Hear or Listen
But the Pharisees, hearing it, said, This Man drives out demons only by and without the help of Beelzebub, the prince of demons. Matthew 12:24, AMP
In the back of my mind I heard God give me a scripture for a specific topic for me to write about. I even talked about it with several people, but when it came time to write I could not remember what God had said. I prayed and asked God to bring to my remembrance what scripture he wanted me to use for this particular subject.
Later in the week the Holy Spirit gave me some topics to talk about on my social media channels. One of those topics was Hearing vs Listening. He told me to tell the people how to listen to him. As I was writing he said the people hear me, but they don’t listen. I immediately felt the prompting to look up the word “listen.”
Listen: Give one's attention to a sound. Take notice of and act on what someone says; respond to advice, or a request.
After sitting with this definition, I knew I had heard God, but was I truly listening when he gave me the scripture? I started to reflect on how the Pharisees and Scribes were always around Jesus. They had always heard what he said and saw what he did, but they were not there to listen; they were there to accuse him. In the Bible verse above, the Pharisees were with the people when they saw Jesus drive out demons from a man, but instead of listening and trying to understand what was happening, they accused Jesus of using the help of demons instead of the power of God.
I remember as a kid when my mom would tell me to do something. I would hear her, but I was not listening. She would have to come back and tell me again and again the same thing. But after a while, if I did not stop and listen and adhere to her instructions I would suffer the consequences of my behavior and would be disciplined. Many of the Pharisees and Scribes chose not to listen while Jesus was on earth and if they did not change their ways before their death, they would die in their sin.
Jesus offers us all the same opportunity while we are living today! That opportunity is to not only hear his message, but a make a choice to choose life. I pray that we will all move from just hearing the noise of Jesus Christ and listen to the message of Christ; for one day our opportunity will be gone!
Affirmations: Matthew 10:20; Luke 24:32; Ephesians 6:19, Isaiah 55:11
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