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Christ's Statements Regarding:
Coming to Him,
Listening, and
Hearing
Come unto me, .. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me.
You search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.
But you are not willing to come to me that you may have life.
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest.
Listen to and obey My voice,
and I will be your God and you will be My people.
For everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and does them, I will show you what he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug and went down deep and laid a foundation upon the rock; and when a flood arose, the torrent broke against that house and could not shake or move it, because it had been securely built or founded on a rock.
Allow the little children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.
Jesus replied, I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to Me will never be hungry,
and he who believes in and cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me will never thirst any more (at any time).
All whom My Father gives (entrusts) to Me will come to Me;
and the one who comes to Me I will most certainly not cast out.
No one is able to come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me attracts and draws him
and gives him the desire to come to Me, and I will raise him up at the last day.
Jesus said, It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.'
Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.
"Mary chose the good part, which cannot be taken."
To learn at the feet of Jesus.
For from of old no one has heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who works and shows Himself active on behalf of him who [earnestly] waits for Him.
So how do we come to him? That is crux of the issue.
Here is what Jesus said: And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not.
So, he is not found in any church building or cathedral, because he does not dwell in a structure made with human hands.
So where is he? Paul tells us: Do you not yourselves realize and know that Jesus Christ is in you.
To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles;
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
The Spirit of God has been poured out on all mankind.
That which may be known of God is manifest [revealed] within them,
(Note: Paul is saying, whatever is to be learned about God is to be revealed within a man.)
Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?
I will dwell in them, And walk in them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.
John tells us:
But the anointing which you have received of him abides in you,
and you do not need not any man to teach you:
but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth,
and is no lie, and even as it has taught you,
you shall abide in him.
They will all be taught by God.
He is in you, but to hear him, you have to listen. How else could you listen unless you stop everything and get quiet to hear?
After you say the Lord's Prayer, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.
Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. .
Be still, and know that I am God.
Be silent, oh all flesh before the Lord.
Jesus said: The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. John 6:63
He [Jesus] became the Author and Source of eternal salvation to all those who give heed and obey Him.
(And how do you obey Him to attain salvation?)
Listen to and obey My voice,
and I will be your God and you will be My people.
This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk,
in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God,
because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;
who, being past feeling, have given
themselves over to lewdness,
to work all uncleanness with greediness.
But you have not so learned Christ,
if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus:
that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,
and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
and that you put on the new man,
which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.
But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice.
And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring,
and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door,
I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God;
and those who hear will live.
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
Consider carefully what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more.
Jesus replied, "My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice."
Jesus said, Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.
Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him. So call to mind theheard; continually lay them to heart and obey them, and repent.
Then will the righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with God) shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let him who has ears [to hear] be listening, and let him consider and perceive and understand by hearing.
To hear the Word of God, is to hear the Spirit of Christ speaking to you from within you. Some of the fundamental Christian sects think the Bible is the Word of God. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (The Word of God is clearly not the Bible, it is Christ, the Word of God. The Bible was not printed until 1516.) Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. To think the Bible framed the worlds is ridiculous.
Choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the LORD your God,
that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days.
Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them,
I announce to you today that you shall surely perish.
This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!
Samuel said, Has the Lord as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
So blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gate, watching at the posts of my door.
For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD.
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
And when you really hear Christ speaking to you, your faith will grow by leaps and bounds.
The Lords' voice is kind, gentle, pure, easily understood, easily accepted, peaceable, complete, always morally correct, encouraging - never with even a hint of sarcasm, bitterness, or condemnation - never incomplete leaving you guessing what he wants; instead His words are full of love itself - his spirit of Love - for he is Love. His voice will always be the same voice too. There are many other voices to hear; but they are bitter, sarcastic, incomplete, confusing, condemning, taunting, questioning - the Lord's voice is not so. To distinguish the voice of the Lord vs. those of deceit is to rightly divide the word of Truth. Everything from Him will also be moral as tested with scripture from the Bible. He said to me, "To know what the Bible says is wrong is worthy; all my great men knew the scriptures."
That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom you also trusted, after that you heard the word of truth, [the word of truth is not a book], the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with the holy Spirit of promise.
Today, if you hear his voice from heaven, do not harden your hearts.
See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth,
how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven?
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,
teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts,
we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world,
This is the basis of repentance and change, to be personally taught by grace what to deny and how to live.
But what does it (scripture) say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming. The Spirit is in your mouth and your heart, not scriptures. When Paul said this, the New Testament didn't even exist.
For if you live according to the flesh (the sinful nature), you will surely die. But if through the power of the Spirit you are putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the deeds prompted by the body, you shall live forever.
Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
To be led is to hear the voice of Christ with direct orders as to what to do and when to do it.
He doesn't leave you to guess about a feeling, a call, an opinion, a burden, a desire, or a "door opening" to walk through.
The Word is Christ within you, the Light that enlightens all men, patiently waiting to teach and reveal himself to you,
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory; Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom;
that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. .
For more understanding on the necessity of learning in silence,
see the George Fox's outstanding writing on Why Silence?, also on the side bar.
and for guidance in the process of silence, see How to Benefit from the Changing Power of God and Miguel de Molinos' The Spiritual Guide, also on the side bar.
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