Replay to Receive

          What's new? Well, new may not be what will help us get to where we need to be.  Sometimes, most of the time, replaying what we have already heard is the very thing that will help us move forward.  Of course there are things that we could rewind and listen to again and again, many of which would take us back to a place we do not need to revisit.  But God knows those messages, Scriptures, teachings, and lessons that we need to sit back and enjoy one, two, twenty plus more times.  When we obey His requests to replay we not only hear but we will begin to receive.

          "Again?"

          Not wanting to admit it, but this is the word that I thought when I sensed a pull on my heart to replay a teaching message for the umpteen time.  When I exercise I prefer to mute the workout DVD and listen to ministry messages on my laptop.  There are only a handful of ministers and pastors that help my spirit shape up.  I had been listening to one of these great spiritual teachers for about a week and thought that it was time for a change.  The moment I went to type in a new ministry site into the search engine I knew in my heart that I should go back to the same teaching from the previous week.  I did not know, however, that this same scenario would play itself out for the next several times I prepared for my afternoon workout. 

          Finally, approaching double digit reruns of listening to the exact same online teaching, I took charge and began to select a different ministry website.  And you guessed it; my heart spoke out to replay that same teaching message.  That is when I closed my eyes and wondered why I must replay.  Then God spoke in my heart three words to answer my one word question...

          "Replay to Receive"

And with that I knew that I had been corrected and directed towards the teaching that I needed over what I thought that I wanted to hear.  I was reminded that it is better to repeat something multiple times so as to apply it rather than enjoy something once or twice simply for entertainment.  God then reminded me of the times before that He had me stay with a Scripture, lesson, or teaching for weeks, months, even a year.  I then remembered how my "work in progress" had been impacted by the power of replay.

          Videos, articles, books, CD teachings, MP3 downloads, blogs, or live streaming are great ways to hear God's Word, however knowing what to study and how to apply it is the wisdom that makes the big difference in our personal development.  The teaching is great but the leading to know what to study is what helps us move forward.  God did not ask us to choose between the two, because He freely gave us both His Word and His Holy Spirit to teach and bring all things to our remembrance.

"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you."

(John 14:26 NKJV)

          God knows exactly what we need.  It is not that we do not need teachers in our lives, quite the contrary, (1 Cor. 12:28), God gives us teachers and He would not bless us with something and tell us we do not need that very something.  God does however remind us that His Holy Spirit is the ultimate Teacher.  In this same verse He lets us know that we must study His Word and listen to His Word, either by reading or listening to a man or woman of God speak His Word in order for the Holy Spirit to help us recall it.  We can not recall something that we have never heard before, but the more we listen to what we need we are able to remember what the Holy Spirit is trying to teach us.

          Being "A Work in Progress" we love to move forward, but we must embrace rewinding to receive what we need in order to get to where God knows that we can be.  Receiving means to assimilate or take and utilize something for nourishment.  As "A Work in Progress" I am learning to replace the thought "again?" with the words "However long it takes.” We must "Replay to Receive", until we have swallowed the wisdom that God has given to us so that our work will progress.