None of us have had the experience of hearing God’s voice aloud as Samuel did or had Jesus look us square in the eye and say, “What are you looking for?” But when we need answers, the roadmap that includes both listening and speaking is a good place to start.
If we begin to see the Holy Spirit as the voice of God that has been gifted to us to live inside all of us, in order to produce God’s character in us, and if we embrace our two tasks: 1) Recognize that the Holy Spirit is, in fact, inside us, and 2) Don’t quench the Spirit – don’t let worldly conformities impede him from showing through… (If we do those things), I think we will have made a large down payment toward living out our ultimate calling, to make disciples of others.
Has there ever been a time in our lifetimes when so many of our brothers and sisters need our outreach, who need to be cared for, who need to be validated, who need to be encouraged, who need to hear that they matter, who need to feel connected, who need to hear that God will sustain them through this time of isolation, who need to know that we serve a gracious and loving God who forgives our sins, and who can heal them in their suffering? How blessed we are that we can be God’s soldiers, his ambassadors and his disciples who can serve on his behalf to stand in the gap, and make a difference in people’s lives.