UNLEASHING SPIRITUAL SHOCKWAVES FROM HEAVEN
Let’s explore a kingdom reality in a practical way starting with the question we posed in the Introduction: which is more important, the sense of hearing or the sense of seeing? Before answering this question, consider what God reveals to us in the first words of the Bible:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep; and the Spirit of God [ruach] was moving over the surface [a waste or emptiness] of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light (Genesis 1:1-3).
The first thing we learn about God from the Bible is that He speaks. The Father spoke, and the Holy Spirit heard and responded to the Father’s voice. Speech activated the Holy Spirit to create something called light. The Hebrew language explains what God said better than the English translation: “Light, be!” The spoken word of God created the world of God. After God spoke, it was “on earth is it is in heaven.” No hesitation, no time taken, just, “Light be!” and it was. God spoke, the Holy Spirit listened, and boom, there was light. Once again, we see the principle of hear first and speak second. God speaks what is on His mind, then the Holy Spirit responds. The result was that God saw what was created by hearing His voice was good.
The answer to the question I asked above is that hearing is more important than seeing, especially when it comes to the spiritual realm. God designed us to be responsive to His will being done on earth as it is done in Heaven. We were designed, as children of God, to listen and respond to what God says in the same way that the Holy Spirit responded to what God said at creation.
What we see often gets in the way of what God is saying. Our eyes speak one thing and God speaks another thing altogether. Our eyes have a voice like that village—unspiritual sight influences our minds more than our spiritual hearing does. We all have experienced that at some time in our lives. Generally, the result of us choosing the way of natural sight over spiritual hearing is like Adam without a wife—it is simply “not good.”
Hear First, Speak Second: The Ministry of Jesus
As David and I began to explore the idea of hear first, speak second, we noticed a powerful prophetic pattern throughout the Bible that impacted us in an unprecedented way. We had an aha moment. We noticed that usually in the Bible, hearing appeared before seeing. How are we, as believers, to interpret what we see until we have heard about and understand what we are seeing? Here are some examples from the life of Jesus:
Jesus therefore answered them, and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me” (John 7:16 NKJV).
… but He who sent me is true; and the things which I hear from Him, these I speak to the world (John 8:26).
… and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me (John 8:28).
He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God (John 8:47).
For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me commandment as to what to say and what to speak (John 12:49).
I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me (John 12:50).
Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works (John 14:10).
No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you (John 15:15).
For I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send Me (John 17:8 KJV).
Jesus heard first from the Father and then spoke and ministered out of what He heard. The Word doesn’t speak a word unless the God of the Word speaks a word first.
Hear First, Speak Second: The Ministry of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit does His ministry in much the same way. The Father speaks a word to the Holy Spirit before the Holy Spirit says a word to us. Consider some of these passages of scripture:
I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come (John 16:12-13).
For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.
But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:10-16).
Christians, in a corporate sense, have the mind of Christ because we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. As Jesus hears the Father speak, and as the Holy Spirit hears Jesus speak, so we hear the Holy Spirit speak so that when we speak, we know that God is speaking to the world in Jesus’s name. Hear first and speak second. God has a voice—your voice—speaking to today’s confused world. That’s the way God designed us to live. In fact, that’s our sweet spot. That’s where we become X factors and difference makers. God has a voice, our voice, if we can truly hear first and speak second.
Hear First, Speak Second: The Ministry of the Kingdom of God and Heaven
From the beginning of Jesus’s ministry, His central theme was the kingdom of God. God’s invisible person, kingdom, jurisdiction, power, and glory in Heaven were to be made visible on the earth. How was God going to do that? This coming of God’s kingdom is going to happen by speaking the word of God to reveal the will of the God of the Word. God spoke from Heaven to those on earth who were to first hear then speak God’s word and His will to the world.
The kingdom of God. That’s quite a concept, isn’t it? How does it work? How does God’s kingdom come and His will get done on Earth as it is in Heaven? How does God reveal Himself ? How does an invisible God make Himself visible? How will we, as people, ever know that His “is the kingdom and the glory and the power forever” (see Matthew 6:13)? To know how the kingdom of God operates, we must understand the mother of all parables. If we don’t understand this parable, then we will never understand all the other parables. In fact, the interpretive key to all other parables, as well as to understanding the kingdom of God, is in the parable of the sower and the seed.
In each of the accounts of the sower and the seed, Jesus spoke what the Father said: “He spoke many things to them in parables” (Matthew 13:3), and “He spoke by way of a parable” (Luke 8:4). Perhaps the best account of this is what Mark wrote: “Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow” (Mark 4:3). See the pattern here? Listen, then behold; hear, and then see. Jesus wanted His disciples to open their ears to God so they could understand what they were about to see; Jesus wanted them to know what to say to those who were waiting for answers.
