Listening.......

I was praying and asking the Lord as to what He would have me write about this month, and I wasn't hearing a real clear answer. My goal (as I'm sure is the goal of all the Victory Call writers) is to write about what the Lord would have me share, not something that is just from my head. After more than a few days of this, I came across Exodus 33:11 in the Bible Study that I am currently involved in. It says, "The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend." In the margin of my Bible, I had written, "not Moses talked to God." It was clear to me that that was what the Lord wanted me to write about. I felt in my heart the Spirit saying to me, "You've been asking me, but have you been listening for my answer?"

Now don't get me wrong, I believe we are to "pray continually" (I Thess. 5:17), and we are invited to "approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" (Hebrews 4:16). My question is this: Do I listen to Him? Do I listen for the promptings of His Holy Spirit? Do I listen as He speaks through His Word?

As I am sure it is with you, my quiet time with the Lord is absolutely essential if I want to have peace in my life, joy, and victory over sin. But, as we all know, sometimes life is really busy. I have to be careful that my quiet time does not become just another thing to "cross off my list" of to-dos for the day. I am reading His Word, but am I truly listening to it? If someone were to ask me in the afternoon what I had read in His Word in the morning, would I be able to answer them? If I were to be honest (and I will be), I would have to say, sometimes, no. I believe that there is a difference between reading the Bible, and listening to His Word, not necessarily with our ears as it is being read aloud, but with our hearts. I believe that when we truly listen and meditate on His Word, it will stay with us throughout the day.

Lord, please help us, by your Spirit, to listen to what you are saying to us, through your Word and through your Holy Spirit. And, when we hear you, help us to then do what you say.

More on the "doing" tomorrow.

Stacey Poplawski
WOC Graduate


May is HERE! and we will be hosting our 4th Annual Family Freedom Walk on Saturday, May 12th. YOU can help in two ways.



ONE. WALK - call guest services (732.350.1187) to obtain a walk package, solicit sponsors and come to the walk.

TWO. Sponsor Victory Call for the walk. We are having a friendly competition between the 2 groups of devotional readers (Freedom Fighters and Victory Call). Go to Family Freedom Walk Support . Be sure to designate your gift to FFW: VC

Our goal is to raise more funds by the Victory Call team than the men raise for the Freedom Fighter's team. Last year Victory Call subscribers raised $5,350.00 and Freedom Fighter’s subscribers raised $100.00. Victory Call WON, by ALOT! In reality, the Addiction Recovery ministries won because together we raised $43,136.00!!

Come join in the fun. Please?