How to Hear From God

Jesus was a story teller. He told stories that we call Parables. He would use something familiar to to the people he was talking to and give it a new twist. These stories always pointed to a spiritual truth that we can learn from to make our lives work better.

The parable we will look at today actually deals with hearing from God. I know I always need to improve my ability to hear from God. Maybe you do to?

Have you ever heard people say, God told me to do… It’s like they had a conversation with him face to face. When I hear people say that, I wonder if they really heard from God, but deep down I want to hear from God too. I think maybe you want to hear from God as well.

The problem is that we don’t hear from God like we want too. The problem isn’t that God isn’t speaking to us, we are just not tuned in so that we can hear.

I used to love the old CB radio days. It was fun to listen to and get information from the truckers. But the thing was, you had to find the channel they were all on so you could hear them.

The same is true with hearing God. We have to be tuned into his channel. Hearing from Him is not automatic. You have to have your ears tuned in. Jesus often said, In Luke 8:8 “…“Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.””

We have to tune into His frequency. He is speaking, we are just not hearing.

Let’s look at this story.

Luke 8:4–15 NLT

4 One day Jesus told a story in the form of a parable to a large crowd that had gathered from many towns to hear him: 5 “A farmer went out to plant his seed. As he scattered it across his field, some seed fell on a footpath, where it was stepped on, and the birds ate it. 6 Other seed fell among rocks. It began to grow, but the plant soon wilted and died for lack of moisture. 7 Other seed fell among thorns that grew up with it and choked out the tender plants. 8 Still other seed fell on fertile soil. This seed grew and produced a crop that was a hundred times as much as had been planted!” When he had said this, he called out, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.” 9 His disciples asked him what this parable meant. 10 He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of God. But I use parables to teach the others so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled: ‘When they look, they won’t really see. When they hear, they won’t understand.’ 11 “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is God’s word. 12 The seeds that fell on the footpath represent those who hear the message, only to have the devil come and take it away from their hearts and prevent them from believing and being saved. 13 The seeds on the rocky soil represent those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they believe for a while, then they fall away when they face temptation. 14 The seeds that fell among the thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity. 15 And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest.

Most people have read this as Jesus describing four different types of people, and that’s accurate. But the passage represents four reasons that people do not hear and obey what God tells them to do. The story of a farmer was common to them and they all would understand what he was saying. Fortunately, He tell us what the story means after the disciples asked him to explain.

In this story, God is the farmer and the seed is the WOG… everything God says he wants you to do. The soil is your mind.

There are four different types of soil in this story so there are four different attitudes we can have towards God and four different attitudes we can have towards his word. These are not necessarily individual people because all four responses are true of each of us at different times. Our attitudes toward God can vary moment. Sometimes we are open to what God is saying and other times we are not. Some times we take time to hear God and at other times we are in too big of a hurry to listen. So our response changes from time to time.

In this story we will look at four things we can do in order to hear God speak to us.

1. Cultivate an open mind.

If we want to hear God, we have to want to hear him. We have to be tuned in.

A lot of people never hear God because they are closed to the possibility of hearing from Him. They are not even open to the fact that God wants to communicate with them.

This is a hardened heart.

Luke 8:5 “…some seed fell on a footpath, where it was stepped on, and the birds ate it.” …“12 The seeds that fell on the footpath represent those who hear the message, only to have the devil come and take it away from their hearts and prevent them from believing and being saved.”

The farmer, as he walks out to sow his seed, is walking on a path and the path has been hardened from many people walking on it. It becomes compacted like cement. As he sows the seed, some of it falls on this hardened path. It can't penetrate or get rooted. It doesn't sprout. The birds come along and they eat it and it's gone.

Jesus says,

The hardened path represents the closed mind.

When our minds are closed, we are not open to what God might want to say to us. As a result, you can listen over and over again to his word, messages, etc and it never takes root in your life… just like the seed never gets a chance. Too many people are unwilling to listen to God. They reject the whole idea that there is a God who wants to speak to them. They have a closed mind.

What makes us have a closed mind? Fear, pride and bitterness

Fear

Maybe we are afraid of what God might say to us. I may have to change my lifestyle if I listen to God. I might loose my fun, my freedom… A lot of people do not turn to God because they are afraid of what he will say and then of what they must do.

