Rhema | Listening For God

For me, it is sometimes hard to see the Word of God active and alive in the world. There are conflicts and wars and pandemics and it all just seems to be too much. All of these noises and distractions can drown out all the signs of the Word and that Still, Small Voice.

But it does not drown it out completely. The Word and The Voice are steady and strong, if I take a Selah breath and listen. If I pause the video and stop bringing up the TikTok and the YouTube views and playing on the PlayStation, I can hear His Voice and feel His Presence. In this space, I can think back through the day’s events and see God’s Word at work.

I see it in the interactions I have at work with customers (even frustrated ones) and my co-workers. We celebrate each other more, I think, than when we could be physically in the same space together. This week we are helping a coworker to raise funds for her daughter’s sports trip to Europe next summer.

I see it when we meet up with family, in spite of some differences in opinion around the Pandemic. We can interact with and appreciate one another. My brother-in-law was rather talkative at our last gathering. It was good to chat him up and hear about his life.

I see it as we are helping my mother-in-law find a new place in town. Really, this effort has all been on my wife and mom-in-law as they look around town at the many communities available, but I’ve tried to step it up and make dinner more often and keep up the chores as they look.

And I see God’s Word alive in the people around me. The way they have hearts for people and joy in life in spite of the trials they face. Like the terrific people of our church body when they love on each other and the community we serve.

What it all comes down to, for me, anyway, is going back to Matthew 22:37-40, which, in the briefest of terms is: Love God, Love People. When I feel like I’m not hearing God, or the world is just too much, I try my best to love God and the people I interact with. And, I feel for myself, this brings me in alignment with God enough that I start to hear Him again and to feel His Presence.

Take care of yourselves and take care of those you interact with on a daily basis and, I believe, you will start to hear more clearly from God.

Matthew 22:37-40
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

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About the Author

Mark lives in Oregon with his lovely wife, Darla and enjoys reading, writing, playing games and working to make the world a better place. He currently serves CitySalt church as a sound engineer and on the church council.

Rhema | Getting Real with God

Rhema

Rhema is a Greek word used throughout scripture to mean “spoken word.” The idea communicates a fresh word, resonating in your heart and spirit in a specific and meaningful way. We invite you to turn a listening ear to consider what The Holy Spirit is stirring in your spirit, mind and body this season.

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Hello my friend, I want to tell you that God is speaking to you. How does that make you feel? Anxious? Comforted? Or maybe as a long-time believer, you've heard it a million and one times. Maybe its effect has become too worn with age.

Perhaps you've discovered that God doesn't yell (except through pain and suffering). That was a joke (and likely you're nodding your head right now). Most of the time, his voice is soft and subtle, and unfortunately drowning in our constant distractions.

If this blog title "Rhema" seems foreign, it's because it's an ancient root word from the Greek, used by both Plato and Aristotle to describe sentence structure. It's seldom used today, but in our Christian heritage, it translates to "God's word spoken to you."

But hold on, there's a crucial distinction between past and present here. Our “historical” vs our "right now."

We believers are taught that God HAS spoken through the ancient texts of the bible. And our modern brand of Protestantism teaches us that he also speaks to us in REAL TIME. Our faith is not just a historical belief structure, but an ongoing relationship with two way communication. Jesus is the Word made flesh, and The Word of God is active and alive in the present.

That's amazing and life-changing, as it should be.

But what about when it's not? In other words, how do we get stuck, mired into something far less than God intended? If I may, let me describe this in two words - knowledge and revelation. An unintended consequence of our life-long church attendance is a kind of "social familiarity" with the Word of God, and with the accompanying language (Christianese, as we jokingly call it).

I know that idea may sound off-base, but hear me out.

Unfortunately our human nature dictates that familiarity breeds taking something for granted. Knowledge can get tucked away and unused, in our mental archives. Plus it's all too easy, as we hurry through our daily lives as simply doers, to just check things off our to-do lists (or those To-NOT-do Ten Commandments). Staying busy can be emotionally easier than personally relating to our Abba Father. You know, hiding behind our workaholism.

Knowledge is not the end-all.

We also need revelation. An earlier pastor of mine used to refer to a "quickening of the spirit." Like a sudden wake-up call, it usually happens for me WHEN I'm too busy. It could be a new idea (an "ah ha" moment), but mostly it's something I've been dealing with for quite some time, but now I suddenly get it.

But here's the thing: we MUST take the time to listen.

And for that we need to not just slow down, we need to stop. And sit at his feet. Truthfully, we don't have unlimited capacity to pay attention. The white noise chaos even seems to invade our sleep and our dreams. Spending quiet awake time with God helps clear the clutter and quiet the noise.

But it's not a formula, nor should it be. It requires dialog - talking and listening. And best of all, it produces an authenticity in our relationship with our Father God. And that's when it gets real!

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About the Author

Terry is a man in constant motion to explore new horizons. He has a thirst for new places and faces, and a deep love for the natural world - with a weakness for waterfalls and sunsets. All of this venturing out helps to both ground and inspire him, because it opens him up to people, with their vast, collective array of experiences, outlooks and responses.

He finds all of this fascinating and sees that it has encouraged the growth of something crucial in his Christian development: empathy and compassion toward his brothers and sisters on this planet.