Listen to God the Holy Spirit. Hear Him speak directly to your heart. Hear Him speak through the Bible. Hear Him speak through your brothers and sisters in Christ. Train yourself to speak when you are prompted by the Spirit, not just whenever you want to say something.
It’s God’s nature to be supernatural. He supernaturally created the natural world with His words. (Genesis 1:1-31) Now God the Holy Spirit wants His presence and His words to supernaturally flow in and through you as vibrant rivers of living water. (John 7:38-39) Begin to live your daily life attentively listening to and being faithfully obedient to God the Spirit. If you will refuse to stop or slow the flow of His inner voice, He will freely release His gifts and produce His fruit inside of you and around you. Diligently train yourself not to hinder God’s Spirit and not to hold Him back. (1 Thessalonians 5:19)
Pastors and Christian leaders also need the accountability of listening to one another in church instead of being the only person allowed to speak. Perhaps that lack of listening time is why so many fall into or live with sin.
Another Christian leader, bestselling author and speaker, Philip Yancey, has joined the crowd of pastors, priests, and leaders who have admitted to or been caught in blatant sexual sin. He admitted to an 8-year affair during His ministry. If the pastor-focused religious tradition (Mark 7:13) where one person monopolizes Sunday morning services was effective, would sexual sin be rampant among Christian leaders and church attendees?
When will we see that it’s time to return to the body of Christ that Jesus, Himself, wants to build? It’s a gathering where Jesus is the literal Head (not the figurehead) and the Holy Spirit is free to prompt anybody present to speak up in the gathering. (2 Corinthians 5:17) It’s a meeting where people are willing to lovingly and patiently listen to one another as individuals are prompted and led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14) to open up and humbly obey the 50+ New Testament “one another” commandments.
When people are lovingly holding each other accountable by sincerely listening to one another being open and honest with each other, they have more power to resist temptation than if they are just passively listening to religious lectures once a week. Alcoholics Anonymous illustrates that.
When Alcoholics Anonymous was set up the founders decided to focus on open-sharing meetings where people could listen to one another, instead of on one-speaker-focused meetings. When alcoholics or addicts are faithful to regularly attend those meetings and to open up to, be honest with, and support and hold each other accountable, they experience the freedom of recovery. I believe that if churches would use the open-sharing format, they too would be much more effective at helping people live free from the bondage of sin. Lecture alone isn’t very effective!
When someone tries to compassionately hold us accountable to obey God, that’s neither judging nor casting a stone. It’s obedience to what Jesus says in Matthew 18:15-17. When there’s no opportunity for open sharing, people can’t “tell it to the church.”
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