Part 4 - Take Every Thought Captive
Part of being a good listener is understanding that much of what you are receiving will require recall in the future. Sometimes someone may yell, “Duck!” or “Watch Out!” and your instantaneous action (or inaction) will suffice to show whether you were listening. But most of our listening requires some sort of memory creation and recollection.
For this reason we must make every effort to remember what
were are hearing so we can revisit and use the information we’ve received. We
see this is multiple places in scripture, we see Mary treasuring up the events
of Christ’s birth in her heart (Luke 2:19), we see the disciples remembering
things that Christ had said and did after his resurrection (John 2:22), and
Paul requests Timothy to bring his notes and scripture to him in prison (2
Timothy 4:13). There are myriad other places that this occurs, and also places
where forgetfulness leads to disaster (Consider at minimum Genesis 40:23, Hosea
4:6, & Mark 8:14,17).
These notes can be taken mentally or physically. They can be
simple or comprehensive. They can be a jot or a paragraph. I have in my Bible a
line through the 10 at the beginning of John 10, that simple line reminds me
that there is no time that passes between the end of John 9 and the beginning
of John 10 and that they are meant to be understood together. Other times I
have extensive notes, for example Jonah Chapter 1.5 is my consolidated notes on most (not quite everything) of what I know about the
Book of Jonah that isn’t directly contained in the text. The amount of notes
may vary and even the quality, but the important thing is something that
reminds and helps you to recollect.
This article is not meant to teach you how to best recall,
there are a nearly infinite number of resources available that will teach you
how to best take notes, the important thing is that you are taking notes about
what you’re reading and hearing from God. A couple of things I recommend in my “Simple
Listening Handout” are to ask yourself, “How would I teach this?”, “What should
I ask the pastor to clarify?” & “What should I further research?”
As I’ve grown older I’ve realized that what I put into my
brain is not incorruptible or perpetual. Things I thought I would remember
forever have faded into obscurity. I’ve learnt not to trust myself to simply
remember a Bible verse, but that it’s good to have a Bible readily available
when I think I can simply recall a verse. It reminded me of this verse from
Psalm 73:26, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my
heart and my portion forever.”
One final aside, some of the great men of history were known
to either be men of one singular focus, or to keep extensive lists. May we do both! May our singular focus be the glory of Christ proclaimed, but may we also have a reminder of how we intend to do it! I have seen my productivity soar in keeping notes, lists, and utilizing the “task organizers” within Microsoft Outlook and Gmail. I no longer trust myself to “remember to do that later”, now I write it down, whether it is a clear command from God from scripture, a needed conversation, or simply an encouraging word. I was at a recent conference (Refuel 2019) and the notebook they handed out said it so well,
Inspiration Unrecorded Is Quickly Forgotten.
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