He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Matthew 11:15
as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.” Romans 11:8
What is the biggest hindrance to our understanding and spiritual growth? Our inability to listen. Jesus when teaching parables often used this term “ears to hear”. Also to grow we must be challenged beyond where we already are and what we already know. Being challenged can be uncomfortable and induce many trepidations within our soul. But we must learn to ‘listen’ to our Teacher and follow His instructions, rather than plunging headlong into unknown waters.
We are often stunted in our growth because of fear, pride, and wrong understanding (our misconceptions of history and traditions). As ones who are supposed to be filled with the Holy Spirit (the One who literally inhabits and indwells our bodies) we should be firstly asking Him ALL of our questions. But most of us have not been trained to do that, in fact it is usually the last thing we do (if ever) as a last resort, and even then, we do it badly. Why? We haven’t learned to listen to Him. We haven’t learned to discern His voice within us. We actually don’t believe He is the best Teacher for us. No one in our spiritual training (discipleship) has taught us how to listen to Him. No one has forced us to go to Him for answers to our questions. Most academic training teaches us to seek out others previous knowledge rather than learn how to tap into the Holy Spirit for revelation, inspiration, and understanding directly for ourselves. 99.999% of all academic training bypasses the Teacher (Holy Spirit) in the steps to learning and growing. Yet without the Holy Spirit we will not have ANY real spiritual growth in our lives. This is currently how the American institution of religious Christianity teaches spiritual principles – by negating the very Teacher who lives within us – and immediately going to others for understanding. Obviously, this is NOT the way the first disciples were taught. But it was the way of the Pharisees.
We have resorted to falling back into our old ways rather than using what He has provided for us. Who is our Helper? Who did Jesus say He would provide for us? Who did Jesus say He would send to us? Printed books?
Can you listen to Him? Is He actually speaking to you? Do you know where to get all the answers to your questions? What or who is your knee jerk reaction to go and find answers? That will tell you who your real teacher is. If it is NOT the Holy Spirit – your growth will be stunted and stagnated. What our real spiritual human mentors should be is – confirmation to what the Holy Spirit is ALREADY been speaking and teaching to you.
Do you have ‘ears to hear’ Him when you have questions?
Are you even listening?