The Hear & Now: A Devotion

7/28/2019 The Hear & Now: A Devotion

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The Hear & Now!

A Scribd DevotionByDon

[Note to any readers not familiar with International Cooperating Ministries (ICM) and its founder,Dois Rosser: At this publishing, Dois is 91 years of age. Dois is still going strong and hard in search ofGods will and his role in carrying out that will.]

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Can anyone here spell Urgent? In my dictionary, the word urgentis found under the

Ds, and is spelled D-O-I-S [Insert your own urgent person here!]. Can I have an

Amen?!

Ive been with the ministry for 15 years and have been blessed to learn a few things alongthe way. One of these learned points is the urgency of being urgent. Many of us have

heard Dois say that a particular potential partner is just not a fit because they dont seem tohave asense of urgency. Dois knows the importance of urgency.

There are a lot of things we might feel urgent about. When I asked one person what theythought of when they thought of urgent, they said, Getting a phone call and learning your

child just had a major accident. I think of a work associates experience with his house

burning and I thinkurgent! We have a medical office called UrgentCare and whenever I

hear the name, I think of it as a place to go if a family member becomes seriously ill. Orhow about hitting the brakes when a child runs in front of your car? What do you think ofwhen you think ofurgent?

Jesus had many things to say about being urgent, and while He apparently never used the

U-word, except in The Message version, He clearly conveyed urgentin whatever He

said. In fact, I think we can agree that, by definition, everything about Jesus was, and is,urgent.

Heres one example where Jesus used the word, nowto convey urgency; its in Matthew3:13-15: Then Jesus came from Galatiansilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by

him. John tried to prevent him, saying, I need to be baptized by you, and yet you arecoming to me? Jesus said to him in reply, Allow itnow, for thus it is fitting for us to

fulfill all righteousness.

And we are given confirmation of the urgency, because immediately after the baptism,

God spoke to them on a personal basis, as told in Matthew 3:16-17: After Jesus was


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baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens were opened (for him), and

he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove (and) coming upon him. And a voice camefrom the heavens, saying, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.

Another example of Jesus urgency is found in John 5:24; hearit first in the NAB version,and then from The Message: Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and isnowhere when the dead willhearthe voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will

live. (NAB)

And .

Its urgentthat you listen carefully to this: Anyone here who believes what I am saying

rightnowand aligns himself with the Father, who has in fact put me in charge, has atthis

very momentthe real, lasting life and is no longer condemned to be an outsider. This

person has taken a giant step from the world of the dead to the world of the living. (TheMessage)

Whether the words are now orthis very moment, they portray urgency. But I especially

like The Messages version inthat it makes what Jesus says, . well, sound more urgent!What I want to convey in this devotion is that there is a connection we are to have,

between hearingwhat God tells us and actingurgently about it. Not acting soon, notacting after we finish something else, but acting now! Thus, The HearandNow! as

this devotions title.

In my search, the wordsHear,Now and Urgentwere said to have these definitions (UnderH, next toHurry!):

Hear: Receive a communication from someone, listen and pay attentionNow: Without delay or hesitation; with no time intervening

Urgent: Compelling, immediate action

What struck me most about these definitions was their commonality of focus (AnotherDois-theme, but also another devotion!). That is, we dont hearwell if were not focused

on the message coming to us. And we dont actwithout delay unless we make that action

a priority (i.e., a focus). The same is true for being urgent: we dont take immediate actionunless it is a focused priority. And thats whatIm talking about when I say, urgent:

focusing such that we may take immediate action. The listening part ofurgentmakes me

think of the comic strip,Rose Is Rose, in which a little boy saw his mother was not payingfull attention when she answered him, and told her he wanted her to listen with her whole

face.


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Oswald Chambers helps point out the importance of urgency in his My Utmost For His

Highest, by using aNow! theme 10 times. Here are a few excerpts from these devotions.As you hearthem, listen especially for what Jesus and Paul say is urgent:

June 13th

: Using Mark 1:1718 (The Message) Jesus said to them, Come with me.

Ill make a new kind of fisherman out of you.Ill show you how to catch men and womeninstead of perch and bass. They didnt ask questions. They dropped their nets and

followed. Oswald says, If you abandon to Jesus, and come when He says Come, He

will continue to say Come through you; you will go out into life reproducing the echo ofChrists Come. That is the result in every soul who has abandoned and come to Jesus.

Have I come to Jesus? Will I come now? Bottom line: Hearwhat Jesus said and actnow!.

June 14th

: Beginning with John 15:4 (NAB) Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just

as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can youunless you remain in me. .. Oswald titled this devotion, Get A M ove On, and says we areto Think of the things that take you out of abiding in Christ ---- Yes, Lord, just a minute,

I have got this to do! Yes, I will abide when once this is finished! When this week is

over, it will be all right; I will abide then. Get a move on; begin to abide now. Bottomline: Hearwhat Christ is saying and abide Now!

June 26th

: 2 Corinthian 6:1-2 (NIV)As Gods fellow workers we urgeyou not to receive

Gods grace in vain.For he says, In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of

salvation I helped you. I tell you, nowis the time of Gods favor, nowis the day of

salvation. Oswald gave this devotion the name, Always Now, and in it he speaks of theurgency of praying nowto draw on Gods grace. He says, It is not a question of praying

and asking God to help youit is taking the grace of God now. We tend to make prayerthe preparation for our service, yet it is never that in the Bible. Prayer is the practice of

drawing on the grace of God. Dont say, I will endure this until I can get away and pray.

Pray nowdraw on the grace of God in your moment of need. Oswald then goes on to

say, Draw on His grace now, not later. The primary word in the spiritual vocabularyis now. Bottom line: Hearwhat Paul says and pray nowfor Gods grace!

