{"id":204,"date":"2012-07-31T11:50:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-31T11:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/?p=204"},"modified":"2012-07-31T11:50:00","modified_gmt":"2012-07-31T11:50:00","slug":"nyci","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/?p=204","title":{"rendered":"NYCI"},"content":{"rendered":"

Years ago I attended a small college in Upstate New York near Buffalo. That year, New York Christian Institute consisted of 22 students and a handful of faculty. I was fortunate enough to be able to sing with the traveling ensemble for the year. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Eli Reyes was our faithful and talented leader and I must add, a patient man. We didn\u2019t have recorded music, sheet music, or the internet. Just Eli and his ability to teach us a piece of music. Upon arrival to ensemble practice, Eli would begin the process of teaching the song, harmonies, and how the music would be presented. <\/span><\/div>\n
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Decal – borrowed image from Nate<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
On many occasions I was thankful for my previous years of sightseeing and ear training classes. These skills proved to be valuable during rehearsals.<\/span><\/div>\n
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While this particular skill was fine tuned to help with this particular learning experience, I\u2019ve been able to use the concepts in other areas of my life. <\/span><\/div>\n
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Listening was extremely important during these sessions and it\u2019s turned out, that listening has become even more important in my day-to-day life. It makes a difference in my spiritual life as well. This is what I\u2019ve learned about listening.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Israel was given the choice between life or death and listening to God. Putting His words into practice was the key. In Deuteronomy 30:19-20a (NIV), Moses shared their choices with Israel. \u201cThis day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life\u2026\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
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For Israel, listening was part of living. Holding onto what they heard was even more important. It is the same for us.<\/span><\/div>\n
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James reminds us, \u201cDo not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.\u201d<\/i> (James 1:22 \u2013 NIV) We must implement what we\u2019ve heard and learned in order to gain the life God is so willing to lavish upon us. <\/span><\/div>\n
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So what are we listening for? Peter spoke of the One who fulfilled this prophecy from Deuteronomy 18:18-19 (NIV) \u201cFor Moses said, \u2018The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people.\u2019\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
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We are listening to all that Jesus had to say. We are reading Scripture to hear the words Jesus spoke. And why not listen<\/i>to His words? I find that when I listen to God\u2019s Word being read, I hear ideas and concepts that I do not read. It has been a great tool for me.<\/span><\/div>\n
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I love Jesus\u2019 words in John 10:27-28 (NIV). \u201cMy sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n
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We must know Jesus\u2019 voice so well, that even in the darkest places of our lives, we hear His voice and area able to follow Him. When everything else is blurred, blackened, or faded, His voice can be heard.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Again, reading, studying, and knowing God\u2019s Scripture is how we listen to Jesus\u2019 voice. How we know His voice and are able to follow Him.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Those days at NYCI are etched in my memory. I am thankful for the professors and faculty who gave so much of their lives to teach a small handful of young people in Upstate New York.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Repeating what Eli taught during those rehearsals prepared me to be able to repeat other thoughts, facts, and ideas I\u2019ve learned through the years, especially from God\u2019s Word.<\/span><\/div>\n
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What are you able to repeat? Are you able to share Jesus\u2019 words with others? I pray that you are. We are called to do so. But, we can only share what we\u2019ve learned as we listen. Are you listening?<\/span><\/div>\n
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Grace and peace be yours in abundance,<\/span><\/div>\n
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Donna<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Years ago I attended a small college in Upstate New York near Buffalo. That year, New York Christian Institute consisted of 22 students and a handful of faculty. I was fortunate enough to be able to sing with the traveling ensemble for the year. Eli Reyes was our faithful and talented leader and I must […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"","_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,20,15,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-following-god","category-hearing-god","category-knowing-god","category-remembering-god"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}