Develop Your Ears To Hear God.

The Lord asked me years ago, “How does faith come?” I immediately said, “Faith comes by hearing Lord.”  (quoting Romans 10:17). The Lord then asked: “So then how does hearing come?”   

I recalled all the scriptures that state: “he who has ears to hear let him hear,” and passages that said, “they had ears but could not hear, and eyes but could not see.” I began to see why people who confess that Jesus is their Lord have the appearance of faith but are struggling in their Christian walk and getting little results. They don’t have a hearing ear, so faith never comes.

The standard teaching is that faith comes by hearing and hearing and hearing etc. And there is truth to that line of thought. However, there are different ways to hear, and there is a difference between natural and spiritual hearing.

 Romans 10:17 (NKJV) So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

Let me give you a more accurate translation of this verse to make it clear.

Romans 10:17 (my paraphrase) “So then faith comes by what you hear, and your hearing comes from acting on the word of God you have heard.”

Just because we have ears does not mean we can hear spiritually. The word of God alone opens our spiritual ears (our hearts). That word can come from the written and spoken word, but only the word we act on will develop our spiritual ears. When we are obedient, it demonstrates faith, and we become receptive to more instruction. Obedience is the act of faith; disobedience is the act of doubt and unbelief. Faith without the work of obedience is a dead faith, and dead faith has deaf ears.

The Bible shows us repeatedly that the disobedient and rebellious people “had ears but could not hear.”

Deuteronomy 29:4 (NKJV) Yet the LORD hath not given you a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.

Jeremiah 5:21 (NKJV) Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:

Ezekiel 12:2 (NKJV) Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.

Spiritual hearing only comes from the word of God that we act upon. Suppose we find ourselves unable to discern God’s voice rightly. In that case, we should humble ourselves before the Father and ask Him why. If we are rebellious or disobedient in any way, He will reveal it to us if we are sincere in our asking.

There are vast realms of understanding and revelation that we will never acquire if we are not doers of the word. If we do not act on what we have heard, the bible says we are deceiving ourselves. When we hear the word and do nothing about it, we become spiritually deaf. 

James 1:22 (NKJV) But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Quoted from the book, The Spiritual Warfare Manifesto

Thank you for visiting truthpressure.com. I hope this has been a blessing to you.

Hearing God’s Voice

The best way to avoid having itchy ears is to zero in on the one thing that enables us to hear clearly from God.

The Lord asked me years ago, “How does faith come?” I immediately said, “Faith comes by hearing Lord.” (quoting Romans 10:17). The Lord then asked: “So then how does hearing come?”   

I did not have a quick answer for Him, but I remembered all the scriptures that state: “he who has ears to hear let him hear,” and passages that said, “they had ears but could not hear, and eyes but could not see.” I began to see why people who confess that Jesus is Lord and have the appearance of faith are struggling in their Christian walk and getting little results. They don’t have a hearing ear, so faith never comes.

The typical teaching is that faith comes from hearing, and hearing, etc. And there is truth to that line of thought. However, there are different ways to hear, and there is a difference between natural and spiritual hearing.

 Romans 10:17 (NKJV) So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Let me give you a more accurate translation of this verse to make it clear.

Romans 10:17 (my paraphrase) So faith comes from what you hear, and your spiritual hearing comes from the Word of God that you act on.

Just because we have ears does not mean we can hear the Word. Spiritual ears can only be opened by obedience to the Word of God. That word will come from the written and spoken Word, but only the word we act on will develop our spiritual ears. When we are obedient, it demonstrates faith, and we become receptive to more instruction.

Obedience is the action of faith; disobedience is the action of doubt. Faith without the work of obedience is a dead faith, and a dead faith has deaf spiritual ears.

Throughout the Bible, we see it was the disobedient and rebellious people who “had ears but could not hear.”

Deuteronomy 29:4 (NKJV) Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day.

Jeremiah 5:21 (NKJV) Hear this now, O foolish people, without understanding, who have eyes and see not, and who have ears and hear not:

Ezekiel 12:2 (NKJV) “Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, which has eyes to see but does not see, and ears to hear but does not hear; for they are a rebellious house.

Spiritual hearing is developed from the word of God that we act upon. If we cannot rightly discern God’s voice, we should humble ourselves before the Father and ask Him why. If we are rebellious or disobedient in any way, He will reveal it to us if we are sincere.

There are vast realms of understanding and revelation that we will never acquire if we are not doers of the word. The Bible says we deceive ourselves if we do not act on what we have heard. When we hear the word and do nothing about it, we become spiritually deaf. 

James 1:22 (NKJV) But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Once we become doers of the word of God, an incredible creative cycle begins.

• Obeying the word gives life to our faith and increases our ability to hear from the Lord.
• As our spiritual ears open, opportunities to obey increase.
• Obedience to God’s word gives life to our faith. 

And the cycle repeats indefinitely. It is the process of spiritual growth.

Quoted from the book, The Spiritual Warfare Manifesto

Thank you for visiting truthpressure.com. I hope this has been a blessing to you.

The Mind of the Lord

1 Corinthians 2:16 For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

Notice it says, “we” have the mind of Christ, not “you” or “I.” Understand this about the mind of Christ; “I can do nothing of myself” does not just mean that I can do nothing without the Father. It also means that I can do nothing without relationships with my brothers and sisters in the body of Christ. I will need others to help me accomplish all God has planned and wage a good warfare.

God has designed us to live in a community. Partnering with His work will require a whole village. Assembling forces us to be relational, and relationship with other believers is one way we connect with the Father. A single body part cannot live and function independently apart from the rest of the body.

Even Jesus needed John the Baptist to go before Him to prepare people for His coming. He needed the disciples to help Him with His earthly ministry while He was alive and continue His ministry after His death and resurrection.

There is nothing more connected or co-dependent on planet Earth than the body of Christ. We are more connected than the molecules that make up the human body. Maybe this is why He used man’s body to explain how the body of Christ works.

Effective spiritual warfare requires us to have the mind of Christ. Understanding that we can do nothing of ourselves puts us all on a level playing field concerning our faith, from the faithful saint who has served God for decades to the newborn babe in Christ. We can all engage in community and bring our contribution while gleaning from the collective supply of others.

Thank you for visiting truthpressure.com. I hope this has been a blessing to you.

JC

Spiritual Warfare #24 The Hearing Ear

Although hearing God’s voice has been touched on in previous lessons, I want to zero in on the one thing that enables us to hear clearly from God.

The Lord asked me years ago, “How does faith come?” I immediately said “Faith comes by hearing Lord.”  (quoting Romans 10:17). The Lord then asked: “So then how does hearing come?”   

I did not have a quick answer for Him, but I was reminded of all the scriptures that state: “he who has ears to hear let him hear,” and passages that said, “they had ears but could not hear and eyes but could not see.” I began to see why people who confess Jesus as Lord have the appearance of faith but are struggling in their Christian walk and getting little results. They don’t have a hearing ear … so faith never comes.

The common teaching is that faith comes by hearing and hearing and hearing etc. And there is truth to that line of thought. The thing that has not been taught is that there are different ways to hear and there is a difference between natural hearing and spiritual hearing.

 Romans 10:17 ~ So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Let me give you a more accurate translation of this verse to make it clear.

ROM 10:17 (paraphrase) ~ So then faith comes by what you hear, and your hearing comes from the Word of God that you act upon.

Just because we have ears does not mean we are capable of hearing the Word. Our spiritual ears, (our heart,) can only be opened by the Word of God. That word will come from the written, as well as the spoken Word, but only the word that we act on will develop our spiritual ears. When we are obedient, it demonstrates faith and we become receptive to more instruction. Obedience is the action of faith, disobedience is the action of doubt. Faith without the work of obedience is a dead faith, and dead faith has deaf spiritual ears.

Throughout the bible, it is the disobedient and rebellious people who “had ears but could not hear.”

Deuteronomy 29:4 ~ Yet the LORD hath not given you a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.

Jeremiah 5:21 ~ Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:

Ezekiel 12:2 ~ Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.

Spiritual hearing comes from the word of God that we act upon. If we find ourselves unable to rightly discern God’s voice, we should humble ourselves before the Father and ask Him why. If we are rebellious or disobedient in any way, He will reveal it to us if we are sincere.

There are vast realms of understanding and revelation that we will never acquire if we are not doers of the word. If we do not act on what we have heard, the bible says we are deceiving ourselves. When we hear the word and do nothing about it, we become spiritually deaf. 

James 1:22 ~ But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

Once we obey the Word of God, a wonderful cycle of begins. Acting on the word gives life to our faith and develops our ability to hear from the Lord, which in turn opens us up to hear more, which gives us more opportunity to act on what we hear, which gives life to our faith ….  And the cycle goes on.  It is called spiritual growth.

If the Word of God is sown in our heart and we refuse to act on it (rebellion), the devil has the right to come steal it from us. This is the condition that we see in the parable of the sower.

Matthew 13:19 ~ When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.

There are too many “way side” Christians in the Church today. The spiritual condition of the Church as a whole is poor, in part because of the inability to hear what the Lord is saying to this generation.

Matthew 13:9-13 ~ He who has ears, let him hear.” ¹⁰ Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” ¹¹ And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. ¹² For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. ¹³ This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

When Jesus called the twelve He said to them: “Come.” They acted on that word and continued to follow Him. Because they acted on the word, THEY HAD EARS TO HEAR MORE. Lets look at the rest of this passage.

Matthew 13:14-15 Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.” ¹⁵ For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’

Lack of spiritual hearing comes from unbelief. Unbelief is a deception of the heart that manifests itself in many ways. It can come in the form of rebellion, disobedience, lack of understanding, spiritual laziness, pride, or selfishness. 

If we allow ourselves to continue in unbelief we create strongholds that the enemy can hide behind and strengthen our deception, causing us to hear even less.

God has already spoken many things in His written word. Why would He be inclined to say anything else if we are not interested in what He already said?

If we find out what God has already spoken and act on THAT. This will give us ears to hear what the Spirit is saying.

Thank you for visiting truthpressure.com. I hope this has been a blessing to you.

JC

Love Opens Your Spiritual Ears

          I think we all know that a “Hard Heart” is what causes us to be “Spiritually Deaf.” So maybe we should find out what causes a hard heart and avoid that condition entirely. Makes sense, right?

A hard heart comes from unbelief.

          Hardness of heart comes from a misuse of our free will. We refuse to submit our will to the Father, we are in unbelief, pride, and selfishness. We actively choose to disobey or ignore God’s word, thereby departing from God, compromising the relationship, and violating our conscience. If our conscience isn’t clear, our confidence in God s compromised.

Hebrews 3:12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;

1 Timothy 4:1-2 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, ² speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,

          A hard heart will not yield to, or acknowledge the truth. It makes us and our desires the center of the universe instead of God. Understand this:

THE SMALLEST WORLD YOU WILL EVER LIVE IN, IS THE ONE THAT YOU ARE THE CENTER OF.

          In Mark 8 Jesus spoke to His disciples about the characteristics of a hard heart:

Mark 8:17-18 But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened? ¹⁸ Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?

         In these verses, Jesus gives us the symptoms that are descriptive of a hard heart:  (1) unable to perceive, (2) unable to understand, (3) unable to see, (4) unable to hear, and (5) unable to remember.

          A hard heart is characterized by a lack of discernment and an inability perceive spiritually. A hard heart will keep a person from totally grasping spiritual things. They might see what the Lord is trying to show them, but they can’t get a hold of it in a way that they can apply it to their life.

          We can reverse the condition of a hard heart. We have the power to determine what our heart accepts or rejects. We must control our will to control our actions. It starts with obedience. Obedience is the “love language” of God.

John 14:23-24 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. ²⁴ He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.

          It’s not a hearing problem, it’s a love problem! Love can only be known by the actions that it prompts.  It is acts of obedience that show our faith and love for the Father. If we have a problem hearing God’s voice, we probably know the area that we are in disobedience, but if our heart is too hard to be clear, we can pray like the Psalmist:

Psalm 139:23-24. “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; ²⁴ And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.“

Psalm 26:2 Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; Try my mind and my heart.

         If we are sincere about obeying God, our spiritual ears and eyes will be opened and we will begin to see everything and everyone different, including our self. Having our spiritual eyes and ears opened is a condition of the heart. When our heart is tender and sincere before the Father, we gladly obey. He can then use our hearts as a conduit for His life and love to pour forth from.

Proverbs 4:23  Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.

Thank you for visiting truthpressure.com. I hope this has been a blessing to you.

JC