Ears Wide Open by Kerry Willis

Isaiah directs the reader to “Come to Me with your ears wide open. Listen for the life of your soul is at stake.”  Listening for the voice of the Lord must become a serious lifestyle imperative for us all. We cannot afford to do any less than to continually come to Him with our ears wide open, because our never-dying souls are at stake.

Hear Jesus speaking: “But when the Father sends the Counselor as My representative – and by Counselor I mean the Holy Spirit – He will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have said.” John 14:26  The words Jesus spoke about the Counselor Who would come to us, should greatly comfort our minds and offer us confidence, in that, hearing His voice is surely a glorious part of our inheritance as believers.  

Let us also find assurance in the Apostle Paul’s words written in 1 Corinthians 2:16. “For, who can know what the Lord is thinking? Who can give Him counsel? But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.”

With all of these truths present in our thinking, let us embrace three postures in the presence of the Lord: Seeking and Listening, Saturating and Learning, Surrendering and Knowing.

 

How to Hear God’s Voice Through Prayer and Scripture

#1: Seeking and Listening

Seeking and listening must begin anew for us by reviving our lives of prayer and our love for God’s Word. Surely, there is no greater foundation for our lives as believers than intimacy with God through private prayer and increased time alone with God in The Love Letter that is His Word. 

Seeking and listening are wonderful ways for us to come to Him with our ears wide open and to hear His heart.

 

The Role of the Holy Spirit in Guiding Believers

#2: Saturating and Learning

Saturating and learning are sacred avenues that guarantee discovery of God’s desires for our lives. If we saturate in the wonder of our Lord, the Holy Spirit comes and meets us moment-by-moment. As we love the presence of God, yes, in the stillness of His embrace, the counsel of God is given and the comfort of learning His ways becomes holy knowledge for our lives. 

Saturating and learning are amazing avenues for us to come to Him with our ears wide open and to find God Himself time and time again and to find out His desires each and every time.

 

How to Have the Mind of Christ

3: Surrendering and Knowing

Surrendering and knowing beautifully go together when it comes to wanting to hear what saith the Spirit of Truth concerning knowing the will of God and becoming the will of God. As we live fully surrendered to the Lord, we will come to know the will of the Lord because we will become one with the mind of Christ. In fact, in my life I have found that if I become the will of God, that is, if I become one with Him and His desires, the search for God’s will is over. Over in what sense? Over in the sense that what I want has been wondrously lost in what He wants. To become His will is to become holy by knowing Him intimately. To know the Lord personally is to know His voice. After all, Jesus said’ “My sheep know My voice.” John 10:27a 

Surrendering and knowing are inspiring expectations if we deeply desire to come to Him with our ears wide open and wholeheartedly cry out: “Deo Volente, whatever You Want!” We can now expect to know and to have the mind of Christ in all things because we have become the will of God in everything. 

 

Practical Prayers to Hear the Holy Spirit Daily

I love to pray the Holy Scriptures. This is my prayer based on Psalm 37:4. “Abba Father, I delight in You. Please give to me the desires of my heart only if the desires of my heart are one in the same with the desires of Your heart. Amen.”

My son, Grayson, taught me this prayer when he was a teen: “Lord, take over my thoughts so I won’t have to worry about what I am thinking, Amen.”

Contemporary recording artist, John Mandeville, penned these words to a simple, yet profound song that I often prayerfully sing aloud in private and in public along my God-ordered, Jesus-led, Spirit-filled journey. 

“I want what You want more than I want anything, yes, I want what You want for me!” 

And finally, another anthem of my own heart comes from the words of a sacred hymn taken from words written in 1514. (Now, that’s an old hymn.) The title of the old hymn is “God Be in My Head” and the source for the beloved lyrics originate from a writing titled “The Book of Hours.”

“God be in my head, and in my thinking.

God be in my eyes, and in my looking.

God be in my mouth, and in my speaking.

Oh, God be in my heart, and in my understanding. Amen.”

When people ask, “Is the Holy Spirit speaking anymore?” My reply is always, “Well, He’s not speaking any less.”  Let us pray and listen, saturate and learn, surrender and know, with our ears wide open!