Listening to the word of god

Listening To The Word of God…

People don’t want to hear or see the truth of any kind. Comfortable lies are the preferred method of information for the masses. Jesus knew this. Why do you think He, Jesus, always referred to the masses as just that – the masses or multitudes or crowd – no identity, just a lump of mass screaming for bread, wine and another show – a miracle to be preformed by the latest talent to show up on stage.

If you don’t believe what is said is true read the Bible, read the Words not what has been said about the Words, but read the actual Words. Let them rest on your heart, breathe them into your soul and then walk around for others to see them in you.

Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret; and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat. ~ Luke 5:1-3 NASB95

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Was it “the crowd” that separated from Jesus or was it Jesus Christ that put a body of water between Himself and the crowd? How could “the crowd” reach Jesus if there is a body of water between themselves and Jesus? Why would Jesus do this? Did He already realize that only a few would actually hear His message, live His message and share His message? Why would Jesus do this if He didn’t already understand and, more importantly, accept the fact “the crowd” were only interested in “the show” or Jesus understood they were only interested being part of something they really don’t know anything about but heard it was the coolest thing going? None of that really matters, what matters is that it happened. If it weren’t important, it wouldn’t be recorded.

Separating ourselves from the crowd, the multitudes or the masses is what matters. We must separate ourselves in order to develop a deep, meaningful relationship with Jesus. A relationship that can be seen in our daily walk. A relationship that allows for Jesus to change us, make us into His image, mold our thinking and our actions. Strip our tongue of the poison it can spew at the drop-of-a-hat.

Listening to the Words that are spoken in the Bible, not the words that are interpreted by others, but the actual Word of God, sets our soul on fire. Sets our heart on a different ground and makes us into something different.

Either the Scripture is the divine Word of God teaching us how to live and how to be a reflection of God, or it’s nothing more than a historical account of events.

Let us press in upon Jesus to hear the word of God (Luke 5:1). When we do, maybe he’ll withdraw a little, as if getting into Simon’s boat and putting out a little from the land, but he won’t neglect to teach us (Luke 5:3).  We must each seek out and listen to the word of God in our lives. He is always speaking to us, I believe, in the language of our lives. But it can be difficult to make out what he’s saying over the crashing of the waves.

The word of God to us is often counter-intuitive.

What he’s telling us often isn’t what we want to hear.

It’s often not easily recognized or understood, agreeable or believable to us.

Hearing the word of God and keeping it requires a little faith.

Hearing the word of God is like toiling all night in a boat on the lake in the grueling and backbreaking work of fishing. Casting out your nets, pulling them in, catching nothing. Casting again, pulling in again, catching nothing again. All night long. Hour after hour. Then, exhausted and disheartened, giving up, coming near the shore to wash your fruitless nets and call it quits only to hear a man command you to put out again into the deep and to let down your nets again for a catch (Luke 5:4).

You know how good it feels to get home from work after a long day. But how would it feel if, just when you get home, your boss calls you and tells you to come back in and get back to work? My first thought probably wouldn’t be that this is the word of God to me. That wouldn’t be my first thought. To recognize such a seemingly mad suggestion as the word of God would take a little faith.

Simon, who Jesus will later call Peter, has a little faith. He says to Jesus, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! Nevertheless, at your word I will let down the nets” (Luke 5:5). Notice that he doesn’t say, “for a catch.” Jesus tells him to let down the nets “for a catch,” but Peter just says that he’ll let down the nets. He’s holding on to a little skepticism, but he also has a little faith. As it happens, God is the master of more than just fish, and so the haul they take in by heeding his word was enough to nearly sink two boats.

We must listen carefully for the word of God in our lives and be open to it, because it can be counter-intuitive. Our God is a God of surprises.

Hearing the word of God is also like long suffering from a thorn in the flesh – a weakness of body or spirit or condition of life – and asking the Lord to remove it, yet still suffering it and so asking the Lord again to remove it and yet still suffering it and so asking a third time for the Lord to remove it, and finally hearing the word of the Lord: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power reaches perfection in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9).

The word of the Lord isn’t always what we want to hear. Sometimes he has to tell us three times before we’ll accept it. Accepting it requires a little faith. Paul finally accepts his weakness and even boasts of it, saying, “for the sake of Christ, I am content with weaknesses” (2 Cor 12:10).

The word of God can be hard to hear.

Hearing the word of God is also like trying to sleep at night but being woken by the voice of your teacher calling your name, getting up, going to see what he wants and hearing, “I didn’t call you. Go back to sleep.” Then, trying to sleep again, hearing him call you again, getting up and going to him only to hear again, “I didn’t call you, my son. Go back to sleep.” And again a third time – but this time at last your teacher recognizes that the voice you’ve been hearing is the voice of the Lord (1 Sam 3:3-10).

Sometimes we mistake the voice of the Lord for the voice of our human teachers, just as sometimes we mistake the voice of our human teachers for the voice of the Lord. His voice in our lives can be hard to recognize, but our teachers, if they are wise and humble, can help us to recognize him when he calls us.

The priest Eli is a good example of this kind of teacher (1 Sam 3). It is Eli who finally recognizes the Lord calling the boy Samuel in the night, only to learn that the Lord will punish his house for the iniquity of his sons, to which news Eli says, “It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him” (1 Sam 3:18). This demonstrates a rare humility and openness to the word of God, necessary in teachers who would help us to hear the word of God in our own lives.

Hearing the word of God is also like suffering the oppression of another nation for seven years and them destroying all the produce of the land and taking all the livestock, instigating famine, making you so weak and so powerless against them that you just know that there’s nothing you can do about it, so you call out the Lord and ask him, “Why don’t you do something? Where are your wonderful deeds? Why don’t you deliver your people?” only to hear back from the Lord, “Why don’t you deliver your people?” (Judges 6:1, 4, 13-15). Sometimes we ask the Lord, “Why don’t you help us?” only to hear him say, “You are the help I have sent.”  Sometimes we see our own particular problems because God is telling us to deal with our own particular problems.

This is how it went with Gideon against the Midianites (Judges 6). What the Lord was asking him to do to was unbelievable to him. He was of the weakest clan in Manasseh and he was the least in his family and yet the Lord chose him, of all people, to deliver Israel from the Midianites (6:15). He took a lot of convincing.

The word of God can be like that. It confounds us. It calls us to do things we think are impossible. And they would be impossible without God, but they are not without God. When God calls us to seemingly insurmountable tasks he says to us, as he says to Gideon, “But I will be with you” (6:16), and that makes all the difference.

