I’m sharing five ways to host hearing. These are based on a dream I had in recent months. It stretched and encouraged me. I hope it does the same for you.
In the dream, I was hosting a woman whose name means “hearing.” For communication purposes, I have capitalized Hearing at times — as a way to remember the relational aspect of hearing the Lord. The dream began as I picked up Hearing at the airport and hosted her for the rest of the dream.
No.1 Hearing Is Intentional
Isaiah 55:3
Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live.
To host Hearing, the desire to hear has to be present. Enough so that we rearrange our days, our lives, to make it a priority. If a friend or family member asks us to pick them up from the airport, we schedule our day around all that it involves: travel time, traffic, delays, etc. If we think of hearing as a person and to pick them up at the airport is the first step to hosting them, then we schedule our day accordingly.
The word of God through Isaiah tells us to incline—to lean, bow, tend to—our ears and to come to God and listen. Why? Because there is life there.
No.2 Hearing Reveals the Father’s Storehouses
Romans 11:33-36
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!…For from him and through him and to him are all things.
When we host Hearing, the door to the Father’s storehouse is wide open. With the help of the Holy Spirit, who searches the depths of God (1 Corinthians 2), we can have understanding, insight, wisdom, and so much more. We have access through the blood of Jesus. Hearing is taking full advantage of that access. Jesus taught us that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who found a treasure in the field and went and sold everything he had to purchase the treasure. To host Hearing is to buy the field and partake in every treasure we find in it. Oh, the depths!
No.3 Hearing is Relational
Psalm 25:14
The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.
When we host Hearing, we are committing to a relationship with God. Walking through life while leaning into him is our greatest treasure. We get to inquire and stick around to hear God’s heart. Yes, it is listening and obeying! But, it’s more than that because we are abiding and dwelling. It is a friendship—it is a covenant. Our heart of obedience enlarges when we understand that the Shepherd is good. To host Hearing, to explore and partake in the storehouse of the Kingdom of God, we go where he goes because there is no life without him, and he loves us and gave his life for us (Galatians 2:20).
No.4 Hearing Must be Guarded
John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
To host Hearing, we will become a guard, a vigilante of sorts. Jesus taught us in the parable of the sower that the word of the kingdom is like a seed. He gives us three ways the word can be stolen from us: lack of understanding, tribulations, and cares of the world. As we mature in Christ and learn to discern more, we will guard what we hear with vigilance, so that we will understand what God has said and bear fruit (Matthew 13:1-23).
In the dream, there were crowds of people wanting the autograph of the Hearing, but they were violent, selfish, shallow, and even manipulative. They physically assaulted Hearing. I had to fight them off on three separate occasions as I walked and talked with her. Each time, I was more prepared to do so.
Many people want the signature of Hearing, but don’t want to be hearers. There is a difference between people who want the appearance of hearing from those who are willing to walk and talk, to host God’s word. One is perishable, the other is an eternal cut, a deep mark in us.
Proverbs 4:20–22, My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.
No.5 Hearing is for the Needy
Matthew 5:3
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Psalm 113:5-8
Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people.
When we host Hearing, the needy are cared for. I can see this in two ways. One, when we admit our need for the Lord, that we are poor in spirit, he hears our cry. The kingdom of heaven is ours; we have access to the Father’s storehouse! Two, the needy around us get access to the kingdom of heaven, too. Hosting Hearing is for God’s glory in us and through us. For from him and through him and to him are all things. Hearing is not for our glory or our promotion or our kingdom. It’s to hear and bear witness to, and to call others to the kingdom of heaven. Period.
Let’s look again at what the psalmist declares. The Lord God raises the poor and needy from the ashes and seats them with the princes. Paul echoes this in Ephesians 2 when he says we are raised with Christ (vs 5-6). As the sons and daughters of God, when we proclaim his kingdom to those around us, we are giving the needy a place at the table, seated beside us, a royal priesthood (Psalm 113:8). Why? So that they may hear, too, and be raised from death to life in Christ (Ephesians 2:6).
Hosting Hearing is for us because we are needy. We need the Lord yesterday, today, and every day in front of us. Also, to host Hearing is for those around us, so, by his grace, they will choose to have ears to hear.
END: The Bible is full of verses on the subject of hearing. There are accounts of people who heeded the word of God and those who did not. Search them out. Take notes from the men and women who host Hearing. Consider the fruit of their lives, and how the Lord was glorified. Let’s find people who host hearing and learn from them. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to search us and teach us. Jesus, be glorified in us. Make us a ready bride for you. Amen!
Brave Sparrow 