Don't Just Hear...

Last week I was reading the book of Philippians and I came upon this verse…

Phil 4:9 “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me put it into practice.”

Now Paul was writing this to the church of Phillippi, but this verse spoke directly to me. God was telling me I needed to do something that He told me to do, that I haven’t done yet.

Just a few weeks ago my pastor gave a sermon that really spoke to me, actually it spoke so much that I cried most of the way through it. I know God really used him to speak to me concerning a certain situation that I have been really struggling with for awhile. I really felt like the Lord gave me direction and the next step in my situation, but have I don it yet? Well to be honest…NO. It’s in the back of my head and every now and then I feel the Lord nudging me, but I still have yet to do what my Heavenly Father asked.

Why? Well I can come up with plenty of excuses, not enough time, maybe I heard wrong, but the truth is…It’s uncomfortable, it’s something I really don’t want to do and it makes me nervous about the outcome. Are those good reasons not to do what I know I need to do?

NOPE!

James 1:22-25 “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what is says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what is says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he look like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.”

It is not enough to hear God speak or read His word, I MUST do what He says! The only way my thoughts, attitudes and my actions will change is if I do what my Lord God says! I can’t worry about the outcome; I have to just worry about what I am supposed to do. I HAVE to let God take care of the outcome. I have to surrender my worries and my fears and just DO IT!

The Lord is asking each one of us to put His words into practice; to not just sit and listen to a nice sermon, to not just read the bible and to not let it change our lives. God is asking us to do something with what He has shown us. He wants our worlds to be changed by His words and the only way that will happen is if we do what He says!

There is some good news in all this…WE DON’T HAVE TO DO IT ALONE!!! God will be standing right next to us and will be giving us all the strength we need to do the task He has for us to complete. By my own strength I know that I cannot do what I need to, but with God’s strength I can do anything He asks of me.

Isaiah 41:10 “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”