This morning I fumbled around a bit in the scriptures, and finally settled on reading from Ezekiel 12:21-28 NIV:
[21] "The word of the Lord came to me: [22] “Son of man, what is this proverb you have in the land of Israel: ‘The days go by and every vision comes to nothing’? [23] Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am going to put an end to this proverb, and they will no longer quote it in Israel.’ Say to them, ‘The days are near when every vision will be fulfilled. [24] For there will be no more false visions or flattering divinations among the people of Israel. [25] But I the Lord will speak what I will, and it shall be fulfilled without delay. For in your days, you rebellious people, I will fulfill whatever I say, declares the Sovereign Lord. ’ ” [26] The word of the Lord came to me: [27] “Son of man, the Israelites are saying, ‘The vision he sees is for many years from now, and he prophesies about the distant future.’ [28] “Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: None of my words will be delayed any longer; whatever I say will be fulfilled, declares the Sovereign Lord.’ ”
I find this warning of the Lord to the people of Israel very interesting. In essence they had stopped listening to the Word of the Lord, given to them through prophetic visions, because they said it was always for some future date, and didn't really concern them. The Lord then promised a day when visions and prophecy would be fulfilled without delay. I believe Ezekiel was seeing the last days and the new dispensation that we are all living under. Peter said that we entered the last days on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:14-41). Later in the book of Acts we see the Word come forth from Peter concerning Ananias and Sapphira and it is fulfilled immediately (Acts 5) and both fall dead at his feet. There is clearly a prophetic quickening and new effectiveness that was demonstrated in the early church, and the same holds true for us today, as we are still in those "last days" and the Lord is constantly speaking to those that will hear.
That being said, I think there is still a common thought among people, that the Word of the Lord is not for them, or not concerned with them. Many of us do not believe the Lord would speak to us individually, or concern Himself with our lives. We think that the Lord might speak to those holy special people, but not to us. We live our lives unconcerned and unaware of the Word of the Lord going forth to all in His Body. The truth is that the Lord wants to speak to each of us, wants to communicate with us all. An author I am reading presently, Kris Vallaton, says that God is always speaking, but His first language is not English. He continues on saying that we need to learn to hear how the Lord speaks in our lives. Citing scripture, Kris speaks of dreams, visions, words of knowledge, prophecy, discernment and trances as some of the ways the Lord speaks, in addition to using His Word - the scriptures. What we need to cultivate in our own lives is a desire to hear God and a sensitivity to His speaking. We need to learn to expect that He will speak to us individually, for He promised that His sheep (we are all His flock) hear and know His voice (John 10:1-18).
Finally Jesus speaks about our hearing in Mark 4:23-25, "If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.” [24] “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you---and even more. [25] Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”
Jesus is speaking of hearing, active listening in the last two verses. It could be rewritten as follows - With the measure we use to listen, His word will be spoken to us. Whoever has heard, has listened attentively, will be given more to hear....
Lord, help us to hear Your voice in our lives, believing that You will speak, and act. You desire to impart more and more to us, but require a people willing to listen and obey. Help us to be such a people!
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