I’ve come to realize that crying out to God concerning my problems is not all there is!

   Pouring out our hearts to God does offer some relief from the burdens we carry.  But, if we walk away after depositing our load at Jesus’s feet, then we have left prematurely! And I wonder if it’s not too long before we find ourselves carrying that very same burden again, finding it just as heavy as it was before. 

Ever been there? Then join the club!

   For most of my Christian life, unloading my burdens in prayer was a faithful ritual. The temptation (or fiery dart) of that was in thinking that was all that was required of me. My real problem was I had been doing a lot of talking, but very little listening. 

If I could put into words, here is what I sensed my LORD was saying to me:

  You pour your heart out to me, pretty consistently! That is good! And I listen to you, but I can’t say that you listen to Me.  I want to help you with your problems, but you will have to do less talking and more listening for that to happen. 

    You see I was going to the Source for the answers to my problems but as soon as I got through unloading them on God, I’d say Amen, then go on my way. I would ask God for His help, but I wouldn’t hang around long enough to find out how He planned on helping me!

   You know what? I didn’t really know how to listen to God. Which meant I didn’t know how to let God help me. 

  So, how do we let God help us?

   When we spend time with God as we read and study the Bible, He will lead us to the very verses that addresses our problems. It’s in accepting and applying those truth’s to those problems that will lead to the solutions we are so desperate for. That’s how we listen! That’s how we learn!