June 30th, titledDo It Nowis another Oswald example in which urgency is boiled down toNow! In this one, Oswald bases his thoughts on Matthew 5:25-26:

Settle with your opponentquicklywhile on the way to court with him. Otherwise

your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to theguard, and you will be thrown into prison. Amen, I say to you, you will not be released

until you have paid the last penny.


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Here, the outlook for not acting quickly (i.e., urgently) is heavy, as on this day Oswald

tells us to always act quickly: In this verse, Jesus Christ laid down a very importantprinciple by saying, Do what you know you must donow. Do it quickly. If you dont,

an inevitable process will begin to worktill you have paid the last penny in pain, agony,

and distress. Gods laws are unchangeable and there is no escape from them. Theteachings of Jesus always penetrate right to the heart of our being. Bottom line: Hear

what Jesus is saying and act quickly aka, now!

And the final Oswald example is September 27, titled The Go of Renunciation.Listen now toLuke 9:61-62 from The Message: Then another said, Im ready to

follow you, Master, but first excuse me while I get things straightened out at home. Jesussaid, No procrastination. No backward looks. You cant put Gods kingdom off till

tomorrow. Seize the day.

Says Oswald, The person who says, Lord, I will follow You, but . . ., is the person who

is intensely ready to go, but never goes. This man had reservations about going. Theexacting call of Jesus has no room for good-byes; good-byes, as we often use them, arepagan, not Christian, because they divert us from the call. Once the call of God comes to

you, start going and never stop. Bottom line: HearGods call and GO, now!

This last devotion example also led me to think about Jesus story in Matthew 25, in which

there were 10 virgins, 5 foolish and 5 wise. The story ends with a message of chillingurgency from Jesus, in verses 11-13: Afterwards the other virgins came and said, Lord,

Lord, open the door for us!But he said in reply, Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.

Therefore, stay awake, foryou know neither the day nor the hour.

This reality of not knowing the day nor hour should drive us to urgency about sharing theGood News of Jesus Christ (This bottom line? HearGods Word and share it, now!). I

think this is the urgency Dois refers to when assessing a potential Church Growth Partnersmind-and-heart-set.

And of course, we might not hear the words urgentornow specifically, because they are

hidden in other words. Still, we are to listen and look for that urgency in every day andevery way. One example of this hiddenurgency is in Ralph Douderas foundation, which

is named Simply Distribute. Ralph believes that as a good steward of Gods resources, he

is not to pass these resources onto another generation but, rather, is to urgently, simplydistribute them. My only suggestion to Ralph is that he might put an exclamation point in

the name to have it even better represent what he hearsGod telling him to do: Simply

Distribute! (i.e., Now!).

One other devotional book I sometimes read isJesus Calling, by Sarah Young. In itsSeptember 11 offering, Sarah says (On behalf of Jesus), Bring your moments to Me, and I

will fill them with vibrant Joy. Now is the time to rejoice in My Presence! What Sarah
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+9:61http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+9:61http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+9:61


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has Jesus saying is Hearmy offer and act on itnow! Lets try to remember this every day,

when were up-to-our-ears in tasks that in-and-of themselves seem as urgent as anything.In most cases, these pressures may be urgent in the context of what we see as important,

but they are not to squeeze out ourjoy-in-the-Lord. Among herrightpoints, is Sarahs

saying we are to hearGods offer of joy and rejoice now that is, at alltimes!

In reflecting on these passages, on the devotional enlightenments and the messages Godgave, you-like-me may picture Gods now using these two words in a phrase we often hear

said about communications.and which also applies to our communications with God.This is a message of inquiry but in His case, it is also one of conviction, as He says to us,

Can you hearme now?!


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The Hear & Now - Referenced Scripture

Matthew 3:13-15: Then Jesus came from Galatiansilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.

John tried to prevent him, saying, I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me? Jesussaid to him in reply, Allow itnow, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.

Matthew 3:16-17: After Jesus was baptized, he came up from the water and behold, the heavens wereopened (for him), and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove (and) coming upon him. And a

voice came from the heavens, saying, This is mybeloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.

John 5:24; hear it first in the NAB version, and then from The Message: Amen, amen, I say to you, the

hour is coming and is nowhere when the dead willhearthe voice of the Son of God, and those who hear

will live. (NAB)And .

Its urgentthat you listen carefully to this: Anyone here who believes what I am saying rightnowand

aligns himself with the Father, who has in fact put me in charge, has atthis very momentthe real, lasting

life and is no longer condemned to be an outsider. This person has taken a giant step from the world ofthe dead to the world of the living. (The Message)

Mark 1:1718 (The Message) Jesus said to them, Come with me. Ill make a new kind of fisherman

out of you. Ill show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass.

John 15:4 (NAB) Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own

unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me .

2 Corinthian 6:1-2 (NIV) As Gods fellow workers we urgeyou not to receive Gods grace in vain.

For he says, In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you. I tell you,nowis the time of Gods favor, nowis the day of salvation.

Matthew 5:25-26 Settle with your opponentquicklywhile on the way to court with him. Otherwise

your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and youwill be thrown into prison. Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last

penny.

Luke 9:61-62 (The Message) Then another said, Im ready to follow you, Master, but first

excuse me while I get things straightened out at home. Jesus said, No procrastination. No backward

looks. You cant put Gods kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day.

Matthew 25:11-13 Afterwards the other virgins came and said, Lord, Lord, open the door for us! But

he said in reply, Amen, I say to you, I do not know you. Therefore, stay awake, foryou know neither

the day nor the hour.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+9:61http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+9:61

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The Hear & Now: A Devotion