live in the light - listen to the Spirit

"If you are walking in the light, there is no harking back, the past is transfused into the present wonder of communion with God.  If you get out of the light you become a sentimental Christian and live on memories, your testimony has a hard, metallic note.  Beware of trying to patch up a present refusal to walk in the light by recalling past experiences when you did walk in the light.  Whenever the Spirit checks, call a halt and get the thing right, or you will go on grieving Him without knowing it."

My Utmost for His Highest - August 13
Oswald Chambers

How often do I ignore the voice of God or mistake it for something else?  How often do I pretend like I don't hear, simply because I don't want to do what He says?  It is a result of this ignorance that I no longer am aware of God's voice.  I have chosen to ignore it, so it has gotten quieter and easier to ignore.  Yikes.

"Sanctification is not my idea of what I want God to do for me; sanctification is God's idea of what He wants to do for me, and He has to get me into the attitude of mind and spirit where at any cost I will let Him sanctify me wholly." (August 14)

Somehow we think that sanctification is a beautiful thing (it is, but not in the way we want).  We think that it's easy to look at, easy to experience, because it all happens inside our mind.  Sanctification is merely a thought process, right?  Turning our mind continually to God?  Nope.  That would be too easy.

Instead, sanctification comes through doing those hard things that God tells us to do (at least until we choose to ignore His voice).  It comes through trial, through hardships, through stumbling and falling - those painful things we try to avoid are the very things that will make us grow, that will teach us to be more like Christ.

It takes a real shake, rattle, and roll to get me to take things seriously.  It takes a harsh reprimand, a strong reminder, to bring me to repentance, to make change.  If only that gentle whisper were enough, things would be much easier - but I would forget it more easily.

Listen to the Spirit - Live in the Light.