Increasing Your Hearing

Amen. Well, if you have your Bibles, turn with me to Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13 — this is where we will be starting. And I want to share today five ways to increase your spiritual hearing. Five ways to increase your spiritual hearing. I want us to start in Matthew 5 — I’m sorry, Matthew 13. Did I say Matthew 5? Okay, we’re in Matthew 13. I apologize, I’ve been reading the Beatitudes a lot. Matthew 13, starting at verse — oh my goodness. Matthew 13:15. Did I tell everybody I got a new Bible? I’m like, where is this thing? All right, Matthew 13, verse 15. Here we go.

When hearts grow dull

Jesus is speaking. He says, “For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.”

Notice what Jesus says: “For the hearts of this people have grown dull.” How many of you know Jesus isn’t talking about people’s natural ears? Everybody had ears. But Jesus is saying, no, the hearts of this people — the spiritual ears to hear — have grown dull.

How many of you know sometimes we can go through life and we grow spiritually deaf? Maybe you were at a time in your life where you were hungry for the Lord, and you were at church, and you were in your Bible, and you were hearing God and receiving from Him. But how many of you know time can go on and your affection towards Him can fade, because we get so caught up in life, in the busyness of things? It doesn’t usually happen overnight. It doesn’t happen in an instant. But Jesus is saying, there is a way that over time we grow spiritually deaf, and we may not even realize it. And we begin to not hear, or we begin to hear things that God isn’t actually saying.

But notice what Jesus says: if they would turn. In other words, if you can make a change in your life, if you can make the proper adjustments and get your ears unclogged and become sensitive to My voice again — notice what Jesus says — I’ll bring healing to your life. Oh, if you can just make the adjustment, if you can just tune your ears to hear My voice, I will bring healing to your life. How many of you know that’s the goodness of God right there, that He wants to bring healing to our lives? Amen.

And so in other words, Jesus is saying, listen, My power, My solutions, My resources, and My plan for your life are all waiting on you to be able to hear from Me and do what I’ve said. How many of you know this makes hearing God all the more important? Amen. To be led by Him.

In fact, can we just pray that right now? Father, Lord, open our hearts to hear Your voice. Open our hearts, Lord. Maybe our hearts have grown dull. Maybe we’ve lost the affection. Maybe we’ve lost sight of our first love. Lord, would You do a work in us? Would You cause us to hear again today? In Jesus’ name, amen.

Proverbs 4, verse 20 — we’ve referenced this scripture. It says, “My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear.” Everybody say that: “Incline your ear.” Say it: “Incline your ear.” How many of you know your natural ears will not naturally tune in to what God is saying? Your natural, physical ears are going to want to give attention to everything else that’s going on in your life, everything that’s going on in this world.

How many of you know it can even happen at church? You’ll be in the presence of the Lord, and there might be somebody getting a revelation of Jesus, crying out to the Lord, and right next to them is a person on their phone checking their email, right? It is so easy for us to have ears for everyone other than God, where we get so distracted and so caught up. I’ve got to see what’s going on. I’ve got to check on my fantasy football lineup — it’s almost kickoff Sunday, it’s coming up, right? I’ve got to get my lineup in order. There are all these things calling out.

But notice what it says: “Incline your ear.” What does that mean? You have to turn your ear to Him. You have to give Him your attention, where you will literally say, “Nope, I am not about that right now. Right now I must receive. I must hear from the Lord.” It says, “Incline your ear to my sayings.” Why? “For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.” How many of you know the power of God goes into operation when we give attention to His words, when we make what He is saying our priority?

Call out to God

And so I’m going to share with you five ways to increase your spiritual hearing. And here’s number one. So simple: call out to God. Begin to call out to God.

How many of you know Jeremiah 33, verse 3 says — this is God speaking — “Call to Me, and I will answer you”? This seems so simple. It seems so obvious. But how many of you know so many believers will go through life just thinking about their problems? They’ll go through life thinking, you know, I should go to church. Maybe I should go and pray. Maybe I should spend more time with the Lord. But how many of you know the enemy would love to keep you thinking and not actually calling out? But what does God say? He says, “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”

In other words, God is saying, listen, I have things that I want to show you, but I cannot show them to you unless you what? Call to Me. How many of you know, for every person here, there are things that God wants to show you? There are things that God has for your life. Some of you are facing problems, and you don’t know what to do. How many of you know God knows what to do? Some of you are having struggles, and you don’t know how to fix them. You don’t know how to fix the mess that maybe you’ve even created. But how many of you know, when we give attention to God’s words, He brings life. He brings healing. But it all begins with us calling out to Him. We can’t just go through life thinking about the challenges we face. We can’t just go through life thinking about the difficulties. God says, “Call to Me, and I will answer you.”

