The Art of Listening

I’ve heard it said that God gave man two ears and one mouth so that man would listen twice as much as he speaks. I feel like that is wise counsel today. The art of listening! Listening more than speaking. We should be slow to speak, and quick to listen. Listen first and then speak…that’s the biblical counsel from James, the brother of Jesus.

James 1:19 (NLT)

Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.

How can we learn to listen and to whom should we be listening to? Jesus dictates to the Apostle John 7 letters to 7 churches in the Revelation. All 7 churches get the same statement from Jesus about listening and to whom we, the church, should be listening to. Jesus tells us to listen so that we might find understanding.

Revelation 2:7 (NLT)

“Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.

There is so much noise around us today that it has become very hard to listen, hear and understand what the Spirit is saying to the church. We must be intentional in our listening to the Spirit. We must make time to listen. We must make room for a quiet place to listen and pray…seeking to hear from God through the Spirit. We must remove the noise and turn our ears and hearts to God so that we might hear from the Good Shepherd-Jesus.

John 10:27 (NLT)

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

Why is this so important, so urgent? There is another voice that speaks lies to us from the darkness. We must tune our ears to the voice of the Good Shepherd so that we are not deceived by the voice of the devil. The Apostle Paul gives a fearful warning to those who listen to that other voice form the darkness.

2 Corinthians 11:3-4 (NLT)

But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent.

4 You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed.

I suppose God the Father could have spoken anything to Peter, James and John at the transfiguration of Jesus, the Son. But God simply said this…

Matthew 17:5 (NLT)

“This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to him.”

Listen to Jesus! Listen to the Holy Spirit of Jesus that speaks to the quietness of your surrendered heart. And what if you do listen? You will receive more understanding. And what if you don’t listen? Even what you think you understand will be taken away.

Luke 8:18 (NLT)

“So pay attention to how you hear. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what they think they understand will be taken away from them.”

We listen to Jesus so that we might understand and know the truth…so that we will not be deceived…as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. We need godly wisdom and understanding now! Those who remain till the end will need an extra measure of godly wisdom and understanding to survive the time of testing that will come upon the whole earth.

Revelation 13:16-18 (NLT)

He [Antichrist/Beast] required everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead.

17 And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name.

18 Wisdom is needed here. Let the one with understanding solve the meaning of the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666.

“This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to him.”

Maranatha, Hosanna, Hallelujah and Amen,

Terry Cooper