Pride

We are prideful when when we say, we can do it without God in our lives.

If we listen to God, we may have to face our faults and we don’t want to do that. Pride is always a smoke screen to insecurity. When you don’t want to admit your faults, you are prideful, but you are really insecure.

Bitterness

Life is tough and we all go through pains. We all experience hurts. Those things can cause you to harden your life. So we build a force shield of protection around us so that nothing can hurt us. Bitterness will make you hard and you will not be able to hear God.

You might even be bitter at God. You may wonder why he allowed something destructive and painful to happen in your life. But the number one reason people turn away from God and do not attend church is that they have been hurt by another Christian. Listen, never let another person hurt your relationship with God. When you do, you are allowing them to hurt you twice.

We need to have an open heart towards the Lord so we can receive His word and a closed mind and heart will prevent that from happening.

James 1:21 NLT

21 So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.

Basically, Jesus is telling us to let down our protection, realize that God loves us, wants us to be happy, knows what will make us happy more than we do and wants to do just that. Cultivate an open heart.

2. Set aside time to listen.

Schedule it. A friend of mine once told me that if something was important, put it on my calendar just like it was an appointment with someone of great importance. We have to be quiet, and slow down to hear from God. Too often we don’t hear because we are always in a hurry.

Luke 8:6 “Other seed fell among rocks. It began to grow, but the plant soon wilted and died for lack of moisture.” “13 The seeds on the rocky soil represent those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they believe for a while, then they fall away when they face temptation.”

This is the rocky soil we often talk about. In Israel, this doesn’t mean a bunch of stones, although there are rocks everywhere. It’s actually referring to the fact there is a thin layer of topsoil on top of a bedrock of limestone. Plants can sprout up quickly but because their roots are near the surface, the heat from the sun causes them to wither and die.

The shallow soil is the superficial mind.

Impulsive people react emotionally. They get excited but they never let it sink it. How is it that people can attend church week after week and never be changed? It's because they believe for a while, but they have no root. The passage says, "with joy" they receive it with joy -- they're thrilled but they are not transformed. They jump on the bandwagon and get all motivated but they don't let the word of God penetrate the bedrock of their personality so they're not changed permanently. They're shallow & superficial.

You forget 95% of what you hear with 72 hours. By Wednesday, you've already forgotten 95% of what was said on Sunday morning. That's depressing. If you take notes you'll remember more. I would even suggest that at some point early in the week, sit down and go over your notes from church. Think about it and let it sink into the bedrock of your personality.

The passage says that they believe for a while but then they fall away. The Word never gets deep into their lives. A lot of people get excited at an event and decide they want to be a Christian but fall away shortly because they have no depth. So what happens is that when trouble comes… when the heat is on, thy dry up and blow away. They have no deep roots. If you don’t have any roots, when the pressure is on, you will dry up and blow away.

How do you develop deep roots? Not just by coming to church once per week, although that’s a good thing to do. You have to be in contact with God every day. Have a QT where you sit down, worship a little, pray and read a little, but then think about what you are reading and how it might apply to your life. Let God speak to you through his word.

So, you have to cultivate an open mind, and allocate time to listen.

3. You must eliminate distractions.

If you are going to hear God speak, you have to get quiet. So often, we miss out on hearing from God because our minds are full of other things… activities, phones, bills, a date…

Luke 8:7 NLT

7 Other seed fell among thorns that grew up with it and choked out the tender plants.

Luke 8:14 NLT

14 The seeds that fell among the thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity.

The farmer sows the seed. Some of it lands on the hard ground -- that's the closed mind, it's been trampled over by so many people that's how it gets hard. Watching television lets people trample through your mind. How many philosophies of life have been trampled through your mind? If you see something enough, you'll become hardened to it. The seed thrown on this ground doesn't go anywhere. Some seed falls on shallow soil and grows up but there's no roots so it dies.

The third kind of soil represents the preoccupied mind.

Things crowd in and crowd what God is doing out. It’s better than a closed mind because at least the WOG gets into your mind and begins growing. But what happens is things begin to crowd out putting God as a priority. birthday parties… ball games… hobbies… All these things will snuff out the seed that was planted and there will be no fruit.

