Listen
Welcome to Understanding Someone 101. Here are three quick tips you can exercise the next time you find yourself in a position to hear someone out.
Step one: With your mouth shut, fully engage in what the other party has to say.
Step two: Listen to the secondary party's full monologue.
Step three: Wait until Biblical advise is solicited.
When conversing with people, it is easy to want to interrupt and interject your opinion, especially if you have gone through a similar predicament. Unfortunately, when you filter your advice through your personal thoughts, it becomes clouded and no longer applicable to a completely different individual. We are all unique, and though trials may seem to parallel, everything each individual goes through is intentionally catered to them. Listening with understanding for people is one thing: listening to The Lord has its perks.
Listen through The Word
Psalm 81:8-16
The Bible: also known as Best Instructions Before Leaving Earth. When we listen to The Lord through His Word, we are taking our daily reading, making our new discoveries, and applying it to our lives as we build spiritually.
Listen through prophets
II Kings 16:1-17:41
Every single service you are a part of is intentional. Every Vacation Bible School sermonette, school chapel services, major conferences all shape your life whether you realize it or not. You have been intricately placed in the services you attend for a purpose. Prophets, evangelists, and teachers all have a unique Word to deliver. When a man of God speaks into your life from a pulpit or in private, take what he or she has to stay and has to say and Soak Up Your Service.
Soak Up Your Service
Listen through leadership
Acts 26:24-27:12
Paul, one of my favorite men in the Bible, actively listened to The Lord. He penned some of the most vital pieces of doctrine because he was open and willing to listen to leadership. Your pastor, pillars in your church, and mentors should all work in harmony to lead you to become a better person for The Lord. What they say and the way they live should be prime examples of who you want to become. Listen and live accordingly.
Listening is not always easy, and it is definitely way less fun than speaking and projecting your own opinions. When we tune our spiritual ear to receive what The Word and vessels of The Lord have to say, we begin to shape ourselves for the better.
