Open ears with a closed mind

People come to us and talk, we listen. We go into God’s presence and we talk, and yet again we listen, or at least that’s what we think we do.

To listen is to pay attention and take note. We at school or university and we take notes, listening conscientiously. That would be “listening”. But peoples view on the difference between listening and hearing is very screwed. We drive somewhere in our cars and we hear the other cars engines, now are we hearing them or listening to them?

We can be doing both but 95% of the time we are just hearing, the subconscious mind is acknowledging them but its not going to our brains. Theres nothing wrong with that, its just we choose not to listen when it suites us.

People say I’m feeling far from God.
Whats wrong with that statement? Actually everything, what they are trying to say comes across fine its just how they choose to say it. It is impossible to be far from God for the following reasons: He is the creator of all things and therefore everything we see and own is primarily His. He refers to himself as, the mega statement, “I am”.
Exodus 3:14 – God said to Moses, “I am who I am this is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent you.’”

When Jesus is discussing to two greatest commandments with a teacher of the law who gives a wise answer to Jesus’ question,
He tells him “…You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”
Now that “far” He uses there which is the far I’m talking about. Its not a measurement or a distance of metres or kilometres. This is more a further space of time and growth, because to go “further” with God is to grow deeper with him, you aren’t going anywhere physically, its all spiritually, and of course it all takes time.

Now many people struggle to “hear” God, and do you know why? Because we aren’t listening properly. God is not a simple God, He doesn’t make listening to Him easy, He is multifarious.
James 1:19 – My dear brothers, take note of this: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.

So would it be safe to say that to listen better than you talk is a good thing? I believe so, its amazing how much you can learn about various things if you should be silent and listen. To listen to God and His ideas and plans is beyond any doubt better than if you do all the talking in sharing your ideas and plans.

Relient K sings a song called “Be my Escape” with a line that goes like this:
“I’ve given up, I’m doing this alone now, cause I’ve failed and I’m ready to be shown how.”

And yet our implausible God still wants to hear from us and what we have to say which is astonishing to say the least. So we can still offer our requests to God [ Phil 4:6 ]
Ephesians 6:18 – And pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.

By listening with open ears and an open heart and mind we will be able to hear from God and what He has planned for our lives.