Some Tricks of the Trade--Be Observant

10/20/2011

Without turning around, what’s on that wall behind you? But don’t look!

Isn’t it a star chart? Or…I’m not sure…

Here’s the reason I asked. I’m not very good at noticing everything that’s in a room. It’s all just a blur to me. :) But what I do make a commitment to is being observant about spiritual things. The look in people’s eyes, their posture, and their responses in various situations and circumstances…whether it’s on a public transportation bus in India in a language that I don’t even understand, or in a living room with a bunch of friends. I may not notice all the details, like how many pictures there are. If you ask me after I walk out of the room what color the paint was, I’d probably tell you the wrong thing. I actually am working on that too, because I think that an alert mind is something you have to work on.

But on the spiritual side of that exact same principal, you ought to be able to walk out of any room you’re in that has Jenelle or Hannah or Patrick in it and say, “I think I know what they were thinking tonight.” Because if you’re so self-absorbed that all you got is what came in through your eyes and ears, and it just landed and stayed there, you’ll never really be able to do anything with the things God changes inside of you. So, be observant and caring and be able to walk out of a room saying, “I made eye-contact or heart-contact with Zach and Adam tonight. Maybe they didn’t even see me. Maybe I didn’t even look at them with my physical eyes, but with the eyes of my heart I cared about what Adam thought.” I care. I’m listening to Truth and I’m weighing it in my own life, but I’m also aware that there’s a dynamic and that these things matter. And if there’s a lot of frivolous activity and loudness and foolishness ten minutes later, it troubles me a little bit. Maybe it doesn’t mean anything. But if there’s a pattern of foolishness after opportunities for truth and interaction take place–that matters. I’m making a note of that. Maybe we’ll have a conversation about that.

I don’t know anything at all about “I was born for this! I’m going to go and stir up trouble with everybody!” Or, “My gift is encouragement, so I’m going to encourage people.” Or, “I’m an intercessor, so I’m going to pray for people.” That’s just nonsense. That doesn’t exist in the New Testament as a way to view yourself.

But what IS true is, “The old men, the young men, the menservants, the maidservants–all My people will prophesy.” The nature of Pentecost and the New Covenant and the Gift of the Holy Spirit is that we’re a prophetic people. We see, we feel, we know, and we do. We’re a Priesthood. And to be a priesthood, to be a prophetic people, you have to be observant. You can’t be self-absorbed. You can’t be just self-focused, just about “me,”–either “I’m bored and this isn’t feeding me at all,” because I’m not really paying attention; or, I am paying close attention, but I’m only thinking about myself. It’s all about me, and “What is everybody thinking about me right now?” Or, “That makes me feel guilty,” or, “That makes me feel encouraged.” The “me me me” stuff doesn’t ultimately lead anywhere.

A prophetic people, as prophesied in Joel 2 and Acts 2, is a people that care and make a difference because God lives inside of us and we’re observant. Maybe you don’t know what’s on the wall behind you, but it’s that same level of observation and intensity toward people that will make you able to use the things that God is doing in you. Even if it’s just to say to someone, “Hey, here’s something I was really challenged by recently. I was thinking about this and it might be an encouragement to you too…” Because you sensed that it might be an encouragement to them too, so you humbled yourself to admit what you’re challenged by so that you could also encourage somebody else.

Things all work together. You’re not waiting until you get some place, but instead you’re being faithful right now with exactly what’s in front of you right now. Because even that is useful to you and to God and to others if you’re faithful with it, if you’re paying attention, if you’re observant, and not self-focused and unaware of your circumstances.

There are a lot of things in the Kingdom of God that you could say are tricks of the trade. When you’re doing leather work for example (to someone in the room), there are things you know to do now that you didn’t know to do when you first started, right? There’s a sequence to things. I’m sure if it was pottery or anything else, you’d know that you have to do this before you can get to that. If you don’t, it’s too late and you have to start over.

In any endeavor of life, a wise person who is experienced has learned that there are just certain things you have to do. Otherwise you’ll be doing things over and over and over again, retracing your own steps, wasting energy and ruining materials. You have to learn from your mistakes. And by learning from your mistakes, you learn the tricks of the trade, whether it’s working with leather or anything else. You become wise. You can study a little bit about it, but a lot of learning comes by just fooling around. You’re going to mess something up and realize that if you had done this differently, you wouldn’t have wasted all that raw material, or it would have turned out better or looked better.

A trick of the trade in the spiritual realm in the Kingdom of God is: Force yourself to be observant.

If I said that you all need to pray more, how would you go about it and how long would it last, if anything even changed at all? I don’t think it would change much at all if I said, “You all need to pray more,” and you believed me. You DO need to pray more, right? Because you all believe me, some of you will decide to try to pray more, just because we talked about it. But it won’t last. You already know that! Because that’s not how prayer is born! Prayer is born by caring, not by deciding to pray more. It’s by caring, it’s by loving. Love discerns. Love is observant. And if you care and discern and you’re observant–and you realize you’re also fairly helpless–you’ll pray more. You see, prayer isn’t a “thing.”

One of the tricks of the trade, if you will–one of the things you learn the hard way by a thousand failures, in the Kingdom of God–is if you want to pray more, then be more observant. If you’re more observant, you’ll love more because you’ll see yourself in the mirror, and you’ll see other people’s weaknesses–and rather than being a judge, you’ll be compassionate. And if you’re compassionate and you’re seeing yourself and your own weaknesses more, then you’ll pray more.

Reverse engineering that whole thing….work harder at being observant! It’s not that you have to know what’s physically on the wall behind you, but it’s the same skill set, basically: being observant…watching…being aware of your circumstances and especially of other people’s hearts and minds. Caring. It’s another trick of the trade for your personal growth, spiritually.

Be observant of yourself, too. For instance, if you find that you always sit in the back of any room you’re in, change it. See what happens when you do. See how you feel differently. See things from a different perspective. You’ve got to stretch yourself, too. If you find that you always sit way in the back of any room you’re in, ask yourself why that happens. There is a reason for it. It’s statistically improbable to the nth degree that you accidentally always sit in the back of every room you’re in. It’s not possible, unless there’s a reason for it. And if there’s a reason for it, find out what it is and change it. It’s probably not just because you’re being humble, like you think it is. “Oh, I’m letting other people have the better seats.” It’s probably not that, so you can scratch that off your list. :)

Find out why you do what you do. Be observant of yourself too. What happens when I’m in a crowd of guys? Do I start running my mouth and being a comedian, but I wouldn’t in some other circumstance? Why is that? Is it pride, or is it insecurity? Am I just a frivolous, self-centered, worldly person? What’s wrong with me? Find out, and change it. Be observant, not only of your circumstances, but also of yourself.

Why do you do what you do? In that observation it will drive you to deeper prayer and more compassion for others. It’s easy to be a judge of others when you don’t see yourself at all. It’s much easier to be compassionate of others when you do see yourself. Not in fear, not in paranoia, not in guilt, but in the simplicity of knowing that you need God and others do too. And perhaps everything you see is not as insidious and absurd as you thought it was–because you’ve looked in the mirror and have seen absurdities there, too. So compassion, mercy, wisdom, prayer, and love all grow as a product of being observant about yourself, too, and why you do what you do.