Spiritual Ears to Receive

As I was preparing to do my second sermon in history on "Receiving" the Lord led me back to the beginning (Garden of Eden) to understand where our barriers to receiving from God came from. In Genesis 3:10 "He [Adam] said, 'I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself". The phrase "heard the sound of You" jumped off the page, God revealed something I had never seen before. Adam and Eve would have received God's Word by revelation (in relationship) before the Fall but for the first time Adam was relying on his natural senses (hearing) and not his spirit. Since God is spirit Adam and Eve would have related with God through their spirit. In another words Adam and Eve would have sensed God was in the Garden with their spirit but now they are trusting their 5 senses because their spirit died. This is significant because we often now attempt to relate to God via our senses trained by our soul (mind, will, and emotions), rather than trusting His voice to be spoken in our spirit. It is also significant because the first response to God after the Fall is fear, which is then what trains our senses. It now makes sense to me why Jesus would continually be saying "...he who has ears to hear let him ear..." Since for so many years people have lived with a dull sense of hearing, Jesus is waking them up. How would you like to have supernatural hearing? Isn't it frustrating to listen to so many sermons, read books, and even read the Bible and not see transformation in your life. How many ministers are frustrated because it seems the congregation never really "hears" them? Hebrews 5:10-14 tells us that the dullness of hearing is being "unskilled in the word of righteousness". Righteousness is most talked about in Romans and this is the understanding that we are totally accepted by God based on the finished work of Jesus Christ and not our own works. When I was struggling to grasp righteousness, a friend said "it is being naked and unashamed". This means we can come to a Holy God with our flaws, sins, failures, weaknesses, and difficulties yet He accepts us. We are changed when we encounter the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:16-18), not when we try to change ourselves. All of us need to be changed to walk in God's love and truth. It is being skilled in the word of righteousness, so we walk in the reality of God's unconditional acceptance of us which is His love which is what casts out all fear. I know in my life because of rejection, disappointments, and unmet needs I am too often afraid of experiencing these same things again so my senses have been tuned to these fears. As God continues to free me from these fears and live in His love my senses trained by to love. I have often thought I was "too sensitive" but I realize it was just that my senses were trained by fears instead of resting in Love. It makes sense to me that you cannot mature if you have not had a revelation of righteousness. Thus you are always trying to earn God's approval by striving to do what you believe will please Him and make you acceptable. If we don't find our acceptance and love in the arms of the Father, then it becomes very easy to turn to people, addictions, job, and other counterfeits for His love. Practicing our senses being trained to His Spirit means that we can experience God and His Word, not just a mental ascent. We were created to live in the reality of His love and in continual relationship with Him. Let's have ears to hear.

In His Love,
Bret