Mature in Christ: A Hearing Heart

By Ps Ng Zhiwen

Last week, we dedicated our Congregational Shepherding Teams to a new year of ministry. The primary aim of our ministry is to present every-one mature in Christ. That should be the aim of every one of us as well, because we need to take personal responsibility for our own maturity. 

That means we desire not to remain as ‘spiritual babies’ or stagnant in our growth. But that at the end of each year, we can look back and say that we have grown to become more like Jesus.

What does maturity look like? I want to touch on just one aspect here, which I think is of fundamental importance: To grow in our love for our Father in Heaven.

One of the men who discipled me 20 years ago called it having a Hearing Heart. He introduced me to Isaiah 50:4-5 – 

The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary.

Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. 

The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious;
I turned not backward.

A study of this text will show that this is Jesus (the Messiah) speaking. He made it a habit of listening to God, letting His Father in heaven awaken his ear morning by morning. Jesus had a heart that was taught (or trained) to listen to God; First and foremost, to God. When you have this… you’ve got intimacy.

Not only that, whatever Jesus heard from His Father, He was not rebellious towards it. He trusted and obeyed. That’s the heart of Discipleship.

I believe that every day our Father in Heaven speaks to us. He is always wanting to speak to His children, to share His heart with them. When our Father speaks: He may address our inner life; He may assure us of His love; He may confront us about some sin, wanting only to refine and purify; He may reveal to us His thoughts and passions.

The thing is that we get to cultivate a personal relationship with the Father. What a privilege!

How do we hear from the Father and figure out that the voice in our heart is His? We learn His ways by getting deep into His Word – it is through Scripture that our Father speaks and reveals what He is like. When He speaks to us in our heart by the Spirit, it will always be consistent with what He has already said in Scripture.

I pray that in this year ahead, we commit to having a daily discipline of hearing God, morning by morning; and thus cultivate a hearing heart.

Note: Here’s a simple personal devotional guide that you can use each day. 
Download it at: https://bit.ly/HearingHeart_Personal_Devotional_Guide