Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Operator, how may I direct your call?...or making out the pattern in the design



Entry 06 - March 5th, 2014

Operator, how may I direct your call?...or making out the pattern in the design

Continuing with the series, here's installment number 3:

The Voice of God is Calling

We talked about sound and the way it can play a part in your daily lives. It’s more than just sound though. There are so many voices out there clamoring for your attention. Every one of them seems to be trying to pull you in a different direction, but I’ll let you in on something those voices won’t tell you – they all lead to the same place. Oh sure the path they take to get there may be unique, and may even seem to be good and true, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions, to borrow a common phrase. The world is full of the honestly misled, the charlatans, and those that are truly manipulative and unabashedly evil and they all want the same thing – for you to go along with them and follow them, or in the very least not do anything at all, which is the same as being carried along. There is a voice that’s different however. It’s calling out quietly and kindly, shining a light on a path that leads to life – the voice of my Father.
                                                
In the time that I spent on earth with my close group of friends teaching them about my Father one of the things I really talked about over and over again was that if they wanted to see and know my Father they just needed to follow me. I got up early every day to spend time talking to my Father, listening to Him, knowing His will. It was because of this that I could tell them that if they had seen me and known me, then they had seen and known my Father. It’s still true today. My Father’s voice is distinctive and will not sound the same as the other voices out there doing their best to draw you away with fanciful enticements. Those voices dangle empty promises of a more fulfilling life if you have the right clothes, or the right car. Things will be so much better if you hang out with just the right people, you’ll be cool if you’re seen in these places. All of these things add up to nothing and serve only to draw you away from what’s real. He may have changed skins and altered tactics in each generation but the enemy’s aim has never wavered – his goal is and always has been to steal, kill, and destroy. He knows nothing else. My Father is calling out in a clear voice “Follow Me! My way leads to a life fulfilled, not empty promises. I’m offering you the chance to really know what it means to have life, and have it to the fullest extent possible.”

Just like I told my close friends all those years ago, if you have seen me then you have seen the Father, we are one. If you remain in me, I will be with you. Apart from me you can do nothing. It’s like a tree and its branches. The branches cannot survive without the trunk of the tree with the roots going down to the life giving water. If they want to continue living they have to stay attached to the tree, because when they become separated they’re not good for anything but to be used for firewood. I don’t know about you, but the idea of being firewood is not really one that appeals to me.

So it comes down to a choice that you have to make. Which voice do you follow - The large group making empty promises and painting appealing pictures that they can never deliver on? Or the One calling you to be different, the one saying to make a stand and go against the traffic? Make no mistake, the enemy talks a good talk and his hollow speeches draw on your every weakness. He makes you think that he really can give you all of these things and that your life will be so much better if you just go with the flow and don’t do anything drastic, don’t make waves. But when it comes right down to it, all he wants is to drag you down with him. His only aim is to destroy as many souls as he can before his time is up, and his time grows shorter by the day. Is that what you want? Or do you want to turn and answer my Father’s calm and loving voice, calling to you and offering you the most abundant life you can imagine if you only come and follow Him. He doesn’t promise that it will be easy or that you’ll be the most popular, but He does promise to be there for you no matter what may come. Again, He won’t force you to come to Him, that’s up to you. You’ve been blessed with an incredible gift. The choice on who you live your life for is yours.

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