I’ve recently written that you must ask, seek, and knock to hear from the Holy Spirit, which manifests as discernment to act in ways commensurate with love.
The key to an effective conversational relationship appears in Matthew 5:48 and James 1:4. Jesus, and his copycat brother, say that we have to be “perfect.” No problem; right? The concept of perfect can easily be misunderstood here. This is perfect as in singleness, complete, undivided, or, in this context, single-mindedness. In the Sermon on the Mount of Matthew 5-7, it appears in ideas like:
- One audience for worship, prayer, and fasting
- One master (i.e, God rather than money)
- One pursuit (i.e., the kingdom and God’s righteousness)
- One way (i.e., the narrow way, the way of love)
- One foundation
James is more direct, adding the word “complete”as a synonym and “double-minded” and “unstable” as antithesis.
So, what’s this boil down to? If you really desire to enter into and live in the narrow way, without meandering in and out of it for your own benefit, you will receive what you ask for. It’s the person who pursues his own kingdom part time that fails to hear. That’s the surefire way to NOT hear.
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