Are Your Ears Listening?

Are you listening?

Prayer – Lord, I am listening! I have ears…and I have eyes. I see and hear Your words. Lord. I am standing firm on Your teachings. I love that by knowing You, Lord Jesus, I know our Father, too. I find hope—eternal hope—in You. 

As for us, we can't help but thank God for you, dear brothers and sisters loved by the Lord. We are always thankful that God chose you to be among the first to experience salvation—a salvation that came through the Spirit who makes you holy and through your belief in the truth. He called you to salvation when we told you the Good News; now you can share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. With all these things in mind, dear brothers and sisters, stand firm and keep a strong grip on the teaching we passed on to you both in person and by letter. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say. 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17 (Underlined for emphasis.)

 

Meditate. Think about how you apply God’s commands.

 

Anyone with ears…we all have ears—but are we listening?

"Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give fruit from the tree of life in the paradise of God. (Ephesus) ... "Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. Whoever is victorious will not be harmed by the second death. (Smyrna) ... "Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give some of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven. And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it. (Pergamum) ... "Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. (Thyatira) Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29

 

"Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. (Sardis)... "Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. (Philadelphia)... "Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches." (Laodicea) Revelation 3:6, 13, 22

Each church…and thus each person reading Jesus’ words…is commanded to listen.

 

Name of the church	Commands for each church
Ephesus	Repent; Listen
Smyrna	Be faithful; Listen
Pergamum	Listen. If don’t repent, Jesus will fight against them with His sword
Thyatira	Listen. Hold onto Jesus’ teachings.
Sardis	Listen to the Holy Spirit.
Philadelphia	Listen. Hold onto what you have.
Laodicea	Repent. Jesus rebukes those He loves. Listen to what the Spirit says.

 

Can’t you hear? Have you been listening? Jesus questioned His disciples about their own dedication to listening.

So he got back into the boat and left them, and he crossed to the other side of the lake. But the disciples had forgotten to bring any food. They had only one loaf of bread with them in the boat. As they were crossing the lake, Jesus warned them, "Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod." At this they began to argue with each other because they hadn't brought any bread. Jesus knew what they were saying, so he said, "Why are you arguing about having no bread? Don't you know or understand even yet? Are your hearts too hard to take it in? 'You have eyes—can't you see? You have ears—can't you hear?' Don't you remember anything at all? When I fed the 5,000 with five loaves of bread, how many baskets of leftovers did you pick up afterward?" "Twelve," they said. "And when I fed the 4,000 with seven loaves, how many large baskets of leftovers did you pick up?" "Seven," they said. "Don't you understand yet?" he asked them. Mark 8:13-21

Aren’t you listening? Don’t you understand yet? Do you possibly need to clean your ears? What is keeping you from hearing Jesus’ words—His commands? The disciples just were not focusing on what Jesus was teaching…only on the food they were desiring to eat right then. They were hungry…but it was a physical hunger, not a spiritual hunger. They weren’t even trusting the Lord to provide a meal for then when they had seen Him feed over nine thousand men…and their families. What did you hear Jesus saying about feeding so many people.

 

Verse of Salvation ~ Jesus shouted to the crowds, "If you trust me, you are trusting not only me, but also God who sent me. For when you see me, you are seeing the one who sent me. I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark. I will not judge those who hear me but don't obey me, for I have come to save the world and not to judge it. But all who reject me and my message will be judged on the day of judgment by the truth I have spoken. I don't speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it. And I know his commands lead to eternal life; so I say whatever the Father tells me to say." John 12:44-50

Knowing the Lord is what life is all about.

Knowing Him is Life.

© 2023 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved. 

All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted. 

New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. 

Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm. 

 

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