When my children were young, they would be trying to talk to me while I was engrossed in something else. They would grab my face, squeeze it tightly, and say, "Are you listening to me?"
In order to break the yokes that hold us back and gain wisdom, by applying the Word of God so we don't go back in to bondage, we must learn to listen. Proverbs 4:1 says, "Listen to My correction, My children." And in verse 20 it says, "Listen carefully, My dear child, to everything I teach you." "Listen" or "hear" is "shema" and means "to hear, perceive, understand, yield to, and to obey".
The Jewish community understands this well as they were raised to recite the "shema" morning and night: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates." Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Most Jewish homes have a Mezuzah attached to the doors of their home. A mezuzah, which means "doorpost" in Hebrew, is a piece of parchment called a klaf, contained in a decorative case and inscribed with the shema. As family members both enter and leave their homes, they will touch the mezuzah, to acknowledge what it says and be reminded to listen, perceive, and obey what was written therein.
So as we approach the Word of God or a book we are studying, we must avail ourselves, even train ourselves, to listen. What are we listening for? Well, it's not a what but a who! We are listening for the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth! "When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth." John 16:13
God still speaks today to His children. Can you imagine having children in your home and never speaking to them? What we see and experience in the physical can teach us so much about the spiritual. If someone tells you that God doesn't speak anymore, they are not telling you the truth. Some people will go as far as to say that the only way that God speaks is through His Word. That is also not true. God speaks through nature, through dreams, through impressions, through other people, through pictures, through our senses, through visions, through animals, through everything He has made!!! You cannot limit a limitless God!!! Yes, God still speaks with His children, but we need to learn to listen.
You cannot limit a limitless God!!!
Today, I would encourage you to simply ask the Lord to speak with you, and tell Him you want to learn how to listen. In praying this prayer, I believe God will delight to begin speaking with you in very special and specific ways. Tomorrow, I will share the 6 areas in which God speaks! Talk with you then!!!