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CHAPTER 6
LISTENING TO GOD
Introduction
Dr. Norman Vincent Peale worked for Grove Patterson,
editor of the DETROIT JOURNAL, shortly after graduating from
college. Peale relates the following life-changing incident:
One day he called me in and said, "What is the
matter with you, Norman? Why are you afraid? You
seem to have no confidence in yourself. You can
handle this job, but you must have self-confi-
dence. Besides, no one should go through life
scared and filled with self-doubt as you are. Your
stories are very good. You can be a great reporter
if you do what I tell you."
"Anything you say, sir."
"You've got to develop greater self-confi-
dence."
"How can I do that?" I asked.
Mr. Patterson was one of the greatest Chris-
tians I ever knew. He said, "CENTER YOUR LIFE IN
JESUS CHRIST, OUR SAVIOR, AND READ THE BIBLE UNTIL
IT TAKES HOLD OF YOU. WHEN YOU GET THE BIBLE IN-
SIDE OF YOU AND JESUS CHRIST BECOMES REAL TO YOU,
THEN YOU WILL NO LONGER BE AFRAID [Italics Mine].
You will have normal self-confidence. Of course,
you may have moments when self-doubt will come,
but now you will be able to overcome it." [Norman
Vincent Peale, "How to Have Confidence in Your-
self," CREATIVE HELP FOR DAILY LIVING PART II 32/I
(27 May 1979):17-18].
The key to a successful life is to internalize the Word of
God--to listen to God with the heart.
Parable of the Soils
The Parable of the Soils is found in all three of the
synoptic Gospels: Matthew 13:1-23; Mark 4:1-20; and Luke
8:4-15. This parable is a key to other parables of Jesus,
since Jesus explains this parable in detail. [R. C. Trench,
NOTES ON THE PARABLES OF OUR LORD, Popular Edition (Grand
Rapids: Baker Book House, 1948), pp. 16, 29-33]. It deals
with inner transformation through hearing the Word of God:
Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The
crowd that gathered around him was so large that
he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake,
while all the people were along the shore at the
water's edge. He taught them many things by para-
bles, and in his teaching said: "Listen! A farmer
went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the
seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came
and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where
it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly,
because the soil was shallow. But when the sun
came up, the plants were scorched, and they with-
ered because they had no root. Other seed fell
among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants,
so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed
fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced
a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hun-
dred times."
Then Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear,
let him hear."
When he was alone, the Twelve and the others
around him asked him about the parables. He told
them, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been
given to you. But to those on the outside every-
thing is said in parables so that,
"`they may be ever seeing but
never perceiving,
and ever hearing but never
understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be
forgiven!'"
Then Jesus said to them, "Don't you under-
stand this parable? How then will you understand
any parable? The farmer sows the word. Some people
are like seed along the path, where the word is
sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and
takes away the word that was sown in them. Others,
like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and
at once receive it with joy. But since they have
no root, they last only a short time. When trouble
or persecution comes because of the word, they
quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown
among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of
this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the de-
sires for other things come in and choke the word,
making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on
good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a
crop--thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what
was sown. (Mark 4:1-20, NIV).
The setting is a natural amphitheater. Jesus sat in a
boat and the people sat on the shore. The water carried the
voice of Jesus to the people who lined the gently sloping
shoreline.
There may have been a farmer sowing grain in the dis-
tance when Jesus called out, "Look! A farmer was sowing seed
and some of the seed fell on the hard-packed soil by the
road." Thus Jesus began with a familiar event to teach a
truth that would affect the destiny of billions of people.
(The word PARABLE is the transliteration of the compound
New Testament Greek word, PARA "alongside" + BOLE, "to
cast." Hence, Jesus placed an unknown spiritual truth
alongside a known earthly truth in order to teach new truths
to those who would listen.
There is one central truth in each parable. If one did
not understand the truth at the time, it would exist in
story form in the mind of the hearer, so that it might be
understood at a later point in the spiritual development of
the hearer. If one chose to harden his heart and not receive
more spiritual understanding, he would never understand the
truth. This could be an act of mercy, since, according to
Jesus, we will be judged according to the light we have.
