This blog title may be sort of ridiculous in some ways because, those of us who are believers know for a stone cold fact that God has always got our number. I mean, He knew us before we were born and there isn’t another that knows us more intrinsically than our Creator. So, yea — there’s that. But, what I mean here is there are just moments when you KNOW that He’s up to something with YOU and He’s got your number. Have you ever sat in a sermon and just felt like it was aimed right at you? That was me today at our church. There are many times when a sermon reaches me, of course, but today, especially toward the end, I sat there feeling like it was AIMED at me. Like — listen up, girl…this is for YOU! And, I don’t even mean that in some selfish “this is MY sermon, back off, people” way, naturally. I just felt it so personally. And, the more I think on it, the more I see my own lessons to be taken and applied to my life.
We are in a sermon series entitled “detox” right now and I’m sure that’s a common theme in churches all over the place. I know that we are in this series with other churches in Alabama, for instance. Today’s sermon, basically, was about detoxing from the world. Pastor Ike talked about starving things of the flesh (doubt, negativity and sin) to feed the spirit. In order to starve doubt out of your life, trust God (Proverbs 3:5). In order to starve negativity from your life, focus on thinking what God thinks (Isaiah 26:3). And, in order to starve sin from your life, turn to what God wants (Ephesians 4:29). He went on to say that we also need to feed habits that encourage us spiritually. Those are – being in God’s Word, worship and prayer. As a church, we were invited into a 21 day prayer event, starting today. And, we were given a “challenge”, for lack of a better word, to focus on these next six days in doing the things that feed our spiritual habits — Bible, worship and praying. I’m thinking – cool, this is right in line with what I wanted to do for this year…this is awesome…I’m in and I’m ready! Let’s do this. Then, Pastor Ike basically talks RIGHT to me and he focuses in on the worship time for a little bit. He says that this week, only listen to worship music when you listen to music. Y’all, I have some serious radio ADD and I don’t stay on one station for long at all. Ask Mickey. It bugs the mess out of him. And, I enjoy listening to sports talk radio besides just music. So, I’m thinking okay, I can do podcasts of sermons and I can do worship music and I can still listen to my sports talk. WRONG. Pastor Ike went and called out VERY SPECIFICALLY, mind you, sports talk radio. Oh no, he didn’t…except…OH YES, HE DID! And, to be just honest, I was thinking “Awww man! It’s the week after Georgia just barely won in a bowl game AND the week before the college football championship. And, no sports talk radio?!?! Are you kidding me right now?!” Yea. I did. BUT, that’s when I felt like it was aimed at me. If anything is keeping me from worship or the word or encouraging relationships, well…that needs a break. So, no sports talk radio for this girl this week. (And, no other music either.) I messaged my friend Melissa about all this and she said “Oh my stars!!!! Jesus is ON to you!!!!!” Yep. That’s the moment when you know – He’s got your number. What I needed was for something I wanted to do to be taken away so I could focus on what I need to do. And, she went on to remind me that all He’s asking is for me to listen. (Shout out of thanks to my sweet friend. I needed that!) So, that’s what I plan to do. Listen. Listen for that still small voice – the one always tells me the truth. Without switching channels 57 times or whatever, just listening. And, I also plan to use any non-radio time to connect with family and friends on the phone which goes back to that whole being intentional thing and connecting with loved ones on a more personal basis. This is a whole ‘nother blog post in the making, but I really need to use my smart PHONE for more than a tech device. For now, I digress.
So, this week I will do my best to be more in The Word, to worship and to pray very intentionally. This is the start of 21 days of prayer. I’m in. And, I just want to hear and follow what He has to reveal to me in this time.
Blessings,
Kelly
