“ Incline your ear, (submit and consent to the divine will) come to me, hear, listen and your soul will revive.” (Isaiah 55:3)
This passage in Isaiah follows another, inviting “all who are thirsty to come to the waters and drink...buy priceless spiritual wine without money and without price...simply for the self-surrender that accepts the blessing!”
We’ve all enjoyed so much powerful teaching on prayer. We know that there are ALL MANNERS of prayer, and that it’s important to pray by the spirit, led by the spirit of God as to the appropriate way to pray in situations . All prayer should be done with thanksgiving believing we receive when we ask. All prayer should be done in faith because we know that all who come to God must believe that He is and that He is the rewarder of those that seek Him. But I want to share for a moment about a very important facet of prayer not often spoken of, but so important to a presence-led life.
I’m talking about the LISTENING side of prayer.
I’m finding more and more that when I come to God these days, I listen a lot more than I talk. I used to spend all my prayer time pouring out my needs, wants, and holding God in remembrance of His Word...not because I was concerned He’d forgotten, but because it built faith in my heart, and I know that God has promised to watch over His Word and perform it, so I found myself holding His promises before Him in prayer rather than my own solutions to life’s needs for myself or others. It is a powerful way to pray and brings amazing results!
As I continue to look to Him, I find myself just Coming....connecting....spirit to spirit....His deep calling to my deep. I come without $, performance, or claims, but I come to drink of the waters, and to listen. You’ll notice in the above passage that His promise is for our SOUL to revive. I think that’s where we truly need the “reviving”.
Psalms 63 in the Message says “I’ve worked up such hunger and thirst for God, traveling across dry and weary deserts. So here I am in the place of worship, eyes open, drinking in your strength and glory.”
I admit... I get tired, I get thirsty...not just in body, but in my soul. My spirit is FULL, my spirit is alive to the things of God, and I feed it well, nourishing it daily, but I’ve discovered that the soul is where I thirst, and coming, listening, and drinking in His strength and glory is what I truly need at times...it doesn’t cost a thing, except the surrender of our will. Pay the price, and listen, that your soul may revive! It may just be the missing piece in your life.