The first soil was a hard-packed soil and represented
people with hardened hearts, where the Word of God did not
penetrate and was consequently stolen by Satan. The people
represented here never had saving faith, since,
. . .faith comes from hearing the message, and
the message is heard through the word of Christ.
(Romans 10:17, NIV).
The second soil consisted of an extremely thin layer of
soil over a solid rock. The people represented here received
the Word in a "soulish," superficial way and immediately
fell when under pressure.
The third soil was good, but was infested with thorns.
The people represented here were genuine Christians, but
they allowed legitimate concerns and materialistic values to
take precedence over the Word of God. Thus, there was not a
complete Christlike transformation in their beings.
The fourth soil was good in varying degrees. The per-
sons portrayed here were Christians who opened their hearts
to the Word of God in varying degrees and were transformed
accordingly. Jesus is the primary sower, the soil is the
human heart and the Word of God is first an abstract Word
that becomes incarnate. In other words, the Word is form and
when superimposed upon a malformed human, that human becomes
a new Christ-like being.
Jesus teaches us that the place of the Bible is not on
a fireplace mantel, coffee table, bookshelf, etc., but in
the human heart. THE BEST TRANSLATION OF THE WORD OF GOD IS
A HUMAN BEING. God abstracted his essential nature and plac-
ed it in a book--THE BIBLE--as a means to reproduce himself
in the human heart. Of course, the Holy Spirit is involved
from start to finish.
The purpose of the abstract Word of God is to transform
the individual into the image of Christ. Once one under-
stands God's purpose relative to the Word of God, he can
cooperate in the process.
A Christian Epistemology
In the Parable of the Soils, Jesus teaches the impor-
tance of both WHAT and HOW one hears. Using these scriptures
along with other selected scriptures, a basic outline for a
Christian epistemology can be constructed.
Ideally, the whole Word of God would be received. Jesus
said, ". . .Take care WHAT [italics mine] you listen to."
(Mark 4:24a, New American Standard Bible). He also said,
"Therefore take care HOW [italics mine] you listen. . . ."
(Luke 8:18, New American Standard Bible). In this case, the
Word of God would be received into the body (through the
eye, ear, or touch gates); into the soul (through the con-
scious, then through the preconscious, then through the un-
conscious); and into the heart (spirit--the deepest level of
understanding).
Another possibility would be the reception of the Word
on a mere intellectual plane. The Word would stop somewhere
in the mind and go no deeper. In this case, the individual
would not have saving faith. John Wesley warned of the dan-
ger of "mental assent" being substituted for faith.
Then there are some immediately "turn off" the Gospel
either mentally or by actually doing something physically
like switching channels on a television set to avoid hearing
the Word of God.
Tragically, there are those who completely avoid con-
tact with the Gospel. They have made a foolish choice to
reject Christ and have learned how to minimize exposure to
the truth of God's Word.
Some substitutes for the Word of God are mentioned in
the Bible. One is human reason based on mere sense percep-
tion. Reason and sense perception are both good. However,
the Word of God must transcend them. One biblical example of
the taking of the Word of God above human reason and sense
perception is the case of Joshua and Caleb in Numbers 13-14.
Another substitute for the Word is the tradition(s) of
men:
Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law
came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, "Why do
your disciples break the tradition of the elders?
They don't wash their hands before they eat!"
Jesus replied, "And why do you break the com-
mand of God for the sake of your tradition? For
God said, `Honor your father and mother' and `Any-
one who curses his father or mother must be put to
death.' But you say that if a man says to his fa-
ther or mother, `Whatever help you might otherwise
have received from me is a gift devoted to God,'
he is not to `honor his father' with it. Thus you
nullify the word of God for the sake of your tra-
dition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he
prophesied about you:
"These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules
taught by men.'"
(Matthew 15:1-9, NIV).
Many traditions that religious people have inherited
are not scriptural. Their sources may be rationalistic as
cited above, or traditions may stem from ignorance and
superstition. However, it would not be proper to throw out
all tradition. The proper way to deal with tradition is to
hold on to the best understanding of God's Word that we
have. However, we must constantly revise our understanding
of the Word of God according to new light that the Holy
Spirit gives.
