Sirens

My apartment is just a few blocks from a major intersection here in Denver, also I live within five miles of a police substation and six hospitals so sirens have become the background music to my life here. The first few weeks I was here every siren I heard grabbed my attention but after being here for a little over a month I’ve gotten so used to it I don’t really notice anymore. I used to wake up at night every time a first responder flew by with them blaring. Now I get up in the morning and wonder how many I slept through.

Being a Christian can be like that. When we first become Christians we’re very attentive to when the Holy Spirit is warning of us things in our life that need to change. Whether it’s a biting tongue, anger issues, or a drug addiction our heart tends to be very tender and responsive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit early on in our walk. After awhile though the noise and demands of life start to drown out what was originally so easy to hear. Additionally, after a time it’s easy to ignore or become annoyed with the warnings of the Holy Spirit. We dangerously begin to think that we have a strong enough grasp on what it means to be a Christian that we stop listening to the very member of the Trinity that was sent to help us in our walk even to the point of telling us exactly what to tell the world about Jesus (Luke 12:11-12). When I word it like that it sounds stupid not to listen but we all do it. I can’t count the times I’ve ignored what the Holy Spirit was practically yelling at me in order to do what I wanted. I’m ashamed to think about how many times I’ve chosen my own comfort and desires over what the Holy Spirit was prompting me too.

The question then is how do we keep our hearts soft to voice of God in our lives? While I’m skittish about throwing out a one size fits all formula to our spiritual lives I will say that scripture makes it very clear that prayer is key in our ability to affectively hear God and respond to Him. In 2 Kings 6:17 we see prayer used to literally open the eyes of Elisha’s servant to a spiritual reality. In Acts 9:40 Peter prays for Tabatha and she’s brought back to life. The beautiful thing about prayer is it reminds us that we aren’t in control that we constantly have to humble ourselves before the Lord acknowledging that we don’t have it all figured out and are in desperate need of His guidance. Humbling ourselves to the point of praying from our brokenness in genuine, authentic, real ways will help us facilitate a mindset that’s responsive to the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives.