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"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9, ESV).

When God speaks, do you listen? Really, really listen?

Or do you filter His voice through standard operating procedures, acceptable business practices, common sense, Six Sigma, how things are supposed to be done, what they taught you in business school, or some other similar process, paradigm, or template?

Doing so essentially renders us deaf to God’s voice and blind to his provision.

Sometimes, God brings us the right people and the right solutions to fill our needs and we don’t see them because they don’t come to us according to our own expectations.

Maybe they seem a bit quirky. A little odd. Not what we deem proper. Too good to be true or the total opposite.

Whether people, ideas, or opportunities, we view them as somehow less than worthy of our attention and time. We ignore them, we dismiss them, and we miss God’s will as a result.

Then we wonder why things don’t seem to go as well as we believe they should.

After all, in our own eyes and our own way of thinking, we’ve listened to our heart and gut, followed best practices, and done everything right and by the book. But not necessarily THE Book.

But, again, are you seeing people as God sees them? Are you discovering solutions as God reveals them?

Or, instead, are you simply leaning on your own understanding (Proverbs 3:5), filtering people and ideas through your own limited and flawed expectations?

Who or what have you dismissed, tossed aside, pooh-poohed, labeled as weird, deemed unprofessional, or ignored recently?

Perhaps you need to put down that bestselling ministry how-to book, ignore the advice of the current hot management guru, lay aside all you think you learned in business school, rethink what winning really means, and take a second look, doing so, this time, with the eyes, mind, and heart of Christ.

You just may be surprised at how well God is answering your prayers and bringing the best people and the better solutions to meet your present needs. But not at all the way you expected.

Are you listening? Paying attention? Tuned in to the right frequency? Or is God having trouble getting through all your "proper" static?

“Do not think of yourself [your ideas, your way of doing things] more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself [your ideas, your way of doing things] with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you” (Romans 12:3, modified).


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