For the last couple of hours, I’ve been searching online for something that I wrote. It would’ve been easier for me just to write it again, but I didn’t get that clue quick enough. Yet alas I got the point, “God wanted me to write it again!” So here it is: I’m to live with my ear against Jesus’ chest, so I can hear His very heart about my life. John the beloved displayed this position, and it’s where I want to live. Just imagine, to live listening to His voice in every moment of my life!
One of His disciples, whom Jesus loved (esteemed), was leaning against Jesus’ chest.
John 13:23 AMP
Live Listening Against His Chest
Yes, Jesus deeply yearns for us to live in continual relationship with Him. So close in fact, that it’s more like living while leaning upon His chest. He so longs for our ear to be close enough to hear His very heartbeat. In this stance we can live listening to His heart concerning every step of our lives.
If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you might have noticed that my messages usually revolve around two basic themes. The first is that our life is for deep relationship with God. We’re designed for Garden intimacy above and beyond everything else, and this is available to every child of God. The second is that our life is to be lived by Jesus. We are designed to function from the Source of Another’s Life. “Christ’s life as my life is His life in my life, and that’s not my life as His life.” If Jesus’ own life is not the source of my life, I am just running in the flesh and not by faith. Nope, good intentions don’t equal a godly life. Only Christ Himself is godly. And both of these themes seem to be my life lessons, which I face over and over again and share on this blog.
Faith Comes By Hearing: Live Listening to His Voice
I was searching for this statement – “I’m to live with my ear against Jesus’ chest, so I can hear His very heart about my life” – because Martha mentioned it on a podcast we recently recorded. It impacted her deeply when she read it and it related to the topic we were discussing. And even though I couldn’t immediately find it, I did want to point to it.
In this podcast we discussed faith and how it comes by hearing (Romans 10:17). I found this amazing. The Word says that faith comes by listening to God. I always thought faith was to believe in the unbelievable. But what I’ve found is that this is not what the Bible says at all. Faith is having the conviction that what God says is true, even though we don’t see it. And the only way you come to this conviction is to live listening. Faith isn’t simply believing in what we want until it becomes a reality; it’s trusting that God’s reality is true even when we don’t see it.
I have to have the faith that He is speaking, that I can hear, and that He is leading me. His voice is my actuality not theory. Faith believes in His voice, His Word, and His reality. Faith comes from my hearing and listening to God. The closer I am to Him as Source, the easier it is for me to hear His heart. So if faith is the only thing that pleases Him, and faith comes by hearing, then I must live listening to His voice. I am His sheep, and I know His voice because He is my Shepherd.
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Romans 10:17 NKJV
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Any ‘other’ voice, leaves me to myself, & I’m no source or supply of anything. Everything else is a dead-end hiding by raising another question, the inference being that ‘they’ have answer, you just don’t ‘get it’. This is ever the enemies ploy. One Voice is Source of All; the only true Answer. Heart listeners are irresistible to Faith’s pleasing. The heart knows His Voice carries in it His very Person. God is ever communicating Himself to us. The Lord is IN His speaking. What He speaks, HE IS & Lives, in us. To live listening is our urgent necessity…our… Read more »
Daily our hearts come to the ‘cross-road’ of listening. My battle for Life is a heart-lean to listen that is CONSTANT, for God’s speaking is ever FRESH….Oh God, to not barge ahead, in my ignorant ‘knowing’ or careless dismissal…and so, miss HIM! HE is present in His speaking to Live it in me.
Faith is having the conviction that what God says is true, even though we don’t see it. Wow, what an eye opener! That opens up a whole new avenue to contemplate, and gives me hope beyond what I’ve had. Thank You, Father, for giving this to John. Thank you John for sharing.
“I have to have the faith that He is speaking, that I can hear, and that He is leading me.” Amen. And yet, no matter how many times we exercised that same faith in the past, we encounter new challenges requiring an even more acute hearing. Thank you John for this reminder!
Any ‘other’ voice, leaves me to myself, & I’m no Source or supply of anything. Everything else has a stopping point, & will always raise another question, the inference being that they have answer, you just don’t ‘get it’. This is the enemies ploy. One Voice IS Source of All, the only Answer. Heart listener’s are irresistible to Faith’s pleasing. The heart knows His Voice carries in it His very Person. God is ever communicating Himself to us. The Lord is IN His speaking. We listen IN HIM. What He speaks, HE IS, & Lives, in us, to us, with… Read more »
[…] the reference, 1 Timothy? (John) That was 1 Timothy 1:19. (Martha) Yeah. Do you remember when you wrote a post, and you talked about leaning on the breast of God? That was a rhema Word for me. That became a […]
I love how you put it, John ” listen with your ear so close to His chest, that you can hear His very heartbeat”. This kind of listening is the one that listens only that, not this, that, and the other… has no interest in listening to any other thing. This is the circumcised ear…. And only that kind of listening imparts the real faith, His faith into our hearts!
John, that was just this past December … it was great! This is daily, living faith — not ‘theology’ kind of faith. It blesses God and transforms us. Also goes along with Martha’s devotional about dwelling IN Him. For me, “abiding” sums it all up.
Love