Building up believers and the New Testament church

Hearing God

"He That Has an Ear, Let Him Hear"

This was the direction to the seven churches in the book of Revelation. What does it mean to have an ear for God? To have an ear for someone means that we are intently looking to that person for direction. We tune out all other voices and listen for direction from one source only. We will not hear God unless we have an ear for Him. Our attention is focused on God, and we are ready to hear Him. We have shut out all other voices--such as our own reasoning and natural wisdom. We do not put conditions on what God can speak to us. We are ready to acknowledge Him as Lord.

"Why do you call me Lord, if you do not do the things that I say?" (Luke 6:46) No man can call Jesus "Lord," except by the Spirit (I Cor. 12:3). For us to be able to hear God and then to do His will, we must first know the hearing by the Spirit and then experience the ability of an endless life. This brings us to what is probably the most essential element of hearing God, which is the willingness to do His will (John 7:17). There are none so deaf as those who do not want to hear because they know they will have to obey. So many hide behind the excuse, "God has not spoken to me about that." Did they want God to speak to them? To have an ear for God means that we want God to speak to us about anything and everything. We have yielded our wills to His will.

What does it take to bring us to this point? Somehow, we must come to the end of ourselves. We must see that unless we hear God, we are hopelessly lost. Many do not hear God because they are not desperate to hear Him. They feel they can still make it somehow. But when we are brought low, and know that our only hope in every area of life is to hear God and be led by the Spirit, we will hear God. He is there, waiting for us to come to the end of ourselves. The sooner we stop and say, "Unless I hear God, I am not going anywhere," the sooner God can begin to lead us by the Spirit. "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God" (Rom. 8:14).