Lent Devotions
Lent Week Two
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Lent Day Seven
The voice of God.

Music
This is My Father’s World by 2nd Chapter of Acts

Animals are trained to respond to voice commands –

Are we?

Scripture:
John 12:20-36

John 12:27-30 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
27 “Now My soul is troubled. What should I say—Father, save Me from this hour? But that is why I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify Your name!”[a]
Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again!”

29 The crowd standing there heard it and said it was thunder. Others said that an angel had spoken to Him.

30 Jesus responded, “This voice came, not for Me, but for you.

Devotion

• When God said something over Jesus, there were some that heard it, some clearly, some as thunder, and some did not. (John 12:27)
• When Jesus was baptized some heard thunder, some heard God say “this is my son in whom I am well pleased”(Matt 3:17, Luke 3:22; Mark 1:11 ). Some saw a dove descend.
• When Christ was transfigured, and Peter wanted to make tabernacles for Moses and Elijah, God calls out again, and says” This is My beloved Son. I take delight in Him. Listen to Him! ” – Matthew 17:5  The disciples heard that and fell on their faces in terror!

Over and over as Jesus was preaching he said “to him who has ears to hear Let Him hear”. Does this mean that God has created some people to be able to hear on other people not to? Is this a designation of predestination and election? Is this saying that only the chosen get to hear, or is this those who have chosen, get to hear?

When God spoke to Moses, Moses said he couldn’t speak and God asked him “who made your tongue?” And Moses didn’t exactly answer!
When Job was spoken to out of the Whirlwind he said “I was speaking but now I won’t.” When Saul was stuck blind on the road to Damascus, he heard the voice saying “Why are you persecuting me?” He heard it so clearly, that he asked Who are you?(Acts 9:5)
These men HEARD the voice of God, and it changed them. Were they chosen or did they have hearts that chose to hear?

In the beginning God spoke let there be light.(Genesis 1) God’s voice is the source of creation – The Father
In the Beginning – the spirit hovered over the face of the waters – The Holy Spirit.
In the Beginning was the word and the Word was God and the Word was with God – Jesus (John 1)

All things were created through Him,
and apart from Him not one thing was created
that has been created.