Sometimes people say that God will never let you suffer more than you can bear, but I don’t think that’s quite right. Rather, we may get crushed by our problems, but he will bear them in us. Be with us. Raise us up when we fall (Ps 145:14). It really was impossible for Gideon to drive out the Midianites, but God in Gideon can do anything.

Of myself, I can’t do anything.
God can do anything.
In God, I can do anything God wills.

So, with the guidance of wise and humble teachers, we must listen carefully for the word of God in our lives so that we can know his will for our lives and live in him who accomplishes great, surprising, new, impossible, confounding, and glorious works in and through us.

Listening to the Word of God publishes essays and responses from a 2013 conference of confessional Lutheran theology professors, held at the Lutherische Theologische Hochschule in Oberursel, Germany. The editors, Achim Behrens and Jorg Christian Salzmann, write in the preface:

Exegetes with a markedly Lutheran understanding discuss methods of Scriptural interpretation in this volume. All contributions are witness to the common conviction that Holy Scripture is expounded as God’s Word. But even in this closely related Lutheran “family” approaches vary and must be debated.

The conference papers and responses were originally delivered in English or German, depending on the presenter. The volume provides translations of all presentations that were originally given in German. Participants included faculty from Oberursel; Concordia Seminário, São Paulo (Brazil); Concordia Seminary, St. Louis (USA); the Församlingsfakultet in Göteborg (Sweden); as well as the Bishop of the Free Evangelical Lutheran Synod in South Africa.

Bibliographic information:

Behrens, Achim and Salzmann, Jorg Christian, hrsg., Listening to the Word of God: Exegetical Approaches (Oberurseler Hefte Ergänzungsband 16; Göttingen: Edition Ruprecht, 2016). 232 Seiten. ISBN: 978-3-8469-0197-7. 47,90 €.

The volume contents include:

Vorwort/Preface 7

Historical Approaches/Historische Zugänge 11

• David L. Adams:  Some Observations on the Historicity of the Biblical Creation Account 13
• Achim Behrens: Erwiderung 36
• Achim Behrens: Response 40
• Jorg Chr. Salzmann: Auslegung von Mt 14,22-33 vermittels historischer Zungänge – Sinn und Grenzen der Methodik 43
• Jorg Chr. Salzmann: Exegesis of Matt 14:22-33 by Means of Historical Approaches – Significance and Limitations of a Method 55
• Vilson Scholz: Response 67

Literary Approaches/Literarische Zugänge 71

• James Voelz: Literary Interpretation of the Scriptures (Mark 8:22-26) 73
• Jorg Chr. Salzmann: Erwiderung 95
• Jorg Chr. Salzmann: Response 97
• Achim Behrens: Linguistische und pragmatische Beobachtungen zu Amos 7,1-8,299
• Achim Behrens: Linguistic and Text Pragmatic Observationsin Amos 7:1-8:2 109
• Paul Raabe: Response 119

Contextual Approaches/Kontextuelle Zugänge 121

• Timothy Saleska: Reading Psalm 1 in the Context of the Psalter: Voices in Conversation 123
• David Adams: Response 140
• Dieter Reinstorf: Apartheid and Present Day South Africa as a Context in Reading Galatians 3:26-28 144
• Timo Laato: Response 163

Text and Authority/Text und Autorität 167

• Jeffrey Kloha: Theological and Hermeneutical Reflections on the Ongoing Revisions of the Novum Testamentum Graece 169
• Vilson Scholz: Response 207

Appendix/Anhang 211
Contributors to this Volume/Liste der Beiträger 213
Acknowledgements/Danksagungen 214
Bibliography/Literaturverzeichnis 216
Indices/Register 225

The volume is available from amazon.de; here is a link to the publisher’s page. Several copies are currently being cataloged for the Concordia Seminary Library collection.

The copyright on the volume is retained by the publisher. Note that duplication or republication, including for education purposes, is not permitted without permission:

Alle rechte vorbehalten. Das Werk einschliesslich seiner Teile ist urheberrechtlich geschutzt. Jede Verwertung ausserhalb der engen Grenzen des Urhebergesetzes bedarf der vorherigen schriftlichen Zustimmung des Verlags. Diese ist auch erforderlich bei einer Nutzung fur lehr- und Unterrichtszwecke nach § 52a UrhG.

All rights reserved. The work, including its parts, is copyright protected. Any use outside the narrow limits of copyright law requires the prior written consent of the publisher. This is also required in any use for teaching and educational purposes in accordance with § 52a of the Copyright Act.

The presentations by Concordia Seminary, St. Louis faculty were previously delivered at the 2014 Day of Exegetical Reflection on campus. Video of these presentations is available here.

Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17)

The Holy Spirit creates and sustains faith through the Word of God. Jesus said, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).  We live on the words that come from the mouth of God. And the words that come from the mouth of God are given to us in the Scripture. Jesus says, “You live on this Word.”  Faith unites you to Christ who feeds you, nourishes you, and sustains you. He does this through His Word. This Word is to your life like bread is to your body.

God calls us to bring faith to the Word

“They were not able to enter because of their unbelief… The message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.” Hebrews 3:19, 4:2

The writer is speaking about the Israelites who did not enter the Promised Land. They heard the message of the Gospel, but it was of no value to them. Why? Because they did not combine it with faith.

Christ sustains my life through the Word of God. So, I need to hear the Word. But if I do not hear the Word with faith, it will be of no value in my life. I’ll simply be a person who comes to church and hears many sermons. But these sermons don’t benefit me, they go over my head, because I don’t combine them with faith.

Jesus made this truth very clear in the Parable of the Sower (Luke 8:1-15). There is one seed, but four kinds of soil. Every weekend, the Word of God is preached. The seed is sown. But it has different effects in people’s lives.

For some the Word of God makes little difference. Their hearts are hard. Satan snatches the seed away. The Word is of no value to them. For others, the Word of God has only a temporary effect. Their hearts are shallow. Pressure comes and they shrivel.

For still others, the Word of God is choked by competing priorities. Their hearts are preoccupied with worries and money, and the desire for other things. And for some the Word of God is bearing a great harvest. Their hearts are good soil in which the seed flourishes.

Most of us know that parable, but here’s what Jesus said about it: “Consider carefully how you listen” (Luke 8:18). Here we are, all hearing the Word of God, but Jesus says, “Be careful how you listen, because it has radically different effects in different kinds of hearts.”

Today’s message is about how to listen to a sermon. Pastors study how to speak the Word of God. I want to help you to hear the Word of God in such a way that it will bear fruit in your life. Consider carefully how you listen. How do you listen?

