Let the person who has ears listen to what the Spirit says. (Revelation 3:22 GW)
The man or woman who has no
inner ear, no inner silence, no inner place for hearing the Lord is never going
to be of much use in the service of the Lord, and mark you, it must be the Lord,
and we must be very careful that we do not give even good men and good writers
the place that the Lord ought to have. There is a time when we must sweep our
books aside, when we must shut ourselves up from the voices of men, when we must
get quiet with the Lord and listen, and more, we must seek to cultivate, by the
grace of God, the ear that is always open to the Lord even when all the other
sounds are around us. It is difficult, yet not impossible, that in the raging of
the street and the rush of business life the Lord should say something; but He
will only speak to those who recognize the value of listening to the Lord and
who are giving Him His place of silence to speak when possible. The ear to hear
the Lord when all other sounds and voices are around us is prepared and trained
in these times of detachment which the Lord demands, and against which the devil
is eternally active to capture the ear again.
Now, that is elementary (we are
not seeking to be profound), but tremendously important. You and I know, never
mind how spiritually mature we are – the one object of the devil is to capture
our ear from God, to make it impossible for us to have the silent hour and the
silent ear for God. The pressing in, and all the things which happen just when
you have decided to have a little quiet time; then it is you have to fight for
the ear – you know it is true. Do you see there is something bound up with
that; the undoing of the work of the devil, the registration of God's mind upon
this universe, everything which is meant by priestly ministry, which is bringing
God in, is bound up with this: God having the ear.