Is God hearing us?

I often feel frustrated that there seemingly few like-minded people who hear what I hear through certain passages of Scripture. Why is this frustrating to me? 

It seems God is serious about many things and yet there are Christians in the church today who just don't take His word seriously.

I often feel lonely spiritually. 

Many sweet people quote verses of encouragement and claim 'Grace' for life's trials while they don't seem to realize that 'Grace' is the Spirit of the Living God indwelling a person and giving strength and guidance to accomplish GOD'S will. The filling of the Spirit is not automatic nor perpetual. How can 'Grace' be claimed by the pure, foolish, sleeping virgins of today when God's word says they were rejected at the gate because their lamps were empty: a result of apathy maybe or procrastination?

Does not this story cause at least a little surprise? The 10 virgins in Matthew 25 were ALL pure!

All Christians today claim to be seen by God as pure because of Christ: they are cleansed by the blood of the lamb. Yet, by hearing what some love to talk about or by observing how they surf the net or by watching how they spend their relaxing hours, they aren't all wise or even fully awake. Trying to walk together can be both sad and frustrating.

These are some questions that I think need answered...

• Is God hearing us?
• Are we harboring idols in our hearts?
• Have we entertained obstacles that cause us to violate our duties?
• By our example, are we causing our children to set up their own obstacles and idols in their hearts?

The question is not, 'Are we leading our children?' 

 WE ABSOLUTELY ARE!

Rather, the question is, 'What do you do with yourself and your time? And what are you not doing that you ought to be doing?'

Are we 'settled on our lees'?

Have we been 'at ease' spiritually from our youth?

Do we do the Lord's business... even kinda?

Have our 'tastes' remained the same since we took on the name 'Christian'?

Has our 'scent' remained unchanged?

Do desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful in our life?

Do other desires or worries take more meditative time in our minds and hearts than mediating on the Lord and His word? 

...Or...

Are we new and different (unrecognizable) from what we were before we first believed?


“...Men have erected their idols in their hearts and iniquity (violation of their duty) right before their faces.  Should I really allow them to seek me? Therefore speak to them and say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign LORD says:
'When anyone... erects his idols in his heart and sets the obstacle leading to his iniquity before his face...'
This is what the sovereign LORD says:
'Return! Turn from your idols, and turn your faces away from your abominations.'
For when anyone... separates himself from Me and erects his idols in his heart and sets the obstacle leading to his iniquity before his face, and then consults... to seek something from me, I the LORD am determined to answer him personally. I will set my face against that person and will make him an object lesson and a byword and will cut him off from among my people. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

The word of the LORD came to me:
'Son of man, suppose a country sins against me by being unfaithful, and I stretch out my hand against it, cut off its bread supply, cause famine to come on it, and kill both people and animals.
Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would save only their own lives by their righteousness, declares the sovereign LORD.
Suppose I were to send wild animals through the land and kill its children, leaving it desolate, without travelers due to the wild animals.
Even if these three men were in it, as surely as I live, declares the sovereign LORD, they could not save their own sons or daughters; they would save only their own lives, and the land would become desolate.
Or suppose I were to bring a sword against that land and say, ‘Let a sword pass through the land,’ and I were to kill both people and animals.
Even if these three men were in it, as surely as I live, declares the sovereign LORD, they could not save their own sons or daughters – they would save only their own lives.
Or suppose I were to send a plague into that land, and pour out my rage on it with bloodshed, killing both people and animals.
Even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as surely as I live, declares the sovereign LORD, they could not save their own son or daughter; they would save only their own lives by their righteousness..."
(Ezekiel 14)
"And them that are turned back from the LORD; and those that have not sought the LORD, nor enquired for him.
Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand...
And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees (dross, residue of their wine): that say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil."
(Zephaniah 1:6, 7, 12)

"Cursed be he that doeth the work of the LORD deceitfully...
Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he gone into captivity--therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will send unto him wanderers, that shall cause him to wander, and shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles."
(Jeremiah 48:10-12)
"Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.
Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.
Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.
Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”
(Mark 4:15-20)

“But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a huge millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the open sea."
(Matthew 18:6)
"I have no man like-minded, who will naturally care for your state...
For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's."
(Philippians 2:21)

"Do not fall into the grip of your passion, lest like fire it consume your strength. It will eat your leaves and destroy your fruits,and you will be left like a dry tree. For fierce passion destroys its owner and makes him the sport of his enemies."
(Ecclesiasticus 6:2-4)

"Blessed is the man that walks not... nor stands in the way of sinners... But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he does shall prosper."
(Psalm 1:1-3)

If we honestly answer the questions above, does it not then make sense that our adult studies and youth groups are still feasting on the rudiments of the Christian life: sipping on milk and trying to cope with life's trials by reminding themselves of promises they wrongfully claim because they won't yield the lifestyles to which they have become accustomed? 

I'm not saying that there aren't pure and awake and wise 'virgins' out there. I'm just sad that I often feel so alone in this walk I am walking. 

I know God rebuked Elijah for this feeling, I just need some refreshing...

...and I would like not to feel so alone.