Come with a Settled Conviction…
…that God Speaks through His Word

Some years ago, I was taking a wedding in the south of England. The couple was concerned for their unconverted relatives, and asked me to preach the Gospel at their wedding. I must have spoken for 15 to 20 minutes. The photographer hadn’t counted on this and he was desperate   to get on with his work.

Our oldest son Andrew was just a baby, and while I was speaking Karen took him outside the church where she met the photographer. He was pacing up and down like a caged lion.

He said to her, “Who is that man who is going on and on and on in there?”

To which she replied, “Oh, that’s my husband.” To many people, that’s all the preaching of the Word of God is—a man who’s going on and on and on. Quite honestly, if that’s what you think preaching is, then there’s not much reason to listen.

In Thessalonica, people’s lives were being quickly and radically changed: “When you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God” (1 Thessalonians 2:13).  You heard the Word of God (at that time, the Old Testament Scriptures) from us. You did not receive it as the word of men. You received it as the Word of God, which it actually is. You grasped that God speaks through His Word. That’s how God speaks. That’s how you hear His voice.

That’s our conviction at The Orchard. We believe that God speaks through His Word. That is why, when we gather—we want to sing the Word, pray the Word, read the Word, preach the Word and hear the Word—so that we may receive the Word by which the Holy Spirit creates and sustains faith.

How do you listen to the Word of God?

God speaks through His Word. When we know who is speaking, we listen differently. I listen to adverts passively. If something grabs my attention, I suddenly wake up and listen, but otherwise it passes me by. Candidly, that’s how some people listen to the preaching of the Word of God.

I listen to my enemies defensively. I know that they want to harm me, so I am on my guard. If you think God is your enemy that is how you will hear His Word. That is how some listen to His Word.

I listen to my friends in a different way. I hear them with an open heart because I know that they love me. When they tell me I am wrong, I listen because I know they are in my corner, they want to do me good. The way you listen to the Word of God reveals a great deal about your relationship with Him. God’s friends hear His Word gladly.

God chooses what He wants to say to you

When you know that God speaks through His Word, you will come expectantly. We all have our ideas of what we want to hear, what we think we need to hear. But when He speaks He chooses what He wants to say.

God spoke to me through His Word at the conference this week. In the last session, C.J. Mahaney was speaking from 2 Timothy 4:2: “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season…” And here’s the part the Holy Spirit spoke to me: “…with great patience.” I saw some areas of my life where I am impatient.

I didn’t go into that session thinking about patience. I wasn’t feeling a need in regard to patience. I wasn’t aware of a lack of patience, but God spoke to me about patience through 2 Timothy 4:2.

You may be thinking, “I’ve come to church this weekend, and I’m facing all these things in my life. A sermon on how to hear the Word of God is not what I need right now.” Can you consider the possibility, friend, that it may be exactly what you need?

God may be saying to you, “Instead of looking for a quick fix to the problems in your life, you need to establish a regular pattern of receiving My word with faith, so that it will bear long-term fruit that you have not been bearing in years.” You never know what God is going to say to you, but you know He is going to say it through His Word.

Let me encourage you with two practical things that I, and many others have found helpful:

1. Bring your Bible to church

Not any Bible, not the smallest one you can find. Bring your Bible. Have one Bible that you get to know and use during our times together. It will help you to discover what’s in your Bible.

2. Bring a pen and paper to church

Write down what the Holy Spirit is teaching you. I take a pen and paper when I go to breakfast with our church chairman. I do that because I know there will be things I need to follow through on. I don’t want to mess up.

If that’s my disposition when I am listening to the words of a man to whom I am accountable, how much more should that be my disposition when I am listening to the Word of God?

Come with a Healthy Appetite

“Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4

Jesus is making the connection between God’s Word and food. He invites us to think of God’s Word as a nourishing meal.

The preacher’s task is to prepare the meal. The table should be spread in a way that is attractive. The food should be placed where it is accessible to the guests. Most of all, what is served should be the nourishing food of the Word of God.  God’s people are not fed on the dry bones of the preachers opinions. We are not nourished to eternal life by the preacher’s latest thoughts on how to improve your marriage or your self esteem.

God has never promised to bless my words. He has promised to bless His Word. So, the task of the preacher is to set God’s Word before God’s people so that we may be fed and nourished.  But when the meal is prepared, when the meal is served, what is your part? Come hungry. Come with a hearty appetite: “Come all you who are thirsty come to the waters… Come, buy and eat. Listen to me… and your soul will delight in the richest of fare” (Isaiah 55:1-3).

How do you develop a healthy appetite?

Use the pressures of your life to increase your appetite for the Word of God. That’s what you find consistently in the Psalms:

“As the deer pants for streams of water so my soul longs for you, O God.” Why? “My tears have been my food day and night.” Psalm 42:1, 3

“One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.” Why? “For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in His dwelling.” Psalm 27:4-5

“As for me it is good to be near God.” Why? “My feet had almost slipped… My heart was grieved, my spirit embittered… til I entered the sanctuary of God.” Psalm 73:26, 1, 21, 17

If everything in my life was apple pie, I might not feel this hunger and thirst for God. But the truth is I face great pressures. My own sins are many. Therefore, I’m hungry and thirsty for God. That’s how to use the pressures of your life, whatever they are.

I’ve sometimes heard a pastor say at the beginning of a service, “Lord, help us shut out the pressures of our life in this world.” That’s impossible.  You can’t detach yourself from the realities of life. You come to God with all the pressures of your life, and you use them to increase your appetite for the Word of God.

Learn to use a knife and fork

Infants need to be spoon fed. At one time in your life that was true of you.  The rest of the family was sitting at the table eating their meal, and you were in your high chair, with your food ground to a pulp. Your mother or father, or maybe a sister or brother, were feeding it to you with a spoon.

But it was not long before you learned to use your knife and fork. The preacher’s task is to prepare the meal. But when dinner is served, it is your task to use your knife and fork to eat what’s laid before you. You can sit at the table, where a lavish meal is served. You can come with a hearty appetite, but unless you use your knife and fork, you will not be fed.

I’m using a picture: Whatever’s on the table, and however hungry you are, when the Word of God is preached, you need to make applications of the truth to the particular circumstances of your own life. This is what it means to use the knife and the fork.

Isn’t this the preacher’s job?

You may be thinking, “Isn’t it the preacher’s job to give me the applications?” When God spoke to me this week about patience through a message on 2 Timothy 4, I was in a room with 7,000 other people.

In that room, there were 7,000 situations where patience is needed, 7,000 situations where impatience is being displayed, and all of them different. That’s assuming that each of us has only one. I could think of at least three. It would be impossible for any preacher to make every application to every life situation in the congregation.

