To Listen, We Must Stop Talking.

In order to really listen, we have to stop talking.

That was the first thought that came to my mind as I prayed Yesterday Morning and asked the Lord to remove the writers block. It's not really that I don't have anything to say. I've actually got a number of Posts that are stored as drafts on the Blogger.com server. The most recent one is one that I really thought I was getting ready to post, yet for some reason, I felt it being blocked in my spirit Yesterday.

The odd thing about the sentence that came to mind when I inquired from the Lord about the Writers Block, or actually the Blocked Post, is that my first reaction to it was to make the decision to try and read a few of the other Blogs out there, for if I'm not supposed to talk, than I should read instead. Right? Yet as I began to do this, I realized that I didn't really feel like reading either and let's face it. When I read, it always makes me feel as if I want to talk and actually as I write these words, I realize that I am talking right now.

So what is God trying to say to me when He says "In order to really listen, we have to stop talking."?

One hint is that sometimes when I just Ramble, as I am doing right now, I have moments in which I pause and pray as I do so. In this way, I am really trying hard to Listen as I Speak and I am also very keenly aware right now that when we listen, it is not just what others are saying that we need to listen to, but we need to Listen to God.

Sometimes we get to the point in which we speak out of our Passion and out of our Strong Desires to be heard. We listen to our own Frustrations and to our own Anger, yet there is something available that is deeper than that. There is a quietness. It is so quiet, in fact, that sometimes one really has to listen in order to figure out what it is saying.

Maybe I shouldn't call this presence "It", yet there are so many people out there that are not really all that Spiritual and these people may decide to tune me out if I call this quietness; this Small Still Voice; the Spirit of God. This is the Voice that both Christians and non-Christians alike are so reluctant to actually listen to.


Aside from the Initial Sentence that I based the Title of this Post on, there is something else that I was thinking a lot about Yesterday. As we've been struggling to train our very Stubborn and Strong Willed Dog, all that I keep thinking is how we can not Get Tired. We can not Quit and we can not Give In.

This can be so hard at times, especially when it comes to life in general. For Life itself can be quite Stubborn at times, as it Refuses to Bend in the ways we need it too in order to make things easier for us.

When it comes to Relationships, though, there is a time for Stubbornness and also a time to Give In. Politics involves a Relationship between the Strong and the Weak and the Rich and the Poor. Somehow we need to find a way to meet the needs of both.

Getting back to the Theme and Title of this Post, though, in our Stubbornness, who are we listening too? Are we Stubborn because of our own Passion and Anger? Are we Stubborn because of what we ourselves want, or are we Stubborn because we are protecting that which we continue to believe in even after speaking continually to God? Also, does God want us to push our ideas on others right now at this time, or are there moments in which we just need to be silent and allow God to work on people's hearts?

There are times in which I actually feel God blocking me from Posting things and it is not because I do not believe in what I'm about to say. How about the rest of you? Do you ever allow God to stop you and say, "Stop!" or "Wait! This isn't the right time."

Sometimes, in order to really Listen, we need to Stop Talking. That's all I'm supposed to say for now, but I'm sure we will be talking quite a lot more later.