BLESS - Listen for Needs

The old Irish proverb is true, “God gave us two ears and one mouth, so we ought to listen twice as much as we speak.” However, I admit, listening, true listening, is difficult. True listening is when we are 100% attentive to the one talking and not distracted by our tech, our next task or our next response. I’m guilty of all three of these too frequently. Ask yourself, do people really feel heard by me? Jesus truly listens to us and as His followers, we must listen to others. And if we are truly going to B.L.E.S.S. people, we must Begin with prayer and then Listen to others’ needs. In other words, if prayer is talking and listening to God, then that is to be followed up by truly listening to others’ needs. Such listening is not passive. It is active and requires us asking clarifying questions to confirm what we heard is true. This is what we will learn from Matthew 10:8 in Jesus’ call to His disciples to BLESS others with His kingdom.