Saturday, November 10, 2007

Hearing God

by Donna L Watkins

Photo: Mexican Free-Tailed Bat
© National Park Service

Not long ago, we read and listened to a short segment about 20 million female Mexican Free-Tailed Bats that winter in Mexico, mate in Spring, and then they return each year to Bracken Cave in San Antonio. Months later they give birth to a single pup. Now picture 20 million pups in Bracken Cave.

This morning my husband said that he's had one prayer since hearing this (and the "rest of the story" that I will share momentarily). His prayer is to hear God's voice clearly. If he had this one prayer answered he would have no need for any other. He could always be assured of knowing the right thing to do. This is his desire above wealth, food or anything else.

The inspiration of the story was in this marvel of Creation:

Although the cave's one-room nursery has 20 million noisy pups, a mother bat can find her own youngster in as little as twelve seconds!

In 1984, Gary F. McCracken of the University of Tenneessee in Knoxville, reported the astonishing finding that each mother bat manages to sort through the creche's throng of hungry millions and feed her own offspring more than 80 percent of the time. He and one of his students, Deborah L. Gelfand, went on to find that each mother accomplishes this remarkable feat by zeroing in on the distinct, high-pitched call of her pup. (Read the entire article.)

If a mother bat can hear her pup's voice amongst 20 million other pups, surely we, as God's children, can zero in on our Father's distinct voice, regardless of the noise around us and the clutter of our minds.

What an awesome prayer! I am in agreement with Randal for this in our lives and in the lives of each of you. Let not the devil defeat us into believing it's not possible. Proverbs 1:33 says, "But (that's the word to begin with when the devil lies to you, and then continue with Truth) whoever listens to God will dwell safely, and will be secure, without fear of evil."

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." (Proverbs 3:5)

"A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." (Proverbs 16:9)

Each of your steps can have the direction of God. Don't trust in your own mind, acknowledge Him (spend lots of time with Him) and He will direct your steps. All that time invested will be returned to you. The time we waste going our own way and having to fix our mess-ups is much more than we need to spend with God to hear His voice.

Smith Wigglesworth says, "Don't you see, beloved, there is the word, the word of wisdom. One word is sufficient; you don't need a lot. One little word from God is all you require. You can count on it; it will never fail. It will bring forth what God has desired."

Sounds crazy in our "get the job done" society, but as Christians we have a secret Weapon to win every time with a different method than is being shouted in today's self-improvement methods. All we need to do is choose to use it.

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© 2000-2007 Donna L. Watkins - This article was reprinted with permission. Visit the author's website, TheNatureInUs.com for more articles and free email subscription. Link URL: http://www.thenatureinus.com

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