Tag Archives: hearing from God

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Music for the Soul

music

What sounds have you heard that instantly go straight from your ears to your heart and soul?  While taking an early morning hike the other day, I noticed it was unusually quiet.  Staci was tagging along on this hike.  She was in it for the exercise.  I was in it for the…… well, the chance to be outdoors.  As we both were walking we realized that it was so quiet, you could hear everything.

See, we got an early start.  We both experienced seeing the sun come up.  We were early enough that the frost was still shiny and glistening on the ground.  As we were taking in the moment of a Mississippi morning, it dawned on me how quiet it was.  Even Staci noticed the quiet.  She noticed it so much that she even stopped talking, which for her is well, uncommon.  😉

When you notice how quiet everything is, that’s when you hear all the sounds.  Listen with me as I recall hearing woodpeckers, a dog barking far way, small sparrows chirping as we walk through the grass.  The bluebirds were doing their mating calls. The sounds of things in the distance are amplified by the cold weather.  I hear a deer snort.  I immediately tell Staci, “Look, there’s a deer ahead in the path!”  I had not even seen it, but I had heard it.  Sure enough as if on cue, two deer stepped out ahead of us and trotted on into the woods.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord  Psalm 150:6  OK, OK, I know the bird is singing to claim it’s territory.  The dog is barking at an animal.  The coyote is howling at the moon.  My human companion has started talking again.  😉  But even in their everyday activities all these creatures that have breath are giving Glory to God just by BEING!  Praise Him!

“Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,” 
Ephesians 5:19 

So, what if only the top three birds were the only ones allowed to sing?  You wouldn’t get to hear a turkey, owl, hawk, crane, or woodpecker.  All these creatures make a beautiful noise in their own way.

What if you only get to hear the top three humans sing.  and just who would that be?  Elvis? Lady Gaga? “Fill in the Blank”?   It probably wouldn’t include me and you on the list.  But what’s stopping you.  When things get quiet enough, (meaning all distractions are put aside),  that’s when your sound can be made and heard.  Sing from the heart.  Make a joyful noise.  You don’t even have to sing one of the top three Praise songs of all time.  It just might be a Tom Petty song like “Runnin’ Down a Dream”.  But you are singing in the shower, or on the way to work and it’s as natural as a bird singing everyday on the trail behind my house.  Do it because you have breath.  Do it because it’s you.  Do it because deep down it’s now for God’s Glory.

See Ya!   Dan Ainsworth  wilderness preacher/ songwriter

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The Power of Prayer………. It’s In The Promise

power of prayer is in the promise

I buried a great friend of mine a couple of days ago.  We prayed long and hard as he battled his illness.  Now, some of my friends who are filled with doubts about all this spiritual “stuff” are saying to themselves, “See, praying doesn’t do any good.”  They don’t understand……… and neither do I.

I don’t understand.  In most peoples’ mind, you pray to God because you want something.  That’s true, but I pray to my God because I want something more.  I pray so that I can become “ALIVE”.  Praying is a two way street.  It’s talking to God, even asking Him for things.  But even more, it’s listening to God……. actually hearing from Him.  A living relationship with a living God, that’s what I want.

But, I still don’t understand.  I can relate to my atheist and agnostic buddies out there.  They don’t believe in the power of prayer because they don’t understand it.  I prayed for healing, physical healing.  It didn’t happen, so prayer doesn’t work.  That’s what they are thinking.  They understand that.   My friends who have doubts coming out the Wazoo about anything spiritual also don’t understand the power of prayer.  Ask ye shall receive, right?  They (and maybe you) don’t see this power of prayer either.

Have I shared that I don’t understand?  I pray to a Living God for things that may never happen.  I pray for friends and their situations knowing that the outcome may stay the same.  We Christians always say “not my will, but God’s will”.  Doubters and unbelievers see this as a cop out.  I see this as more of what I don’t understand.  Jesus Himself prayed for things that He didn’t get.  It wasn’t in God’s will.  Yet the strong relationship between the Father and the Son was maintained a lot of times through prayer.

John 11:25  I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. 

Jesus said this.  I don’t have to understand.  Jesus said it.  All I got to do is believe it.  The power of prayer is in the promise from Him.  My friend is physically dead.  But,  he is alive spiritually.  We will talk again in a short while.  I don’t have to understand, thank God.  I just have to believe.  Thank God.

