5/31/2026

Day 31

Have You Been Listening?

Five months. Five sacred postures. Surrender. Humility. Abiding. Waiting. Listening. Together they form the SHAWL Life — not a program to finish, but a garment to be wrapped in. My prayer through every devotional has been that the Lord Himself has been the teacher, and that what you have read on the page has become living truth in your spirit.

But now, on this final day of Learning to Listen, I want to turn the page back to you.  Have you really been listening?

Not just to these words — but to Him. Jesus said, "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me" (John 10:27, NLT). Listening is the evidence that we belong to Him. It is the quiet confession that He is the Shepherd and we are not. So before this month closes, sit with these questions:

What have you heard the Father say to you? Where has the Holy Spirit walked you these past five months? What has He surrendered, humbled, rooted, slowed, or stilled in you? How has He challenged your relationship with Him, with your family, with your community?

Scripture tells us, "Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works" (Hebrews 10:24, NLT), and that the saints overcome "by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony" (Revelation 12:11, NLT). Your testimony matters. It builds the Body. It glorifies the Father. And it reminds the rest of us that the God who spoke is still speaking.

So would you do something for me? Would you send a private email to wrpacey@refineryflint.org and tell me what God has done in you through this ministry? I am not asking out of curiosity, and certainly not out of pride. I am asking because I, too, am still learning to listen — and the Lord often speaks to me through the testimonies of His people. Iron sharpens iron (Proverbs 27:17). I need your story as much as you may have needed these devotionals.

Take some time today to look back. Then look forward — because what comes next goes deeper still.

Beginning tomorrow, we step into Part Two of the SHAWL Life. We have spent five months learning the postures. Now the Father invites us beneath them — into the death of self. This is no longer foundation; this is descent. Paul wrote, "My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:20, NLT). Jesus said, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me" (Luke 9:23, NLT).

This is the deeper work the Father wants in us. Not a deeper program — a deeper death, so that a deeper resurrection life may rise.

"Unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels — a plentiful harvest of new lives" (John 12:24, NLT).

So I bless you today, Child of God! My brother and sister in Christ. May the Lord strengthen you for the crucified road ahead. May the Holy Spirit, whose voice you have been learning to recognize, lead you into all truth. And may you discover, as we go deeper, that the more of self you lose, the more of Christ you gain — for He is what the Father wants more of in us.

"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me." — John 10:27 (NLT)