What is God telling you today?

What is God telling you today?
Are you positioning yourself to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying?

*7*Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
*8* do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness’

Hebrews 3:7–8.

Are you hearing God speak to you? If not, why not?
Are you positioning yourself to listen?

With children, we instruct them to; to stop, look and be still to show they are listening, do you do the same to listen to God?

When you pray do you give time for God to answer, or are you already onto the next topic? Do you rest a while when you’re reading the Bible to see what the verses mean to you? Do you have christian friends that speak into your life? Do you listen to preaching? These are all ways God can speak to you, and there are more, so are you allowing yourself to hear the words of God? And are you taking what He says seriously?

When you do hear His voice, ‘do not harden your hearts’ - Obey the word, follow the teaching, take onboard what you know God is saying, let it influence your life. The warning at the end of these few verses in Hebrews, is that those who rebel, ‘shall not enter my rest.’ (V11) You don’t want to be one of those, surely?!

God is speaking to you, but it is easy to miss it if you are not listening. Today, why not position yourself to listen, you may be surprised what He says to you, or what He gives you in return.

What is God telling you today?

Use your gifts to love earnestly

8Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. *9*Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. *10*As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: *1 1*whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
 1 Pe 4:8–11.

Love one another earnestly. Not half-heartedly, not as a second thought, but as a priority.
Loving earnestly is hardwork. It means we hold our tongues at times, we overlook misdemeanours and extend grace. We accept friendship and help from each other, encourage and support each other often at a cost to ourselves. If loving someone doesn’t hurt at times - are you sure you’re doing it right?! It will sometimes; get in the way, be inconvenient and difficult. It will take time and energy, but don’t you too want to be loved in that way? Don't you want others to consider you, look after you and forgive you?
Jesus showed us this kind of earnest love. Sometimes we receive it so easily that we forget the cost. We are told to continue to love earnestly - to give the love imparted to us through Jesus - to one another.

The following verses focus on a few of the ways we can demonstrate this earnest love; showing hospitality, serving one another and public speaking.

Showing hospitality -  without grumbling. Be generously welcoming to others whether inside your home or not, accepting those around you. It seems funny to mention that we should do this without grumbling - you’d hope that good christian people would be welcoming without making a fuss about it, wouldn’t you? But, sometimes we do like a good moan, not always in front of people. Yet, grumbling does not really make us feel good, does it? Grumbling means we fail to see the good around us and get stuck in a spiral of negativity. There's not a lot of point doing the work of being hospitable if your hearts not in it, because are we then really being hospitable? Hospitality is about welcoming people and caring for them. There are some people who are so gifted at doing this and consider it a joy, if you're not one of them then find what your gift is and bless your church by exercising that gift - that's what these verses encourage us to do - to use the gifts God has given us for the benefit of the church.

Speaking - Speakers are to speak as if they are uttering oracles of God; showing the seriousness of the oral word. This seems to indicate the value of public speaking, I don't think it is about chatting hit your friends (although we should still consider our words). As these verses are about loving each other earnestly, it makes sense that this 'speaking' refers to the works used publicly in a church context. so it could be this that sing, preach, deliver a word, teach or share testimony, really whatever way words are publicly used. This is important as your words have purpose and power. Therefore we are to use them wisely. If we consider these public words to be 'oracles of God' then we must consider seriously how we speak. Our words can impact lives. If you are speaking in the pubic domain, consider that you are charged with a message from God - treat it with the reverence that deserves, and deliver it with grace. If you are charged with a message, try to consider how would Jesus say it?

Servers - serve with the strength of God. Helping one another and helping the church, it doesn’t matter how, it doesn't matter what you do - how big or small the job may appear, serving is an important ministry. Serving benefits the whole church. Ensure that the way in which you help is not to exhaust you, but rely on God’s strength to give you physical strength or the capacity to complete the task. If we serve without God’s strength, we can end up striving and this can be exhausting. Entrust your service to God and have faith that it does change and enrich the church.

In conclusion - whatever your gift; do it ‘in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.’