DULL.......dull.......milk or meat?

Few weeks back I was in Nashville at Don Crossland's church, Don is a man who has been given extreme Grace and Mercy, and Don has not taken that Grace and Mercy lightly, He gives all he has and is to the Lord. He is a quiet gentle spirit of a man, his preaching is astounding and his insight into God's word have come by his own journey of healing. To know more on Don, google him, he has Journey Toward Wholeness ministries and written several books.

That night he was preaching in Hebrews chapter five, when he stated the scripture that you can not hear, although you should be able to, but you have become DULL in your hearing, it so spoke to me. Now that is my paraphrase of the scripture. My life changed in 1976 when God spoke to me and I was saved, I have shared that testimony before on my blog, if you want to read it go to older post:) I was changed so dramatically, it was a total transformation of me. In my child hood there was sexual abuse and physical abuse, I had never shared the sexual abuse until Steve and I married and we had been married about seven years, I shared my shame and childhood with him, God began healing me and changing me, I was such a insecure person, barley would speak out in public, very jealous, just totally needed to know I was loved. God brought about a secure, confident, happy Linda. I was exhilarated for the Lord, I counseled at church and at Living Hope, which was a Christian Psych. hospital, God used me mightily in helping people, in the very areas I was weak in, I have seen peopled healed of disease, healed of a broken heart, delivered from evil spirits, the scripture God gave me was in Isaiah 61. that I would lay hands on the sick and they would be healed, that I would cast out demons, that I would minister to His people and I did, that God would be Glorified. I can not count how many people we helped from the life style of Satanism/Occults. During this time, I was keen in my hearing, I fasted and prayed, spent quality time in the word. Totally was fed the meat of God's word and was off the milk, so I know God's presence, His voice, His word, His power and HIS GRACE! As time went on, I had some real disappoints in my life and things began changing for me, I had a close friendship with the Lord, matter of fact, I do not believe I could go on in life if I ever thought I would not have that, He is the air I breath, but I had got sloppy in my faith, I had become Dull of hearing, when you become DULL of hearing, you will rationalize what you do to fit what you want, if it feels good then it is good, I shut people out of my life except for my family, and honestly thought that is all I need and my sister/friend Sherry Maxwell. My language was so tattered with curse words, I did not even recognize when I cursed, I did not attend church, I could not find one that I fit in, hummmm....maybe because I was a little dull of hearing, so I resisted what was being preached or felt it was not for me, I was more mature. Remember, I have never lost my prayer time or closeness to God during this time. But I had lost a lot of convictions that God had worked in my life, this past year I have been fed the milk again, and I needed the milk, I was not about to digest the meat of God's word, God has had abundant Mercy and Grace for me. There were a few things that happened this past year that shook me to the core, some I have never been able to share other then with Sherry and Steve, that night when Don preach, God spoke to me, I was DULL OF HEARING and He would change that in me, you see when we walk by the laws of the Bible it brings death to us, because we can not do it, but when we walk by the spirit of life, it brings life to us, what brings life to you? for me it is His people, helping people, using the strengths and weakness that have been in my life to help others, I will walk beside you and lead where I can and walk with you and you lead where you can, I need you and you need me, we need each other. Now when one becomes dull, sometimes you just need to be there with them, sometimes you need to lead them, I have had a group of women leading me this year in my 12 step study group, it has me hearing God's word very clear, it has me walking in what brings me life, amazing when that happens, its easy to speak edifying words instead of cuss words, it easy to be patient with others, its easy to share your heart where you are at in your life so you can help others get there too! If your new in Christ then you need milk to feed on but if your a old timer like me and you know the word then you need meat, and you need to be giving your life to feed the babes in Christ. It will be as you give your life away that your will find life and be fulfilled in Christ. During this time I have reached out to many things to fulfill me but nothing works, once you have tasted the love of God then the world has nothing to offer, it is fun for awhile but it only makes you DULL OF HEARING. Thankful God is always changing me, never letting me settle for anything else but Him. Hugs