“And He said to them, ‘Do you not understand this parable? And how will you understand all the parables?’” (Mark 4:13). The interpretive key to understanding all the parables is this: “Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11). God fills the earth with the knowledge of the Lord by sowing His Word into people. Let’s connect these thoughts: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed,” and “the seed is the Word of God” (Matthew 13:24 NKJV; Luke 8:11). From this we can see that the Word of God comes from the God of the Word first. What the God of the Word spoke is the Word of God—that Word we sow into the earth and into the lives of others. This is how His kingdom comes and His will is done on Earth as it is in Heaven.
As Jesus goes on to tell the parable, we are presented with a problem. The problem in this parable is not the seed; the problem is not that the seed wasn’t sown. Rather, the problem occurs where the seed was sown. Three times the seed was sown into the ears of people who couldn’t or wouldn’t hear. But the fourth time the seed was sown into the ears of people who could hear. Jesus used four types of soil as examples of the types of hearts the seed was sown into, thereby revealing the condition of the hearers’ ears and hearts. The Greek word for seed used here is sporos, meaning “a scattering of seed” or “scattered seed.” The word used here and throughout this parable for God’s Word is LOGOS. LOGOS is the entire Bible, the totality of God’s Word. Let’s look at the four different types of soil:
What is good soil? It’s people who have heard and understood the Word of God that was sown into them, and thus it takes root and produces fruit. They are fruitful and they multiply the fruit that they bear. These people are called Christians or “little Christs.” They can only be sustained by living one way: hearing first and speaking second. As Acts 17:28 says, “for in Him we live and move and have our being” (NKJV).
You may recall that after Jesus told the parable of the kingdom, He ended with this admonition to all people: “And as He said these things, He would call out, ‘He who has ears to hear, let him hear’” (Luke 8:8). Then He spoke to His listening disciples before He explained the parable: “To you it is granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand” (Luke 8:10). Why couldn’t they see? It was because if they can’t hear God’s voice, then they will never be able to understand what they are seeing. Jesus then concluded this parable by speaking to them a Word from God: “So take care how you listen; for whoever has [the ability to hear God clearly], to him shall more [ability to hear God clearly] be given; and whoever does not have [the ability of hear God clearly], even what he thinks he has [the ability to hear God clearly], shall be taken away from him” (Luke 8:18).
If you are worried about being able to understand spiritual realities, parables, the Bible, and hearing the voice of God, don’t worry. The disciples were in the same shape as you (and me too). Look at how Jesus handled this issue with His disciples: “And with many such parables He was speaking the word to them as they were able to hear it” (Mark 4:33). Relax, because God wants you to truly hear Him more than you want to hear from God.
Hear First, Speak Second in the Names of God
As I was writing this book, a voice spoke within me (the Lord spoke to me in my mind like in First Corinthians 2:10-14). The voice said, “Check out all the names of God in the Old and New Testaments. I want to show you something.” Allow me to uncover it for you and hopefully recover it for the church. Here is what I discovered:
Here is a list of most of the Hebrew names of God representing His multifaceted character. Notice that God speaks in each example:
Who God is: Elohim means Creator, mighty and strong. Since it is a plural word, it contains the Trinity. It represents the one, true God and His mighty and sovereign work (see Genesis 1:1). What God spoke: In the beginning, Elohim created the heavens and the earth (see Genesis 1:1), and then Elohim said, “Let there be light,” and there was light (see Genesis 1:3).
Who God is: El Shaddai means “God Almighty.” This speaks to God’s ultimate power over all things; it represents that God is omnipotent and omnipresent. What God spoke: “Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty [El Shaddai]; walk before Me, and be blameless. I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.’ Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him…” (Genesis 17:1-3).
Who God is: Yahweh/Jehovah. Strictly speaking, this is the only proper name for God, translated in English Bibles as “Lord” to distinguish it from Adonai, which is translated as “Lord.” This name specifies an immediacy, a presence. Yahweh is present, accessible, and near to those who call on Him for deliverance (see Psalm 107:13), forgiveness (see Psalm 25:11), and guidance (see Psalm 31:3). What God spoke: “And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM’ [Yahweh]; and He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, “I Am [Yahweh] has sent me to you”’” (Exodus 3:14).
Who God is: Adonai, which is translated as “Lord” throughout our English translations. It was used in place of Yahweh, which was thought by the Jews to be too sacred to be uttered by sinful men. In the Old Testament, Yahweh is more often used in God’s dealings with His people, while Adonai is used more when He deals with the Gentiles. This signifies that God is Lord over all of us collectively and as individuals. What God spoke: “After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; your reward shall be very great.’ Abram said, ‘O Lord God [Adonai], what will You give me, since I am childless…?’” (Genesis 15:1-2).
