Now when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with Him, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim, so He spoke to him. Numbers 7:89.
But if I say, “I will not remember Him or speak anymore in His name,” Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; And I am weary of holding it in, And I cannot endure it. Jeremiah 20:9.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
Jesus told His disciples, “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.” John 15:26-27. You must speak to hear. My Holy Spirit gives you utterance. “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.” Acts 2:4.
I had to know My prophets would speak before I told them what to say. And even to come to Me, to draw close to Me, you must reach out to Me. You have to speak to hear. In speaking My Word you come to know My Word until My Word speaks to you in revelation. The opening of My Word gives light and understanding. Call to Me and I answer you and tell you great and mighty things you do not know. I called Samuel, but he had to answer before he heard. As long as he ran to Eli for answers he did not hear what I wanted to say to him.
Today we continue our series on how to hear from Me with Life Lesson No. 6: “You Must Speak to Hear.” “As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the LORD: “My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,” says the LORD, “from now and forever.” Isaiah 59:21.
I have put My words in your mouth and have covered you with the shadow of My hand, to plant the heavens, to establish the earth, and to say to Zion, “You are My people.” Isaiah 51:16.
Faith comes by hearing My Word. Keep My Words and treasure My commandments within you. Keep My commandments and live, and My teaching as the pupil of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call understanding your intimate friend. Proverbs 7:1-4. And how do you write My Words on the tablet of your heart? I tell you, the psalmist sings, “my heart is astir with a good theme; I say my verses to the King; my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.” Psalm 45:1. What you are pondering upon in your heart and speaking out with your tongue is writing on the tablet of your heart. And where your heart is there your treasure will be. To hear My voice in a meaningful way you must have a heart that hears. When Solomon first became king, he asked Me to give him a hearing heart. He knew if he could hear from Me that he would have wisdom. I have made Jesus (My Word) wisdom to you. 1 Corinthians 1:30. But hard hearts did not hear even when My Son was present in the flesh speaking to them. Hard hearts reject My Word. They have become deaf.
In the first parable My Son told, He likened the openness of your heart to My Word as to the various kinds of soil and My Word as to seed. The seed could not penetrate into or plant in the hard soil of a foot path, filled with worldly traffic. The birds came and easily ate it up. If you have no interest in My Word and do not see any value in it, if you never speak it or agree with it but just stay in the traffic of the world you cannot hear it. You turn a deaf ear to Me. Do you remember when My servant Stephen tried to tell his opponents of Jesus they covered their ears and shouted him down as they stoned him to keep him quiet? Acts 7:56-60.
And in My Son’s parable, after the hard footpath, there came the shallow soil of stony ground. It had a bit of openness to My Word but no place for the roots to go down so when the sun became hot, it scorched it and it withered away. It never got watered by speaking the Word. The heat of temptation and adversity were not put down by speaking out My Word.
After the shallow soil where the stones were never broken up, there came the thorny ground. The seed which fell among the thorns represents the ones who have heard, but never give speak it or confess it to fight the good fight of faith, so that as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity.
In My Son’s parable, after three kinds of hearts that reject My Word, you find one that receives the implanted Word. “But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.” Luke 8:15. Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the Word implanted, which is able to save your souls. James 1:21. And how do you receive the implanted Word? You say it as your own word and do what it instructs you. An effectual doer. f anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless. James 1:26.
You will notice, however, that even the good soil did not all produce the same. “And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” Mark 4:20. What caused the difference in the harvest if the soil was good? Diligence in watching their words and guarding their heart and in planting more seed. Jesus explained it, “Take care what you listen to. The measure with which you measure will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides. For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.” Mark 4:24-25. As you speak, pray and seek My Word, I give you more Word, more revelation, and more impartation and you grow thereby until you know My voice and are ready when you hear Me to respond. In reading, speaking, and pondering My Word it opens to you and I can show you a vast and awesome vision of the things to come and I can put My Words in your mouth to plant My Kingdom and establish it upon the earth. Isaiah 51:16. If you are listening to words contrary to Mine, you will speak and write those on the tablet of your heart and leave no room for My Words and choke off and erase any of My Words that were there to make room for the other words. Wash your heart and mind clean with the water of My Word by reading, speaking, and pondering My Words until they speak to you in every situation and circumstance.
Established in My Word nothing can take you down. Why? Because you can hear from Me and know the battle plan. Like David. Like Elisha. Like Paul. You can discern the tactics of the evil one before he takes you captive to do his will and blinds your heart. My Spirit can entrust you with gifts once your heart becomes a channel of My power by perfect alignment with My Word.
Hard hearts cannot hear. You may think you do not have a hard heart but if you are having trouble hearing My voice you may. Examine yourself to see if you are in the faith. What do I mean? If you are holding on to unforgiveness, offense, envy, anger, or bitterness, you will have a hard time hearing My voice. Saul, the first king of Israel, heard from Me when he first became king. He stepped into the position in humility but that humility began to turn into pride, disobedience, and selfish ambition, and this opened him to the evil one and the works of the flesh. He became envious and jealous of David and he could no longer be reasoned with. He was out to kill David and remove what he saw as competition for his position of power, but actually David was faithful and loyal to him above his other officers. He began having bouts of deep depression, fear, and bitterness. Finally, no matter how hard he tried to hear from Me for direction in battle he could not. So he turned to consult mediums and lying spirits. He destroyed his life that could have been glorious and cut it short but also brought down all his sons with him. Be careful about what you let your mind dwell upon. If you gossip, judge, tattle, complain, and are not thankful you will cut off communication with Me for your heart cannot hear, it is too hard and full of darkness for the light to penetrate. Never harbor hatred against another. This makes you a murderer before Me. And avoid lying, stealing, and cheating—these are the characteristics of the devil.
