By Kerry Hasenbalg
“The word of the LORD came to me: ‘Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people’.” –Ezekiel 12:1-3
Hearing God is vitally important not just for our own lives, but also for our ministry to those in need. We must not forget that God is the father to the fatherless, so if we are involved in caring for the ones He has claimed as His own children, we must give God the same respect we would want someone to give us when dealing with our children. If I was entrusting my children to someone for a time, I would give specific instructions on how to care for them. Although we love all of our own children the same, we certainly do not treat them all exactly the same, because each is unique; with individual desires, allergies, talents, fears, etc. We must honor God when dealing His children and seek His permission and direction in caring for each of them. Therefore, it is necessary for us to be able to hear God’s instructions for each orphan child to whom we are called to minister.
Perhaps we must strain now to hear His voice because for so long we really didn’t want to hear what He was saying to us. Have we tuned him out? My mom thinks I don't hear her sometimes, and yet if she only understood that even her whispers are like screams to me. Why? Because she is my mom, and I have been trained to hear and take heed to my parents’ voices. Her opinion matters to me; whether I like all her opinions or not. I often tell her, “Please don't say it if it’s going to hurt me unless you absolutely must, because I can't ignore or forget whatever you say, even if I act as if I am ignoring it.” But too often we refuse to hear what our parents are saying for one reason or another and can actually train our ears to tune them out by practicing to ignore their words. We train our ears rightly or wrongly both with people and with God.
If you sense you are being called into orphans ministry, remember that if you want God’s power to affect change in the lives of the fatherless, you must be sure you are obeying what the Spirit is saying in your own life so that your ear is attuned to His gentle leadings for theirs. Before you can take the second step, you must take the step of obedience first. Perhaps you are still blind to see a certain sin or simply blindly refusing to rid yourself of some sin, and as a result God will not give you more instruction for the next part of your journey. He does this simply to keep you from stumbling along any farther. Perhaps we must cast off something from our own heavy load of sin before we can be equipped for any successful journey into the fields of the fatherless. We certainly wouldn’t want to take things along with us that can bring harm to these little ones.
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