Speak, Lord, for Your Servant Is Listening . . .

PRAYER OF CONSECRATION Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.  Abba, I belong to you. I lift up my heart to you. I set my mind on you. I fix my eyes on you. I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice. Abba, we belong to you.  Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.  1 Samuel 3:1–4 The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions. One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called Samuel. CONSIDER THIS It’s one of my favorite stories in the Bible. The young boy, Samuel, slept in the house of the Lord, near the ark of the covenant. One night, God began calling out his name. “Samuel! Samuel!” He thought it was the priest Eli, so he went to Eli’s room and responded. Samuel answered, “Here I am.” And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down. (vv. 4b–5) The boy had the right response—just the wrong person.  This happened two more times before Eli realized what was happening. Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. (vv. 8b–9) Samuel returned to his bed. The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” (v. 10) And there began the great prophetic tradition of Israel with Samuel as her first prophet.  Something worth noting, however, is the sentence in the first verse of this story of Samuel’s awakening. “In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.”  One of the great gifts of our modern age is that we have no shortage of Bibles. The Word of the Lord is not rare. Or is it? It is one thing for the Word of the Lord to be bound in our Bibles and yet another for the Word to be unleashed in our lives. That is the purpose of the Wake-Up Call, and notably this New Year—New Word series. Unless the Word of God be loosed from its binding, it remains just that—another book on our shelf or bedside table. It's why I keep asking anyone who will listen to ask God to give you a new word from Scripture for this new year. Start with Samuel's prayer:  "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening."  Something tells me the Lord is highlighting this very text for some of you as your new word for this new year. You are going to learn to say it all the time. You will begin speaking it as you wake up from sleep in the morning. You will continue speaking it as you come to the intersections of your day—decision points, judgment calls, hard conversations, and opportunities to sow words of encouragement into others.  "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening."  This word will change things. It will change you. It will open up portals of revelation into your everyday life. As it becomes grooved in your soul, the Spirit will train you to lean in and go quiet as you listen for what he will say.  In my experience, the Lord is always speaking. I only hear him, though, when I become still enough to lean in and listen. I think that's the reason the word of the Lord is rare in our times and there aren't many visions. We are not regularly asking for him to speak. And we aren't consistently listening. Good news! It's an easy seven-word fix.  "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening."  THE PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION Lord Jesus—Word of God from before the beginning—our Great Teacher, Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. Would you groove these seven words into my soul? Would you weave them into my praying grammar and vocabulary? And would you train me to be still, to quiet my soul, to lean in and listen? And I know—you are already speaking. And I want you to know—I'm already saying yes.  It will be for your glory, for others' gain, and for my good.   Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be. World without end, amen! Amen!