T. Austin Sparks on Listening to the Lord

He who is able to hear, let him listen to and heed what the Holy Spirit says... (Revelation 3:22).


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 recognise 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.

T. Austin-Sparks,
"The Service and Servant of the Lord



photo taken at Monsal Dale, Derbyshire, UK



T.Austin Sparks

hearing God

spiritual hearing

Monsale Dale, Derbyshire, UK