Challenges to Knowing and Hearing from God Part 12

We are challenged to restful, diligent patience with ourselves, others and with God. THE GREATEST CHALLENGE IS THAT KNOWING GOD TAKES TIME AND ATTENTION! Ours is an instant society, in which wars must be fought and won without any inconvenience to or thought from the general population. But knowing and experiencing the truth takes research, diligence, hard work and patience, and most of all it takes time. We must keep the rewards in perspective: our goal is to Know God. What that will look like will be different for each of us, and so will not necessarily be evident or explainable to others. Each of us must come to value the work itself, rather than the results, regardless of its value to others. To hurry God is to find fault with Him. As we grow in patience toward God, we will also grow in patience with ourselves and others, for we begin to see the plan God has for His people is all-encompassing—spirit, soul and body. And to be critical of the visible path is to be critical of the Way. Though we are patient with ourselves and others, accepting them unconditionally for today, our need to be hearing God for His direction becomes even more critical as we are available to Him to be used to encourage, direct and heal. We are challenged to be devoted to God alone, looking to Him for encouragement, reward, recognition and motivation. One way to determine who and what has authority in your life is to identify your source of encouragement and motivation. Just as we recognize God as the sole authority in our lives, we recognize Him also as our sole motivator and encourager.