I don’t understand the beauty of a sunset, or the love and affection given me from a  dog.  I don’t understand the love of a woman to her child, or the beauty from the sound of birds singing.  I don’t understand what makes a joke funny.  But folks, if I spend all my energy that my brain can muster up to understand these things, then I don’t get to LIVE in these moments.  Rather than understand I’m choosing to live.  I’m choosing to hear the birds sing, feel the dog’s tongue licking my face, laugh at the joke and actually live in the moment rather than trying to figure out all these things.  That’s not a cop out, that’s becoming alive.  Rather than understand this power of prayer, I choose to believe in the promise.  He that believeth in me…….

Praying to my Heavenly Father is much more than asking for things.  It’s much more than walking into a candy store and saying I want this,this, and this.  It’s an everyday experience to grow and stay close to God.  It’s more like walking the “whole main street of Life” with a Holy companion right beside me leading me. It’s a journey.  A journey where you are not alone in life’s situations.

What about you?  Are you alive?  Can you say that you are living in the moment?  Don’t let your doubts and lack of understandings rob you of a beautiful sunset.  Don’t let the fears and doubts take away from a “becoming alive” while here on Earth.  I see too many people walking around who are really and truly “DEAD”.  The power  and promise that took my friend to heaven is also the power and promise that can turn your “dead” days into “Living” days.

My God is Alive!  My friend in Heaven is Alive!  By the grace of God even in this dead and dying world, I am Alive!

More on having a strong prayer life to come in the next few weeks.

See Ya!   Dan Ainsworth wilderness preacher, praying for myself and you

 

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Plowing a Hard Heart

plowing hard ground/heart

What was a beautiful garden with corn, potatoes, and squash is now nothing but hard dirt.  So hard it won’t let the refreshing rains in……….so hard that is, until I plow it using the turning plow.

Boy, I timed it just right too.  Two days after plowing, a rain came and soaked this plot of land.  Instead of running off because of the hard crusted soil, the water soaked in. I’m already preparing for next spring’s crop of early corn and ‘taters’. (My mouth is watering just thinking about that corn on the cob).  Turning the soil over allows it to mellow and absorb moisture.  Turning the soil will get rid of bugs and weeds.  It allows old corn stalks and old growth to become one with the soil.  Turning the soil basically allows what was once a prepared  garden to go from a hard patch of dirt back to a ………..well, a prepared patch of garden.  This turning of the soil is so important in maintaining a productive plot of land.  Why?  It keeps the soil from becoming hard.

Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord,
until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.  Hosea 10:12

We are always talking about how God showers us with His blessings. I guess it’s like the rainfall that showers down on the land. But what if your heart has hardened?  My garden that produced a wonderful crop last year has gradually hardened over time because of my neglect.  I didn’t take care of it.  Weeds took over, the summer sun baked it, more weeds, more harsh weather, and lots of neglect on my part.  But with the help of my turning plow, that’s about to change.

I’d hate for all the winter rains and spring showers to fall down on the land but runoff because my garden plot had grown hard.  Whoa, I’d hate for God’s showers of blessings to rain down on me and you but we missed out and didn’t receive them because we had grown hard spiritually.  Our hearts can grow hard.   How?  When we neglect to “turn our hearts” so that we can receive from God.  Over time, from daily spiritual battles, from spiritual “weeds”, we grow hard.  If we allow this to continue and neglect to prepare a place to receive God’s blessings in our hearts and lives, well……..we miss out.

Hey, it’s raining!  Is God soaking in or is He not allowed to come in to your life because you have become hard again. It just rained and you didn’t even get wet.  Nothing soaked in.  It all rolled off like it was on a duck’s back.  You’re a hard hearted soul.  Bummer.

Get you a “turning plow” and prepare yourself to receive a blessing from God.  How do you “turn your heart” to prepare for this?  Maybe your “turning plow” is a song you can sing.  Or maybe you “break up the hard dirt” by prayer.  Or you break up your hard heart by talking to/with Jesus,  maybe nothing more than a quiet time alone with Him. What ever “turning plow”  you use, you better use it.  God’s got another shower of blessings on the way.  Preparing your heart to receive anything from God allows your soul to become a prepared garden that will yield abundant fruit for your Lord and Saviour.  I can taste the spiritual “corn on the cob” even now.