The Holy Spirit is given to you so that you may have wisdom to apply the Word of God, as it is being taught, to the particular circumstances of your life—circumstances that the speaker is not even aware of.

Infant Christians want to be spoon fed. They are always saying, “What’s the bottom line? Where’s the take away? Give me the application.” When the preacher reduces the application to a list of things to do, it obscures the unique way in which God speaks to each of us as individuals through His Word. Only God can do that by the Holy Spirit.

God is not building robots. He is raising sons and daughters who hear His Word, develop the capacity to apply it, and respond to it by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Preaching the Word of God is an act of faith, flowing from the conviction that God speaks through His Word. I would never dare to preach if I didn’t believe that the Holy Spirit is able to apply that Word in the hearts of God’s people in ways I’ve never even thought of.

Hearing the Word of God is an act of faith in which you ask the Holy Spirit to show you how the Word applies in circumstances of your life. When I heard 2 Timothy 4, I had to apply it to my life—just like 6,999 other people who had to use their knife and fork.  Come to the Word of God with faith and your faith will increase: “To whoever has, more will be given” (Luke 19:26).

What If You Do Not Yet Have Faith?

“Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Romans 10:17

Here’s the amazing mystery—that Christ sustains faith through the Word of God and He creates faith through His Word. You may have no faith today. Christ is able to create the capacity of hearing in you. And that hearing produces faith.

God creates by speaking. That is how the world was made. And that is how faith comes. “Faith comes from hearing and hearing [comes] through the Word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).

Here is what you can do…

1. Place yourself regularly under the Word of God

Read it, hear it preached. Listen to this Word, not as the words of men, but as it actually is—the Word of God. Come with the settled conviction that God speaks to you through His Word. Come to the Word with a hearty appetite. Place yourself under the ministry of the Word.

2. Recognize you need God to do for you what you cannot do yourself

You need Him to give you ears that can hear. “Lord, unless you change me, I will be the kind of person who is always hearing and never understanding, always seeing and never perceiving” (Matthew 13:14).  Lord you say, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Luke 8:8). Give me ears to hear. When you come to this place, faith is already beginning in you, because you are reaching out to Him.

3. Look to Christ

It’s so significant that Paul says here, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). The Bible is all about Jesus Christ. Everything in this book is given to you so that “you may believe that Jesus is the Christ… and that by believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31).

The message of the Bible is that though you are by nature a sinner, a rebel, and an enemy of God, He loves you and has sent His Son into the world to redeem you. Jesus Christ gave His life as a sacrifice for your sins to reconcile you to God. He rose from the dead and He is ready to forgive all who come to Him in faith and repentance.

He is able to give you peace with God, new life, new hope, and new power by His Holy Spirit. He is able to save you from the hell you deserve and bring you faultless into the presence of God in heaven. Look to this Christ today. Ask Him to save you.

“Why can’t I hear from God?”

I can not even begin to count how many times I have been in conversation with a friend and spoken these words. Hearing the voice of God, discerning His voice, and desiring Old testament like direction would be so useful in this time of information overload. It is quite exhausting when everywhere you turn there is a new avenue to get connected to others and to outside voices. There is advice on every topic. A how-to about nearly everything under the sun.

And yet, we still have a longing in our core to have a direct connection to the ultimate information source and hear the voice of God. We speak to God often, with requests, questions, and fears adding to those external voices we hear. Our prayers are full of us speaking, but we fail to hear God, because our prayer time often ends when we run out of words.

If you are serious about hearing the voice of God actively in your life and getting his direction as you continue to grow your faith then keep reading for what the bible says about God speaking to you.

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What does it mean to hear God’s voice?

When you hear from God, you are listening to him. Now I know that is a very “duh” explanation but hear me out. Oftentimes as Christians both new and old, we go through situations that leave us wondering if God hears our prayers.

It can be hard to distinguish his voice from the noise around us and we question whether He is listening.

Hearing from God requires us to be listening. Listening means we are actively making our quiet time with him a dialogue instead of a monologue. It’s a dynamic conversation between a loving God and his doted on child.

If this sort of communication with God seems foreign you may be asking “How is prayer a conversation? I’ve been asking God for answers, help, direction, and it seems like all I am getting is a busy tone.”

I used to feel exactly that way.

I know what it is like to be sure of God’s existence, to know what things should be like, but to doubt your connection to God because you can’t hear God clearly. I know what it means to feel like he is ignoring you.

This. Is. Not. True.

He is not ignoring us, in fact God speaks to us constantly, we just have to expect his voice at all times. His voice is similar to when you get in the car and your favorite radio station immediately begins playing because it has been programmed. You do not have to worry about hunting down the station, it just plays.

That is what it is like when we hear God speak to us. When we are tuned into his frequency, and if we have programmed his voice, then whenever God communicates with us, we are ready.

Hearing the voice of God implies two different actions have to happen. The first of those is God has to be speaking. We serve a living God who is always speaking to us, through creation, through his holy bible, through his spirit.

Hearing his voice requires, first, that he is speaking to us and second that we are listening. There are several bible verses about hearing God speak that encourage us that we need not worry about whether he is talking to us.

Hearing the voice of God scriptures

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. John 10:27 (NASB)

This scripture from the book of John is an encouragement to us. It tells us that hearing the voice of God will be a distinguishing factor to those who consider themselves his sheep and under his care. Now this should not make you worry, instead it is letting you know that you CAN hear his voice. Hearing God speak is a blessing we receive as his children!

And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. Isaiah 30:21 (ESV)

This bible verse about hearing God reminds us that the voice of God will give us direction. When he speaks, we will receive an answer to something we have asked, or a request we didn’t even know we needed. When God speaks to us, we will gain clarity.

The Spirit shows what is true and will come and guide you into the full truth. The Spirit doesn’t speak on his own. He will tell you only what he has heard from me, and he will let you know what is going to happen. John 16:13 (CEV)

This this scripture about God’s voice, Jesus was encouraging the disciples prior to his final accension. He was letting them know about the gift that would be given to them during Pentecost, a helper we know as the Holy spirit. In order for the spirit to speak in our lives, God has to have given Him words to say. So the feeling of the holy spirit speaking to you, that is GOD!

Ask me, and I will tell you things that you don’t know and can’t find out. Jeremiah 33:3 (CEV)

So many times we believe God is not speaking because we have yet to hear his answer. This scripture tells us just the opposite. It is a promise from the Lord. He is saying that when you ask him, he will answer. Now, it may not be the answer you were wanting to hear, or may not be in the form you were expecting, but he will answer!

