Saturday, June 28, 2014

Listen With A Hearing Heart

Psalm 65: 9-13
You visit the earth and water it,
You greatly enrich it;
The river of God is full of water;
You provide their grain,
For so You have prepared it.
You water its ridges abundantly,
You settle its furrows;
You make it soft with showers,
You bless its growth.
You crown the year with Your goodness, (Tóv)
And Your paths drip with abundance. (Fatness/Deshén)
They drop on the pastures of the wilderness,
And the little hills rejoice on every side.
The pastures are clothed with flocks;



Doesnt that sound good and inviting: To be crowned with goodness and dripping with abundance?  That's our God!  He's full of abundance and blessing for His children!
The two words in the verse above, "tóv" and "deshén," meaning goodness and fatness, respectively, appear together in scripture in some very strategic places:  Five to be exact:  The number of Grace!  

Each occurrence shows us a different way we can flow in His "tóv and deshén."

(Isaiah writing under the influence of the Holy Spirit.)

Tóv and deshén should be viewed in this context:
Isaiah 55:2-3 says "Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good (tóv) And let your soul delight itself in abundance. (deshén) Incline your ear, and come to Me. 3 Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you—The sure mercies of David."

If you look up those two words,"Listen carefully," in any Interlinear text, you see that both words, "shimú [שִׁמְע֨וּ] shamoá [שָׁמ֤וֹעַ] in Hebrew, both come from the same root word:  Shemá: Listen.  It's like saying, "Listen listening."

What is this bread?  It's listening and listening; hearing and hearing with a "hearing heart" to the word of God.  That is what fills, nourishes and satisfies your soul.  That's what opens the door to all God's "tóv and deshén!"


Psalm 103 says that when your soul is satisfied, your "youth is renewed like the eagle's." That's a literal, physical renewal!  The eagle literally plucks out it's feathers, beak and talons when they've become old, worn and tattered and grows new ones in their place over a 5-month period.  In the same way, your youth will be physically, literally renewed.
Sarah, Abraham's wife, is a prime example of this. At the ripe old age of 90, a heathen king wanted her for his harem!  How many 90-year-olds get an invitation like that, coming from a guy who doesn't sense things "spiritually" but goes by his eyeballs?


But it's not enough to hear just one time and think that's enough.  You need to hear and keep on hearing and hearing; listen and keep on listening and listening. You can hear through a preacher or be your own preacher by muttering/hagah/meditating as Joshua 1:8 describes, aloud--favorite passages and verses of scripture, like Psalm 23 or 91. You'll have good success!
(For more on muttering/meditating follow this link:  http://emmausrevelations.blogspot.com/2016/04/meditate-hagah-tree-series-part-2.html)



When God says, "Faith comes by 'hearing,' and 'hearing' by the word of God," He's saying " shemá, shemá:  Listen, listening." (Rom. 10:17).  He is emphasizing that it's not enough to hear once, you must listen and keep on listening. 
Don't get discouraged:  Keep on hearing and hearing and hearing and hearing......and then hear some more.
God's word is full of seed thoughts that are incorruptible, seeds that germinate and grow to maturity in the soil of a hearing heart.  Put them on your iPod, listen to CD's of anointed preaching in your car; watch them on TV; subscribe to good podcasts.  Listen again and again and again and again to the incorruptible seed of God's word.  Allow it to take root and a firm hold on your life.

What does this Bread do for you?  
There are 5 places in the Bible where this phrase, " shemá, shemá," appears and where you find what blessings are ours.  These two words in the same verse together act as a sign post, pointing out to us good things in God's word, and five is the number of grace!

(The lame man leaps for joy at his healing.)

#1. Exodus 15:26--HEALING
“If you diligently heed {[שָׁמ֨וֹעַ תִּשְׁמַ֜ע: shamoá tishmá]} the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.”
"Shamoá tishmá," again, bothe have the same root word:  Shemá!  

The greatest blessing is health. How can you feel blessed or be a blessing to anyone if you're always flat on your back?  You can't.  

