Personal Experience: Learning the Art of Listening and Applying

For a while, the Lord has been working on my heart. In the scriptures that I read, the verses that have been sticking out to me are about listening to instruction and accepting discipline. I don't know about you, but making those two actions a habit is really hard. Maybe, it's because I am a teenager, or maybe because I am hard-headed. Who knows?

So, the whole day I have been seeing this post as one thing to check off the list. I was getting flustered because I didn't know what I was going to write about. Yet, being the schedule follower I am, I was going to post something. First, I thought about posting a couple paragraphs on authentic worship that I wrote in English (I may still do that). Knowing that it wouldn't be enough and still confused, I read my Proverb for the night.

When I am confused or struggling to figure something out, the Bible ALWAYS gives me my answer. It's is so amazing to see your questions be answered the minute you ask them. So, I finally figured out what I was going to write!

Tonight, my Proverb was chapter 19. This chapter has many thought-provoking verses, but one specifically stuck out to me. It was verse 20! This verse says that we need to listen to advice and accept discipline, and if we do, we will be counted among the wise.

For, probably, about a year or two, I have been praying for wisdom. I want to be known by friends and family as wise. I want to be known as a Billy Graham or Lou Engle. Well, there is a process to becoming wise.... and it's hard! I pray that God will give me wisdom, but it is not just a one way street. I have to put in work too!

By reading verses in almost every Proverb about wisdom, I am ready to put in the effort. I am ready to listen, accept, and apply discipline and instruction to my life. I want to be known as a person who did not get offended when given constructive criticism. I am ready to listen to the instruction of my elders, learn from their ways, and receive their wisdom as Elisha accepted Elijah's mantel. I am ready to follow and learn as Elisha did. To see miracles, signs, and wonders as the disciples.

I pray that I am able to do this, and I hope that I will be able to share the journey with you guys. So I will update you all on my personal challenge as I go along. I pray that you will join with me. Imagine a nation that accepted instruction instead of getting offended over it?

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Below is a picture of my Bible, with its imperfect lines. Thankful that Jesus still loves us through our mess-ups. Proverbs 19:20 is pictured below.