God wants us to produce fruit in our lives. Look at Gal 5:22-23

Galatians 5:22–23 NLT

22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

How many oof you wish those around you had these qualities in their lives? We all do… right? Most people don’t have this fruit in their lives because of the weeds. We are too busy or we are too preoccupied.

This soil is really representative of our culture. We worry about things that don’t really matter… how we look… making sure our house is a good as someone else… We give God the leftovers and God doesn’t like leftovers.

Don’t get too busy for God. When we do, all the circuits are busy and he can’t get through to us. the weeds have grown up.

What kinds of weeds grow up? Worries, riches, pleasures.

Life’s worries - the problems and pleasures of life.

Life’s riches - you get so busy making a living you don’t make a life. You can also become so consumed with making money that you don’t have time for God.

Life’s pleasures - recreation can take priority over worship and choke out God. I want to have my fun, my hobbies, my golf game, my cabin, my boat -- God, You take a back seat! Even good things can keep you from hearing God. Even things that God has given you can keep you from hearing Him.

What is a weed? A weed is anything that I let rob my time with God. I could be a good thing as well as a bad thing. It’s anything that robs your time with God.

Have you ever noticed that you don’t have to do anything in your yard or garden for weeds to grow. They just grow naturally. Weeds are a sign of neglect.

When we neglect our time with God, when we neglect reading the Bible, spending time in prayer, weed will grow up in your life and your spiritual walk with the Lord will be choked out. And once again, you will not bear any fruit.

4. Cooperate with what God asks you to do.

God speaks to people who in advance have decided that whatever he asks, they are ready to do. Their answer to god is always YES.

Luke 8:15 NLT

15 And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest.

The good soil is a willing mind.

You are willing to do whatever God asks you to do. James the half brother of Jesus said in James 1:22

James 1:22 NLT

22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.

IOW, cooperate with what God tells you to do.

The result are that you will produce a crop. The result of spending time with God is increased productivity in your life, your spiritual life and all areas of your life.

I don’t know how God works is out, but I know if I spend time with him every day, he makes up the time I spend with him. He expands time. That’s what God does when we spend time with him.

That’s what He does in every area of life. Look at tithing. When we give 10% God somehow makes the 90% go further than the 100%. So when we cooperate with what God says to do, things go better.

Conclusion

If God did a brain scan on you, what kind of mind would he reveal?

Would it be a closed mind? You are not even open to the possibility that God wants to communicate with you. Why? Fear of what he might say? Pride… you might have to face up to your faults? Bitterness - where you are mad at God or someone? Maybe you have built a wall because hurt has hardened your heart. Nothing can get in and grow there.

How does God soften hard soil? He sends rain and sometimes a storm. Whatever that problem you are going through right now is… God is using it to get your attention. He is trying to soften you up. He wants to help you and he has allowed these storms into your life to get your attention so that you will listen.

Would God find a superficial mind? You are a believer, but there is no depth. How deep is your commitment to the Word? How do we know if we are a shallow Christian or a deep Christian? Well, how do you respond to pressure when the heat is on? If you have roots in the Word and your relationship with Jesus, you will flourish. If you don’t, you wither. You can tell the depth of someone’s relationship with how they handle trials. The WOG will help bring new depth into your life.

Would he find a preoccupied mind? You have gotten too busy for God. I am a Christian but I am giving God my leftovers… What are the weeds in your life that rob you of time with God? Ask god to help you cultivate an open mind and to help you allocate time to listen. Ask him to help you eliminate distractions and to cooperate with whatever he says.

If you have never opened your life up to Jesus, you need to do the first step. Ask Him to come into your life and change your heart. Maybe you have already done this, then you need to begin to learn the habits and skills for spiritual maturity. How to have a QT? How to pray and get answers? How to get fed from God’s Word?

Salvation prayer

God, I want to open my mind to You. Maybe I've been afraid, prideful, insecure. Maybe I've allowed hurt to make me hard but I don't want to ruin that relationship I could have with You. Help me to realize You love me. Jesus Christ, I open my life and heart to You. Come in. Help me to understand it more."