This is from the blog A Word in Season:

“Moses took of the blood of it,
and put it upon the tip of Aaron’s right ear…”
Leviticus 8:23

“Take heed therefore how ye hear:
for whosoever hath, to him shall be given;
and whosoever hath not,
from him shall be taken even
that which he seemeth to have”
Luke 8:18

The sanctified ear brings one to the place of not only hearing His voice but of hearing it correctly. This hearing is coupled with obedience. In religious circles there is much information and often good and right teachings. The subtle challenge of our day is not so much what we hear, it is how we hear. True hearing must be accompanied with the corresponding act of obedience. It keeps the individual in a habitat of movement and change. A static Christian experience is not possible for the very call of Christ is for us to pick up our cross and follow Him. Following denotes movement and keeps us in an active state of attending unto Him in everyday life. No matter how demanding the business world, our home life or our secret life, there is watchfulness required that transcends all of these other things. The sanctified ear is set apart for Him, above all the noise and demands of this life, alert to His Call and His Will.

The authentic Christian life is one of being ”on call” and active in response to Him. Sensitivity to His voice grows as we hear and obey Him in even the little things of life. Integrity in business, selflessness in responding to the needs of others, going out of our way to bring a word of encouragement or exhortation to another even in the face of opposition, are all indicators of a healthy Christian walk. The phrase “take heed how ye hear” contains a warning that we can lose what we seem to have. Hearing without obedience brings a deception of thinking that because we know something we have something.

“For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer,
he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way,
and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was”
James 1:23-24

The hearing of a good thing without the corresponding action leaves one in a state of ambiguity and uncertainty. It causes men and women to be tentative and filled with perplexity in their walk as Christians.

“Take heed how you hear” is the warning of Jesus to every one of us. It is a phrase intentionally set at the end of the Parable of the Sower. Time has a way of passing quickly and “take heed how you hear” is His exhortation to all of us to be watchful that we do not fall into the subtlety of routine and religion. The sanctified ear is God’s answer to the deception of our hearts. It is His way of keeping us from the narrowness and comfort of our own tendencies. This error (implied in the Greek for the word deception in James) is insidious in its workings. Not only we as individuals are susceptible but even more so in any type of corporate Christian gatherings. There is a blindness that can creep in of such delusion that without a strong prophetic ministration (often times from the outside) it may become ingrown and closed to others who do not “see the truth” as they do.

In Luke’s Gospel we read the story of Jesus’ parents going up to Jerusalem for the yearly feasts and then returning home.

“But they, supposing him (Jesus)
to have been in the company…”
Luke 2:44

They assumed He was with them. After all He was with them as they went to the feast and He had been with them since. They took for granted he was still with them. This is a warning to His people, especially those who have been gathering for a long time. There is an assumption that He is with us, for we are meeting and doing what we have been doing for a long time; God was with us in the past so surely He must still be with us. This is especially true for groups and organizations that in the past have had moves or stirrings of the Spirit. Yet over time the Son has moved on and they are unaware that anything has changed. The Son does not abide in a certain place. He is ever about His Father’s business. It is incumbent upon us to follow Him and not to presume He is with us! The difference between the two has eternal consequences. Obedience is a journey filled with movement, change and growth. He is ever calling us out of the “boat”; out from the other disciples to walk upon the water unto Him* (Matthew 14:25-32). It is here where we reveal whether we are His disciples or mere adherents to a teaching, doctrine or religious association. The beauty of this story in Luke is that when they discovered He was not with them they forsook their “company”* and sought Him out. He will always be found doing his Father’s business. We must be willing to do the same regardless of our relationships and understandings with others with whom we have fellowship.

“Take heed how you hear” is the living truth which must abide in our hearts continually. For He is our Way, He is our Truth and in the knowing of Him in these things He will also Become our LIFE which is what we have been called to.

“Take heed to how ye hear”
Luke 8:18

*Note: Obedience to Jesus is paramount in the our walk; all true relationships with our brothers and sisters are to be based upon Him being our head. When Peter rose up out of the boat was he was not forsaking the others in terms of relationship but he was stepping out in a living response to Jesus. True relationships that are the result of a vital connection with Jesus are never interrupted by such obedience. Relationships built upon a teaching or a religious affiliation will always be in opposition to the ways and the will of God. The essential thing in the life of the true disciple is our obedience unto Him. Religion brings conformity but the living way of God brings transformation; one is static the other is living.

“So David went on his way,
and Saul returned to his place”
1 Samuel 26:25

Brian Troxel
http://www.aword.info

This is from the blog A Word in Season:

Excerpt from coming Book

The Sanctified Ear and the Circumstances of Life

Part 4
“Elijah and the Fire…”

“And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave”
1 Kings 19:11-13

“And after the earthquake a fire…” Elijah, in obedience to God’s word, stood upon the Mount of God and as God passed by he was subjected to various repercussions of God’s movings. Yet this man of God did not respond to any of them “for God was not in them”. We even see fire as a final test for Elijah. In the Spiritual world there are many kinds of fires, none without significance. The Word declares that our God is a consuming fire; this may be the most difficult of all the tests to pass but they that know their God are able to discern the flames of different fires. In the scriptures we read of Nadab and Abihu who offered “strange fire” unto the Lord and died as a consequence.