How many of you remember, in the Old Testament, the children of Israel were in bondage, in slavery, for 400 years? When did God send a deliverer to them? When they called to Him. When the people of Israel called out to the Lord, He sent Moses to deliver them. Listen, there are things that we have been facing for so long, and it is unnecessary. God has a solution. He’s saying, would you just call to Me? Would you just ask?

In fact, Jesus said in Matthew 7:7 — what does He say? “Ask.” Everybody say that: “Ask.” Say it again: “Ask.” Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” You would think Jesus wouldn’t actually even have to say this. You wouldn’t think that Jesus would actually have to say, “Listen, you must ask.” But people have a propensity not to ask. There are probably things that you are believing for and hoping for. But God is speaking to you right now, and He’s saying, “Call to Me. Ask Me. I’m the One who has the solution for your life.” Amen. And so if we want answers, we have to ask. Everybody say it again: “Ask.” We must ask and call out to God.

How many of you remember James 1:5? It says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him” — what? — “ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and” — notice — “it will be given to him.” Don’t you just love how the Bible says things we kind of like to talk ourselves out of? We’ll say things like, “Well, if it’s God’s will, then it’ll happen. If God wants it to happen in my life, then it’ll happen. I don’t have to ask.” But no. How many of you know the Bible says God is not willing that any should perish? But how many of you know there are people perishing? Amen. It was God’s will for the first generation of Israel to enter the promised land, but they couldn’t enter in because of their unbelief. Just because God wants it to happen in your life doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. We must begin to ask. Can you see this is so important? For us to receive instruction, for us to hear God, we must be people who ask. Amen.

Prayer and fasting

Listen, the first way we increase our spiritual hearing is to call out to God. The second way we increase our spiritual hearing is prayer and fasting. This is everybody’s favorite topic: prayer and fasting.

How many of you know when your body is comfortable, we tend to not long for the Lord in the same way? I was just talking to a friend about this — I don’t even think he’s in here; he might be with the kids — and I was saying, you know, I find that I’m most spiritually strong when I’m physically weak. When I am sick and in bed — I always tell my wife, and I probably shouldn’t even say this — when I’m sick, I’m the sickest, and I need care. I’m that husband who is like, “Honey, I need — I want — please help me.” I get super needy when I’m not feeling well. But how many of you know it’s in our weakness that so oftentimes we begin to depend on or call on the Lord all the more? Amen.

And I wish it wasn’t that way. I wish I could get to the point where I would just stay spiritually strong, where it wouldn’t take me feeling weak, where it wouldn’t take me having to go through some emergency or crisis to begin seeking the Lord. Amen. But when we pray and fast, how many of you know we are putting our flesh into subjection, and we are making ourselves uncomfortable? It’s not to impress God. How many of you know God is not impressed by how long we can go without eating food? This is the God who created all things. He is not impressed with us not eating. But what we’re doing is putting our flesh to the side and saying, “God, I want a hunger for You.”

And we started with that scripture this morning, didn’t we? “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” Why? “For they shall be filled.” Who? Those who hunger. And so often I think our spirit will follow our bodies. That’s why, when we worship the Lord, we lift our hands. God’s not impressed by the lifting of our hands. It’s not to show how spiritual we are. But when we humble ourselves — how many of you know it takes humility to lift your hands and worship the Lord? What about the people behind me? What if you have a bad voice? What if somebody hears me? How many of you know those sacrifices honor the Lord? Amen. But it’s in our humility that our spirit begins to follow. You guys with me? When I humble myself, my spirit will follow, and I receive differently. And so prayer and fasting is a key to increasing our hearing.

Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 6:16. He says, “Moreover…” — “moreover,” that’s a weird word. I actually just noticed that. But notice this, this is the point: “when you fast.” How many of you know Jesus is assuming, of course we’re going to fast? Of course we’re going to separate ourselves and make room for God. Of course we’re going to seek Him more intensely at certain times and in certain periods. Notice Jesus didn’t say, “if you fast.” How many of you know fasting is something that we as believers are to be doing?

