Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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The Conscious Waiting for Holy Spirit
Deutronomy 16:9-10 
“Count off seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain.  Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you.”
The Passover was celebrated about 50 days ago and now it is time to celebrate the Festival of the weeks or Pentecost. These weeks are actually a time of preparation for us to receive the Holy Spirit. But how does one consciously wait to receive the Holy Spirit?

The idea of conscious waiting for the Holy Spirit feels like something that is from a different era.  Today everything happens at a breakneck speed.  Every company is asking the question, “can things be done faster?”  Recently I read an article that amazon is telling its drivers it’s okay to drive recklessly so they can meet the quota of packages delivered.  Two day shipping isn’t fast enough these days.  As much as the idea of being present or conscious is talked about in our culture, we spent most of our time trying to escape from the present and the past through easy distractions.   

We have lost the art of waiting. If there is anything we have to wait for, we find a way to distract ourselves. Our phones are now so technologically advanced that it brings the world into the palm of our hands, so really the discomfort of waiting for something is never a problem for us.  In fact when we wait our phones entertain us so much that we may in fact prefer the entertainment or edutainment to the actual thing we were waiting for. 

Conscious waiting for the holy spirit requires some level of discomfort. It requires us to disconnect from the mind-control of the world and reconnect with the mind of God. How do we do this? It means reintroducing quiet time in the morning and evenings, away from devices and distractions. Even though it is hard to do, we are asked to give of our time.  The Israelites were asked to give a free will gift or an offering to God and the only requirement was that it be in proportion to the blessings the Lord our God has given us.  We are all given an equal 24 hours daily. How much time can we put aside to wait on the Lord?  Whether it be through bible study, prayer, singing, praising, worshiping, or in meditation. If we can patiently wait on the Lord, we will be able to hear the personal revelation that we need to hear.  Today, our challenge is about how we can get back into practicing conscious waiting. 

So, with a grateful heart, can we put aside enough time daily to hear from our Lord? There are 3 ways we hear God’s word.  We can read the bible, hear from speakers and prophets, and we can also wait on the Lord to provide us personal revelation. The Lord is asking us to come freely and give of our time and attention, but we have sold pieces of ourselves to the world. It may be through our work, our friends, our wants, children's needs, social media, entertainment, etc. Then, how much of our leftover time do we have to give to the Lord? Is there enough time for us to process and discern all the wisdom that the Lord wants to reveal to us? Today, the Lord is asking us to spare enough time in proportion to the blessings he has given us.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, free us from our ignorance and grace us with the wonderful work of the Holy Spirit. Mould us and make us into the people you want us to be. Amen.
 
Thought for the day
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” -Psalms 46:10
Dr. Binu Chacko
St. John’s Mar Thoma Church, NY

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