“And Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord,
when they offered strange fire before the Lord”
Numbers 3:4

This was the offering of a priesthood which knew not the fire of God. They supposed that one fire was as good as the next. It is the same today. Men and women make offerings and engage in strange and unsanctified workings of the flesh and spirit unto God not knowing or considering the horror of such things. As in Elijah’s day, those who know their God will not respond to sensationalism. Many with no discernment in the religious world delight in the offerings of Cain (the work of their hands). Men and women seek to stir up the flesh in ardent activities and programs in an effort to show their fervor for God; but God is not in them. There is so much blindness and callousness in the “Christian” world that there is not even awareness that God will not accept Cain’s offering, or the “strange fire” of the “ministry” of Nadab and Abihu. God withholds His presence and His blessing. In this unbridled atmosphere men become more and more brazen in their attempts to draw people to “their” church or ministry. What many call the “liberty” of the spirit is really the chaos of the flesh and in the seeming silence of God (as in Israel of old) we see the catastrophic introduction of churches which are operated not by the Spirit but by the ways of the corporate world and the introduction of false worldly religions creeping into the very fabric of the Christian landscape. Yet those who will not partake of such things are considered to be legalistic and narrow-minded.

After Elijah stood firm in the midst of the wind, the shaking, and the fire, God spoke to Elijah in “a still small voice”. (In the Hebrew it is better translated “the voice of stillness”). It is to this voice that Elijah responds wrapped in the mantle of His calling. These are those today who know their God and His voice within their hearts. They have been steadfast through the tests of God and have proven themselves faithful unto Him in a day of apostasy and spiritual harlotry. These are people of the sanctified ear. They do not respond to the activities of men. Neither are they are moved by the repercussions and shakings of God’s moving’s in the political, financial and religious worlds. They stand true in the midst of spiritual fads and the empty spiritual winds of overt signs and wonders; and the fires of men’s self-seeking agendas. The sanctified ear brings men and women to the threshold of God’s New Day wherein His Holiness is revealed and the folly of men judged in the fires of God’s anger.

We will soon see the day in which the five foolish virgins and the five wise virgins will be revealed and the tremendous ramifications of both.

“The days are at hand,
and the effect of every vision…”
Ezekiel 12:23

One’s vision of God and their perception of Him are revealed in the effect it has upon their life. The man with the one talent “perceived” God as hard and austere and therefore hid his talent in the ground. His perception was that God was only interested in his gift not realizing that God expected him to invest his gift into the lives around him and bring an increase to God’s Glory. It is to such that God declares “Thou wicked and slothful servant”. The captain of the armies of Syria who came to Elijah with the “perception” that Elijah would call upon his God and strike the place where he stood and heal him became angry when told to go wash in the river Jordan. Those who “perceive” that God does not care about the condition of His House, who think He is unconcerned with the ways of men, the kingdom building agendas of this day, the unholy living, the loose morals and carelessness with which His people conduct themselves, will be shocked in the Day that is at hand. The effect of such a vision will render them unable to stand in the day of persecution and judgement. The fires of their lamps will grow dim in the waning hours of His return. Woe to those who preach and teach a Gospel of unaccountability for the effect of such things will be devastating and eternal.

It is in such an hour as this that a prophetic people arise and call out unto Him who rules and reigns in the heavens. Not only do they call out to God in the heavens they also speak with authority unto those who love and join themselves to the vanity of religion…

“O ye sons of men,
how long will ye turn my glory into shame?
how long will ye love vanity…”
Psalm 4:2

The sanctified ear is the result of a sanctified heart. Those who walk circumspectly in this time will be kept by the power of God in the day which is about to break.

“And the Lord said unto him,
Go through the midst of the city,
through the midst of Jerusalem,
and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men
that sigh and that cry for all the abominations
that be done in the midst thereof”
Ezekiel 9:4

While the masses join themselves to the chaos and “religion” of this hour there will be those who know their God and keep themselves “set apart” as virgins betrothed unto God even as they are accused of being legalistic and “out of touch” with the “new ways” of the Spirit. Though Jonathan knew the Kingdom of God belonged to David he could not find it in his heart to separate himself from Saul and perished with him in the judgement of God. God’s word to those who stand faithful in this hour is…

Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
Revelation 3:10

“Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him”
Malachi 3:16-17

Brian Troxel
http://www.aword.info

Dreams from the LORD 2003-2006
10 January 2004

The only time that I heard an audible voice was in December of 1989.   I was in bed, sleeping, when I heard a strong, stern, masculine voice say, “Prepare thyself!”  Immediately, I woke up and looked down at my roommate’s digital alarm clock and it was 5:09 AM.  My roommate was fast asleep.

A Dream of a Miscarriage