#2.  Deuteronomy 11:13-14 LONG LIFE
"13 ‘And it shall be that if you earnestly obey [שָׁמֹ֤עַ תִּשְׁמְעוּ֙: shamoá tishmeú] My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14 then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil."

The phrase here that says "earnestly obey," both root words are "shemá." It yields the blessing of Long Life for you and your family, like days of heaven.

#3.  Deuteronomy 15:5-6 PROSPERITY
"5 only if you carefully obey [שָׁמ֣וֹעַ תִּשְׁמַ֔ע: shamoá tishmá] the voice of the Lord your God, to observe with care all these commandments which I command you today. 6 For the Lord your God will bless you just as He promised you; you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you.

We are blessed to be a blessing. "Diligently harken" here is "shemá, shemá."

#4.  Isaiah 55:2-3 ABUNDANCE
"2 Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully [שִׁמְע֨וּ שָׁמ֤וֹעַ: shimú shamoá] to Me, and eat what is good,
And let your soul delight itself in abundance.
3 Incline your ear, and come to Me.
Hear, and your soul shall live;
And I will make an everlasting covenant with you—
The sure mercies of David."

Shemá, shemá to God's word to satisfy your soul and become heir to the sure blessings of David.

#5. Deuteronomy 28:1-3  EVERY BLESSING
“1 Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully [שָׁמ֤וֹעַ תִּשְׁמַע֙: shamoá tishmáall His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God:
3 “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country."

You are blessed with all the blessings of Deut. 28.  We are under the New Covenant not the Ten Commandments, of course because Jesus fulfilled the whole law.  His perfect law-keeping is accredited to our account the moment we are born again.  As far as God is concerned, we get an A+ in law-keeping.  All that is left for us to "do" is to "shemá-shemá; listen, listen." Be transformed by beholding Jesus in God's word.



When Jesus walked the earth, wherever He went, He healed everyone who wanted to be healed. In Luke 5:15 it says "However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and GREAT MULTITUDES {tens of thousands} came together to "HEAR AND BE HEALED."
In the very next chapter look what it says again: Luke 6:17-19:  
"And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to HEAR HIM AND BE HEALED of their diseases, 18 as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits, AND THEY WERE HEALED. 19 And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him AND HE HEALED THEM ALL." 

Are you sensing a pattern here? HEAR AND BE HEALED. Hear and be healed; Hear and be healed.  I guess it's obviously REALLY important to HEAR AND BE HEALED!

It's not enough to have your pastor or elders come to your house.  It's not enough to go to a healing service or something similar.  It's not enough just to pray for your healing or deliverance from any other situation.....UNLESS.....you have listened and listened and listened and listened, over and over and over again to what God's word says about your need.  The seeds of our faith must be planted, fed and watered by hearing the word of God so that they will flourish and grow into maturity. 

FAITH IS A RESPONSE TO HEARING ABOUT GOD'S GOODNESS.  Hear all God has to say about healing, about fear, about lack, about worry. Whatever your need, seek out and mutter, "hagah-meditate," on God's word.  



The passage below in James 1:22-25 clearly points out the importance of HEARING VS. DOING. It's unfortunate that you often hear it misquoted in a way that makes "works" seem more important than listening.  However, if you read the entire passage and know how to CORRECTLY "rightly divide," this passage reveals that works is impotent, hearing is transforming.
(Follow this link if you're interested in a study on rightly dividing the word of God: http://emmausrevelations.blogspot.com/2014/11/part-1-of-16-introduction-to-rightly.html)


22" But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word {hears once} and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself {one time}, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. {Humans need reminding!} 25 BUT he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and CONTINUES IN IT AND IS NOT A FORGETFUL HEARER, {shemá, shemá} but a doer of the work, THIS ONE WILL BE BLESSED IN WHAT HE DOES."

In other words, if you hear AND KEEP ON HEARING, you cannot help but to DO AND KEEP ON DOING. Doing will flow out of you effortlessly like rivers of living water.

Your faith to receive all of His abundance comes by "SHEMÁ, SHEMÁ:"  Listening with a Hearing Heart.

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