Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - Always in Touch With the Tower - #5098

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

I guess the airlines know how easily we get bored, so they provide flyers with various forms of diversion and entertainment. For example, the headsets on the planes so you can listen to several styles of music; or if you want to even listen to the conversations between the pilot and the tower sometimes. And if you know your flight number, you can even follow the communication that involves your plane. And you listen to them clear your pilot for take-off and later in another tower they'll clear him for landing. But you'll hear that pilot stays in touch all the time. The tower has some very important information to give between the take-off and the landing. I mean, that's not all that matters. Right? There's more to the flight than just the beginning and the end. Frankly, I think it's good to know that if there are other planes near you, the pilot is going to find that out. Or if there's bad weather coming up, that's going to mean there is a change of plans. I'm glad my pilot is going to know that. Maybe there's a problem at the airport you're going to. I'm glad the pilot doesn't turn off the tower after he takes off.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Always in Touch With the Tower."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Galatians 5:25 . God says in these simple instructions, "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." Of course, He's speaking of the Holy Spirit of God. He's talking about that wonderful internal guidance system that you got with the Holy Spirit the day you opened your life to Jesus as your Savior. He's living in your body; He's in your personality. All day long He's trying to tell you the next thing God wants you to do, or something He wants you to avoid or change. You need to decide. That's why it says, "Keep in step with the Spirit." You can't just plug in in the morning and then again at night. You never know where the Lord might want to steer you next.

There's a problem with us busy people, honestly. We check in with the tower when we take off in the morning, then we usually check in at the end of the day's flight. It's important to get in touch with the Lord at the beginning and the end of the day, but also as the day heats up. See, we tend to turn off our radio then, we take off our headset; we make a hundred little decisions on our own without consulting our Lord. We get cut off from the tower, so we end up in a lot of turbulence, we get off course, we crash into people, we make unnecessary mistakes.

Following Jesus means listening to the Spirit's directing all day long, not just at the beginning or the end. I'm a straight ahead, go forward, make a schedule, make a plan, make a list kind of person. Sometimes I have been so goal-oriented that I've turned off the tower. At that point, you just can't hear the inner promptings of the Holy Spirit of God. So, I've often missed one of the great gifts I got when I got Jesus; the perfect guidance of my Creator who makes no mistakes. So, I'm trying to become a better listener to the Holy Spirit inside of me.

I encourage you to check in regularly through the day. "Which way do you want to go now, Lord? What should come first?" Allow the Spirit to steer you into things and into people you never planned. They might look like detours to you, but if the Spirit pulls you in that direction, that's your main road. I call this "Spirit-tenaity." That's letting the Spirit direct you moment by moment, hour by hour. That means you may have to stop and call that person the Lord leads you to call for some unknown reason. You may not know why this is happening but you got the prompting. He might be leading you to write to someone, to stop for time with someone you love or who needs you, or maybe to wait when you want to plunge ahead, or to go for it when you want to wait. But practice seeking the Lord's prompting, listening to His prompting, and acting on His prompting.

If you want the safest route to the best destination, keep your headset on from take-off to landing every day and stay in touch with the tower.