Who God Is: Jehovah-Jireh means the Lord Will Provide. This name of God was memorialized by Abraham when God provided the ram to be sacrificed in place of Abraham’s son Isaac. What God spoke: “Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide [Jehovah-Jireh], as it is said to this day, ‘In the mount of it will be provided.’ Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, ‘By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice’” (Genesis 22:14-18).
Who God is: Jehovah-Rapha means the Lord Who Heals. God heals both in body and in soul. In body, God heals by preserving from and curing diseases, and He heals in soul by pardoning iniquities. What God spoke: “And He said, ‘If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the Lord, am your healer [Jehovah-Rapha]’” (Exodus 15:26).
Who God is: Jehovah-Nissi means the Lord Our Banner. Banner is to be understood as a rallying place of the Lord. This name commemorates the desert victory over the Amalekites in Exodus 17. What God spoke: “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Write this in a book as a memorial and recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.’ Moses built an altar and named it The Lord is My Banner [Jehovah-Nissi]; and he said, ‘The Lord has sworn; the Lord will have war against Amalek from generation to generation’” (Exodus 17:14-16 NKJV).
Who God Is: Jehovah-Shalom means the Lord Our Peace. This is the name Gideon gave to the altar he built after the angel of the Lord assured him he would not die as he thought he would after seeing Him. What God spoke: “When Gideon saw that he was the angel of the Lord, he said, ‘Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.’ The Lord said to him, ‘Peace to you, do not fear; you shall not die.’ Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and named it The Lord is Peace [Jehovah-Shalom]…” (Judges 6:22-24).
Who God is: Jehovah-Shammah means the Lord Is with Us. This name is revealed in the last verse in the book of Ezekiel. It was spoken by God in the design of the new city and the inheritances to the tribes of Israel. What God Spoke: “The city shall be 18,000 cubits round about; and the name of the city from that day shall be, ‘The Lord is There’” (Ezekiel 48:35).4
Do you see the pattern here? It is always hearing first and then speaking second. I could have gone on and described many more names of God, but I think with the above examples, my point has been made. Every place we see another one of God’s names, God always spoke surrounding that event. The only exception to this might be Jehovah-Rohi (The Lord Is My Shepherd) in Psalm 23. However, we can assume that David, the shepherd boy who slew the giant Goliath, wrote this after getting a revelation of God in a way he could understand. No doubt the Lord had been speaking to him.
Hear First, Speak Second: Other Occurrences in the Bible
Isn’t it interesting that the story of Jesus healing the deaf and mute man appears in Mark 7 and then the story of Jesus healing the blind man appears in Mark 8? Hearing is the most important sense that we can have when it comes to the spiritual realm. Here are a few other verses that contain the hear first, speak second principle:
But [Jesus] answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4).
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches (Revelation 2:7).
For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19:10).
Everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger (James 1:19).
I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt; open your mouth wide, and I will fill it (Psalm 81:10).
And they were utterly astonished, saying, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear, and the mute to speak” (Mark 7:37).
… and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will shout for joy (Isaiah 35:5-6).
A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken! Who can but prophesy? (Amos 3:8)
And I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me, and how I may reply when I am reproved. Then the Lord answered me and said, “Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets that the one who reads it may run” (Habakkuk 2:1-2).
He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’”…so I prophesied as I was commanded” (Ezekiel 37:4,7).
Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; keep on looking, but do not understand’” (Isaiah 6:8-9).
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word [concerning] Christ (Romans 10:17).
A more accurate translation for Romans 10:17 would be, “So the faith to be saved by believing and confessing Christ came by hearing a specific, personal, clear word from God concerning Christ that ‘Jesus is Lord.’”
But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake. It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; for I will give you utterance [a mouth] and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute (Luke 21:12-15).
Other Mothers and Other Brothers
Right after this encounter with the mother of all parables, God gives us the bottom line with another unusual encounter:
And [Jesus’s] mother and brothers came to Him, and they were unable to get to Him because of the crowd. And it was reported to Him, “Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, wishing to see You.” But He answered and said to them, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word [LOGOS] of God and do it” (Luke 8:19-21).
I like that. Being a brother of Jesus would look good on our résumé, wouldn’t it? How does “mothership” and “brothership” happen anyhow? Hear first, speak second. That’s what we were designed by God to do; it is only then that we are in our sweet spot. We are fulfilling the purposes of God for our generation as we hear what God says and then faithfully say what He has given to us. We aren’t listening to other competing voices in society and we aren’t listening to our own voice; rather, we are listening to God’s channel: “Your kingdom come, Your will be done.” We are the good soil that produces fruit, some thirty-fold, some sixtyfold, and some a hundredfold.
The Chicken with Its Head Cut Off
Jane Cherney, one of NationStrategy’s intercessors, recently shared with me some Bible verses that stunned her regarding the principle of hear first, speak second:
Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day—things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ (Colossians 2:16-17).
The literal translation of the last part is “but the body of Christ belongs to Christ.” Let’s look at the next two verses.
Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting is self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God (Colossians 2:18-19).
We can see that the body of Christ belongs to Christ, who is the Head of the body. But these misguided leaders have lost their head. They are running around with their heads cut off. When Jane saw these verses, she asked the Lord what they meant. And the Lord told her, “That’s my church.”
My grandfather owned several cattle ranches. I will never forget the “harvest time” of preparing for a night’s dinner. It wasn’t a pretty sight, to say the least. The decapitated chicken’s body would run all over the place with blood spurting everywhere in big pulses. When a chicken loses its head, there’s heaps of activity for a few brief moments with no direction, but then the end comes quickly. Never confuse motion with direction.
Don’t worry. Neither Jane nor I want to bash the church. But we thought this revelation and its interpretation were interesting considering writing this book. Certainly, at times, Christ-followers and churches have acted like headless chickens—lots of motion with no direction. Without our Head (Jesus), we’ve stopped listening because we have no head. We can’t hear what the Head is saying and therefore we lack any productive or significant direction. We have stopped hearing first and speaking or doing second. We don’t know it, but Christ’s life is draining from us, leaving us headless and soon-to-be lifeless.
Think of it. Why did David slay Goliath? He listened for God’s direction and heard what God wanted him to do. Faith came to David by God’s direction. David spoke God’s direction, and then he did God’s direction. As a result of hearing first and speaking second, David experienced a great victory for himself, his people, and his God. He had his head. His body and head were connected. He even got his name in the Bible.
But why did David get in trouble with Bathsheba? It was because he lost his head. The sight of that beautiful woman spoke louder to him than what he had heard. And just like that, there he was—the great warrior king, a man after God’s own heart, a prophet—running around with his head cut off, doing exactly what the body always does without its Head, which is lose direction. The results would haunt him for the rest of his life. And this all happened because in the moment his head was severed from his body in a figurative sense. He quit hearing first and speaking second.
The Bible is loaded with headless people running around in chaos. Thank God that many of them eventually rediscovered their lost head. For example, let’s take Peter, a man who was full of faith and a glorious future, denying Christ three times. Jesus even warned Peter about this before it occurred. Perhaps it is no coincidence it was a chicken crowing three times that jolted Peter back into reality. Peter didn’t listen first and speak second; he went headless for a short season. Then later he got his head back.
This happens to church people, churches, pastors, communities, cities, and even countries. When the body of Christ is severed from the Head (who is Christ), the body or flesh will do what it always does, which is sin, miss the mark, underachieve, and do meaningless activity that has little outcome. Some nimrod from the body will always come along with something that sounds good but is not from God. Remember, the wages of sin is death. Where does sin ultimately come from? Sin comes from not listening to God, not hearing God, and not acting on what God speaks. This is why the principle of hear first, speak second is so important. Otherwise, we end up making quite a spectacle of ourselves—just like that chicken.
Here’s a takeaway for kingdom ministry: Hear from God first and then speak, see, act, and do second. Illumination comes before communication. Revelation takes place, then impartation. That’s the kingdom. That’s how the spiritual realm works. That’s how we were designed to work. It’s also how businesses work, churches work, nations work, cities work, governments work, media works, athletics works, and science works. Everyone was created by the God of the Word to hear the word of God. Anything less than that will eventually underachieve.
We unleash spiritual shockwaves into Heaven as we report for duty and do what God says to do. Ministry is doing what God told us to do in prayer. We hear first, then speak second, making our part on Earth as it is in Heaven. We make the invisible become visible by making the inaudible become audible. Intimacy with God is our source.
What is Rhema?
You might be saying to yourself, “Okay, let’s get on to the subject of RHEMA.” In order to understand what RHEMA is and how it works, we wanted to give you the “why” of RHEMA first. Rhema needs a context if it is to be effective. The biblical pattern of hear first, speak second is what RHEMA was designed for. What do you hear first and speak second? What God tells you.
If we just gave you a Bible study on RHEMA, you would know the “what” of RHEMA but not the “why.” You would have knowledge but little understanding. Knowledge without understanding is like seeing men walking as trees—we wouldn’t be able to see clearly—which would lead to the abuse and misuse of RHEMA, as occasionally has happened in the past. RHEMA is a means to an end, not the end itself. RHEMA is what we “hear” in the hear first, speak second biblical pattern. It is the vehicle. Hear first, speak second is the driver; it is the second touch. We want you to see clearly.
Notes
1. Andrew Murray, With Christ in the School of Prayer (New Kensignton, PA: Whitaker House, 1981).
2. Steven Furtick, Crash the Chatterbox: Hearing God’s Voice Above All Others (Multnomah Books, Colorado Springs, CO, 2014).
3. I heard Harvey Lifsey say this in a message years ago while we were in India.
4. This list of the names of God are largely adapted from the website gotquestions.org.