I remember the Lord asking me a peculiar question some years ago. He asked, “How does faith come?” I immediately said, “Faith comes by hearing, Lord.” (quoting Romans 10:17). The Lord then asked me, “So then, how does hearing come?” I didn’t have a quick answer for Him, but I was immediately reminded of all the scriptures that state: “he who has ears to hear let him hear,” and many other scriptures that said, “They had eyes that see and could not see, they had ears but could not hear.”
After some study, I began to see why people who have the “appearance” of faith and declare that Jesus is their Lord are having great difficulty in their Christian walk. They don’t have a hearing ear, so faith never comes.
A typical teaching is that faith comes by hearing and hearing and hearing, etc. And there is some truth to that line of thought. The thing that has not been taught much is that there are different ways to hear, and there is a difference between natural and spiritual hearing.
Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Let me give you a more accurate translation of this verse to make it clear.
ROM 10:17 (my paraphrase): Faith comes by what we hear, and hearing comes from the Word of God that we act upon.
Just because we have ears does not mean we can hear the Word. Our spiritual ears, our hearts, can only be opened by obedience to the word of God. That word will come from the written Word and the spoken Word by the Holy Spirit that dwells in us as believers.
Only the word of God we act upon will develop our spiritual hearing. Obedience opens our spiritual hearing so we can receive further instruction.
Throughout the bible, it is the disobedient and rebellious people who “had ears but could not hear.”
Deuteronomy 29:4 Yet the LORD hath not given you a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.
Jeremiah 5:21 Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:
Ezekiel 12:2 Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.
Spiritual ears are opened by the word of God we act on. If we are in a place where we feel we cannot hear God’s voice, we should humble ourselves before Him and ask Him where we have been rebellious and disobedient. If God has spoken to us about something and we neglect or ignore it, he is not inclined to talk to us about anything else until we acknowledge and act on what He has already said.
There are vast realms of understanding and revelation that we willnever acquire if we are not doers of the word. If we do not act on what we have heard, the Bible says we are deceiving ourselves. If we hear the word and do nothing about it, we become spiritually deaf.
James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
Once we obey the word of God, an extraordinary cycle begins. Acting on the Word gives life to our faith and increases our ability to hear more from the Lord, which gives us more opportunities to act on what we hear, which gives life to our faith, and the cycle repeats. This is the never-ending cycle of spiritual growth.
If the Word of God is sown in our hearts and we refuse to act on it (rebellion), the devil has the right to steal it from us. This is the condition that we see in the parable of the sower.
Matthew 13:19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.
There are too many “wayside” Christians in the Church today. The spiritual condition of the Church as a whole is poor, in part because of the inability to hear what the Lord is saying to this generation.
As leaders, we must live a life of strict obedience and teach those following us to do the same.
Matthew 13:9-13 He who has ears, let him hear.” 10 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
When Jesus called the twelve disciples, He said to them: “Come.” They acted on that word and continued to follow Him.Because they acted on the word, they had ears to hear more.
Every time God speaks to us, corrects us, or even rebukes us, He is saying, “Come follow Me.” If the disciples did not follow when Jesus said, “Come,” Jesus would have kept right on walking, and they would not have been close enough to Him to hear further instructions.
Every time God speaks to us about anything, He is asking us to pursue Him. Let’s look at the rest of this passage.
Matthew 13:14-15 Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.” 15 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.’
Lack of spiritual hearing is a heart problem caused by unbelief. Unbelief can be manifest in many ways: rebellion, disobedience, lack of understanding, spiritual laziness, pride, or selfish desires. No matter what form it takes, obedience is the cure.
John 14:23-24 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.
God has already spoken many things to us in His written word. Why would He be inclined to say anything else if we are not interested in what He already said? Find out what God has already spoken and act on THAT. This will give us ears to hear what the Spirit is saying.
Question: What causes Christians to become dull of hearing?
Question: What is the difference between Natural and spiritual hearing?
Question: Why is spiritual hearing so important?
Question: How do we develop and maintain clear spiritual hearing?
Thank you for visiting Truth Pressure Ministries. Please share and help reach more people with the truth.
Truth Pressure Ministries 