much like a treasure hunt: go into the city, follow a man carrying a water pot, ask him, where is the room for the teacher and his disciples to eat the Passover meal together? The disciples listened, obeyed and found everything just as Jesus described.
What a great example of how believers can listen to the voice of God and experience an exciting journey. But it isn’t just for first century Palestine. It happens today as well.
Below I’ve included a story from my friend T.B. as she describes her adventure with God while on a walk last weekend.
“Last weekend on a perfect Saturday morning, I was out walking my 6 lb. Yorkshire terrier. I rarely walk on Saturday mornings but this day I did.
We were in a big open grassy area. There were several other people walking their dogs as well in the same area, with a fair distance between us. A young woman with a large white wet dog said from afar, "I'm looking for my cell phone. I'm retracing my tracks to see if I can find it." I told her, "I will keep a lookout for it. And if I find it, I will turn it into the police." She told me where she worked and said I could return it there, if I found it.
As I walked away, the Holy Spirit whispered to me, "If your path crosses again with this woman, tell her, "I will pray that your phone returns to you." "
Continuing on my walk down towards a parking lot near the open space by the lake, I saw the same woman across the parking lot still looking for her phone. I asked if she had found her phone yet? She said no and that she was still looking for it. l then told her, "I will pray your phone returns to you." She didn't quite hear me.
So, I said aloud, "I AM PRAYING YOUR PHONE RETURNS TO YOU."
Having realized earlier from our first encounter that her dog was wet, I walked toward the beach area. Within minutes, there on the sand I saw a black cell phone. Certain it was hers I ran back towards the parking lot to find her, but she had gone. So, I said a little prayer, "Thank you God for letting me be the one to find her phone.”
After about 30 minutes the owner of the phone called from another person's phone to see if someone had found it. I answered and we arranged a meeting place to connect to return the phone. She was very thankful it was found and returned. I was grateful it was me that God used to find it.
The whispers and directions of the Spirit that day were God allowing me to be a
part of an adventure to help another person. God showed me that when I listen and am obedient to follow his voice, He is there walking alongside me, guiding me and answering my prayers and often, the prayers of others too."
God still talks. Are we listening?
Note: The thought of the days along with other key updates will also be posted on our facebook page (Celebrate Recovery at Crossroads Church Facebook Page) and for those without facebook, they will also be posted on the following blog site: https://crossroadscr.blogspot.com
UPDATES/REMINDERS:
- If you are in need of prayer, please send your prayer requests to CelebrateRecoveryatCrossroads@gmail.com and we will forward those on to our celebrate recovery prayer team. The Crossroads Church Prayer team would also love to pray for you, so when you send your E-mail, please note if you are okay with us forwarding your prayer request to the church.
- Fridays at 6:30pm, We are hosting "CR Friday Night Live." To subscribe to our youtube channel please click on the following link and select the subscribe button. CR Youtube Channel Link . There will be a song or two of worship and then a short recovery based dialog between a couple of CR members. This will be streamed on youtube.
- Fridays we will be hosting on-line open share group meetings at 7:30pm. There will be one mixed issues group for men and one mixed issues group for women. Men's Open Share Group Sign-Up Link / Women's Open Share Group Sign-Up Link. These meetings will take place using the Zoom App. In order to participate you will need a tablet, smart-phone or computer with camera. In order to ensure confidentiality of these meetings everyone who participates will need to find a private room to set up, have their camera on, so others can see that there is no one else in the room and they will also need to wear a pair of headphones so that they are the only ones that can hear. This is a free app and you can download it on google play, apple app store or through your web-browser on your computer. For help on how to join a Zoom meeting please click on the the following link, which will take you to their support web-site Zoom Set-Up Help
James U.
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