Hearing in the spiritual sense is not an involuntary thing, it is an act that we choose to accept or refuse to do.
Jeremiah 17:23 – Many will choose to disobey and to not open their ears, thus the Lord confirming that hearing is not an involuntary action but is our choice. He will not force anyone to hear His voice. When you have not received instruction nor have you been willing to hearken to His voice and not do according to our own ways, you are making the choice to not Hear His Words.
Turning your mind, your conscience, your knowledge, or your memory from God you will not be able to hear Him. As we choose to walk in the spirit, so our minds are converted by the Holy Spirit and that choice provides us the ability to hear God. We serve a mighty God when we choose to.
Deuteronomy 30:17
Zechariah 7:11,12 Revelation 14:6, 7 The word of the Lord is pure, simple, and it will be preached to all persons on this earth. Unfortunately, the everlasting gospel will only be heard by those chosen by God (Romans 8:29). Revelation 3:20, 22 Jeremiah 5:21
Hearing the Word... How many times have you read the following words...”hear the word of the Lord, hear the word at my mouth, hear, O’ Israel, incline thine ear?” God is calling us, who are especially His people, to hear the intent of His Word. We hear God’s voice through the conscience and by the bible. What is the conscience? It is the inner sense or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one's behavior. Conscience is a cognitive process that elicits emotion and rational associations based on an individual's moral thinking or value system. Conscience stands in contrast to elicited emotion or thought due to associations based on immediate sensory perceptions and reflexive responses, as in sympathetic responses. In common terms, conscience is often described as a warning to interrupt conflicts with our moral values. Our moral values and our discord with familial, social, cultural and historical interpretations are considered in the examination of the practice. What is the bible? It is God’s holy word, His special means of interaction with us. So, here the question to be asked...if we believe the bible is God’s word and special means of imparting truth to us, do we take the words written seriously? Do we have a holy reverence for scripture and the time we assemble together to worship and study this word from God? Do we
hear to obey, or do we hear to go through the motions to play church and do a kind of nod to God being present in the body yet absent in the spirit?
Isaiah 66:2
The point is simple, God has much to say to us and because He is the all- wise and sovereign God and because of our finite humanity as well as our fallenness, it is imperative for us to hear what He says precisely. But, as fallen people, even as fallen people now redeemed, but not yet saved, we are ever so prone to be distracted and drawn away with other things. Hearing God involves the Holy Spirit working in the mind and heart of the believer. Really hearing what He is seeking to say, demands spiritual preparation and active participation on the part of the hearer. In order to hear God, we must be prepared to hear. Hearing the Lord is a spiritual matter. But any kind of learning involves preparation and active participation or concentration. Because of this, God is very concerned about how we hear and worship. He is concerned about our mental attitudes and our spiritual state when we come to worship or sit down with the bible to study, either privately or corporately.
God is looking for people who have a holy reverence for the word and His plan for hearing, learning and applying it. This means truly hearing God’s voice in the Word. When we choose to hear God’s word, we hear most certainly the truth of redemption and most significantly we hear the revelation of Jesus Christ. We hear God’s word in the prophecies and how they align the events of our lives. We study together and we should study in greater measure individually. But whether privately or corporately we must hear the word of God effectively. We so need to learn that we are here to listen to and to hear God even though He has chosen to use human vehicles to connect, to convey, to impart and to share, and to reveal and pass on with us truths that are our harbor to Christ. It would be well for each of us to hear seriously God’s word if we desire any real spiritual change in our lives. God is deeplyconcerned how we hearken. I Thessalonians 2:13
How do we decide to hear? Think about this...nearly one half of people calling themselves American listened to contradictory falsehoods spoken by d.t---p and others promoting misrepresentations. So, how should we hear? We need to be prepared to listen and to hear attentively and effectively statements that reside in love and grace. Our attention is to be on character and character is reflective of the principles found in the word of God. Most people are passive or uninvolved listeners with no ability to discern the importance of aligning principle with practice. These think to pursue life on their own terms. The people who hear truth and understand the message presented and then respond with faith and obedience are the evidence of those who hear His voice. These consciously depend on the Holy Spirit for insight and understanding into the effect of God’s word examining our lives and its personal application to dealing with this thing called sin. True hearers probe for meaning and application of God’s words; they want a spiritual deliverance experience. These want to be changed from the inside out.