And so we fast because our flesh wants to be satisfied all the time. Our flesh always wants to be satisfied. It wants to be on the phone. It wants to be comfortable. It wants to binge-watch Netflix. It wants to eat a lot of ice cream. It doesn’t want to get up early. It doesn’t want to seek the Lord. It doesn’t do what is right. It wants all the wrong things. And so when we want to be satisfied all the time and we become physically comfortable, we become spiritually sluggish and spiritually insensitive. But when we withhold something our body is craving, there is an urgency and an intention.

I used to just fast and say, “I’m going to fast for a day,” or, “I’m going to fast for a meal,” or, “I’m going to fast for a few days,” whatever. And then one time I was like, “I’m going to fast until I hear the Lord.” How many of you know my body got into quick alignment? My spirit started searching a little bit differently, because I was like, this could take one day, or this could take many days. I’m going to fast until I hear the Lord. The Lord is speaking, but I’m not hearing right now, and I need to tune my ears to what He is saying. And so we fast not to impress God. We do it to increase our sensitivity to the Lord.

Jesus said that there are certain demonic strongholds that can’t be broken without prayer and fasting. Matthew 17:21 — Jesus says, “However, this kind does not go out except by prayer” — notice — “and fasting.” Not just prayer, but also fasting. How many of you know when we fast, it brings breakthrough to our lives, because God speaks? Amen. There are things you just won’t get an answer to unless you spend some time with the Lord a little bit more intentionally, when you subject your flesh a little bit differently.

Ezra 8:23 says, “So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and” — notice — “He answered our prayer.” We don’t fast to move God. We fast to position ourselves to receive from God. How many of you know God wanted to give it to us all along? Amen. There are promises. There are answers. There are breakthroughs. And He has always wanted to do it, but we weren’t in a position to receive. How many of you know that is why we fast and pray? Amen. Fasting and prayer increases our hearing. Is this okay? Are we good?

Praying in the Spirit

Listen to number three. Number three: increasing our hearing by praying in the Spirit. Praying in the Spirit — say that: “Praying in the Spirit.” When we are born again, we are filled with the Holy Spirit, and we can receive something called our spiritual language. And praying in the Spirit helps us to be spiritually sensitive.

Listen to Romans 8:26. It says, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” How many of you are thankful that you don’t always need to know exactly what to pray? That if you are born again, we’ve been given the Spirit of God, we’ve been filled with the Spirit, and we’ve been given our spiritual language to begin to pray in the Spirit and to pray according to the perfect will of God.

And so, in other words, our own understanding does not understand these prayers, but when we pray in the Spirit, we’re praying the perfect will of God. And when we pray according to our understanding, we’re just praying with our own perspective. Amen. We’re praying with what we can bring. We’re praying with what we understand. But when we pray in the Spirit, it is always a perfect prayer, because we are praying from God’s perspective.

Listen to Jude chapter 1, verse 20. It says, “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.” Listen: building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Spirit. What does praying in the Spirit do? It builds you up in the faith. It builds you up. It makes you spiritually sensitive to the things of God. It causes you to hear differently.

I remember when my kids were young, we would take them to a dear friend of ours — she’s here, but don’t look at her. And she would always tell my kids, “Hey, we’re going to spend some time. We’re going to power up. We’re going to power up.” And they would all begin praying in the Spirit together. How many of you know that’s exactly what that’s about? Praying in the Spirit — powering ourselves up in the Holy Spirit.

Listen to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:13. I think this is so important, because I believe this is what the Lord wants for every believer. First Corinthians 14, verse 13 says, “Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.” Paul is saying, listen, when I pray in the Spirit, my mind does not understand what I am praying. Okay? You guys with me? Verse 15: “What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.”

And so here’s what Paul is saying: listen, when we pray in the Spirit, we can literally ask God, “God, what is it that I’m praying?” We just said that when we pray in the Spirit, we’re praying the perfect will of God, right? You want to pray perfect prayers? Begin to pray in the Spirit. But Paul is saying, when I pray in the Spirit, I can literally ask God, “What is it that I’m praying?” And I begin to also pray in my understanding.

The most powerful times of prayer that I experience are not when I just make my petitions or my requests, but when I actually begin to pray in the Spirit. And as I’m praying in the Spirit, the Lord will start to show me things. He’ll give me pictures. He’ll show me people. He might give me a word. And then I begin to pray in my understanding what the Holy Spirit is showing me. Do you guys understand? I’m praying in the Spirit, and I pray with the understanding. How many of you know that’s powerful prayer, because we’re praying according to the perfect will of God? And not only is my spirit built up — I’m built up in faith, because I’m praying the perfect will of God. I’m praying the Word of God. Amen. How many of you know that brings some faith? Those are some powerful prayers.

