Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: . [James 1:19]


...every man be swift to hear...

What does it mean to be swift to hear? Other versions say "willing to listen...", "Quick to listen". It means to be very attentive. Of course, we are talking about the real man, the man within. Hence, we are not referring to just the physical ears visible by the sides of the head. It speaks deeper than that. The word of the Lord is talking about my inner man, my spiritual ears.

The ears of my spirit must be very alert, not cumbered with the noise of the world. The most silent voice of the spirit must be very loudest in my ears. I must not miss the smallest phrase, or even the fastest gesticulation of the Spirit. I must be sharp to pick every bit of His words, and that, very clearly. In fact, the frequency at which I am operating and the frequency of the Spirit must agree, they must be exactly the same. In other words, I must be waiting, listening, expecting the Lord to speak His words unto me.

I am NOT more attentive to the news of the world than I am to the voice of the Spirit. Many people are not spiritual at all even though they claim to be Christians. They are so much more inclined and tuned to the events that go on around them. They live IN the world even though they say they are Christians. The events around are the issues that dictate their actions, reactions, judgments and decisions. Their ears are so open to the musics of the world and the current affairs that are flying around, whereas they are not current with the spiritual issues that God is currently attending to and dealing with.

Brother, are you walking in the Spirit, or you are walking in the flesh? Is your spirit very quiet to hear the voice of the Lord? Are you closer to the newspapers of the world than you are to the newspapers of heaven and voice of the Spirit? Is it the television that informs your views or the revelation from Jesus? Why are you so quick and deeply interested to know about the worldly things going on around more than being up-to-date in the spirit? We know about the current trends in the IT world, but are backward in the trends in the Spirit. The occurrences on our roads are the issues that form your thoughts. Do you take out quality time to wait on the Lord everyday in other to know what is happening in the spiritual? Have you forgotten that when you gave your life to Christ, it was a conscious translation from the physical into the spiritual? Do you not know that you are now a spiritual man, and no more a physical man? Is it NOT clear to you that you are to walk now IN THE SPIRIT and no more in the flesh? Why are you still so much interested in the world that you left behind? Why are the things of the spirit looking boring and uninteresting to you? Why do you enjoy physical news more than spiritual news? Why is it cumbersome for you to live normally the spiritual life you claim to now possess when you declared that you are now born again? Dont you know that to be born again is to be born of the spirit and to be dead to the flesh and the world? But it is the world that you are now more inclined to, is that not very strange and contradictory?

If we want to know anything happening in the spirit, are you not the most probable person we should ask since you claim to be risen now with Jesus, but here you are, you know all the names of events and happenings in your environment, you know the present issues that are happening in the White House of USA and in Aso Rock villa of Nigeria. You know the details of occurrences for the past few days in your town, you know the intricacies of the political atmosphere of your country (your country is still Nigeria, not Heaven). You know, and are so versatile in the current technological trends, the trend in the fashion, movie and music industry, the new releases of videos and the media, the scandal gists, the celebrity gists, the mega deals, the new phones that have been released, everything going on around you, you are so current with events of the world you claimed you have died to, BUT the new life you profess to possess, you know nothing there - no revelations, no inspirations, you hear nothing about the events of the spirit, you have so cut yourself off because you are not interested. You spend some plastic, meagre minutes with God in the morning and for the remaining 95% of the day, you are away from the presence of God, swimming in the gists of the world without restrictions. Your ears are so attentive to every call to your phone, every tweet on your twitter account, every post on your facebook page, and every posts on your Whatsapp, but God is already tired of speaking with you, since your ears have been tuned away from Him to something more important to you... My friend, you are worldly.

The greatest of your times is spent on the world, you have no idea on what God is saying now. You cannot discern the signs of the times. In honest conclusion, it is very doubtful if you really are born again, and have been translated out of the world and its kingdom into the spiritual kingdom of God and of His Christ.

As a Christian, are you not labouring and searching for news and new releases of the world in which you are a stranger, but the country of your birth, heaven, is never your delight to spend time to search out? I think you should ask yourself honestly, where truly do you belong - the world or heaven? Who truly sincerely are you - a worldly man or an heavenly man?

God should not be the One nudging and calling for my attention whenever He wants to speak, rather, I must be the ever attentive one, so that at any instance His words flow in, they get easy reception. I must live my life in the Spirit, ever ready.

And for this to happen, it means I must have a single eye. Only one thing attracts me. Only one thing catches my attention and gaze. I am only interested about one thing alone. Jesus is my passion, my focus, a sweet communion with Him is my daily delight. I am waiting for Him, He is my ardent Lover. If I am reading, be sure He is the One I am reading about. Jesus only is my song, He only is my pursuit, my preaching, my dream, ambition, focus and life goal. I am a man of one book - the Bible, one faith - Christ, One Lord. Nothing else satisfies me in life except Jesus. Give me Jesus, I am satisfied. He is my research, He is everything...

It is only in possessing this mindset that I will be swift to hear.