If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear." Then He said to them, "Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him." (Mar 4:23-25)
Hearing seems to be the key to entering into our inheritance. I began to reflect on my own listening one morning as I mediated on the scripture in the book of James:
So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; (James 1:19)
I began reflecting on what it meant to be quick to hear? I thought about how I hear. Often I hear through filters. I got this picture in my mind as I reflected on this. Back when I was building the Amway business, one evening I took my son Josh to the meeting with me. I can see this in my mind as if it were yesterday, it affected me so. Josh was maybe 10 and he was sitting on the edge of his seat absorbing every nuance of my communication. I realized in that moment that I had a sacred responsibility to communicate what was true and important. What I had before me was a sacred trust. As Father's we have that place of credibility, that window into the hearts of others.
This is a picture of the heart space that the Lord is instructing us to have when we listen. When they asked Yeshua, what was number one on the Father's heart, He answered:
One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, "What commandment is the foremost of all?" Jesus answered, "The foremost is, 'HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; (Mar 12:28-29)
He responds with the Sh'ma. Sh'ma means both to hear and to obey. This means an openness of heart that allows what is said to be received without reservation. There is a loyalty in this type of listening. I was speaking with someone about this week, and they said well it depends on who is speaking and if I trust them. This makes sense. We do need to take heed in our decision to listen. Yet, we also need to recognize when we aren't really listening with our whole heart to one another!
Like anything else, listening becomes an acquired taste. We get habitual in how we listen. In biblical terms this is called hardness of heart. It affects our fruitfulness for the kingdom. It affects how we are as sons and daughters.
Let's look at Mark 4:3
"Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. "Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. "And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. "Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. "Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold." And He was saying, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."(Mar 4:3-9)
The seed, in this case, the communication. Every communication is seed. It sows unto a harvest. We can seed blessing or we can seed cursing into the lives of those around us. But the condition in this parable is the hearing, the listening. The hearing determines what the seed can do. We can all hear the same information with the same potential to produce a harvest in our lives. Some will seize the day and capture the vision embodied in the seed and others will depending on their character be able to receive, to sh'ma. Let's continue in Mark 4:10-13
As soon as He was alone, His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables. And He was saying to them, "To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables, so that WHILE SEEING, THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND WHILE HEARING, THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND, OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT RETURN AND BE FORGIVEN." And He *said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? (Mar 4:10-13)
The key to repentance is hearing and seeing. You see there is a turning that is necessary in life. We all need to constantly hear so we can be on course. James tells us that the tongue is like a rudder on a ship.
Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! (Jas 3:4-5)
This is admonition to be careful of how we speak, but it also reflects how speech can affect the actions of others like a rudder.
But the rudder is controlled in impact by the listening heart we bring to the words. You the Father loves us and it is His desire to instruct us in all things but we have to be open to listen.
Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. (Jas 1:17)
The key is NOT in Him but in us! How do we shma? Back to Mark 4:14
"The sower sows the word. "These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them.
How does satan do this? How does he steal the Love of The Father? He does it through hardness of heart. What is hardness of heart? The loss of basic trust. Without trust it is impossible to please God. To trust we have to forgive. To forgive, we have to repent of idolatry. You mean.... if I'm not forgiving someone, I'm in idolatry. You bet. If Yeshua could be crucified and forgive then if you don't forgive, you have put something or someone above the cross.You have made your offense bigger than God. When you make something or someone bigger than God, you do it by entertaining accusation against them. This is how Satan can steal the Word from you. The need to be right is stronger than the need to be righteous. REPENT!
"In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away. "
Persecution is part of the seed bearing fruit. God's word only grows in a climate of resistance. Persecution is to Word, like wind to the trees. If the trees are not rooted in strong wind they fall away. If we are not rooted when persecution comes, we will fall away.
And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
The deceitfulness of riches actually has very little to do with riches. It has to do with the fear of man. it is when fear runs our lives that we enter into deception, which actually keeps us from prospering, because we cannot hear well in a state of fear and so our rudder, God's voice cannot operate.
"And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold." (Mar 4:14-20)
It is all about listening with our heart, having a childlike eager to listen and prompt to do attitude.
So, it is Father's Day weekend. And we want to honor our natural fathers and our spiritual fathers. And most of all, we want to honor our heavenly father. How? By receiving their words and paying attention. Fathers do NOT need more ties and underwear. What they need is respect and honor and paying attention with an open heart to their words.
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