Develop an Ear For God

Which is harder, to hear God’s guidance, or to obey His direction? 

If Jesus were to come into your room at night and give you firm direction, you would probably obey without question. But what if He spoke to you in that still, small voice? (1Kings 19:12) Then you could argue that it may not have been God, it may have been my own thoughts, or it might have been the enemy trying to confuse me.

We must all develop an ear to hear God often and clearly, even when He speaks in that still small voice. That still small voice tends to get drowned out by all of the noise around us.

Learning to listen

How well you listen to your spouse, neighbor or friends is an indicator of how well you listen to God. How you listen to others is exactly how you will listen to God. The key to hearing God clearly is learning to listen. You can begin practicing by listening to others.

One of the most loving and healing human acts is also one of the easiest to accomplish. That is listening - not advising or coaching, but sincerely, silently, and fully listening. If you love your spouse or neighbor as you love yourself, you will listen to them. If you love God with all your, heart, mind, and strength, you will listen to Him. There is no greater expression of love than to listen to somebody else. When you listen, you are laying down your life and your agenda to listen and help them reach their agenda.

Listening creates relationships; it helps us connect with others. It values what they have to say. Listening is one of the clearest signs of deep, genuine spirituality.

Some may believe that God no longer speaks to His people, and if you don’t believe He still speaks the odds of hearing Him are pretty slim. At times we may not want to hear. If we hear God speaking to us, we may be required to respond. If we know it is God we have no wiggle room. If there is a doubt in our mind, then we can make excuses. We may not want Him to get too close. When God had given the Ten Commandments, Moses invited the people to come forth to hear His voice. But the people refused (Exodus 20:19-20). But, God can and will break through our blinders and communicate with us regardless of our reasons.

We Need to Hear

When Jesus was asked which was the greatest commandment in the law, He responded;

“Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. ‘and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. This is the first commandment” (Mark 12:29-30).

Jesus then adds another commandment not found in the Shema but taken from Leviticus 19:18;

 “And the second, like it is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:31) Jesus responded by citing the Shema and the Vaharta, the main prayers of the Jewish faith, found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9.

In the Old Testament, the word for “Hear” or “listen,” is Shema. Shema includes hearing but has a further understanding of obeying the words heard. Obedient hearing brings blessing (Proverbs 8:34), while judgment comes against the refusal to listen.

Zechariah 7:12-13 (NKJV) Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. Thus great wrath came from the LORD of hosts. Therefore it happened, that just as He proclaimed and they would not hear, so they called out and I would not listen," says the LORD of hosts.

In New Testament usage, the Greek term akouo also refers to the simple hearing and obedience but is often used to denote hearing with faith. (Romans 10:17; Galatians 3:2, 5; 1Thessalonians 2:13). The expectation is that when the gospel is heard it will be responded to in faith and submission. The refusal to listen is considered to be disobedience (John 8:47);

 "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it." Luke 11:28 (NIV)

Motivational Gifts

Don was an evangelist. 

He was not in the manner of a Billy Graham or even a Greg Laurie. Don never filled a pulpit, nor spoke to large crowds. Don just loved to talk about Jesus. You could not be in a conversation with him for very long when the subject would turn to his Lord and Savior. There was no forcing the conversation, no hype, just a mention in a normal conversation which always turned to what God had done for him. Don did not drive to his work six miles away. He preferred to ride the bus. He told us, “You never know who you might meet on the bus.” Often people would show up at church on Sunday morning or Sunday evening and tell us, “Don sent me.”

The church began an outreach and evangelism program and who better, we thought, to head it up other than Don. A few months later we realized there was a problem. Our new program was not going anywhere, and worst of all Don had quit talking to strangers about Jesus. We belatedly realized that while Don’s motivational gifts were encouragement and proclamation, he was not a leader, and his failure to lead the evangelism program bothered him so much that he no longer had the passion to share Jesus.

This is what happens in many churches as we try to fill positions of ministry and leadership with whatever warm body will accept the job. Then, because the task does not fall in their area of gifting, they burn out rapidly.

Spiritual gifts are talked about throughout the Bible, one of which is found

in Romans 12:5-8

"so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. ⁶Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; ⁷or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; ⁸he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness."

These seven gifts listed above are called the “Motivational Gifts.” God gives to each person one or more of these gifts which motivate that person to be iserve Him in a specific manner. When a person is operating in these gifts he or she feels that they are fulfilling their purpose and mastering their role in life.

After seeing the problems with Don and many others over the years we made a very conscious decision that anyone taking on a role in our church would complete a motivational gifts assessment questionnaire and find out where they fit in. We later extended the questionnaire to all members. In that way, when a position came open, we could go through the membership gift listing to identify the best candidate. This is much better than just grabbing a willing warm body but it still requires confirmation by the Holy Spirit.

Identification of your motivational gifting is not just an intellectual exercise to allow you to learn more about yourself. Obviously with the results of your questionnaire you are able to identify ministry areas which you feel most comfortable.

Our book, "Motivation, Your Guide to Fitting In' is now available, for a limited time at aslanministries.org or just click on the book icon below.

Click here to Get your free Motivational gifts book today!

Bill Johnson