Jesus has a simple request of all humanity; follow me. I realized that this year’s blog has the markings of a sermon series; which isn’t the intent. This year marks the 12th year of my unexpected journey. The first part of the journey led me to simple-church, or being the called-out versus doing the religious of the church.
As a senior pastor in (what I often call the matrix) the church, I promoted—even mandated compliance—doing the religious things of the church. At that time, I had no idea I was doing so. In fact, had anyone approached me about it, I would have adamantly denied such a notion. This is important to understand because it speaks of the third person of the godhead, God the Holy Spirit.
Three things that must be in place in order to listen to instruction. To begin with, your heart must be open to hearing something that your mind disagrees with. If you do not have an open heart in the matter, you naturally defend your belief or action. The words you hear are passing through the filter of your defense mechanism, and there only be one outcome—to defend your position.
The second thing that must be in place is the working of the Holy Spirit (God the Holy Spirit) in your heart. In my case, I was not open to hearing anything that contradicted my position, and the Holy Spirit—although he may have been stirring my heart—was not moving me to consider the words I was hearing.
The third thing that must be in place is timing. In the Old Testament story of Joseph, he correctly interprets a dream of Pharaoh’s butler. Upon being released from jail, Joseph makes a plea to the Butler to remember him and get him out of jail. Two years later, the Butler remembers Joseph, and he is released from jail.
The point is that the timing of Joseph’s release was not when Joseph thought it should have been, but in fact was two-years later. This story also reveals the work of the Holy Spirit, who reminded the Butler of Joseph.
If your heart is not open to hearing change, you will not change. If the Holy Spirit does not impress you to make a change, it is not time to change. If however, the Holy Spirit is impressing you to change, and your heart is open for a change, it may not be the time to change; only the preparation for the change.