If any of these sound like you to a lesser or greater degree, what do you do? How do you change a hard heart to a heart of flesh, from a hard footpath or shallow stony soil to fertile soft soil? It always comes back to My Word as the answer. Go to Psalm 65 and find David’s answer. He could have been bitter against Saul and Me for his life as a fugitive for 13 years, but he was not. Out of the wilderness came a worshipper. A man who led the 400 outlaws that joined him from men in distress, debt, and discontent to the mighty men of David joining with him to exalt My Name together. 1 Samuel 22:2 (“Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him; and he became captain over them. Now there were about four hundred men with him.”); Psalm 34:3-4 (“O magnify the LORD with me and let us exalt His name together. I sought the LORD, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.”).
And so Psalm 65 begins: “There will be silence before You, and praise in Zion, O God, and to You the vow will be performed. O You who hear prayer, to You all men come. Iniquities prevail against me; as for our transgressions, You forgive them. How blessed is the one whom You choose and bring near to You to dwell in Your courts. We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Your holy temple.” Psalm 65:1-4. The key here is coming to Me in prayer in quiet and in praise. Iniquities were prevailing against him but he knew I had forgiven him of much and that I forgave those coming against him too as I had him. He reminded himself that he was blessed and that I was protecting him in My goodness, which he could enjoy right where he was, even hiding in caves from Saul and the army of Israel. It was awesome to him that they could chase him in small terrain for 13 years and never catch him or even injure him. He was thankful for that. And he treated Saul with honor and respect because I had anointed him king. Gratitude and honor can keep you in My secret place till harm pass by. And in that hiding place he heard songs of deliverance surrounding him. Psalm 32:7.
And so he continues: “By awesome deeds You answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation, You who are the trust of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest sea; who establishes the mountains by His strength, being girded with might; who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the tumult of the peoples. They who dwell in the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs; You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy.” Psalm 65:5-9. He lifted up his eyes to see the bigger picture, not just where he hid but of the vast beauty of My creation. He saw My power at work in the mountains, in the seas, the waves, and in battles among men. He woke the dawn with his song. And the dawn always came.
And he goes on to reveal the secret of breaking up the rocky soil of your hard heart so that My Word can plant and take root and flourish therein: “You visit the earth and cause it to overflow; you greatly enrich it; the channel of God is full of water; You prepare their grain, for thus You prepare the earth: You water its furrows abundantly, You smooth its ridges, You soften it with showers, You bless its growth.” Psalm 65:10. Water. Living water. The Spirit. Jesus told His disciples they were clean already because of the Word He had spoken to them. He does that for each of you who are members of His body the church, “Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.” Ephesians 5:25-27. A good dose of My Word. Read it, hear it, chew on it, and it will change you. The gossip, the lying, the hate, the bitterness, will get washed out, pulled out, replaced by My Spirit breathed Word.
Does this remind you of another Scripture that also holds the key to breaking up the hardened heart and explains this one? “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear (fertile) and sprout (fruitful) and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My Word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:10-11. And that passage begins counseling the unrighteous to forsake his thoughts and return to Me, and I will have compassion on him and abundantly pardon. And then I explain that he must replace his unrighteous and wicked thoughts with My thoughts that I shower upon his heart in My Word to make his heart fertile and fruitful. My Word is seed for you to sow and bread for you to eat. That is speaking it and meditating on it. But when you take it in, you must return it to achieve the promise it contains, and you return it to Me by declaring it in your life so that the great High Priest of your confession can bring your words of agreement to My throne so I can perform them in you. Speak forgiveness, love, joy, peace, patience—let the fruit of the Spirit (My Spirit breathed Word) be produced in your heart. It is a wonderful way to walk. It is entering My rest. David stayed there despite all the wickedness and attacks of the enemy. In that place of declaration and meditation he recovered all. Remember Ziklag?
And so Psalm 65 finishes in abundance, from breaking up hard ground to a bountiful harvest. “You have crowned the year with Your bounty, and Your paths drip with fatness (the anointing). The pastures of the wilderness drip, and the hills gird themselves with rejoicing. The meadows are clothed with flocks and the valleys are covered with grain; they shout for joy, yes, they sing.” Psalm 65:11-12. The voice of thanksgiving works wonders, it changes a hard heart to a soft heart, it changes a wasteland to a garden of Eden. And so shall My Word be.
The Isaiah prophecy ends in a similar way, it even gets rid of not just the stony ground but the thorns of anxiety, cares, and lust also, “For you will go out with joy and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you (you know what to do to mountains in your way, Matthew 11:22-24), and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thorn bush the cypress will come up, and instead of the nettle the myrtle will come up, and the transformation of the desert will be a Name to the LORD, for an everlasting sign which will not be cut off.” Isaiah 55:12-13.
“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.” 2 Peter 1:2-4.
I love you. “Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you.” Isaiah 55:3. And what is that covenant? My Words in your mouth and My Spirit on, with, and in you. My Word does not return void. You have to speak to hear.