James Goll: "LISTENING, WAITING, AND WATCHING"

August 26, 2006

James Goll: "LISTENING, WAITING, AND WATCHING"

LAYING THE FOUNDATION

Proverbs 8:32-36, "Now therefore, O sons, Listen to Me, For blessed are they who keep My ways. Heed instruction and be wise. And do not neglect it. Blessed is the man who listens to Me. Watching daily at My gates, Waiting at My doorposts. For he who finds Me finds life. And obtains favor from the Lord. But he who sins against Me injures himself; All those who hate Me love death." Three key words are in the passive, continuous tense: Listen. Watching. Waiting.

The promise is verse 35, "...when you find Me you find life! You will obtain favor from the Lord." But how do you find Him?

From the Life of Joshua, in Exodus 17:8-13, "...Aaron and Hur held up the hands of Moses and as they did, Joshua would win the battle in the field...." (This shows the life of the warrior is tied to the power of intercession and praise--uplifted hands and arms).

While all the other people would return to their own tents and carry out their own "business as usual," young Joshua would wait at the entrance of the tent of meeting. He would be the first to see the reflection of God's glory and Moses' face. This positioning of ourselves at the feet of Jesus; this listening, waiting, and watching will do this for us as well. We will see the face of Jesus and the radiance of God's light shall shine upon us.

From the Life of David in Psalms 84:1-12, especially Psalm 84:10, "For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand outside. I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of My God, than dwell in the tents of wickedness. (I would rather be a doorkeeper.) David knew the art of waiting at the threshold of the door of the house of God. This is the art of listening, waiting, and watching.

LISTENING

Pray these verses over your own life. Ask that you be given a listening ear: Isaiah 50:4-5, "The Lord God has given me the tongue of disciples, that I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens me morning by morning. He awakens my ear to listen as a disciple. The Lord God has opened my ear; And I was not disobedient, nor did I turn back." Each of us does not each "hear" in the same manner.

Mark 9:1-8 is the Transfiguration. Mark 9:7-8, "Then a cloud formed overshadowing them and a voice came out of the cloud. 'This is My beloved Son, listen to Him!' And all at once they looked around and saw no one with them any more, except Jesus only."

These scriptures depict the jealousy of the Father for His Son. It demonstrates His great longing to speak to us. The disciples saw no one any more, except Jesus. In order to hear God, we must learn to deal with distraction. The key is to be so focused on Him that everything else fades in the background. They could have gotten caught up in lengthy discussions of the past or present moves of God (Moses--the Law; and Elijah--the prophets). But the Father directed their eyes to see Jesus only.

We need a revelation of His loveliness. This is a higher path than just resisting evil. When we see and know His love, then we will stop and listen. Luke 19:48, "And they could not find anything that they might do, for all the people were hanging upon His words." (Read Luke 19:45-48.) May a corporate people in our day emerge who will press in daily and listen to His every word. A promise of protection awaits such a people.

WAITING

Isaiah 30:18-21, "Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice: How blessed are all those who long for Him."

"O people in Zion, inhabitants in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you."

"Although the Lord has given you bread of privation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher and your ears will hear a word behind you, 'This is the way, walk in it,' whenever you turn to the right or to the left."

He waits for us. He longs for us. He has compassion towards us. He comes running when He hears our voice!

Other Scriptures from Isaiah:

Isaiah 64:1-4, verse 4, "Neither has the eye seen a God besides Thee, Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him."

Isaiah 40:31, "Those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings as eagles; they will run, and not get tired; they will walk and not become weary."

Initiative is the issue. In the Book of Acts, it is not God following man, but man waiting on God, and then men trying to keep up with what God is doing.

"And therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for Him." Isaiah 30:18

From Andrew Murray's book, Waiting on God, he writes, "We must not only think of our waiting upon God, but also of what is more wonderful still, of God's waiting upon us. The vision of Him waiting on us will give new impulse and inspiration to our waiting upon Him. It will give us an unspeakable confidence that our waiting cannot be in vain. If He waits for us, then we may be sure that we are more than welcome, and that He rejoices to find those He has been seeking for."

"Let us seek even now, at this moment, in the spirit of lowly waiting on God, to find out something of what it means. Therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you. We will accept and echo back the message: Blessed are all they that wait for Him." (Taken from pp. 87, Waiting on God by Andrew Murray.)

WATCHING

Habakkuk 2:1-3, "I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the rampart; And I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me. And how I may reply when I am reproved."

"Then the Lord answered me and said, 'Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets. That the one who reads it may run. For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal, and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay.'"

The proper inner attitude is the key that unlocks our ability to hear and see in the Spirit. "Watching" is both a gift and an art that is learned. This is a combination then, of gifting and character development.

Matthew 26:38, "Could you not tarry (watch) with me for an hour?" It does not just say, "Pray!" Instead, it says to "watch." This is a very important posture to learn in our praying!

Ezekiel 33:6, "But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require from the watchman's hand."

One of the greatest prophetic words given to me was a picture sent to me from Paul Cain and Reed Graftke, of a man who had fallen asleep on his watch on the wall. Hordes of enemies were approaching to take the "city" as the watcher was asleep. This scripture from Ezekiel 33:6, is written out on the picture and is a constant reminder to me to be alert on my watch for, and with, Him.

LET US BE ALERT!

Let us learn the lessons of the ongoing activity of listening, waiting, and watching. As we commit ourselves to these skills, we will truly find Him and obtain favor from the Lord.

Let us be alert and learn the arts of communion with our Master.

James W. Goll
Encounters Network
www.jamesgoll.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
James  and Michal Ann Goll's Upcoming Itinerary:

September 15-16, 2006
PE-intensive
Nashville Vineyard
1400 Donelson Pike Bldg A-3; Nashville, TN
Contact: 615-599-5552 or www.encountersnetwork.com 

SUBSCRIBE TONEWSLETTER

or unsubscribe
(please allow 2-3 business days to process, you only need to submit an unsubscribe once)

Elijah List Ministries
Email: elministries@elijahlist.net
Phone: 1-866-967-3665 or (541) 967-3665

Subscribe to the Elijah List Here:

or unsubscribe
(please allow 2-3 business days to process, you only need to submit an unsubscribe once)