Ears To Hear

As I was considering the Lord today, I was put in remembrance of a recent conversation that I had with a friend. This conversation involved the topic of God speaking to His people of today in a similar fashion as He spoke with His servants of old (from the Bible) and also about the destruction that is quickly to come upon this nation (what good is a watchman, if he sees destruction coming and does not warn the people).

During this discussion, I found out that the gentleman I was speaking with was raised, almost his whole life, in a particular religion and was never told that God could speak to him. He was never taught about the baptism of the Holy Spirit and was surely not warned of the coming judgment on America and the whole world. Needless to say, at the end of our hour-long conversation, this man was speechless and wondering why he was never 'taught' this by his church or its leaders.

At the end of this discussion, it was mentioned that the fact is, now that he has heard, he will be held accountable before God for what he heard. That is where being obedient to the leading of the Spirit becomes so important (not that it isn't always important) because the words you speak are life and death, and now that this man has been warned, what he does with it could mean life or death. Although, when we stand before the Lord on that day, no one can claim ignorance, there is a difference between those who have been warned of the judgment to come (and continue to live their life of pleasing the flesh) and those who are not warned. Like Jesus said, the Kingdom of God has come near unto you, but they had no idea who He was because they could not 'hear' and understand what He was saying. Their hearts were hardened, and they were spiritually blind and deaf.

If we know that the Lord has called us (as many that hear the gospel are called), and even chosen us for such a time as this, then we must develop ears to hear what the Spirit is saying in every situation. Our lives depend on it. In the times to come, many will suffer loss because (although they may have salvation) they did not make it their priority to learn the voice of God. And when destruction comes, how can we be delivered if the Lord speaks but we do not listen? . But God is looking for those who would have ears to hear, who love to hear His voice rather than any man's, and who would walk in wisdom toward them that are without redeeming the times. We must develop ears to hear what God is speaking.

If Jesus said that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, then how can we live without hearing His voice?

God be with us,
Ryan