We know that God’s voice spoke words. We know that the word of God is Jesus Christ. We know that Jesus Christ was part of the creative power in the beginning. We know that God moves upon water as The Holy Spirit, in the beginning. We have a Triune God to manifest himself in Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Three distinct personalities in one complete person. Several times, when God speaks, the fullness of the Godhead is displayed.

~~~~Theology of the Trinity on Wikipedia, Answers in Genesis, Desiring God, and possibly my favorite – The Gospel Coalition~~~~

GOD SPEAKS TO US! Do we hear?

At creation everything heard the voice of God and responded perfectly. Then sin came into the world and things started to devolve. I completely believe in evolution in the fact that once sin came into the world and when disease and death started happening, things devolved from their original perfection. Creation started being broken and polluted and things didn’t work as they were created to work as they were intended to work. That causes difficulties in the balance of our world. Sin dulls our senses. It mutes our hearing and makes our eyes dim to see and makes us slow to understand.

What makes the difference?
The people standing around Jesus when he was baptized heard different things.
The disciples heard different things when he talked about his upcoming death.
Those at the mount of transfiguration heard and were terrified!
Did they hear different things because some were chosen to hear, and some not?
Or was it because some had wax in their ears?
Some, didn’t have ears to hear at all.

Wax in the ears
I envision the scene in the Shrek movie where Shrek reaches into his ear and pulls out a huge chunk of wax and mold it into a candle to light his dinner table! I’m sure that everyone has had someone in their lives that had to see a doctor because they could not hear, and it was because they had huge build up of wax that was hindering their hearing.

What if we do have wax in our ears and we cannot hear clearly? Does that mean there’s no hope for those with wax in their ears? Absolutely not. What it does mean is that they have a little further to go because they have to cleanse the wax in order that the voice can come through and then the wax does not prevent the washing of the water of the word.

The good thing is that those people actually knew that they heard something and they turned to others and said “we heard a thundering sound, what did you hear?”  This is part of the first discipleship program! Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel!  If we do have wax in our ears or a waxy coating over our hearts that prevents us to completely hear, we have the opportunity to know that we heard a voice and to seek and to find and to ask those who have heard what they heard and to then apply truth to our lives.

Wax in your ears could be considered the same thing as not cleaning out your heart. An unclean heart separates us from the Father, and deadens our spiritual senses. Some will come to Jesus with a heart that is open and ready and be clean from repentance so that we can receive the creative power of the old being passed away and our own creation made completely new. Others hear something, but they don’t know what they are hearing. It is up to those that can hear to explain it to the others, and to help them to know what was said, and help them to apply the gift of repentance, and clean out their ears so that they can hear the voice of God! To hear that voice and we have to let it wash over us.

Both have to have cleansed their heart(ear = H+ear+T). They HAVE to choose! All are given the call – John 3:16 – but not all choose to hear. All are given the opportunity to recognize there is a God (Romans 2) but not all choose to see.

Wax vs Oil
You put a coating on wood furniture to protect it from water and liquids getting into it. So that the water of disaster such as someone’s spilling something or putting a cup that sweats on this very expensive piece of wood, doesn’t destroy the wood itself.

Wax does prevent the liquids from getting in, it’s cheaper than oil, but it doesn’t actually seep into the wood. Rather, it puts a coating on top of the wood to protect the wood from water damage on the exterior, but it doesn’t nourish the wood. Underneath the wax, the wood becomes dry and brittle and is subject to damage and disease and weakness, which is another aspect of not receiving The Voice or the word.

Oil can be put on wood and nourishes the wood and the oil gives the wood a natural repellent for against water damage. It is more expensive. It needs to be more pure than the wax. We need to use the oil on the wood in order to nourish the wood and then the wood has its own natural repellent against the storms of life. The oil is the Holy Spirit. If wax was placed there first, it has to be removed in order for the oil to penetrate, or there will be NO benefit from putting oil onto the wood. The wax repels the oil.

So the progression is thus:

God the Father speaks, God the Son is the word, God the Holy Spirit is the oil. Our hearts have to hear the voice of God, we need to understand the word of God, and then we need to apply the oil of God so that we can withstand the storms of life. We have to remove the wax from our ears, we have to remove the coating of false protection from our hearts, so that we can hear the voice of God, understand the word of God and apply the Holy Spirit oil which is quickening power. It is God the Father speaking to us, the word of Jesus Christ applied to our hearts that removes the waxy old dead nature and breathes the creative quickening power of the Holy Spirit upon us and we become new creatures able to declare the glory of God.

What about those that CAN’T Hear?
That is too big of a subject for this single blog, but in short, the Bible talks about everyone knowing about the existence of God because of creation(Romans 1:18-22). The puritans believed that Creation preached a gospel that declared 1. The existence of God, 2. The order and design of God, 3. Dignity of self(by wanting to be treated right, naturally), and 4. Conscience (the natural knowledge that to hurt someone is wrong). This ‘bible’ does not lead to salvation, but it does lead to seeking, and everyone is held responsible for this.

Romans 10 explains the salvation issue very clearly. I suggest that you read through the whole chapter!
Here is the verse that speaks to the fact that WE need to speak!

14 But how can they call on Him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about Him? And how can they hear without a preacher?

What this shows is that it is the responsibility of those of us that HAVE HEARD to share the gospel with others, to speak in a language they can understand in love, and plant the seeds, so that if they will, they will become a whosoever that believes in the Lord Jesus Christ (John 3:16).

Mark 16:15-16 King James Version (KJV)
15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

Rescue the perishing – Dallas Christian Adult Concert Choir

You need to be careful what you listen to.
Eve listened to the serpent, Adam listened to Eve – neither one took this counsel back to God for clarification! BOOM! No more paradise!

Some sad examples in our lives:

• When a new mother is given a child and she hears the voice of motherhood calling her, and yet it is waxed over by pains and hurts and destruction, she may question whether or not she should have this baby.
• When a man hears a voice to love a woman but his heart has been waxed over with derogatory music, videos and pictures, his life is tainted with destruction and abuse.
• When a person is flooded with societal notions of perfection they cannot attain, and they have only heard that their worth is based upon these standards, they may choose self harm.

These have been trampled down by life experiences. They have listened to false comforts. They were destroyed by the lies they were listening to and how those false voices drowned out the voice of God that calls us all to Him, and to glorify HIM in our bodies, as well as to be loved, cherished, and cared for JUST AS WE ARE!. They need to be healed, and have the hard ground broken up – Hosea 10:12,  just as we did. It’s not easy, it is painful, but it can be done. We must remember to listen to the Voice of Truth! It’s the only healing, life giving, resurrecting voice on our planet!

The Voice of Truth by Casting Crowns

Summary?
Who hears? (Luke 8:4-15; Mark 4:1-20; Matthew 13:1-23)

• those with soft hearts – clear ears – good soil
• those with so-so hearts – wax in their ears – weedy, rocky soil
• those with hard hearts – didn’t or can’t hear – trampled soil

God promises to hear our voice, our cry. God speaks to us – will we listen? Will we hear HIS voice?

Let’s worship!
I heard an old old story(Victory in Jesus) by Guy Penrod
I Love to tell the Story – Alan Jackson
I can Hear my Savior Calling – Dallas Christian Adult Concert Choir

~~~~~~~

Hi!
My hope in the midst of despair and my joy in the face of depression is because of my relationship with Jesus Christ. If you do not have one, or are not sure you will join him in heaven, please check out these links:

• Got Questions provides a detailed explanation of The Roman’s Road.
• Billy Graham’s version of the Plan of salvation.

Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

M. Christine Wildman

“The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear.
If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation.
If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself.” – from My Utmost for His highest

Copyrights and Legal-eze
There are many organizations that support children and families. Here are ones that we are blessed to be a part of. Please consider sponsoring a child – the life you change could be your own.

• Naomi’s Heart Ministries
• Obed’s House Ministries
• The son of a friend will be interning with CRU – previously known as Campus Crusades for Christ. If you’d like to support someone I can vouch for in this area, please consider going to Matthew Plant’s donation page.