And that’s what Paul is saying: I pray in the Spirit, and I pray with my understanding. And so oftentimes I’ll go in the Spirit, and then I’ll start praying with my understanding, and then I’ll go back into the Spirit, and then I pray with my understanding. And listen, when the Holy Spirit shows you what it is that you are praying in the Spirit, how many of you know you’re hearing God’s voice? Are you guys with me? When He begins to show you what you are praying in the Spirit, you are hearing from God.

Every believer has the ability to be filled with the Spirit. I think there are too many believers who treat our walk with the Lord as though it’s an à la carte menu: “Well, I like that, but I don’t like that.” “Well, I know the Bible says that, but I’m good without that.” How many of you know we want the full thing? If God says we need it, how many of you know we need it? I’m going to say it again: if God says we need it, how many of you know we need it? Amen. And this is available to everyone, and He wants to give it to you.

A song of praise in your heart

Listen to number four. We’re talking about increasing our hearing. Listen to this: keep a song of praise in your heart. Keep a song of praise in your heart.

Isaiah chapter 30, verse 29 says, “You shall have a song as in the night when a holy festival is kept, and gladness of heart as when one goes with a flute, to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the Mighty One of Israel.” Notice verse 30: “The Lord will cause His glorious voice to be heard” — when you have a song of praise in your heart — “for through the voice of the Lord Assyria will be beaten down.” In other words, your enemies are beaten down when you have a song of praise in your heart.

You know how frustrating it is to the adversary, to the devil, when there is affliction, when things aren’t going right, and you have a song of praise in your heart? Do you think God wants to bring breakthrough in that moment? Absolutely. You see, there is something about having a song in your heart and praise on your lips, and being spiritually sensitive to the Lord.

How many of you know sometimes the song won’t naturally be in your heart, and you’ve got to stick one down in there, right? Maybe you’re going to work and you’re putting on some worship music. Maybe it’s the last song that we sang on a Sunday. But how many of you know we want to have a song of praise in our hearts, so that we can continually give thanks, so we can continually declare who He is and what He’s done?

Listen, it doesn’t have to be so complicated. Usually I have a chorus in my heart for the day. And I’m not just going and trying to find one. The more you praise, the more songs you’re going to have in your repertoire. But listen, it’s so easy, so simple. Something like “God Is So Good” — you guys know that one. You might not see it with your eyes, but your heart’s singing something different. I can keep going. And you will have a song of praise in your heart, and His glorious voice will be heard. You will have a song.

Listen, it is so simple. How many of you know the Lord’s not after perfection? He’s not after performance. He’s after your heart. Amen. This is a key to increasing your hearing: have a song in your heart, and the Lord will cause His glorious voice to be heard.

Hearing the preaching of the Word

Listen to the fifth way to increase your spiritual hearing. Number five: hearing the preaching of the Word. Hearing the preaching of the Word. There is something about the anointed preaching of the Word of God that causes you to hear what He is saying.

Listen to Romans chapter 10, verse 13: “For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” How many of you know it’s for everybody? Amen. It is good. I was telling this to my daughter — I tell this to my kids all the time: whether people realize it or not, everyone is looking for Jesus. They may not even agree with that statement. Everyone is looking for Jesus, because He is the only one who will satisfy. And notice what it says: “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Jesus is for everybody. Tell somebody next to you, “Jesus is for everyone.” I didn’t hear enough of that. “Jesus is for everyone.” Come on, tell someone next to you, “He’s for everyone.” Jesus is the point of everything, by the way.

But listen: “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” Without a what? Without a preacher. How many of you know we are to speak the good news to other people? Amen. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

This is talking about the context of hearing the Word of God preached. Faith comes by hearing — hearing what? The Word of God preached. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. So when you hear someone preaching the Word, you will begin to hear the Holy Spirit speak to you. There are times — and I know I’ve experienced this — where I’ll be in the presence of the Lord, hearing the gospel preached, and the Holy Spirit will say things to me that may not even be fully related to what the preacher’s talking about. Anybody else? There’s something about being in that atmosphere where the Word of God is preached, and the Holy Spirit begins to tailor that word specifically to your life, right where you’re at.

