Incline to God's Sayings
Scripture Reading - Proverbs 4:20 KJV
My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.
Today’s lesson will discuss the word “Incline”. It is important to know what “incline” means because we are instructed by the Holy Bible to “incline our ear unto my (God’s) sayings (His Word)”. In general the word “incline” means to “apply, turned toward, bent toward” and this word also means to “hear”. So we start with the first part of the verse attending to God’s Word and then we “hear” what God is saying. This is not a onetime phenomenon but rather a continuous “hearing” that is done both inwardly and outwardly. Inwardly in your heart via God speaking His Word unto you privately and outwardly by the voice of other people speaking God’s Word unto you openly. Generally speaking God designed the growth and development of each believer to come through trusted people preaching and teaching The Truth with written confirmation in the Holy Bible. This is why the scripture 1 Timothy 5:17 KJV states, “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.” The gracious Lord wanted people who not only knew about God’s Word but have lived it to help those younger Christians to understand exactly what God meant in His Word and how to walk it out. It is not that the Holy Bible is so complicated that people need help to understand it but rather the Holy Bible has a lot of information in it so where to start can sometimes be questionable. In our case we (ihlcc) were instructed to take classes taught by elders. Some say start with Proverbs reading a chapter a day (31 chapters in Proverbs) to start with practical living everyday, another was counseled to start in the New Testament because that is the covenant we are in and yet there are still others who think start with the Gospels to learn more about Jesus. Some say look at all the “in him, in whom, and in Christ” scriptures to better understand who we really are according to the New Testament covenant of being one with Jesus. We (ihlcc) believe one must always start with their heart and then follow the lessons they are learning in their church. We state this because many Christians have something on the heart they are dealing with whether a family issue, a job problem or sickness in their body. So, if one needs healing for the natural body wouldn’t it be smart to study God’s Word on the subject of healing for several months until you get the Word of God down into your heart then you will better understand how to receive your healing from God because after all you were already healed by the stripes of Jesus according to 1 Peter 2:24. Doing your own study over several months will reveal to you why you were healed by Jesus and you will better understand how your confession of faith with patience play a key role in receiving your personal healing from God’s Word. Likewise, if someone needs more money several months of study in God’s Word concerning finances could reveal to you that money is important to God but how you handle your money and His Money is even more important. Why do we say this? Simply because if you don’t handle your money properly it will be very difficult (if not impossible) for God to bless you with more. Whatever the subject or topic may be there is a part each believer should do first, which is to study what that specific subject or topic means according to the Holy Word of God. “Inclining” your ear to God’s Word basically means that you desire God’s View Point on everything you see, hear, speak and do. Yes, your actions are determined by your beliefs and that is why it is so critical to “incline” your ear to God’s Saying. It is implied in today’s scripture that God’s Sayings (His Word) is important and we believe you can measure the level of importance by how many times the topic is discussed in God’s Word. For example, the topic of showing God’s Love to your fellow man is mentioned many times in God’s Holy Word thus, it is very important to God primarily because that is exactly who God is and it is exactly what God wants us to do to our fellowmen in the earth. Also, we see the subject of prayer unto God mentioned repeatedly in the scripture, thus, we can conclude that prayer is critical to have good fellowship with God and that we know is very important to God too. However, if the Lord doesn’t mention in the Holy Bible that all believers should drive a blue car we can conclude that the color car you drive is personal and it is not the same for each person. Therefore we don’t need to make the color of what car you drive a major priority according to God’s Word, nor should we start / teach a doctrine about only blue cars are anointed by God. No, dear faith friend, this is how much confusion gets started because people have personal revelations that don’t exactly line up with the Holy Bible and they start teaching members in the Body of Christ that this new doctrine is good for all Christians when it is not. This is why we can’t emphasize this enough to “incline your ear(s) to God’s Saying only” by making them the priority (pillar) of truth in your life. Yes, “inclining” your ear to God’s Saying is to place God’s Word as your head counselor to obey and admire. “Inclining” your ear to God’s Saying is never done by accident so we should understand that the responsibility is on us to desire God’s Word and after we have received His counsel to the best of our ability we practice it (do it) in our everyday lives. Dear Believer, you must decide to follow life, yes, you must decide to follow healing yes, you must decide to make Jesus your true Lord every day by “inclining your ears to His Saying” because ultimately all God can do is encourage you to love Him and obey His commandments but the decision to follow through on demonstrating God’s Love is up to you and you alone. We, pray that you would “incline your ear to God’s Word” because then you shall prosper even as your soul is prospering in Christ Jesus. The successful believer must have a favorable disposition toward God’s Heart of Love which makes him/her delight in God’s Word in the Name of Jesus. If you will willingly bend your ear toward God (incline) you shall never be broken but if you refuse to bend in God’s direction you shall certainly be broken by the traps of the devil. Amen!