1Kings 3:9 (Amplified) says, "So give your servant an understanding mind and a hearing heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and bad. For who is able to judge and rule this Your great people"
A hearing heart is essential to every believer. Without a hearing heart, one that has been purposed to hear, we are without guidance. The Holy Spirit speaks into your heart or spirit. You are a spirit and God is a Spirit. Jesus said that, The words I speak to you are Spirit and they are life, and the Holy Spirit speaks into your spirit."
Romans 8:16 (Amplified) says that, "The Spirit Himself (thus) testifies together with our own spirit, (assuring us) that we are children of God."
John 15:26 (Amplified) says, "But when the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Stand by) comes, Whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth Who comes (proceeds) from the Father. He (Himself) will testify regarding Me."
The only way to have the revelation of Jesus is by allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal Him to our spirit. The Word is Spirit and is revealed by the Spirit to our spirit. This spirit is fed and built up through spiritual food, which is the Word of God. Our spirit must be nourished by the Word of God in order to become strong. We struggle and strive to walk upright before God and that is commendable. Jesus said to His disciples in John 15:3 (Amplified) that, "You are cleansed and pruned already, because of the Word which I have given you (the teachings I have discussed with you)."
We have unknowingly dismissed the Holy Spirit to teach God's people. We've depended on men and doctrines to purify our walk. A great deal of what we learned came from man's idea of what he thought the Word said. Once we've received Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit becomes our teacher. We've had the burden of guilt and condemnation heaped upon us because of our not having hearing hearts. When the Word (truth) is preached and we hear God's Word through the Holy Spirit, it will make us free and not bind us.
We've allowed ourselves to be in the position of bondage by trying to walk in the Spirit by continually disciplining our flesh. Jesus was speaking to the religious leaders of His time in Matthew 23:26-27 (Amplified) saying, "You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and of the plate, so that the outside may be clean." In Verse 27 He goes on, "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites)! For you are like tombs that have been white washed, which look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of dead men's bones and everything impure."
These are the same people Jesus talked to in Matthew 23:13 (Amplified) saying, "But woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, pretenders (hypocrites) For you shut the Kingdom of heaven in men's faces; For you neither enter yourselves, nor do you allow those who are about to go in to do so."
These men were trying to walk in the Spirit by containing the flesh. They were binding and restricting the flesh with rules and regulations without giving the Spirit life in the Word. Today, we still try doing the same in the Church. We have rules dictating the way we dress, worship, what we believe or don't believe. If we were taught that the Baptism of the Holy Ghost was passed , then we bind others with the same thing. Hence, we haven't entered in and we won't allow them to enter in either.
The men of the pulpit need to, above all people, to have a hearing heart. We must allow the Holy Spirit to cleanse us from the inside out. We must learn to truth the Holy Spirit and the Word to cleanse the people and not rely on doctrines thinking they will. Ephesians 5:25-26 (Amplified) says, "Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her." Verse 26 says, "So that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word."
In order to be clean from the inside out, we must clean the inside of the cup and then the outside will be clean. Matthew 23:26 (Amplified) says that we've been trying to make our flesh do right through laws and customs. If we will have a hearing heart and allow the Word to deal with our spirit, then the flesh will fall in line with the Word. We can impose certain things on ourselves by willpower and laws, but we're still not free. The heart is still unchanged. You could sit on my chest and hold me down and make me say, "Uncle," but you can't make me mean it. The same is true with the flesh. You might hold it down with rules and laws, but you haven't tamed the flesh. Galatians 5:16 (Amplified) says, "But I say, walk and live (habitually) in the (Holy) Spirit (responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit) then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of the human nature without God)."
As we set our hearts to hear the Word by the Holy Spirit, then the things of the flesh will lose their power over us and the Holy Spirit will minister the strength of life that's in the Word into our hearts. We've tried making the spirit obey the flesh by imposing rules and discipline the body. We should be about making the flesh obey the Spirit by the power of the Word through the Holy Spirit.
Jesus told His followers in John 15:3 (Amplified) that, "they were cleansed and pruned by His Word and His teachings and not by the laws and restrictions of religion."
