“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take from Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; this is why I said that He takes from Mine and will disclose it to you.” (John 16:13-16 NASB)
Far into the night, and at times early morning, a parent had fallen fast asleep. Since his son, living at home, had reached adulthood, the parent went to bed without any anxiety about the whereabouts of his child. Afterall, there was no longer any curfew to monitor or enforce. Gone were the days that the parent stayed awake, anxiously waiting for his child to come in the door. The parent had passed the point where he/she sat in the dark in the living room to listen for the front door to open and ensure that the son arrived safely. However, faithfully and regularly, the parent still prayed for the child’s safety, and during the news broadcast, the parent watched intently, hoping that the son was not mentioned in the late-night news as part of the bad breaking, local news.
Now don’t get me wrong, the parent cared about the son’s well-being. The parent figured out how to tell if the son had arrived safely without losing much sleep. I guess you can say that he was a light sleeper. While not staying awake listening for the child anymore, the parent depended on a sure signal to know that the son had made it home. What was the signal? It was the sound of the pounding bass that was in the background of the song being played on the car radio; a sound that could be heard inside the house and I’m positive inside the neighbors’ houses too. The bass continued, at times, after pulling in the driveway or parking in the garage. I guess the adult offspring wanted to hear all the song that was playing, all the way to the final note. Nevertheless, the parent recognized the signal and rolled over in the bed and continued resting.
Years have passed and the son has since moved out. There is no more need to listen for the signal. However, being conditioned to listen for the bass, every time that neighbors’ children at nearby houses come in past midnight, the parent awakens when he hears the loud music playing across the street or down the block somewhere. What goes around, comes around, I guess. He was conditioned to hear the signal, those loud bass notes. It happens!
As Christians, hopefully we have been conditioned to listen for signals of a different type. Hopefully, we are conditioned to listen to the Holy Spirit to give a signal that everything is alright. And when I say, “everything is alright,” I am including the actions we are about to take part in would meet God’s approval, the words that are about to come out of our mouths, whether they are words that should not, the thoughts that invade the boundaries of our holiness, or thoughts that are on things that are good, purse and acceptable. Hopefully we do not go to sleep, figuratively speaking, to where we no longer are conditioned to hear and harken to the guidance of the Helper.
You should no the signal by now. But let me ask some questions to allow you to do a self-check. How have you been doing? Do you still pay attention to His signal? Do you still depend upon “The Signal” of the Holy Spirit to let you know all is good and “everything is alright?” Or do you need to be reconditioned, reoriented, or reminded to listen for the signal clearly? Have you gone deaf to the sound of the signal or is your spiritual listening acuity better than ever before? Well, my early Sunday morning work is done here. Your work is just starting this morning. Answer the questions I just posed with full integrity! Have a good day and don’t forget to attend church service this morning! Be blessed!
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and remind you of all that I said to you.” (John 14:26 NASB)
Still committed to this the climb,
Mark L. King