The Established Heart 2, The Attentive Ear - David Mitts
Last chapter, we spoke about establishing our hearts in troubled times. Yeshua instructed us not to allow our hearts to be troubled.
"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful." Joh 14:27
Yeshua has left us with His peace. He tells us it is not given the same way the world gives its peace. What is worldly peace based upon? IT is based on agreements. We call them peace agreements or peace accords. Worldly peace is peace in the externals. When you make this kind of peace you define the peace with agreed-upon rules and expectations.
Israel has recently made peace agreements with the United Arab Emirates for example. It is an agreement for the benefits of trade and mostly to remove Israel from the enemy list of this Arab country. The question is, has the heart changed in the people towards each other? Of course not, that will take decades and may never happen. Look at Egypt and Israel. They have had a peace treaty since Jimmy Carter was President. Yet, there is still a deep animosity in the heart of the 2 peoples.
Yeshua gives us another type of peace. The world’s peace is strategic in nature. We defend ourselves because we have been hurt in the past and our “peace” strategy is our attempt to prevent and control more damage and pain. As a baby, we don’t strategize peace. We are at peace until the support structures of our lives fail to support our peace. In many cases our parents actually not only don’t support our peace, but they are also the violators. Yeshua shows us another reality. His reality is the peace that is our birthright from the love of the Father. This is an inner peace of the heart. It is the antidote to being troubled in heart.
The question is, if we have access to His peace why does our heart still get troubled? I want to suggest that the answer is like anything of the Spirit. Like healing, prosperity, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, prophecy, etc. it must be appropriated by faith.
"For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard." Heb 4:2
What is the gate of faith? Listening. In Hebrew, it is the sh’ma. The sh’ma recited in Deuteronomy 6:4 and at Mark 12:29 says:
"Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!" Deu 6:4
This declaration is known as the “yoke” in Hebrew thought. This is the declaration by Moses to Israel of God, Yahweh, who freed them from the yoke of Egypt. This the declaration that defines their relationship to His authority in their lives. Today this declaration defines His authority in our lives as well. It is opened by the sh’ma, by listening with our heart and trusting in whose voice we hear.
Yeshua spoke of this when He referenced Himself as the good shepherd.
"So Jesus said to them again, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. "All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. "He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. "He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. "I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. "I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd." Joh 10:7-16
The door. The entrance to the sh’ma to the authority of the Lord in our lives is through the door. The Hebrew word for house is Bayit. The letter “bet” is the picture of a door into a house. The pictograph bet represents the nomadic tents of the Hebrews. It is the first letter of the Bible. It is positioned in this way to reflect the opening of the ear to receive the revelation. If you look closely at an ear and at the pictogram for Bet you can see the similarity.
Bet
Bet is the first character of the entire bible. This is to me an invitation by the author into the place of His heart. The first word and the name of the first book is Bereshit. Its literal translation is in the first place. But I like to think of it in pictograms. Bet is the house but also the ear. Rosh is the mind or the authority. Aleph is the word for power or strength. Shin is the pictogram for teeth, chewing. Yod is the pictogram for the hand. Tav is the cross or the mark of the covenant. The first 2 letters bet and Resh, spell the bar which means son. Remember Yes said he was the door or the way into the place where listening, the ear can occur.
There is much more we can say and will say about Bereshit, but for now, I just want to anchor our listening with the opening into the house of the Lord.
The next thing He tells us is that there are many other voices that are thieves and robbers.
"All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;
Notice that the key distinction is who the sheep listen to. This is so important! Our ear gate is the entry point for death and destruction of life and abundance. We have to pay special attention to the voice we are listening to in these turbulent times. Our government and the media, especially the titans of social media have a definite anti-Christ agenda. Preferential lockdowns against the Church, small business, and family gatherings are an attack of the voice of the Lord in our hearts.
Our heart can be established in His peace when we make Him the doorway into our heart. That doorway comes from our listening. Listening is a matter of attenuation of the other voices. Like a child in a crowd, we to become so familiar with the voice of our Father, that we know and follow His voice and not the stranger’s voice.
"Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. "Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. "And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. "Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. "Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold." And He was saying, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." As soon as He was alone, His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables." Mar 4:3-10
This entire parable is about listening as the doorway to the heart and what our faith is in. The seed of the word is always the same. It is our listening that transforms it into our hearts.
"And He *said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? "The sower sows the word. "These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. "In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away. "And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. "And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold."" Mar 4:13-20
You see it’s all up to us and our listening, the sh’ma.
Activation: Pair up and let’s practice listening for one another. Ask the Lord, what do you have that can help the heart be established for my brother or sister?
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