How do I hear the Word?/ Class Discussion

This past class discussion was a great group discussion. The main thing that we focussed on was how we should be praying before the day starts, and at the end. The gift of waking up with God on your mind, is one that most Christians would wish to have. I personally find it extremely hard to do this, because there are so many things that you need to do in the morning, and they usually take over. Our prayer life is like a car's engine, in the way that the engine needs to be lubricated to start with, and with prayer we should start our day with it. Also we should really pray before bed, because this is a time to thank God for the day, and bring up prayer requests that came up that day. I personally find that praying before bed is much easier for me, because at night I am usually still in thinking mode.

In Nouwens book, there is a short story right at the beginning about wisdom. I think that it shows us that we do not always have to talk to people to try and get them saved, at least for the first stepping stone. The first thing that we should do is act like Jesus would, show them hospitality, and if you can go somewhere from there, that is great. It doesn't always work in our time, the way we want it too, it is all in God's time, and even though we may not like it, that is the way it is. There is a couple at my church, named John and Nancy, and the Nancy's mom, who was not a Christian for her whole life, was starting to go downhill. This became a great concern for them. The youth center that I was going to, decided that we should go there in the spring and clean the yard completely, plant new flowers, wash the house, and things like that. After we left, Nancy was talking to her mom, and her mom started crying asking, " Why would a bunch of Christians do something like that for a non-Christian?" I believe that this act that we did, really helped to plant the seed, because she became a Christian on her death bed, and I am so thankful that she did, and it was a great experience for me too.

It shows that another way to learn the word is to read the word. This sounds so easy, but it is so easy to forget to do, or stop doing it altogether. To start reading the bible, you need to know where to start. If you start in the wrong book, that could make you not want to read the bible anymore. My youth pastor once told me to start reading in Matthew. I started reading the beginning of Matthew, and lost interest in reading it right away. I also think that it is very important that you read the bible, because temptation will be there, and having the wisdom not to do it, is a great way to face it. My pastor once told me, the difference between wisdom, and intelligence, is "Intelligence is knowing a tomato is a fruit, but wisdom is knowing not to put it into a fruit salad."