In the past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. Hebrews 1:1-5 (NIV)

Here we see a history of the voice of the Lord in the lives of his people. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ gave us access to the father. We no longer needed priests and prophets to be an intercessor for us for God to speak to us, instead we could encounter God for ourselves.

Through Jesus we can hear God and see God in our lives actively and audibly, if we only listen for him.

These hearing God’s voice scriptures are just one half of the equation for attuning our ears to be more focused on God’s voice. We must also look at scriptures about listening to God’s voice.

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Bible verses about Listening for the voice of God

Now the second thing that is required to hear God’s voice is that we are listening. Hearing the voice of God is effectively the second half of our prayer routine. So often we pray to God, like a genie or diary. We list our needs and share our hurts. We ask rhetorical questions and then check prayer off of our to do list.

We walk away, and stay still long enough to hear God respond. The following bible verses about listening to God can be a gut check!

Anyone who belongs to God listens gladly to the words of God. But you don’t listen because you don’t belong to God. John 8:47 (NLT)

OUCH! This first verse is hard to hear, but it is truth, and knowing truth is the first step to making changes. If we want to hear the voice of God, we have to be listening. And that could be figuratively, but also actually listening. Like, are you actually listening to the things that God has already told you in his word?

But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” Luke 11:28 (NKJV)

Again, this bible verse about listening to God hits a space somewhere between our pride and our ego and splits them open. This verse blesses the people who not only hear the word of God, but follow it. Can we take a moment here and just sit with this thought.

Are you keeping the Lord’s commandments? Have you taken the step towards freedom and healing that he has already given you? Or are you simply praying to lay your burdens down, just to pick them back up from the alter when you are done talking?

We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. Hebrews 2:1 (NIV)

I always remind my son that there is a distinct difference between hearing me and listening to me. When you hear, you simply acknowledge that the person talking is speaking. But listening is an active word. It implies that you are taking in the words, processing them and acting on them. Perhaps, we do not hear the voice of God because we are not prepared to act upon the words that he might say?

Why is it important to listen for voice of God?

So what are the benefits of hearing the voice of God?

It is vitally important that we first seek the voice of God and then that we hear the voice of God. He is key to our existence and the success of our life. God is our creator. Before we were conceived he know us, loved us, prepared for us.

He is constantly speaking to us and guiding us in the way that we should go, if only we listen to him. Hearing his voice requires us to tune in to him and his word. It requires us to press in to what he is saying. We can’t however distinguish his voice from the countless voices of others if we do not consistently focus on intentional time in his presence.

Time in his presence allows us to know without a doubt what he sounds like so that we can experience the benefits of hearing the voice of God which include:

• Get His guidance in the decisions we make
• Learn about His purpose for us
• Readily hear His warnings when we get off track
• Feel His comfort when we are in distress
• Be used by Him to encourage others
• Experience his love as He speaks over us

The benefits and importance of hearing the voice of God are endless. The bottom line is this, our survival and success are 100% dependent on our hearing God’s voice.

How do you recognize God’s voice?

Knowing his voice and distinguishing it from the voices around you is key to closeness with God and growing your relationship with him.

Staying in the word of God through Bible reading, worship and prayer with time for quiet meditation all help you tune into God’s voice and discern his words from that of others.

Remember that the voice of God will not contradict His word in the Bible. His voice will not cause you to sin. If the answer you come up with purposefully leaves others hurting. That is not God. His voice and his answer to your prayer will follows a Corinthians 13 model of love.

Additional ways that you can seek his voice include:

• Invite him into your everyday moments
• Make praise a lifestyle
• Surround yourself with faith-filled friends
• Be intentional about quiet time with God
• Follow God’s laws
• Be obedient in the direction God gives you
• Seek God in everything
• Ask God to see his hand active in your life

A prayer to hear gods voice

If you are seeking guidance and direction and you are longing to hear the voice of God, pray this prayer to hear God’s voice in your life.

Heavenly Father, I ask now; as I walk in boldness seeking you, as I prepare to take these steps, as I grab Your hand and lean into Your plans for me, that You would cover me in Your peace, still my restless and human heart, remind me of Your word through Your holy spirit, do not be far from me, but reach down from heaven and let Your presence be ever near me.

I choose You because You first chose me, You pursued me with a relentless love, a love I cannot begin to fathom, a love that I know I do not desire, and yet Your love is unshakable. Lord I ask that you show me what my next step is. I long to hear your voice Lord, Light my path and my way and guide me in the ways you would have me go! I look to you, and follow your footsteps! I praise You name for Your goodness! Amen

Seek God with all your heart and listen for his voice

Hearing God’s voice can be tough if you aren’t prepared to receive the message. My prayer for each of us is that we would be constantly positioned to be wrapped in the Lords words for us! Try these techniques and let me know how they work for you!

And remember as always, he’s provided the grace you need to grow in this practice! Be bold in that grace!

“Therefore Consider Carefully How You Listen”
(Luke 8:18)

Introduction

We might begin by asking the question, “What exactly is the Bible?” Most Christians would answer with something like, “It’s God’s Holy Word, His special instrument of communication to man.” And they would be right. Then we need to ask another question. “If we believe the Bible is God’s Word and special means of communication, do we take the Bible seriously? Do we have a holy reverence for Scripture and the time we assemble together to worship and study this Word from God?”

Are we like the one God esteems or looks for in Isaiah 66:2? “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.” (NIV) Or as the KJV reads, “but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.” God is looking for people who have a holy reverence for the Word and His plan for learning and applying it. This means truly hearing God’s voice in the Word. God is the master communicator and biblical history is not only the story of redemption but it is also the story of communication and revelation from God. He encodes and transmits, and we are to decode and receive.

Isn’t it true that one of the keys to life and good relationships is effective communication? And for effective communication to occur, there must be effective listening. This is just one of the reasons we must take the study of the Bible very seriously, whether privately or corporately. This is true not only in Bible study, but in our prayer life and in all aspects of corporate worship. Why? So we might truly listen to God through the various aspects of a worship service, and especially our time in the Word.

We so need to learn that we are here to listen to God even though He has chosen to use human instruments to communicate with us. It would be well for each of us to take to heart Paul’s praise to the Thessalonian believers in 1 Thessalonians 2:13: “And for this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received from us the word of God’s message, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.”

The process looks something like this:

(1) COMMUNICATION: Listening to God

(2) COMPREHENSION: Understanding what God says

(3) CONFIDENCE: Trusting in what God says

(4) CHANGE: Being transformed by what God says

Without this process of communication, there simply cannot be any real spiritual change in the life of man. Because of this, God is deeply concerned about how well we listen when we are listening.

