It is the true disciples of Jesus will listen and learn. The word “listen” means “to hearken”. The Scottish abbreviation word “ken” comes from this word. It requires us “to hear intelligently”, “discern”, “to give ear”, “to obey” or “to perceive”. In Genesis 3:17 we have the first mention in the Bible of listening with Adam and Eve. In this case Adam should have said “No”!

1. We need to be discerning listeners

See Genesis 16:2 and Genesis 21:9-13. Abraham should have said “No”! Listening without discernment can seriously damage your health!

2. Listening is a skill we need to develop

It is not easy for most people to take time to listen in a noisy and busy world of today. God created family, work and the Church. We have to listen if we are going to build bridges and reconcile with people who have been hurt – including ourselves! The Acorn Christian Healing Foundation has several courses to help us develop these skills.

3. It is a sign of humbleness and godliness

See Proverbs 19:20-29. Listening is a sign of humbleness and godliness if it is about our own faults and sins. Do we listen to what others say when they think we have done something wrong? We can listen and agree or disagree in a quiet spirit. Is what they have to say backed up by God’s Word? The person who reacts in indignant anger is not listening to the person or to God. Remember – If we listen we can learn!

4. Listening requires a voice

It is no good if the voice keeps breaking up. There are voices that effect us:-

• God
• The Devil
• People
• The past – fear, failure or success
• Conscience
• Circumstances
• Popular opinion – friends, secular, humanism
• Internal dialogue

5. There are many voices trying to shout out the voice of God

See Matthew 16:13-18. In these verses God and the Devil are having a conversation. What do we do to derail Jesus from His purpose on Earth? We need to look at the origin of the voice we are listening to. We are to have the right motivation. Is it by trying to prove people wrong? It should be to God first. We have to listen to voices all day and after a while you start to hear blah, blah, blah. We don’t have to listen to all voices. Some good, some bad, some positive, some negative, some informational, some inspirational or some correctional

These can kill our dream, purpose or ministry. We need to discern what type of voice it is. It could be informational which is treated as negative. The voices of the past can be positive or negative. It can be very strong for many people. The past come back to haunt us and create fear in the present. It works through our memory. We are the most complex of God’s creation. We encode, store and retrieve information on a vast scale as we get older! There are always things that trigger a memory. There are times we don’t want it to do that and other times we do! These are triggered by phrase, smells, sounds, colours or something else. The Apostle Paul tells us that our focus is not to be on these things but the future.

The imagination is not reality until we live it. It may never happen! See Philippians 3:13-14. We need to focus on the future and not look back at the past. Lessons from the past should have been learned. There are markers in life that tell us when we are close to our destination. Roads have this and aircraft have distance measuring. God gives us markers to help us adjust as we get closer and closer to the prize of our high calling in God.

• God’s forgiveness – See Acts 10:43 and 1 John 1:9. Even if it is your fault! God has already shredded it. Why is it being mentioned?
• God’s love – See Ephesians 3:19. We need to experience it for ourselves to fully appreciate it. Seeing it in others is not enough.
• God’s restoration – See Joel 2:25. God can give back and more what was lost. We think God is punishing us by taking our “carrots” and not giving it back. God is in the restoration business. He will replace or restore to working condition, God will give new for old or bring it back to life.
• God’s preservation – See Psalm 32:7. God is not out to kill you, He is out to save you. He wants to save your soul, marriage, job, etc. God wants to preserve things that are good for us. God hides us in times of trouble. It is in these times that there is songs and shouts of deliverance. It is not guaranteed when things are well! We are to Selah (Pause) and thing on it.
• God’s prize – See 1 Corinthians 9:24 and Hebrews 12:2. It is an individual race for you alone. The markers are marvellous but they only lead us to the prize. We wouldn’t run the race without the prize that awaits us. We  are God’s prize. Jesus had a prize and it was us. Our prize is Jesus. We are His and He is our prize. There is no other prize. The gifts and fruits are good but they are not the prize. Don’t be a pin-ball machine. Your past is shredded. we learn from the past but we don’t look back. Don’t have a pity party! We are already seated in high places! When we get Christ, we get everything else.

Past successes can create over confidence and miss out on reliance on God. See James 4:13-17. We need to keep the past in perspective, learn from it but don’t let it dictate our today and tomorrows. The voice of success can cause us to leave God out of the equation. There needs to be humility. It is DV – God willing. Pride comes before a fall. Past success is no guarantee of future success. We need to constantly listen and learn!

Categories: Proverbs