Being those who to Listen Carefully to the Word of God, Obey God’s Word, and Act on it

As believers in Christ, we need to listen carefully to God’s word, obey God’s word, and act on it, coming to God’s word with a proper attitude to care for contacting God and obeying what He is speaking to us; this will lead to having success in serving God and working for God.

This week we come to another great crystal in the book of Judges, The Intrinsic Significance of Gideon as God’s Valiant Warrior. God called Gideon a valiant warrior even before he went to war; He foresaw that Gideon was going to be a warrior on His behalf against God’s enemy.

Gideon was raised by God to be a judge in Israel. A judge is one who plays the role of the adjudicator; in a judicial sense, they would decide when two people would come to them with problems, and they would make a decision.

However, this wasn’t their primary function; mainly, their function was to be a chieftain, a leader, one who provides leadership in bringing the tribes together in one accord to fight against God’s enemy.

The case of Gideon is quite significant since, among all the judges in the book of Judges, he has the largest portion of verses – four chapters (Judges 6-9).

The reason chapter 9 is included is that Gideon wasn’t only very successful in defeating God’s enemy, but he also had a terrible failure, which continued even after he died.

He was one with God and was very successful and useful in God’s hands, but then he was one with Satan and he brought in destruction, chaos, and death in his family.

We need to read these chapters prayerfully, contact the Lord, and have an ear to hear what the Spirit is speaking to the churches.

It is quite sad to read a verse that keeps repeating in Judges, such as Judges 2:11, The children of Israel did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah and served the Baals.

This is repeated again and again, together with another verse that says, In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes (this is repeated four times in Judges).

Because they left Jehovah as their Lord, their King, their Husband, and their Head, they committed wickedness by rejecting Him and choosing to go after idols.

May we be saved from the evil and wickedness of forsaking God and may we turn to Him, choose Him, and take Him as our King, our Lord, our Head, and our Husband.

This is why the first verse in the New Testament states that Christ is the Son of David, the Son of Abraham; first, He is the son of David, for He brings in the kingdom of God, and when we repent and obey God to have His kingdom, we also have the blessing, typified by the son of Abraham.

May we stay away from the great wickedness and great evil of forsaking God, and may we take Christ as our King, our Lord, our Head, and our Husband.

Being those who Listen Carefully to the Word of God and say Amen to His Speaking

Gideon was raised up by God as His valiant warrior and sent by God to save Israel (Judg. 6:12-14; cf. John 8:29) from the oppression of the Midianites (Judg. 6:1—8:32); we must see the intrinsic significance of Gideon’s success.

We need to see the intrinsic significance of Gideon’s success and of his failure to be both exhorted and warned concerning our walk in our Christian life.

If we see the secret significance of Gideon’s success, we will be helped and perfected to be the Lord’s overcomers, for the story of Gideon shows us how to be an overcomer.

In Judges 6 we see how the Angel of Jehovah appeared to Gideon and told him, Jehovah is with you, valiant warrior!

Gideon must have been shocked, for he wasn’t from the tribe of Judah, he was not a mighty person, but he considered himself to be someone insignificant, in a small house, even the youngest in his house.

The Angel of Jehovah is Christ Himself, the Son of God, as the One sent by God to save His people from their situation of suffering.

It is similar to the Angel of Jehovah appearing to Moses in the burning thornbush and calling him to deliver Israel. Gideon was very sincere with the Lord, and he conversed with Him.

We all need to be open to the Lord and listen carefully to the Word of God, even say Amen to His speaking.

We need to build up a habit of conversing with the Lord, pouring out our troubles, our sins, our griefs, our sorrows, and everything that is within us.

We need to breathe out everything that is in us so that we may be filled with Him; in our time with the Lord, we need to be sincere with Him, opening to Him and being those who listen carefully to the Word of God so that we may inhale Him.

Gideon was honest with the Lord and told Him that if Jehovah is with them, why has all this happened to them, all these bad things with the oppressors that come and take away their crops?

The Lord didn’t respond by saying, Don’t say that, Gideon, don’t be so negative. Rather, the Angel of Jehovah said, Gideon, go in this strength of yours, and save Israel from the hand of Midian; indeed, I have sent you. Wow!

This reminds us of the Lord’s word in John 8:29 where it says that the Father who has sent the Son is with the Son, He hasn’t left the Son, because the Son always does the things that are pleasing to Him.

We may not always do the things that are pleasing to the Lord, but we have to realize that He is with us; He sents us, and He is inside of us, so when we exercise our spirit, we are identified with Him.

To be identified with the Lord means that we are one with Him. Gideon listened carefully to the word of God, something that was rare among the children of Israel at that time.

Today we live in a similar situation; the Lord’s word is rare, and even when He speaks, it is rare for someone to listen carefully to the word of God.

May we be those who listen carefully to the Lord’s word, treasure His word, and speak His word according to what He speaks to us.

Gideon was a person who listened carefully to the Word of God.

The Lord today is the Spirit speaking to the churches, and He wants us to have an ear to hear what He speaks to the churches (Rev. 1:10, 12).

May we turn to our spirit, be in spirit, and hear the Lord’s word; sometimes, His speaking may be from behind, for even though we are in spirit, we may be in the wrong position.

We need to hear the Lord’s voice, and we will see a vision; our seeing a vision depends on our hearing the Lord’s voice and our listening to His speaking.

The Lord wants to open our ears to hear His voice (Job 33:14-16; Isa. 50:4-5; Exo. 21:6) so that we may see things according to His economy.

If we have dull ears, they need to be circumcised (Jer. 6:10; Acts 7:51), and the sinners’ ears need to be cleansed with the redeeming blood and anointed with the Spirit (Lev. 14:14, 17, 28).