I want to look at an example of this in Acts 14:7. It says, “And they were preaching the gospel there.” What were they preaching? The gospel. “And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who had never walked.” In other words, this guy had a serious problem his whole life. He had been crippled from birth. He had never walked. “This man heard Paul speaking.” What did this man hear Paul speaking? He heard the gospel. You guys with me? This is important. This man who had been crippled his whole life heard the gospel preached. “Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, ‘Stand up straight on your feet!’ And he leaped and walked.”

Notice: Paul saw that this man had faith to be healed. Where did he get that faith? By hearing the gospel, by hearing the good news. But this man was not just hearing the preacher. This man was not just hearing Paul’s words. This man was hearing God speak to him: “You can be healed.” He was hearing the gospel preached, and when this man heard this, he realized, this isn’t just a book — God is speaking to me through the gospel that is being preached. And it began to bring faith to that man to be healed. How many of you know there is power in hearing God speak to you, and it happens through the preaching of His Word? Amen.

Listen, this is why it’s so important that when we come to church on a Sunday, we come with an expectancy: God wants to speak to me, and as the Word goes out, I’m going to receive something from the Holy Spirit that will change my life forever. Amen. That things will begin to unlock. That revelation of truth will come. That there might be problems — or maybe there’s literally physical healing, like this man, that I need — and I come, and all of a sudden, because I have faith to be healed, His power goes into operation. Are you with me? You see, there is something about hearing the Word of God preached. The way that we increase our spiritual hearing is by hearing the Word preached.

And so here we are. Every believer can hear and should hear God speak. Amen. Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice.” And maybe it’s been a while since you’ve heard the Lord. Maybe you haven’t recognized His voice. I believe the Lord wants to change that today. Amen.

So can we just stand together? I’m going to pray over you right now. I’m going to pray a blessing. Let’s stand together. I believe the Lord is bringing us this word. He’s saying, if we can just make some of these adjustments, if we can just have a heart that is affectionate towards Him, that hungers for Him — blessed are those who hunger, because they will be filled.

Lord, we come to You, and we thank You for Your Word. Lord, we thank You for what You are bringing to us today and what You’ve been speaking. Lord, we don’t want this just to be another sermon. Lord, we want to receive from You. Would You open our eyes to the adjustments that we need to make, so that we can be people who hear You better? Lord, if it’s a lack of hunger, would You do a work in us, Lord, where we are desperate for You more than anything else? Where we want to be with You, where we want to spend time in Your presence more than we want any other thing? Because, Lord, those who hunger will be filled. So, Lord, do a work in us, where we just want more, where we want nothing more than to receive from You.

And Lord, I pray for every person here, that You would open up our spiritual ears, in the name of Jesus. Lord, where there is spiritual deafness, we break that assignment of the adversary, and we speak: ears, be open, in the name of Jesus. Lord, that we would hear Your voice. That we would hear Your voice again. That we would hear a fresh word, Lord, that would lead us in this next season. Lord, that we would receive a word that would bring power to our lives, that would bring healing to our lives. Lord, that we would be people who believe Your Word, who put our trust in You, because You are our source. You are the One that we need. You are the One that we look to. And Lord, we put our trust in You before anyone or anything else. You are our King. We honor You, and we thank You, Lord, that You speak to us.

And so, Lord, I pray that You would give breakthrough, in Jesus’ name. Lord, for those who are looking for breakthrough in their homes, where there’s been dissension and turmoil, Lord, would You bring breakthrough, in Jesus’ name. Would You release Your Word, Lord? Would You bring clarity, Lord, to bring healing in that environment, in Jesus’ name? Lord, for marriages where it’s been stuck and things have grown stale, Lord, would You bring breakthrough, in Jesus’ name? Lord, would You do a work in our hearts, to love one another the way that You’ve called us to love one another? Lord, for those who have physical pain, would You bring healing, in Jesus’ name? Because Your Word says You are the God who heals us. You formed our inward parts. Your Word says we are fearfully and wonderfully made. And Lord, Your Word says by Your stripes we are healed. And so, Lord, we receive healing, in Jesus’ name. Lord, let Your Word go forth and accomplish what You have sent it to do. Oh Lord, that we would be a people who walk in the fulfillment of the promise of Your Word. Your Word is truth. Your Word is life. And we receive it today. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Amen. Amen. How many of you know the Lord is good? Amen. “My sheep hear My voice.” “My sheep hear My voice.” If you need to go out of here and all you say is, “God says I can hear Him, and so I believe that I will hear,” let that be so. Amen.

Transcribed from the message recording and lightly edited for reading.