by Elizabeth Haarberg

Discerning God’s yes.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

The picture I posted has so many invitations. We get invited daily to something in the community, the church, school, etc. With social media it’s becoming easier to get involved with something worthwhile. How do we know when to say yes and what to dismiss?

When Jesus was walking here on Earth, he had plenty of opportunities to listen to people. He heard lots of opinions from the Pharisees, Sadducees, even his own followers.

With all the opinions, Jesus could have been torn so many ways. Instead, He chose to listen only to His Father’s voice.

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.
John 5:19

Most of us have an agenda, even if we don’t think we do. Getting ourselves out of the way, as much as possible, is a good start in deciding when to say yes.

Jesus promises to give us what we ask for when we abide in him and he in us.

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
John 15:7

This is true in knowing what to say and do. When we lose ourselves to Him, He will lead us.

The real difficulty is consistently doing this. He sees our struggles and has sent the Holy Spirit to help in the battle.

The Holy Spirit is referred to as the Spirit of truth (John 14:16, 26; 15:26), the Spirit of knowledge (Isaiah 11:2), the Spirit of understanding (Isaiah 11:2), as well as many other names. When we abide in the Spirit of God and He lives in us, He takes over and gives us supernatural understanding we couldn’t receive from the world.

The flyers in the above picture are all causes someone says are worthy but are they worthy of our time and energy? If we listen to God and what He has to say, we will know and maybe even be surprised. Sometimes our no is His yes.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado