Let Him Who Has Ears to Hear, Hear

Jesus declared one of the greatest blessings given 

to man, "My sheep hear My voice and I know them, 

and they follow Me."

In John 10, there is an amazing dichotomy between 

Jesus as the door and as the shepherd.  In verse 3, 

He declares, "To him the doorkeeper opens, and the 

sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by 

name and leads them out." A few verses later Jesus 

reveals He is the door., "Most assuredly, I say to you, 

I am the door of the sheep.  If anyone enters by Me, 

he will be saved, and will go in and out and find 

pasture."  Jesus is the door, as the One who shed 

His blood on the cross for all sin that all men must 

enter into as the only way into God's kingdom.  

Nobody can come to the Father except he hear the 

divine call to "Come to me, I will give you rest." 

and responds to His love.  

However, Jesus, the risen Lord, is also the shepherd 

who now by the Spirit of God leads all believers into 

a place of knowing Him and His voice so they can 

follow Him. Once a person has acknowledged His 

call to repent and accept Jesus' death for his sins, 

the believer is now able to walk by faith in response 

to His voice in following Him.  Isaiah talks about 

hearing a voice saying, "This is the way, walk in it."  

Jesus declares that believers know His voice so 

clearly and are so familiar with His voice, that they 

will not know or listen to the voice of strangers.    

My question is how desperately do we desire to 

hear His voice and how do we respond?  Jacob 

wrestled with the angel and refused to let go until 

the angel blessed him.  With that kind of deter-

mination and resolve, we need to come into God's 

presence (through thanksgiving, praise, singing, 

and the truth of His Word according to Psalm 100) 

and then quietly be still until we get a word from 

God. 

Linger.   Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew 

their strength as declared in Isaiah.  How long do we 

wait, how important is it to us to wait, until we can 

receive His voice that quickens our inner man?  It 

may be helpful to continue by declaring Jesus' words,

"My sheep hear My voice" in order to focus your soul 

that you are waiting in faith.   

God told Moses to write a book of remembrance 

and told Habakkuk to write the vision.  Following 

this pattern, wait on the Lord until you hear His voice 

and can write down what you believe He is saying 

to you.  Like Jacob, refuse to let go until you "know" 

His word to you.  He will speak peace to His 

people (Psalm 85:8).  

Hunger enough to take time and ask the Holy Spirit 

to teach you to hear and to know His voice.  Jesus 

said those who hear and do what He says will be 

blessed (Matthew 7:24), bear much fruit 

(John 15:8), and never be led astray (John 10:28).  

Let him who has ears to hear, hear!

---

 

He Opens My Ear

God is not quiet.  He wants to speak to you and direct your steps today.  "He awakens me morning by morning, He awakens my ear to hear as the learned, the Lord has opened my ear..." according to Isaiah 50:4.   While this is obviously describing the Father speaking to Jesus and giving Him the fortitude to go through the torture of paying for sin, it is also very directly addressed to you and me.  God hasn't changed and is no respecter of persons.  

Jesus, in His overcoming temptation in the wilderness, also spoke this truth in a different way.  Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word (rhema - the spoken word for the exact situation and time) that proceeds (verb tense - constantly proceeding) from the mouth of God.  Just as bread sustains the physical man, the spoken word from the Father gives life to the spiritual man.  This ever-flowing voice is what makes us live, or if you will, enables us to overcome with the abundant life.  

Often when we wake up, our thinking and feelings are very fleshy, so taking time to read the Word and letting the giving-life rhema transform our thoughts and feelings to His thoughts and ways is essential.  Psalm 23 would confirm this: He leads me beside the still waters, He restores my soul (my thoughts, emotions, and will).  We let the Spirit renew our mind and re-fill our faith as faith comes by hearing, and hearing, the Word of God. We live by faith, which is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen.

Many Christians deny or confuse whether they hear God.  Hebrews 5:14 would suggest that we grow or become mature by practice, having our faculties trained to discern good and evil.   Therefore, the more we consistently take time to wait on God and receive a word from Him, the more our ability to hear grows and the clearer His voice becomes.  It is good to force ourselves to decide what God is saying by writing it down in a journal.  God is the One who "opens our ear to hear" so He is also the One who will confirm His word to help us know His voice.  

We grow from being children born of the Spirit (John 1:12) to becoming mature sons of God (Romans 8:14) when we are led by the Spirit.  Therefore, take time today to read and hear the Word, waiting upon Him to discern His spoken word to you, and write down what, to the best of your knowledge, is from Him.  Review it later and begin the simple practice of hearing His voice each morning to let Him give you His life.  God is faithful and He who opens your ear will help you learn to hear. 

