Speaking To My Heart

These comments come from Dave LeBlond who is an elder at Wintonbury Church (posted by Dave Blough):

The discipline of fasting and praying has been invigorating for my relationship with the Lord – He has been speaking to my heart. This has deepened my intimacy with God.

At first I was taken aback and feeling somewhat selfish that I was hearing things about my life, my personality, etc. I prayed, Lord please give me direction about the opportunities for Wintonbury and for Connecticut. Help me have a heart for our church and for the cities and towns in our state, and for the 6 opportunities. But as I continue to pray, day after day, I realized that He had to do more adjusting in my heart and attitudes before I could be fully useful to Him in hearing about the opportunities we’re facing. I need to slow down. I need to listen. I need to ignore those knee-jerk reactions that would tempt me to respond in the flesh, not in the Spirit. As a matter of fact, on day 2, He showed me a specific reason behind some of my behaviors that I’ve wondered about for over 30 years – somewhat of a personality breakthrough. I could not have known that if I had not taken the time to meet with Him and listen. I so much appreciate the intimacy and I’m so grateful for how He cares for me so personally.

He has been moving me to be more alert for needs around me – to see people and situations through His eyes. To ask questions, like “Lord, how should I handle this situation?”, “What do You have for me to do here?” and “How do You want me to represent You here?”

And as He continues to work on me, He is giving me direction on my place in the body – the bigger picture of how we as a body should respond to the needs facing us – the opportunities and the need for the gospel to be brought alive all across Connecticut.   

If you relate to what has been happening with me, I encourage you to continue to listen, continue to meet with Him. I’m seeing in my own life that beautiful promise in James 4:8 that if I draw near to God, He’ll draw near to me. As Curt Brey pointed out, God’s always been there – it’s me who needs to show up.

Let’s let Him speak to us, guide us. He’s moving among us, in us and through us. I see evidence of it the blog posts, new songs, and in what He’s doing in many of you. And, what about last Thursday night?  Wow! 

Remember, we are His body. He trusts us to do His work. And we all have a unique part to play. We need to be listening to hear His Holy Spirit for direction. It’s so beautiful to see God working. I really love the song that Brother Marichal and the Citadel choir sang to us/with us Thursday night “I love you, you need me…I can’t live without you…I won’t harm you, with the words of my mouth…you’re important to me, etc.” what a beautiful picture of the body being together, staying together and recognizing “on purpose” how important we are to each other.

We want to hear from God – not just what we “think” we should hear or even what we “expect” to hear, but exactly what “His” plan is for us. The 6 opportunities are just that, opportunities. It’s about how we proceed or “not”, as we talked about at Lakeside. These opportunities are the direction we believe the Lord is leading us. But 1 or 6 or 60 opportunities are useless without His direction. Unless the Lord builds the house, we build in in vain – Psalm 127:1.

Let’s worship Him by presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice, pleasing to Him…Romans 12:1-2. Let’s keep listening – I’m talking to myself, here!