"Respond"

"Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock." Matthew 7:24

Yesterday I talked about how that when I say to my little one year old granddaughter, "Praise the Lord", immediately her hands go up and she expresses such joy. She may not understand exactly what she is doing, but she responds to my words to "praise the Lord". This morning I want to talk about responding to the Lord.

My granddaughter responds to the words to "praise the Lord" in the proper way- with excitement, joy and gladness. There is a way that we should respond to the Lord- obediently, with faith, with joy, without murmuring or complaining. But I am not going to address "how" to respond, I am going to address responding period. So many of God's own children don't respond to Him at all. When He speaks to them, either through His written word, through His ministers, or by His Spirit, they just ignore Him or take what He says and "sweeps it under the rug".

I am not going to be lengthy this morning, I am just going to ask you, "Do you respond to the Lord when He speaks?". Do you respond by being a doer of what you hear? Do you respond by applying and heeding what is spoken? If you aren't responding to God but "ignoring" what He says, then you will find yourself in a lot of trouble, pain, heartache and confusion. The wise man hears and does and his life is established on a firm foundation. The foolish man doesn't respond to the words of the Lord and his life is always shifting under him.

Have a great day. The question is not always, "How do you respond to God?", but, "Do you respond to God?".