Givers and Takers

The world is filled with givers and takers.  Sometimes it seems like there are more "takers" than givers.  Even though Jesus is quoted as saying, "It is more blessed to give than to receive," the predominate attitude of our society is entitlement, people thinking that they are entitled to receive.  All through the Word we see this division, this fork in the road, where people are called to make a wise choice.  Whosoever will.  

Unfortunately, fallen human nature is prone to choose the way of the flesh, which Romans 8 points out leads to death.  God sets before us life and death, and even tells us to choose life, but in the words of Jesus, "wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it." (Matthew 7:14)  Jesus confronted this "I will do it my way" attitude in the Pharisees saying He came to give sight to the blind, but because they claimed to see, they were really blind.  Human nature suffers from the same selfish pride that caused Satan to fall.  

One of the most repeated admonitions of Jesus in the Gospels is "Let him who has ears to hear, hear."  Isaiah points out the rebellious people will see and not see, hear and not hear.  Self-righteous people seem to always find an excuse or someone else to blame, rather than humbling themselves to admit "I was wrong."  The blood of Jesus covers all sin and removes all unrighteousness, but it does not cover excuses. 

There is a simple answer to the problem, which makes all the difference.  James points out that the Word of God is a mirror, not a window to view others, which when one looks into the mirror as the perfect law of liberty and does it, he is blessed.  Whether we build our house on the sand or on the rock is determined by our hearing the Word and doing it.  Therefore, my encouragement today is to humbly read the Word, to receive it with meekness so that God's thoughts and ways replace our own selfish choices.  In short, simply do it.  The Holy Spirit is always willing to guide and teach us if we are willing to listen and obey. 

In the world of givers and takers, remember that God loves a cheerful giver.  Whatever a man sows, he will surely reap.   

Hear and Obey His Voice

"Let him who has ears to hear, hear."

In Psalm 81, we are reminded that God's heart desire for us is to hear His voice so He can bless us.  "Oh, that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways!"  As Psalm 81 continues, then I "would quickly subdue your enemies and turn My hand against your adversaries." God's desire is to fight for us, and His prerequisite is that we choose to hear His voice, and then be willing to obey.   

In God, our best defense against the enemy is a good offense.  Let God arise and His enemies be scattered (Ps 68:1) and in James 4:7, "Submit to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you."  Rather than in our arrogance thinking we can outsmart and outduel this evil spirit being, we simply join ourselves to Jesus who has already defeated Satan and all the powers of darkness.  Then the battle is the Lord's and we experience His victory.   

As Psalm 81 concludes, God, being God who is always more than enough, then sweetens the deal, "I would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you." What an awesome God who delights in the prosperity of His servants! 

When you take time and earnestly desire to hear from Him, my suggestion is to write down what you believe He is saying.  Then you won't be tempted to doubt in the darkness what you have heard in the light.  You will be more inclined to respond.  God told Habakkuk to write the vision so people who read it would run with it.

Let God bless you.  Hear and Obey!

Let him hear

“Did you hear what I just said? What did I just say?” the frustrated teacher responds to the disobedient student. Training children to listen and actually follow instructions is the challenge of every parent, teacher, or coach.
The amazing thing is that Jesus had the same problem with adults. He would state a life-giving truth and then conclude “he who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Matthew 13:9) He even quotes the prophecy of Isaiah (6:9-10) that states men will hear and not understand, see and not perceive, because “their hearts of this people have grown dull, their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes are closed.”
Why is it so hard for people to hear? The Isaiah verse Jesus quoted gives some pertinent insight. It points out that a choice is involved. The people have hardened their hearts, meaning they don’t want to be affected or corrected. Likewise, closing their eyes and becoming hard of hearing suggest that one deliberately chooses to refuse to see and hear, usually because it would require a change of attitude, thinking, and behavior. Man doesn’t want to change. Man wants to do things his own way, he wants to be God.
God calls us to repent. Repent means to change our inner heart and attitude, and then carry out this different way of thinking through deliberate different actions. God’s thoughts and ways are infinitely higher than our ways. He looks for the person who has “a humble and contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.” (Isaiah 66:2) When someone humbly lays down his own thoughts and honestly seeks truth and life from God’s thoughts, then God is free to let His presence and power work mightily in that life.
How can anyone know what God is really saying? Jesus said in John 7:17 that if anyone’s will is to do the will of the Father, he will know whether the teaching is from God or man. The real question that determines whether we hear is not the volume of the words that falls on our ears, but rather the inner willingness to obey what is spoken.
So the point is, what are you willing to hear? Do you desire God to speak into your life? Have you taken time this morning to read His word with an attitude of wanting to let His thoughts and desires become yours? John Wesley always knelt down to read the word because he wanted to be in a position of surrender to God’s will. When you tremble before the majesty and authority of God’s word, your ears will be attentive and you will hear.