Monday 22 March 2010

YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE...!!!


God speaks in different ways, and
we don't always recognize his voice.

Job 33:14


A whistle down the street, gets the attention of quite a few people within earshot because it is intended to call, direct or send a signal to someone. It arrests the intended and those around to stop, and find out the intentions of the whistle.

Using that scenario, it is safe to say that all throughout our life, God is whistling to us. God is speaking to us constantly trying to get us to stop; striving to get our attention.


God speaks to us in ways we often overlook. He has many ways of speaking and He does not always speak to us in the way we expect Him to. This usually is the reason why most don't recognise His voice, hear Him or why our attention is not turned towards Him.

More often than not, we get caught up in HOW God will speak to us, rather than recognising Him through WHATEVER means He chooses.


Learning how to recognise God's voice takes time and devotion which can only be developed by spending time in His presence, in His word. The more we read His word and seek Him, the more easy it will be to recognise His voice as we are meant to. We will hear Him speak clearly, giving us counsel and obey Him as confirmed in John10:27, which reads "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me."


In the time of Noah, God used preaching of righteousness and building an ark. However, the people did not take heed of the message. So God sent the flood, delivering Noah and his family.


Samuel 3:1-10, shows us how God gets the attention of Samuel. He calls to Samuel. Samuel hears and runs to Eli whom he thinks is calling. Samuel did not act like most would, which would be to still stay in bed acting like we did not hear Eli calling. Afterall, we are sleeping!.

This happens twice more and each time Samuel’s response is the same. Think of this, to respond to Eli, Samuel would have had to get up from bed, walk over to Eli's room - imagine it to have been a cold, freezing winter night, in the middle of December. Would you get up and respond? Selah.

The key is that Samuel was listening and ready to respond, even thought he thought it was Eli. We must always be open, ready to listen and respond to God. He must have our full attention all the time, not some of the time.

God communicated with people in the olden days through what obvious and around them. He does the same with us.

How does God get your attention?

Today, God has given us His WORD, the Bible, to get our attention. It is NOT to be ignored. This gives us a message of the blessings and curses of God. When we pay attention to it and obey, it will lead us through a life of peace, joy and hope and towards eternal life.


Some other ways God speaks to us to get our attention are:
  • UNANSWERED PRAYERS: He sometimes allows our prayers to remain unanswered so that we focus on Him, rather than the thing we are seeking.   In doing so, He helps us to further understand the reasons why we seek what we seek and His timings for manifestion.  

  • SAYING 'NO': The word we usually don't like to hear, especially from God. However, God sometimes says No to encourage us to look at the God that answers the prayer, rather than the prayer itself. He wants us not to just look in his direction but at Him in the face.

  • TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS: We must remember that NOTHING HAPPENS WITHOUT GOD'S PERMISSION, which I wrote about HERE. Thus, sometimes God will allow us to go through testing events so that we face and focus on Him.

  • BLESSINGS: God sometimes blesses us in unusual ways to get our attention as we see in Romans 2:4 which reads "Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?"


Whatever means God chooses to speak to get our attention, it is meant to turn you TOWARDS Him.

Will a restless spirit make you seek out godly counsel? When you are blessed, do you ask God how He wants you to use the blessings? When you are going through trials, do you ask God what lessons you are meant to learn from them?


The events of our lives both good and bad are to prompt us to seek and ask " Lord are you asking for my attention"? . It is meant to get us to reply like Samuel and announce “Speak, your servant is listening.”
So, as you start out a new week by God's grace and power, I encourage you to pause and listen to that soft and still voice of God; in your circumstances, in your situations, in your trials and tribulations, in your peace and in your blessings and ask "Lord are you asking for my attention"?

Don't let the events of your life this week, turn you away from God. Let it turn you towards and closer to Him. Give Him your full attention in whatever you do; at work or at play. Do not miss what the Lord wants to tell you, it might just cut your work and stress in half, erase it all together or save your very life.

Allow yourself to give Him your full attention in whatever you do; and watch the manifested results suprise you, whilst making Him famous along your way.


Much Love, Remi Banjo
***pictures by photobucket***

Ps, I run a book club, called - A PAGE A DAY.
I am looking for contributions of book topics around "Making and impacting your environment and world through influence" at work, home or play. Books that you might have read that has impacted your life, in a profound way. If you have read or know of any such book, please send me an email (right hand side of blog). I look forward to hearing frm you. Thank You.

7 Comments:

Jennifer A. said...

Lord, please speak...I'm listening.

Not coincidentally, this post aligns with my scheduled post for tomorrow...about how people have done criminal acts because they say "God said they should do it." Was it really God? Or was it them speaking to themselves?

Thanks for this post Remi...just emailed u too :)

jhazmyn said...

True words indeed

Straight from the heart said...

Can't have said it any better.
Once again thought provoking and insightful.

Well done.

HOw are U?
Any chance of meeting before Easter?

Myne said...

Thanks for this post Remi, we do have to be careful and hear HIM.

Have a nice week.

Rita said...

I like the part of unanswered prayers and I have seen God get my attention through that...

But the part of God saying "No"...I am not quite sure.

David C Brown said...

How gracious it is of god to keep speaking even when we don't pay much attention.

"For God speaketh once, and twice, -- and man perceiveth it not" Job 33: 14

Kafo said...

well said
i once said to boyfriend that peace had left mii and he said no you walked away and ever since then i have been wondering about this

thanks

im catching up on all the blogpost for the last month, i have 54 more to go

bye Remi