May we all have an opened, circumcised, cleansed, and anointed ear to hear the Spirit’s speaking, and may we listen carefully to the Word of God.

The Lord Jesus in His human living was awakened morning by morning to hear the Word of God and listen carefully to it.

We may love our bed very much and may not spend time with the Lord early in the morning; we need to pray that He would wake us up to spend time with Him, so that He may give us a tongue of the instructed that we would know how to sustain the weary with a word.

The Lord always wants to open our ears to hear His voice so that we may see things according to His economy; may we turn our heart to Him and exercise our spirit to listen carefully to the Word of God in spirit.

Lord Jesus, we turn our heart to You and we exercise our spirit to be in Your presence so that we may have Your speaking. Amen, Lord, grant us to have an opened, circumcised, cleansed, and anointed ear to hear the Spirit’s speaking. May we listen carefully to Your word and be one with Your word. We pour out our heart before You, dear Lord, and we want to breathe ourselves out so that we may breathe You in. Open our ears to hear Your voice and see things according to God’s economy. Awaken us in the morning to hear Your word, and give us the tongue of an instructed one so that we may sustain the weary with a word. Amen, Lord, we love Your word – we love Your present speaking, Your up-to-date, moment-by-moment, speaking!

Coming to the Word to Enjoy God and Living in Spirit to Obey God’s Word and Act on it

Gideon didn’t only listen carefully to the Word of God when the Angel of Jehovah came to him; he also obeyed God’s word and acted on it (see Heb. 11:32-33).

It is one thing to hear God’s word and listen carefully to it, and it is even better to obey God’s word and act on it.

Faith is the substantiation of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen; when we receive God’s word, we need to exercise our spirit of faith to substantiate God’s speaking and make it real to us, and we need to obey God’s word and act on it.

If we hear the Word of God and obey it, we will be blessed. In the New Testament, we believers in Christ have Christ’s life of obedience and submission, and if we walk according to the spirit, we will spontaneously fulfill the righteous requirement of the law (Phil. 2:5-11; Rom. 8:4).

We have the Lord’s life of obedience in our spirit. Rom. 8:4 tells us that the righteous requirement of the law is spontaneously fulfilled in us when we walk according to the spirit, not according to the flesh.

When we live, move, and have our being according to our mingled spirit, we spontaneously fulfill the righteous requirements of the law.

The Spirit within us spontaneously fulfils all the righteous requirements of the law when we walk according to Him.

May this mind be in us (Phil. 2:5); the mind that was in Christ, the thinking that was in Him, may this be in us.

The mind that was in Christ contains the thoughts of the Triune God, and such a mind needs to be in us.

Christ took the form of a slave, humbling Himself and becoming obedient even unto death, and that the death of a cross.

We have His life of obedience that always takes the cross and always goes to the cross.

The Lord did not come to be served but to serve; the happiest ones in the church life are those who serve others, for they are one with the Lord who serves us.

May we be those who listen carefully to the Word of God, obey God’s word, and act on God’s word. We act on God’s word by taking Christ as our life and person.

As those who know their God, we need to show strength and take action (Dan. 11:32).

Our attitude in coming to the word of God shouldn’t be merely to care for the commandments, precepts, principles, and teachings in the Bible; we need to take the Word of God as the breathing out of God, enjoy God in His Word, and receive more of the life-giving Spirit as we come to God’s word (Psa. 119:25, 116, 130; 2 Cor. 3:6; 2 Tim. 3:16-17).

If we do this, the Word of God will function to dispense God Himself as life into us as His loving seekers.

If we come to God’s word with the exercise of our spirit to breathe God in, we will receive Spirit and life; if we come to read the Bible merely with our mind and heart but without our spirit, we may receive letters, which may kill us. Oh, Lord.

May we say Amen to God’s word, listen carefully to God’s word, and obey God’s word so that we may act on it.

Only those who are obedient to God are useful to Him; our heart needs to be softened, and our attitude should be that of a learner, for we want to learn from the Lord through His Word.

The Lord Jesus also learned obedience through the things that He suffered; we learn obedience by experiencing Christ with His life of obedience in the midst of sufferings as we hear His word, listen carefully to it, and exercise to obey His word and act on it.

Lord Jesus, we come to your word to just breathe You. We breathe ourselves out and we breathe You in through Your word. We exercise our spirit, Lord, to enjoy and experience Your life of obedience and submission. We want to walk according to the spirit so that the righteous requirement of the law may be spontaneously fulfilled in us. Amen, Lord, we come to You in Your word to breathe You in and be infused with life! We say Amen to Your word and we exercise to obey the word of God and act on it. May we be those who learn to obey through the sufferings we experience. May we learn to live out Your life of obedience and submission so that You may live in us and fulfill the Word of God in us.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 47, Authority and Submission, ch. 5, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (2021 summer training), week 8, The Intrinsic Significance of Gideon as God’s Valiant Warrior.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Speak, Lord, in the stillness, / While I wait on Thee; / Hushed my heart to listen, / In expectancy. / Speak, O blessed Master, / In this quiet hour; / Let me see Thy face, Lord, / Feel Thy touch of power. (Hymns #809)
  – Take time to behold Him, / The world rushes on; / Spend much time in secret / With Jesus alone. / By looking to Jesus / Like Him thou shalt be; / Thy friends, in thy conduct, / His likeness shall see. (Hymns #643)
  – Pray to fellowship with Jesus, / In the spirit seek His face; / Ask and listen in His presence, / Waiting in the secret place. (Hymns #784)