The Importance
Scripture Places on Listening to God

Have you ever noticed how often the Bible emphasizes the idea of listening? It is a concept that is repeated over and over in a variety of ways. This is obviously not without purpose.

Illustrations:

(1) The specific clause “hear the Word of the Lord” occurs 32 times in the NIV and 28 times in the NASB.

(2) The words “hear” or “listen O Israel” are found 6 times in the NIV and the NASB. “Listen” is found 331 times and the majority of these passages in some way deal with listening to the Lord. “Hear” is found 347 times and again, many of these also have to do with hearing God’s Word.

(3) We also find a number of comments like “Incline your ear,” or “give ear” or “pay or give attention” and similar expressions used in various ways to call man, and especially to God’s people, to listen intently to God.

(4) In the New Testament, the Lord warns us to consider carefully what you hear (Mk. 4:24) and how you hear (Lk. 8:18).

(5) The words “today, if you hear his voice,” are found three times in Hebrews and once in the Old Testament (Heb. 3:7, 15; 4:7; Ps. 95:7).

(6) Seven times, once in each of the letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 we read “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

(7) In Mark 4:9 the Lord warned, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” and again in verse 23 He said “if anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” (NIV)

(8) And is it not significant that one of the titles of the Son of God is the Greek term logos which refers to some form of communication? It means “speech, word, saying, discourse.” As the Logos, Jesus Christ is the living Word of God to man. Of Him Moses wrote in Deut. 18:15, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.” (NIV)

(9) But not only is there the call to listen carefully to the Lord, there is the warning about listening to the wrong voices or influences in the world in numerous passages in both the Old and New Testaments.

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 listen carefully. But, as fallen people, even as fallen people now redeemed, we are ever so prone to be distracted and drawn away with other things, even with good things.

We can too easily be like Martha, who was distracted by so many things, rather than Mary who sat at the feet of the Savior to hear His Word.

Luke 10:38-42 Now as they were traveling along, He entered a certain village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who moreover was listening to the Lord’s word, seated at His feet. 40 But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him, and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; 42 but only a few things are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

As portrayed in the parable of the sower, the soils, and the seed, we can be like the thorny ground, full of thorns and thistles which represent the cares of the world and which choke the Word and cause it to become unfruitful in our lives.

Mark 4:18-19 And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, 19 and the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

Why do you suppose God created man with two eyes and two ears, but only one mouth? That in itself ought to be a visual object lesson worth a thousand words.

Listen to these words from Proverbs 20:12. “The hearing ear and the seeing eye, The Lord has made both of them.” You know, I find it significant and interesting that Solomon says nothing about the mouth. The Lord made that too, yet it seems Solomon purposely didn’t mention the mouth. He only mentions that which is a source or means of receiving instruction from the Lord. The fact is we are all too quick to reveal our minds and too slow to listen. James reminds us of this very fact: “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” (James 1:19). (NIV)

With this in mind, we might note Proverbs 18:2, “A fool does not delight in understanding (which comes by hearing), But only in revealing his own mind.”

Proverbs 22:17-19 Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, And apply your mind to my knowledge; 18 For it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, That they may be ready on your lips. 19 So that your trust may be in the LORD, I have taught you today, even you.

The lesson is obvious: We are to listen so we can learn to trust the Lord. To fail to listen shows our determination to pursue life through our own resources and foolishness.

The Instruction
of Scripture on Listening to God

How God communicates should teach us something about how we should listen. So How does God communicate, and how should we listen? What do we need to do to be prepared to listen attentively and effectively?

God Communicates Through the Bible

The Bible is our index or guide for all the other ways God communicates. If we are going to listen to God and discern His voice in the other avenues He uses, we must be listening to His Word, the Bible. Of course, God communicates His Word in many ways: through those who teach it formally and informally as in counseling, in personal exhortation and encouragement, through song or music, through books, tapes, film, etc. However, the primary method God has chosen, and that which is foundational to all the other ways God communicates in the church age, is the local assembly when the church is assembled together for the hearing of the Word. Other things are involved, prayer, singing, praise, the Lord’s table, but at the center is the proclamation of the Word (2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Tim. 4:11, 13; 2 Tim. 4:1-4).

God Communicates Through the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the resident teacher whom the Father has sent through the Son to indwell every New Testament believer as God’s special anointing to teach and make the truths of the Word understood and real to the heart or mind of believers. One of His primary ministries today is that of communicating the Word—the completed canon of Scripture. Since the cessation of the temporary, foundational, and miraculous gifts, He does not give special or new revelation, but He works through the Scriptures which is our index for belief and practice.

To be able to listen to God, to comprehend truth, to worship the Lord, and to be transformed by the Word through faith in God, God has given us the Holy Spirit. He is God’s special agent who takes the things of Christ and teaches them to us whether we receive them by personal study or through the human instruments who teach us the Word.

God Communicates Through the Events of Our Lives

(1) Special Times of Worship (singing, praise, prayer, teaching, ordinances).

(2) Blessings that reveal His love and grace.

(3) Trials and Irritations that become tools to get our attention and build character, but only as we hear and learn to relate and rest in the promises and principles of Scripture.

God Communicates Through the People in Our Lives

The Bible is full of illustrations of how God uses people to communicate His love, mercy, and grace. This comes in many forms: sometimes in the form of encouragement, sometimes in the form of godly example, and sometimes even in the form of rebuke. A few passages should illustrate the point:

1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

Proverbs 27:17 Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another.

John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all men will know (note the element of communication here) that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.

Malachi 3:16 Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name.

Ephesians 5:19-20 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; 20 always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;

Proverbs 27:5-6 Better is open rebuke Than love that is concealed. 6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.

1 Timothy 5:1-2 Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather appeal to him as a father, to the younger men as brothers, 2 the older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters, in all purity.

Ephesians 6:4 And, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger; but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Galatians 6:1-2 Brethren, even if a man is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ.

1 Peter 3:1-2, 7 In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, 2 as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior. … 7 You husbands likewise, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with a weaker vessel, since she is a woman; and grant her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

Primary Focus: Our primary focus in this short study is on how God communicates to us through the Word and the Holy Spirit and especially in relation to our times of worship together.

Question: What does this mean then in terms of how we listen to God? Two things:

(1) As already pointed out, listening to God must involve God’s Word and the Holy Spirit working together in the mind and heart of the believer. Even when God uses people and circumstances, we must always consider what God is saying to us in the light of His infallible Word. God never contradicts His Word. We must learn to examine everything in the light of the Holy Scripture. Further, this means I need to recognize that since the Spirit communicates to me through the Word of God, I need to expose myself to the Word privately, and corporately, as often as I can.