Jesus said that, "The Word is the bread that brings life and that we don't live by bread alone (the natural food), but by the Word." The life that strengthens our spirit and makes it strong is the Word. The power of the Word is dispersed through our spirits by the revelation of Jesus by the Holy Spirit. Only your spirit understands the life that's in the Word. Our carnal minds can read the words and not discern the power of the truth written in them. Our carnal mind just sees rules to live by, but our spirit hears truth to help us live above the world of rules and regulations.
Only your spirit can discern the spirit of the Word of God. Our carnal mind can read the Word, but not understand it. Having ears to hear and eyes to see, we don't do either. He was speaking about reading and hearing the Spirit of the Word by carnal understanding. A heart that is "dull of hearing," is one that's ruled by the senses, is trying to achieve right standing with God. A hearing heart is ruled by the Spirit and is simply receiving right standing with God by His Word. One is a religion by works and the other is a relation by grace.
The Church still struggles today with not having a hearing heart. We still prefer to be led by the senses and not by the Spirit. We prefer to be disciplined by sickness and calamity rather than the teachings and the Word of the Holy Spirit.
If we would listen with a hearing heart, then we could avoid a lot of the calamities that befall us. Psalm 23 declares that, "The Lord is my Shepherd." No shepherd in his right mind will lead his sheep into a place of danger. If you lead them into fast flowing water with a strong current, then their wool gets wet and will drown them. If you lead them into briars and thickets, then their wool will get tangled in the branches and they get stuck. That's why the Good Shepherd lead them beside still water and green pastures. These are paths are the correct and safe ones. Psalm 91 says that, "I will dwell in safety with Him, and He will satisfy me with long life and show me His Salvation."
Our carnal minds declare that God is teaching us to walk with Him by placing hard times on us. You'll lose a lot of sheep if you put them into strong currents and briars. Surely, the Lord will go after the sheep and bring them out, but I think it would be better for the sheep to simply follow the Shepherd and stay away from where they don't belong. A hearing heart will hear and know the voice of the Shepherd and not heed the voice of a stranger. A hearing heart will become so familiar with the Holy Spirit and won't wander off. We need to have a hearing heart in order to have a strong heart.
We feed on people's opinions, on rituals and doctrines that aren't of the Word. We're always trying to find a different way to interpret the Word and make it line up with our way of doing things. The Word is unchangeable and forever settled in heaven. A hearing heat will accept the fact that God's Word is truth and then will walk in that truth.
I am in right standing with God (righteous before Him), not because of what I've done, but because of what Jesus has done. That's a hearing heart. My sins He remembers no more, not because I' perfect, but because He is perfect. That's a hearing heart. I'm not a worm or second class citizen, but a joint-heir with Christ and a son of God. That's a hearing heart. A heart that's dull of hearing, still won't accept the truth of the Word even when it's preached.
When Solomon became dull of hearing and decided to go his own way, things didn't go well with him. As long as he had a hearing heart, God exalted him. Let the Spirit of God lead you into liberty and grace. We don't have to struggle to be right with God because Jesus took care of that. Today, our part is to let the Holy Spirit guide us "in paths of righteousness for His name's sake" like Psalm 23:3 (Amplified) says that, "He refreshes and restores my life (my self). He leads me in the paths of righteousness (uprightness and right standing with Him-not for my earning it,but) for His name's sake." Verse 4 goes on, "Yes, though I walk through the (deep, sunless) valley of the shadow of death, I will fear or dread no evil, For You are with Me; Your rod (to protect) and Your staff (to guide) they comfort me."
the sheep simply rely on the Shepherd to take care of them. David said in 1Samuel 17:34-37 (Amplified), "And David said to Saul, your servant kept his father's sheep. And when there came a lion or a bear and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out of its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard and smote it and killed it." Verse 36 goes on, "Your servant killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the Living God." Verse 37 says, "David said, the Lord Who delivered me out of the paws of the lion and out of the paws of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hands of this Philistine. And Saul said to David, Go and the Lord be with you."
The sheep were secure in the hands of the Shepherd. As long as the sheep could hear his voice, they knew they could be at peace. A hearing heart will rest in the voice of the Shepherd of our soul. Hebrews 3:19 (Amplified) says, "So we see that they were not able to enter (into His rest) because of their unwillingness to adhere to and trust in and rely on God (unbelief had shut them out)."
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