Luke gives an account of how Jesus, with His disciples went about preaching the gospel from one town and village to another. One day He spoke about the parable of a farmer who sowed seeds some of which fell on the wayside, some on the rocky ground, others among the thorns and some on fertile ground.  He then concluded the parable by calling out, "Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand." He further explained that the seed represented the Word and the ground as the heart that received the Word.

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But the falling of the seed represents the way the Word was received by each person. Hence the veiled warning from Jesus to those whose ears are opened to the mysteries of the scriptures. The moment our ears and eyes are opened, we become accountable for every word we hear and speak.  Hebrews 2:2: "So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it."

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So How are we hearing and listening?

 

Are we hearing through our own desires, ambitions, prejudices, etc.? — then, we will only hear what we want to hear.  It is like listening to your own voice or desires.  It will only bring momentary satisfaction. No deep-rooted changes will take place.  We have to put aside all these filters and desire the pure milk of God’s Word. 1 Peter 2:2:  “Like newborn babies, you must desire pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation," The key here is desire.  Unless you truly desire to understand what is being said you will never listen well.

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When you desire to understand then you will put aside everything that can hinder your hearing and start listening to the truth in the words being heard and a remarkable change will start to take place in your heart.  A change, that you did not even consider or think or even asked for will begin to happen. The truth will now silence all other thoughts and a transformation of the mind will commence.

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In Mark 4:9 it is written that the Lord warned, “Whoever has ears to hear had better listen!” and again in verse 23 He said "If anyone has ears to hear, he had better listen!"

Luke 8:18 (NLT) “So pay attention to how you hear. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what they think they understand will be taken away from them.”

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Listening also means obeying 

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In Deuteronomy 4:1 Moses urges Israel to obey by saying: “And now, Israel, listen carefully to these decrees and regulations that I am about to teach you. Obey them so that you may live...”  Listening is the act of paying careful attention to what you are hearing in order to understand so that you can benefit from it by putting it into practice.

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Understanding leads to action

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What we allow into our minds and how we understand what we listen to is what drives our thoughts and actions. So we have to be very careful of what we are listening to and how we are listening. 

 

• Job 12:24: “He strips kings of understanding and leaves them wandering in a pathless wasteland.”
   

• Job 28:28: And this is what he says to all humanity: ‘The fear of the Lord is true wisdom; to forsake evil is real understanding.’”
   

• James 1:22:  "But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves."

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Finally, what propels our prayers?  Isn’t it the surety that God is listening? So shouldn’t we also listen to the Word of God?

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Prayer:

Heavenly Father, I thank You for opening my ears to hear the truth. Make alive Your living and active word that has entered into my heart. Invade every area of my life and transform me from within.  Amen