(2) But listening to God also means something else. Listening to God, really hearing what He is seeking to say, demands SPIRITUAL PREPARATION and ACTIVE PARTICIPATION on the part of the listener. In order to listen to God, one must be prepared to listen. Listening to 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 listen and worship. He is concerned about our mental attitudes and our spiritual state when we come to worship or sit down with the Bible either privately or corporately.

The Problem: We can simply go through the motions of religious activity and deceive ourselves as James warns us in James 1. We can play church and do a kind of “nod to God” routine putting in our appearance physically while we are in essence absent spiritually. Result? We don’t even come close to truly hearing the voice of God. Why? Because we have removed our hearts from the Lord. We have become passive listeners because we aren’t really prepared physically, mentally, and spiritually to hear the Word of the Lord. Church attendance is often simply a part of our plan to pursue life on our own terms. We attend church not to really meet with God or listen in order to know, love, and serve Him, but to feel good, have an experience, to hear beautiful music, to hear an eloquent speaker, to see people or even to be seen by people. We attend church to soothe our consciences and maybe earn a little of God’s favor. In this case, one’s religious activity is a kind of insurance policy—a protection we think. But we are dead wrong if we think this way because such reasons do not line up with what God says to us in His Word.

Let’s look at a few verses:

Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 Guard your steps as you go to the house of God, and draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools; for they do not know they are doing evil. 2 Do not be hasty in word or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God. For God is in heaven and you are on the earth; therefore let your words be few.

Isaiah 29:1, 13 Woe, O Ariel, Ariel the city where David once camped! Add year to year, observe your feasts on schedule. 13 Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote, …”

Ezekiel 33:30-32 But as for you, son of man, your fellow citizens who talk about you by the walls and in the doorways of the houses, speak to one another, each to his brother, saying, ‘Come now, and hear what the message is which comes forth from the LORD.’ 31 And they come to you as people come, and sit before you as My people, and hear your words, but they do not do them, for they do the lustful desires expressed by their mouth, and their heart goes after their gain. 32 And behold, you are to them like a sensual song by one who has a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not practice them.

So, the Key Question: What is needed for us to be able to effectively listen to God? What can we do to prepare our hearts so we are in a position where we can hear what the Lord is seeking to reveal or communicate to us, i.e., understand the message and respond with faith and obedience whether the message comes through a hymn, or a testimony, or through the teaching of the Word?

May I suggest several things:

We Need Spiritual Preparation

As we have already stated, God’s communication through the Word always involves the teaching/convicting ministry of God the Holy Spirit. This is evident in a number of passages but two will do to illustrate the point:

Ephesians 3:16-19 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fulness of God.

1 Corinthians 2:9-3:3 but just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.” 10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God, 13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. 14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no man. 16 For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.

1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to babes in Christ. 2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, 3 for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?

That God communicates the Word through the ministry of the Spirit means I must be properly adjusted to or in right relationship to this divine teacher who indwells me. This is a relationship where, believing that He is present, I consciously depend on Him for insight to God’s Word (understanding and personal application). But as we can see from 1 Corinthians 3, the carnal believer, the believer who is not dealing with sin in his or her life, simply cannot and will not effectively listen or hear God’s message. The carnal believer is apathetic and simply cannot understand and respond to the things of God while in that condition.

Well why? Because known sin in the life, things like wrong attitudes (envy, jealousy, resentment, pride, unbelief, self-centeredness), self-protective ways of living, indifference or apathy to God, preoccupation with other things, and other forms of sin grieve the Spirit’s person (Eph. 4:30) and undoubtedly stifle or quench much of His ministry like teaching and making the things of Christ real (1 Thess. 5:19). His ministry is changed from leading and teaching to convicting the carnal believe of his or her condition. The Lord Jesus put it this way:

Mark 4:19 and the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

Martha gives us a classic illustration of this. Though in the very presence of the Lord Jesus, Martha in contrast to Mary had no ears to hear what the Savior was saying because she was distracted and drawn away by other concerns (Luke 10:38-41).

Another illustration can be seen in the disciples when the Lord fed the five thousand. Read Mark 6:30-52. They had failed to truly listen to what the Lord was teaching them through the events of the day because they too were occupied with other things, often with who was the greatest. The result is seen in the Lord’s rebuke in verse 52, “For they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened.”

There Needs to be an Open Heart

There needs to be a heart open to personal, soul searching examination for the purpose of seeing our motives, our sources of trust or the things we depend on for our security, i.e., the condition of our lives as they really are. This needs to be done prior to personal study or a worship service to prepare our hearts for hearing God and then it needs to be maintained as the Spirit of God brings conviction or as other things or thoughts might seek to intrude to distract or hinder listening while studying or praying, or during a worship service (Ps. 119:18; 139:23-24; 1 Cor. 11:28f).

Often this is simply not done. People arrive at church harried and upset because of something that happened at home or even on the way to church. Or people get busy being friendly, talking, and so on, and that’s all good, but after they sit down they never give any thought to the condition of their heart or their need to secure a spiritual focus and to be sure they are controlled by the Spirit.

What’s the purpose of self-examination? The purpose for examination and self-revelation is honest to God, deep seated confession in a spirit of repentance. While people can’t see our hearts, God can and He rejects worship that is not in spirit and truth, where the heart is kept from Him (Isa. 29:13).

Regarding confession, we are talking about a confession which seeks to go to the root causes of sin in our lives, especially our stubborn determination to run our own lives and live by our own devices for peace, security, and significance (Jer. 2:13; 17:5; Ps. 66:18; Prov. 28:13-14; 1 Jn. 1:9; Ps. 51:5f; Jam. 4:6-10).

Both James 1:19-25 and 1 Peter 2:1-2 teach us that before there can be a proper response to the Word that leads to true spiritual deliverance through an active faith, a response where we are quick to listen, receive, and hunger as a new born babe for the pure milk of the Word, we must honestly deal with sin. In James 1:23, “receiving the word implanted” is dependent on “putting aside all filthiness …” In 1 Peter 2:2, the command to “long for the pure milk of the word” is dependent on “putting aside all malice and all guile, …” How do we deal with sin? By personal examination and honest confession of sin. Then we will be free to listen to God’s Word and depend on the Holy Spirit to give deliverance over sin.

We Need Active Participation

In our TV generation we have become passive listeners. I think our term today is “couch potatoes.” We have forgotten how to think and stay actively involved in the listening process. We have become mentally lazy. Active listening means concentrating, searching, probing, questioning, thinking, interacting, responding and applying. God doesn’t want pious, passive spectators. He wants actively involved listeners. We aren’t receivers who turn ourselves on, tune ourselves in, and relax.

