Hearing God’s Voice from His Word
James 4:8 says, “Come near to God and he will come near to you.”
Take a moment and turn your attention to God. Tell God that you desire to trust and obey Him. Ask God to speak to you from His word.
Psalm of the Day
Psalm 141:1-2 O Lord, I call upon you; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to you!
2 Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!
Read the Entire Psalm
Incense is not part of our religious worship experience. Think about your prayers as incense, not in the sense that they rise up to God and smell a certain way, but that your prayers are real tangible thoughts that come before God. Just like smoke from burning incense fills a room, your prayers are not just empty thoughts. They are real and they come before the real God who is measureless and can receive and respond to the prayers of many. Speak to Him. He delights to hear from you.
Scripture Reading
John 15:1-17 – New International Version
15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
Having God’s Ear through Prayer
- Express thanks to God.
- Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal sin to you.
- Confess your sin to Him and receive forgiveness.
(1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sin He is faithful and just and will forgive our sins.”) - Bring your personal requests to God.
(Psalm 62:8 “Pour out your heart before God”) - Pray for someone in your small group.
- Join with others from River and pray for Sarah. Ask God to encourage her, guide her, and use her as she serves overseas.
Living as God’s People by applying the Bible
Scripture Reflection from the Sermon
We assume that when Jesus says his Father prunes us to make us more fruitful, that this means God is going to use or bring hard times into our lives for this purpose. Of course God can, and often does use hard times to grow our capacity and our faith, but we also know that hard times can make people less fruitful. Sometimes hard times simply make us hard. The pruning shears of God is the Word of God. When we suffer or go through hard times, and we are being shaped by the Word of God, then those hard times will make us more fruitful. The same is true for good times or just normal, uneventful times. God uses his word to shape us into the image of his Son so that we will be faithful in all the days of our lives. His Word prunes us so that we might be more fruitful. How does his Word prune us? Good question, think about it today and we will talk more about it tomorrow.