He who has an ear, let him heart what the Spirit says to the churches. Revelation 2:11 (ESV)
Do you have an ear to hear? At the end of each of the seven letters to the seven churches is the command, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Have you created uninterrupted space in your life to simply be still and quiet before God, listening for His voice speaking into your heart? Take hold of your Bible and instead of breezing through the reading as if you were reading a novel or textbook, read it deliberately and ponder every word. Ask God to reveal specifically what He is saying through that word to you.
Radio and television stations transmit twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week; but we only hear them when we turn the receiver on and tune in. Failure to hear the signal doesn’t mean the station isn’t transmitting. Likewise, God is constantly transmitting His voice to His sheep, but few are tuned in. Jesus urges us to listen to Him.
My sheep recognise my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. John 10:27 (TLB)
When my husband rings me, or my mother or someone else in my family, I immediately know their voice. I don’t have to ask who is speaking. I have spent quality time with them each day and recognise their voice straightaway. The same is true when it comes to our relationship with God. We are told:
…faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17 (NKJV)
God will lead us but we must listen.
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)
Paul warned Timothy that some people will turn their ears away from the truth:
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 (ESV)
Jesus said:
For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.” Matthew 13:15 (ESV)
Zechariah 7:11 states:
But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear. Zechariah 7:11 (ESV)
Stephen told the people:
“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.” Acts 7:51 (ESV)
Itching ears which only listen to what suits us; ears which can barely hear; ears which are stopped; what a travesty when we could be tuning into God’s frequency and availing of the abundant life He has in store for us. Frances R Havegral penned the words:
Lord, speak to me, that I may speak in living echoes of thy tone.
That simple line of an old hymn makes a great prayer. May God give us eyes to see, ears to hear and hearts to understand and obey what He reveals.