My Ear still feels like its on fire…so what? That would have been my attitude 2 weeks ago. At training camp they prayed over me, and my ears. Sarah prayed over both ears the first night, that I would hear from the Lord and not be distracted by the noises around me. The next day Andi prayed over me, and then saw my right ear glow, tells me I will hear from the Lord, but I have to actively believe Him, and then continues to pray for me, holding my ear. This was the beginning of me believing that I truly can and will hear from God. You see, lately..over the past few months it seems like the Lord has been silent or even absent. Wishing He would make things obvious to me..but I’ve felt left in the dark. I’ve often felt self conscious about my right ear because, well- it just sticks out …look at almost any picture of me, hair up or down…you can see my ear.
So later during training camp we find out who our teammates are and the first thing we did was go to Starbucks…and in Starbucks my ear felt like it was on fire. The next day is ministry day with the team…so we begin with listening prayer…a completely new and different concept for me….actually expecting God to respond to your prayer…through a word, a vision, a verse, etc. Each person on the team recieved some kind of word or vision from the Lord that day. For the sake of brevity I won’t go into all the details, but I know my ear was on fire again when we saw kids playing soccer in front of a church- which were 2 visions we had… I immediately knew this is where we’re supposed to be (and from the Lord).
Tonight I’m praying for my team and leaders and ear starts burning again. So I ask the Lord what does this mean and try the listening prayer thing but don’t sense anything from the Lord except for blogging, so I look up “ear” in my concordance.
1 Corinthians 2:9 is the first reference with the word “ear” and is a direct quote from Isaiah 64:4.
Isaiah 64:1-4 (you should read the whole chapter, its awesome)
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains would tremble before you!
that the mountains would tremble before you!
2 As when fire sets twigs ablaze
and causes water to boil,
come down to make your name known to your enemies
and cause the nations to quake before you!
3 For when you did awesome things that we did not expect,
you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.
4 Since ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
I want to claim these verses for the world race….that God will do awesome things we don’t expect…He will come in power and the nations and mountains will tremble before Him. And I’m lucky enough to be a witness.
I knew this verse was for me when I read “wait”. Waiting on the Lord has intreged me for quite some time…I think mostly because I don’t like waiting and have a hard time waiting on the Lord. From little study I have done, waiting on the Lord is not like waiting for a flight or waiting in a doctor’s office, but its like a waiter who waits on you in a restuarant. A good waiter is attentive to your needs and serves you. Similarly, to wait on the Lord we must be attentive to Him and the leading of His Spirit. OH yeah, a waiter also expects you to respond..which is a given…but how many times have I prayed without really expecting God to respond?
Flip back to 1 Corinthians 2:9..and the heading is “wisdom from the Spirit”…talks about how the things of God can’t be understood through our eyes or ears, but must be revealed to us through His Spirit. Using human wisdom and insight you can’t understand the things of God, in fact its foolishness…But the Spirit of God reveals spiritual truths.
Dear reader. Think about that for a minute. God’s truth is revealed to man through God’s Spirit. Please pray for me and every world racer…that we would not depend on our wisdom or understanding, but wait on the Lord and follow as His Spirit leads. And believe that God speaks with or without a burning ear.
