| | "How to Listen to God" by Charles Stanley
Passive Listening vs. Aggressive Listening
There are two kinds of listeners: passive & aggressive. A passive listener do not come to God to hear a decision from Him. The aggressive listener comes knowing and seeking to hear diligently what God has to say. If he is in church, his Bible is open and his pen is ready. if he participates in a Bible study, he is all ears and his mind is inquisitive. If he is involved in personal devotion, his notebook is replete with insight into God's ways. An involved listener is always probing, searching, and comparing what he hears with previous data he has accumulated. He wants to be sensitive to what God is saying; he thinks constantly, How can I apply this to my life? The aggressive listener is accurately depicted in Acts 17:11 where Paul spoke of the Berean Christians, saying, "These were more fair minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. " They weren't just saying, "Oh, Paul is coming." They were investigating the Word.
James said, " But the one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does" (1:25 NASB). Notice the word intently. That means that we are to listen and hear the Word of God with a fervent focus. We are not to sit idly and allow the Word of God to stay simply on the surface level.
One of the problems today in the body of Christ is that too many Christians have been passive listeners for too many years. That is why after forty years of believers, they won't teach a Bible study or lead a class because they "don't know the Word well enough." Where have they been for the past four decades?
We come to church, watch television, read, listen to radio, or attend revivals, seminars, or conferences so that we might listen to God, no man. Man doesn't have much to say, but when God is speaking through His servants, then the hearer must aggressively hear what God is imparting. The passive listener comes into a church service or Bible study and never gives a second thought to what God is speaking. He is not involved in the hearing process. If God were to send Charles Stanley a letter and address is, DEAR CHARLES, and sign it, JEHOVAH GOD, would I put it aside and read it after the evening news was over? Of course not. I would open the letter reverently, read every comment, read every word deliberately, and when finished, I would probably read it over again. I would put it in a precious place, so that I would always have God's message before me.
You see, the Bible is that letter, and we ought to be listening intensely because it is that truth that will shape us into His image. If God speaks to us through our circumstances or our mates, then we should pay close attention because God is communicating to us. Oftentimes, out of the same voice comes the same word, but in every spirit there is a different message. That is why we must listen aggressively....
Matthew 7:24 says, "Therefore whoever hears these saying of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock." The solid foundation of our lives comes from aggressively hearing and implementing the Word of God. Nothing less will do. Anything less will cause our lives to be built upon shifting sand.
--End of Excerpt |
| | Posted 6/7/2007 1:27 AM - 218 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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