Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
A long reigning king in Judah was Uzziah as a king who reigned for 52 years. He did many good things, but at the end of his reign he became proud and took on the role of both king and priest in Israel. The error of His pride led to a consequence of leprosy in his flesh. His name means “my strength is Jehovah”, but his own desires and taking things into his own hands made him a testimony of the strength of the flesh. The prophet Isaiah experienced a prophetic truth for all of humanity in the year that King Uzziah died. It its symbolism, the death of Uzziah was a testimony for us all in regard to the death of the strength of the flesh. It was when the strength of human flesh died that Isaiah saw the Lord’s presence filling His temple and Isaiah was undone in his sin.
Isaiah 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!” 4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”
As quickly as Isaiah was undone by the manifest presence of God in his state of iniquity and sin, a ‘burning one’ (a seraphim) of God touched his lips with a living coal from the altar of God. It was then that Isaiah was cleansed and he was able to hear God as to his call to be a voice for Him.
Isaiah 6:6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth with it, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.” 8 Also 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.”
We are in a season of returning to the Lord. It is a season for the strength of human flesh to die and for us all to find that God is our strength. His love for each of us has lifted all condemnation from us and He is sending us to be His voice to those who will hear Him. This is the call of leadership in Christ. On Sunday I was stirred to make a declaration concerning our focus in this hour. In my prophetic delivery I heard God address the issue of having heavy ears and dull hearts, when God wants our focus to be on His ways that we might hear Him clearly. The following is a clip of that declaration:
I just hear God saying that this is a time to hear Me in your hearts. Don’t let your ears be so heavy and your heart dull that you cannot hear. For there are many sounds in the world, but the sound of heaven is greater than all of the sounds put together. So let your heart be made new in Me for this is a day for the scales to be removed from the inside out. For you to see as I see, to be as I am, to declare what I declare, and to stand as I stand. For this is not a day of heavy ears and dull hearts. This is a day of open hearts and ears that are clear and not distracted by the ways of men, but rising by the power of My life within, says God.
In this prophetic declaration God inspired be to decree that we would not have heavy ears and dull hearts. These words were in the message of Isaiah in His call to the strength of God.
Isaiah:6:9 And He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ 10 “Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return and be healed.”
True hearing of God takes place in our hearts. When we hear with our ears we are swayed by the voices of the world. The outside to inside sound often hinders our hearts from hearing God from the inside out. In the testimony of Stephen to the people of Israel at the point of his martyrdom, he declared what those who resisted the Holy Spirit were testimonies of this carnal reality.
Acts 7:51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.”
Uncircumcised hearts are dull hearts. They are hearts that are influenced by the flesh. Personal desires and personal agendas harden the heart from hearing God’s voice. Uncircumcised ears are heavy ears. They hear too much! They are ears that listen to the desires and opinions of the flesh. The result of these two things is a stiff neck. A stiff neck is someone who is opinionated and fixed in their ways. They are not easily directed. They are not easily turned from their own ways. As leaders we lead by fully embracing the leading of the Holy Spirit in every aspect of our lives. Our hearts cannot be influenced by the opinions of our own flesh. Our ears cannot listen for a sound that appeals to our own flesh. We must seek God’s Spirit in all times. As leaders, it for this that we lead.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
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