Do You Hear What I Hear?…
Isaiah 30:21 Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.
Do you hear voices? I definitely hear them. Maybe not physically but definitely whispering in my head! For every event, action or opinion, there is an equal and demanding assessment, recap and judgement of what just took place in my head.
Mostly the voices sound like… me! But because I have long memory of those who took authority over my life, I still hear the words in my MOTHER’s voice. And we know, for some mothers, the primary mission is to have and make PERFECT! But, since there is no perfection in me… her work was is never done.
Do you hear what I hear?
In our world today there must be a whole lot of mothers because, “THIS is MY way, walk in it!” is a constant mantra. In today’s version of a mother’s voice, the message is definitely NOT whispered, it is yelled! Everyone has an opinion… everyone has a judgement of what YOU should’ve, would’ve, could’ve done.
Do you hear what I hear?
Everyone tries to take and/or be the authority.
I hear a definite frenzy in the voices surrounding me… a panic… a fear that the “right” voice (theirs) won’t be heard.
Do you hear what I hear?
Wise words, worthless words, condemning words… words and innuendos that used to be but are no longer forbidden in our public arenas. They used to reside only in the pit of hell and if brought to the public would immediately call for the mouth to be filled with bar of soap.
Words of honor, words of shame… most spoken with little or no concern for the effects they have on the innocent. We become immune to them, desensitize to the harm that could be done to ourselves and others.
We have been “vaccinated” so to speak, and, like all vaccines, it is done by injecting more of the very virus that makes us sick.
But… the truth is… we are never immune to the words spoken in our hearing. Whether we admit it or not these things we hear and live by and make our stand on, are stored in the deepest part of each and every one of us.
Matthew 15:18 “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart,
Do you hear what I hear?
Are we hearing the heart of the speaker?
Do we hear your heart?
Our words matter! Whether it is a mother or a father speaking, a teacher or a minister, what is spoken will have an effect and sooner or later, if not sifted and scrubbed and renewed by the grace of God, these words will proceed from our heart to infect our listener victim with the same sickness it has been marinated in while it dwelt in our heart.
For years, I heard certain words of condemnation spoken over my life (in love of course). Years later, even after leaving the presence of those speakers, I whispered and dwelt on those words as THE WAY! I essentially lived those words hidden in my heart for 32 years.
We think we are doing someone a favor by telling them our view of their life. We think that they NEED to know and that the “truth” will only hurt for a little while. We think that sometimes the situation requires the shock of our most harshest discipline… labeling the person for life!
Is it the truth? I doubt it! Truth, without God, is no more than a human perception… When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate…Genesis 3:6
Perception is reality, right? We definitely would like to think so!
There is TRUTH… there is REALITY… but without God, man will never know it. Or, if we do know it, without God, we will never honor nor obey it. We will “tweak” it to make it our own, more manageable way of life.
John 8:32 “you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
Truth sets you free! Truth is the language of love.
John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
For 32 years I heard that I was never “good enough”… for 32 years I was taught to strive to be better in order to please those around me… for 32 years I carried the bitterness of failure to please anyone (including myself).
And then I heard… “You need Jesus!’
And I did! But before I could find Him… He found me!
I heard Him speak to me and I believed what He said.
Romans 8:15 – 17 For (we) have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but (we) have received a spirit of adoption as sons… and daughters… by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ,
Do you hear what I hear?
For 32 years I listened to the wrong voices… even today those voices can sneak in to the council room of my mind and for a moment begin the recorded message of ages past. But today, after many years of training up in the way I should go… Proverbs 22:6, I want to hear with my heart filled with Jesus, so that I know what needs to be heard by your heart. I don’t want to be just another voice saying the wrong thing to your heart.
I want to speak God’s language… the language of love!
Colossians 3:12-17 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
Our enemy knows that strife is the way to separate us from each other. But mostly he wants to separate us from God because he knows that it is only through the power of the God that we can resist his temptation to speak the words of violence, hate, retaliation, bitterness, vile judgement, all in the name of vengeance for a perceived threat. A threat which find it’s authorship and power only in the bowels of hell.
Our hearts speak of what we know. I want to speak what God speaks to me… LOVE!
Do you hear what I hear?
If you don’t… let me just say… You need Jesus!
God knows you before you know Him… Go to Him. He not only speaks love, He IS LOVE! And He loves YOU with an unconditional love that knows no end. What a difference the message will be and the effect it will have on your life when it is God speaking His words into you.
Go to God… let Him deal with all the other voices that are screaming at you.
John 8:32 “you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
Do you hear what I hear?
Isaiah 30:21 Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.
**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB version of the Bible