Luke 8:11-15, 18
12 - 14 – Those that are thinking, deciding, or having the feeling of following God and traveling on the path to righteousness are those that hear God. At this very moment the word of God is heard and those being chosen of God, for God will not allow the adversary to remove what has been heard. (verse 15) 18 – It is very plain to see that when we do not hearken unto the voice of the Lord and we allow the adversary to kill our body and soul (Matthew 10:28), it is as though we never heard the Lord. If this being true, then we did not take heed to how we heard and therefore we heard words that were not of Him. As it reads in II Corinthians 4:3, the gospel is hid to them that are lost. Must then we believe that all that are lost never heard His word in a moments time?
SOP - But I would say to my brethren: Beware how you give credence to such reports. The Saviour bade His disciples: “Take heed therefore how ye hear.” And He speaks of a certain class that hear and will not understand lest they should be converted and be healed. Again He said: “Take heed what ye hear.” “He that is of God heareth God’s words.” {5T 694.3} Those who listened to the words of Christ heard and reported His teaching just according to the spirit that was in them. It is ever thus with those who hear God’s word. The manner in which they understand and receive it depends upon the spirit which dwells in their hearts. {5T 694.4} There are many who put their own construction upon what they hear, making the thought appear altogether different from that which the speaker endeavored to express. Some, hearing through the medium of their own prejudices or pre-possessions, understand the matter as they desire it to be,—as will best suit their purpose,—and so report it. Following the promptings of an unsanctified heart, they construe into evil that which, rightly understood, might be a means of great good. {5T 695.1}
Again, an expression perfectly true and right in itself, may be wholly distorted by transmission through several curious, careless, or caviling minds. Well-meaning persons are often careless and make grievous mistakes, and it is not likely that others will report more correctly. One who has himself not fully understood a speaker’s meaning repeats a remark orassertion, giving to it his own coloring. It makes an impression on the hearer just according to his prejudices and imaginings. He reports it to a third, who in turn adds a little more and sends it forward; and before any of them are aware of what they are doing, they have accomplished the purpose of Satan in planting the seeds of doubt, jealousy, and suspicion in many minds. {5T 695.2}
If persons listen to God’s message of reproof, warning, or encouragement while their hearts are filled with prejudice, they will not understand the true import of that which was sent them to be a savor of life unto life. Satan stands by to present everything to their understanding in a false light. But the souls that are hungering and thirsting for divine knowledge will hear aright, and will obtain the precious blessings that God designs to convey to them. Their minds are under the influence of His Holy Spirit, and they hear aright. When hearts are purified from selfishness and egotism, they are in harmony with the message God sends them. The perceptions are quickened, the sensibilities refined. Like appreciates like. “He that is of God heareth God’s words.” {5T 695.3}
SOP - God desires us to give attention to the words of truth. We are to hear and practise them; for the truth is a message of Heaven to those who take heed. The oftrepeated charge of the Lord is, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” Of the Israelites the apostle says, “The word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” This opens before us the reason why so little is accomplished by the many discourses given. The words may be indited by the Holy Spirit, but if those who hear do not hear with a desire to be benefited, the words spoken do not profit them. {BEcho August 14, 1899, par. 1} It makes every difference whether the word spoken is received into good and honest hearts. The Israelites had the word spoken to them by Christ from the pillar of cloud, but like many who today hear the glad tidings of truth and righteousness, they did not hear with consecrated ears. They brought guilt upon themselves by failing to hear by faith, and practise the word spoken. Selfishness and pride, murmuring and unbelief, compassed them about as a garment. {BEcho August 14, 1899, par. 2}
It was faith that men lacked in the days of Noah, and it was this lack that brought destruction upon them. How different would have been the result had they heeded Noah’s appeals as the voice of God speaking through him. But they were unwilling to hear and receive the word which would have saved them. {BEcho August 14, 1899, par. 3}
II Corinthians 3:12-16 Which words will you hear? Will you hearken to the words of the Lord, or will you forbear?
Our prayer must be that we are not so comfortable to where we are, not a part of the unsanctified, those in the second resurrection, those gnashing their teeth, outside of the walls, wishing that we simply heard the voice of the Lord.
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