I am not sure why I was hearing what I heard, but I was sure I needed to hear it. The very words I was hearing spoken had been spoken a thousand times but today it was different. I was hearing them and things clicked.

That is how I felt as I lay in my bed this morning talking to God, listening to His answers. I knew I had heard the words before, but this morning “I heard the words”. There was difference. I am not sure I was any smarter, any more ready or any more needy. But somehow the “key” that had been stuck in the lock a thousand times before opened the door.

As a parent I told my children many years ago that if I was to see change in their life it would be through love, consistency and never letting go of the need to change something or to see something changed to get results. My wife would tell you I am like that with “everybody”. Me, I call it the “broken record” method. What that means in a generational parlance is that when I was a child a record would develop a scratch or a break. When the needle hit it, it would jump backwards playing the previous portion again…and again…and again! I am sure there is some more modern statement but for me and my “house” broken record is it. To this day I am that way. We can have lots of other conversation but it will circle back to what is the issue.

How often have you been somewhere only to hear the message you may have heard a thousand times. For most checking out is the next step. But the wise will listen. As my friend Randall Worley would say, “ask yourself why you need to hear it again”. (On the other hand I get the folks who check out because someone only HAS one message!)

In the church because there is so much being uncovered and revealed it is exciting to watch. It is desirable to want to hear the next thing. The problem I have is we have seen the thought process of “next” become our response to everything. Everything from yesterday has become disposable or old fashioned so we can move on to the next thing. The difficulty is when we have not solidified the “last thing” in most cases. It is like the child who opens all his presents and is disappointed there is no more. The pile of wrappings on one side. A pile of toys on the other and pain over no “next”. Let me just say if you do not solidify and live today you will find tomorrow holds similar “disappointments”.

As a prophetic voice I often hear people who want or seek “confirmation”. They may not know it realize it, but I can see it on their face or read it in their Facebook posts! Why is it when we receive confirmation of a prophetic word that is “cool” but when we hear something we consider “no big deal” for the second…or third…or more times, we get angry or frustrated or at best bored? I have seen people roll their eyes. “Here he goes again. He wants me to plug in to community.” “He wants me to work on my relationship with my spouse.” An angry “I know that” has often been what I have heard. Well, if you know that what are you doing about it?

Shades of “Groundhog Day”. Why are you here? Why are you hearing this? What have you missed before? What are you needing to see now?

The next time you think “next” ask yourself have you finished “now”. Because if you have not got all you can out of “now” “next” will become just another unfulfilled “now”. The next time you hear something “again” ask yourself what am I supposed to get out of this.

I understand exploration and pioneering but even as I think of the “bear” that went over the mountain to see what it could see, I am also reminded that “all that it could” was the other side of the mountain.

Social engineering has worked hard to program us for the “next best thing” but God, the ultimate “social engineer” has another program He has sent in motion. A life of abundance, fulfillment and joy. The question? Who will you listen to?

If you do not want to go around the mountain again, you will have to change something. “Why are you here again”(Perhaps it is “why are you hear?”) is not a terrible place to begin.

The pulse of heaven is forever humming to reach you. The desire of the Father to see your life here on earth a life of heavenly existence. Sometimes we have to “hear” what is being said to remove the obstacles ahead.

So, the next time you hear something again perhaps it might just be the first time of the last time…