Anyone who is willing to hear should listen

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL – Friday, January 3, 2020

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May you find comfort, encouragement, guidance, hope, inspiration, love, and peace – https://helpfulinspirationalblog.wordpress.com/. May you also find answers to your question(s) through the Scriptures that address every situation you face, and help with your problems. Deb ♥

Dear Lord, open our hearts and our minds to the power of Your Word, which as we read, we may know, understand, and obey Your Word for us today. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen. (Author unknown)

Today’s scripture reading:

[Jesus said] “Anyone who is willing to hear should listen and understand!”   — Matthew 13:1-9 (NLT)

Human ears hear many sounds, but there is a deeper kind of listening that results in spiritual understanding. If you honestly seek God’s will, you have spiritual hearing, and these stories will give you new perspective. (NLT)

Matthew 13:1-9 – Later that same day, Jesus left the house and went down to the shore, where an immense crowd soon gathered. He got into a boat, where he sat and taught as the people listened on the shore. He told many stories such as this one:

“A farmer went out to plant some seed. As he scattered it across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The plants sprang up quickly, but they soon wilted beneath the hot sun and died because the roots had no nourishment in the shallow soil. Other seeds fell among thorns that shot up and choked out the tender blades. But some seeds fell on fertile soil and produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted. Anyone who is willing to hear should listen and understand!”

Quoted verse: Let anyone with ears listen! — Matthew 13:9 (NRSV)

“Story” – Adam Benson (North Carolina, USA) titled his story “LISTENING TO GOD;” here is a portion of Adam’s story:

“It was my junior year and I was embarrassed that I was still riding the bench on my high school basketball team. One day we had a home game, so all my friends were there. Suddenly, Coach called for me to go in! But I didn’t hear him. I’m not sure whether the crowd was too loud, or I was sitting too far away to hear him, or I wasn’t paying attention because I wasn’t expecting to play. But other players . . . turned to me, shouting, ‘Adam! Coach called for you to go in!’ With my heart swelling, I quickly took off my warm-up shirt, ran over to Coach, then heard him say, ‘Sit down!’ It was too late. He had already sent someone else in.

“This experience reminds me of Jesus’ words after he tells the parable of the sower. He says, ‘Let anyone with ears listen!’ But how do we listen to God? Maybe we have heard God speaking to us through scripture, in a song, in worship, or through another person. However or whenever God speaks to us, it’s up to us to pay attention. I didn’t hear Coach call me and missed my opportunity to play. But once we belong to God, the good news is that God never stops calling us.”

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY – God never stops calling to me. Am I listening?

Prayer: Help us, O God, to learn to listen for your call so that we will never miss an opportunity to serve you. Amen.

To read the rest of the story in The Upper Room, click on the following link: http://devotional.upperroom.org/