“Active involved listening is spoken of frequently in Scripture.”¹ Note these passages for instance:

(1) 1 Corinthians 2:15 “But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no man.” The word “appraises” is a Greek word which was used of a lawyer in careful, diligent judicial investigation. Now, what does that involve? It involves careful thought, actively searching, comparing, and probing to get at the truth. In this context, the words “he that is spiritual” refers to a person who is Spirit-controlled, has grown spiritually, and is also somewhat spiritually mature (note the contrast in 3:1 to spiritual babies). In such a person the Holy Spirit is free to work in an active heart and mind because that person is in fellowship and responding to the Spirit’s ministry. Such a person is able to search, probe, compare, and apply God’s Word effectively.

(2) James 1:22-27 “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does. 26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless. 27 This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

Having challenged us to deal with any sin so we can truly receive (hear) the Word, James then warns us about the difference between superficial and substantial listening. He is warning us against unprepared, passive, and uninvolved listening. James is teaching us we need the kind of active listening that is diligent to understand and respond to God’s Word in order that its truth so touches the heart that it begins to bring change, not of course by our own strength, but by the power of the indwelling Spirit of God through faith.

The words “looks intently” in verse 25 represent a different word for “looking” than the one used previously in this section (vss. 23-24). This is the Greek parakupto which refers to a very intent and concentrated look. Literally parakupto means “to stoop down in order to have a close look.” It is used in John 20:5 and 11 of the disciple’s investigation of the empty tomb, and in 1 Peter 1:12 of the Angels intense interest and study of the person and work of the Savior. So parakupto suggests keen interest, close attention, and active investigation.

(3) 1 Timothy 4:15 “Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress may be evident to all.” Here Paul told Timothy to “take pains” and “be absorbed” in these things, a reference to the previous commands regarding his ministry in teaching, being an example of Christlike character, and using his gift (4:11-14). One simply cannot “take pains” and “be absorbed” and remain a passive listener. “Take pains” is the Greek word melataw which means “cultivate, think meditate, attend to carefully.” “Be absorbed” is literally, “in these be,” and connotes the idea of “be totally enveloped, absorbed, give yourself totally to them.”

But note the next verse: “Pay close attention to yourself …” Bible study or hearing the Word is to be aimed at personal application for changed living from the inside out.

Passive, uninvolved listening to God is inadequate and judged by God as futile religiosity. Believers are always to be on the alert—probing for meaning and application, for lethargic, half-hearted listening just doesn’t cut it with God nor can it result in spiritual deliverance. In practical terms what does this entail?

What does this mean in terms of my listening to God? When I read and study the Word, I must put everything else aside and concentrate on what He is saying to me. I must give Him my undivided attention. I should do this on a regular basis, for that is the only way I can develop my listening skills. I should do this in a place where I have minimal distractions. I should read and meditate out loud and take notes and ask questions, for these are the kinds of things that make me an active participant.

I should observe carefully to whom God is speaking, what He is saying and why He says it. I should interpret accurately what God means. I should apply these truths personally and practically in my own life.²

Finally, to round out our preparation, there are two more things we need so we can listen carefully.

We Need a Biblical Kind of Participation

Acts 17:11 Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so.

The nobility refers to the fact that the Berean Jews, in contrast to Jews in Thessalonica, were teachable, open, though not gullible. They listened attentively as active participants, but they tested Paul’s teaching against the Scripture as their index for truth, always a noble and biblical attitude. Their authority for what was truth was the Word. They sought to set aside or block out their prejudice so God’s Word could speak for itself. The result was many came to trust in the Savior.

When we come to church, God wants us to be Berean-like listeners, those who are good listeners and teachable, but who are also biblically active participants who search and probe the Scripture whether these things are so.

(1) Mark 7:7-13 stresses the ever present problem of prejudice and background whether religious or secular which we all bring to church and to our background. This passage shows how our background, tradition, experiences, prejudices, etc., can nullify the power and truth of the Word on one’s life.

(2) 2 Timothy 3:15 teaches again the value of active participation in the words “be diligent” or “study” (KJV), but to that it adds the importance of applying sound principles of Bible study so we are truly listening to God and not the ideas of man that are so often based on man’s tradition or human experience, including our own (cf. 2 Pet. 1:17-21). We need to be precise in our study or in our hermeneutics so we truly hear what God is saying.

Why did the Apostle say this? Because Timothy was faced with false teachers who were neither diligent nor accurately handling the Word and that leads to hearing man’s voice and not God’s. When we apply poor methods of Bible study and poor methods of listening, we can end up hearing man’s voice rather than God’s.

There is simply no place in God’s plan for lethargic, passive listening, or listening carelessly.

We Need Physical Preparation

In Luke 22:7-14, we find that the Lord sent Peter and John to make preparations for the Passover meal that they might observe it according to its meaning and significance. The word prepare is used three times in these verses (vss. 9, 12, 13). The Lord saw to it that everything needed was properly prepared so He could observe the Passover with His disciples. Worship and being in a position where we can truly listen to God involves physical as well as spiritual preparation. Certainly without spiritual preparation, the best physical preparation in the world accomplishes little. But we often fail to see the need to be physically prepared to listen to God. Physical preparation needs to be seen as a part of the spiritual preparation needed to listen to God.

(1) Noise, people moving around, poor lighting, and other physical conditions can certainly be distractors which hinder our ability to concentrate.

(2) Being physically tired from not getting enough sleep the night before for whatever reason can create a real block to good listening.

(3) Those who have a part in the worship service as song leader, pianist or organist, ushers, the speaker, the leader of the praise and prayer time certainly need to be prepared so they do not become a hindrance to hearing God for others because of a poor and unprepared presentation.

(4) Preparation needs to start at home even the night before through little things like getting to bed early, getting the kids clothes ready, and by even planning breakfast. For many families, getting to church becomes a frantic and harried experience with Mom and Dad looking for socks, shirts, and trying to feed the family. In such condition, who is prepared to listen?

(5) Preparation can include something as simple as seeing to it that the children go to the bathroom before the service. It can include bringing certain things for smaller children to help them take part and stay occupied during the service. But bring it in something that doesn’t wake up the dead when the child starts opening it to get to his or her things.

The bottom line is that listening to God is no small issue. If we are not prepared to listen so we can respond with our hearts, let’s face it, we are simply playing church and we are withholding our hearts from the Lord. Our religious activities then become an experiment in futility.

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1 Grant Howard, The Trauma of Transparency, Multnomah Press, Portland, 1979, p. 91.

2 Ibid., p. 92.