Other substitutes for the Word are the philosophies of
men:
See to it that no one takes you captive
through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which de-
pends on human tradition and the basic principles
of this world rather than on Christ. (Colossians
2:8, NIV).
For the message of the cross is foolishness
to those who are perishing, but to us who are be-
ing saved it is the power of God. For it is Writ-
ten:
"I will destroy the wisdom of the
wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I
will frustrate."
Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar?
Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God
made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in
the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did
not know him, God was pleased through the foolish-
ness of what was preached to save those who be-
lieve. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks
look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a
stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gen-
tiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews
and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom
of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than
man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger
than man's strength. (1 Corinthians 1:18-25, NIV).
We all have a guiding philosophy or theology. It may
not be systematized and written in philosophical or theolog-
ical language, but it is there nonetheless. The important
thing is to upgrade it continually with the Word of God.
At the extreme end of the substitute spectrum is the
position most opposed to the Word of God: doctrines of
demons. The world is filled with many voices, religions,
philosophies and ideologies. Some of them are inspired by
demons:
The Spirit clearly says that in later times
some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving
spirits and things taught by demons. Such teach-
ings come through hypocritical liars, whose con-
sciences have been seared as with a hot iron.
(1 Timothy 4:1-2, NIV).
Keep in mind that some may have been brought up in
beliefs that were inspired by demons, but who haven't re-
jected Christ. They can be delivered from wrong beliefs.
Probably the most common predicament of Christians
today is the position of having a "curious mixture" of the
Word of God and other content.
It is also common to hold part of the Word of God on an
intellectual level and part on a heart (spirit) level. How
does one move the Word of God into the heart?
Internalize the Word of God
Here are twelve practical steps to help internalize the
Word of God.
(1) Reestablish a right relationship with God.
Confess all known sin to God. Then make things
right with people. After one clears his con-
science, then he must choose to obey God as a
lifestyle. This means walking in the light of his
Word as the Holy Spirit illuminates his Word.
(2) Pray in the Spirit in order that the heart
might be further prepared to receive the Word.
(3) Quiet the body and mind. To facilitate this,
do all daily chores possible before beginning to
read the Bible, so that the mind is undistracted.
(4) Since psychomotor functions tend to distract,
it would be better to sit or lie down.
(5) It is important to rid oneself of all dis-
tractions, both internal and external, before,
during and after Bible reading and meditation. A
good time for Bible reading would be at bedtime,
unless one is too tired.
(6) Read the Word of God. It is recommended that
one read a small portion carefully. (There is a
time to read large portions quickly, but not for
this exercise).
(7) Some key scriptures should be memorized.
(8) Meditate on selected verses. Christian medi-
tation is not "emptying" the mind (to let the
devil write on it), but rather it is filling the
mind with the Word and allowing the Holy Spirit to
give one understanding of it.
(9) Receive the Word into the heart. Some may
think that they have done this when the Word is
still on the intellectual level. How does one know
if he has internalized a particular truth of the
Word of God? One has internalized a truth when he
automatically ACTS on it!
(10) Think God's thoughts (Word) consciously as a
practice.
(11) Practice speaking God's thoughts consciously.
(12) GOD'S WORD IS TRUE! Act out God's thoughts
consciously. In other words, act as if the Bible
were true!
As wrong beliefs are purged and the Word of God is
internalized, at least two things begin to happen: (1) one
is conformed more and more into the likeness of Christ and
(2) one's self-image is corrected. As a result, self-esteem
begins to rise. Then, one's prayer life becomes more effec-
tive and his work for the Master becomes more productive.
ASSIGNMENT: SELECT A PASSAGE OF SCRIPTURE THAT SPEAKS
TO A PARTICULAR NEED THAT IS ON YOUR MIND. FOLLOW THE ABOVE
TWELVE STEPS UNTIL YOU INTERNALIZE THAT SCRIPTURE.
END
