You hear me speak far more than you realise but you only really hear what you want to hear

God I’m waking up in the cabin down by the river. Last night’s fire is still there, the sun’s just coming up over the hill and into the valley. Birds gossiping, dog stretching. The day’s turned up and it seems like you’ve turned up with it.

And you’ve got something to say haven’t you?

I have.

You just said it before as I was waking up didn’t you?

I did. Tell me what you think I said.

That we hear a lot more that we realise?

What do you think I meant by that?

That so much of our thinking isn’t.

Good. Explain.

So much of our thinking isn’t our own thinking. It’s you. But we don’t realise.

Excellent. Now I want you to expand on that. By thinking it through with me you’ll come to understand it better.

Ok… I think you’re saying that when we actually listen, and let you speak, we know that we’re hearing you, but….

But you always say you’re not sure it’s me.

Do you mean my constant fight with Doubt?

Yes.

Ok. I’m realising I might be wrong about that. I’m realising that something deeper inside me, deeper than my conscious mind believes it’s you talking more than I think I do.

What makes you say that?

Well I’m living like I believe the things you’ve said. My mind says the promises you’ve made can’t be true, can’t have been you, that I must have gotten those things wrong. But then, while I’m grizzling at you about that, I realise that I actually believe what you promised. I believe it so much that I’m living my whole life, making all my major decisions on the basis that you really did make those promises. I’m doing things and making decisions in my life that would be absolute madness if you didn’t promise that.

And?

And well that’s it really.

There’s more than that Mark

Ok, umm, I think you’re saying I need to remind Doubt of what I just said next time he turns up.

Exactly because he is going to turn up, shortly, and again and again. You’re in a war. War’s last a lifetime. He’s a very able opponent. Eve tangled with him, John the Baptist was constantly harassed by him. Elijah, Elisha, Ruth, Esther. Mark if they were human, and hearing from me, then they heard from him. OFTEN.

Ok ok. Now I see where you’re taking this. As I was waking up, being nudged by the dog and looking out on the river and the fire, you told me that I hear you more than I realise. Then you explained that many of our thoughts are not our thoughts at all, but they are you speaking.

And then I added something else. What was that?

I’m pretty sure you said that a lot of our other thoughts are not us either, but actually they’re him. Our enemy.

Yes. You got that right. Let me explain a bit more. You are a receptor unit. Yes you’re a creator, yes you originate your own thinking. But a lot less than you might imagine. You’re designed as a receptor unit. Designed to originate your own thinking as unique responses to the things said to you by the inventor of thinking. I create, you exist. I speak, you respond. That’s the pattern. In the beginning was God. Not you, me. This is not one-upmanship Mark, I’m just explaining the model. If you understand the model you understand so much more.

You said something about music just then?

You’re right I did. I am already singing. I am already creating music. Imagine if a musician listens, and hears the music I’m playing. And then they play their music in response. Not necessarily copying, but reflecting and responding musically to the music I’m playing.

You’re all designed as receptor units to the voice. You know that I said I can do nothing without hearing the voice. It’s true of you too. You’re designed to hear clearly the voice of the spirit.

Then along comes your enemy. He’s a spirit too. And he’s been given the world to rule. But he’s only allowed to use lies.

What about curses and all that sort of stuff?

He can do some physical things, but far less than you’d imagine. Most of what he achieves he does by telling you lies. He lies, you respond. And your responses cause destruction to everything you hold dear - to yourself and to those you love. And then they, hurt by what you’ve done, are now vulnerable to the lies he tells them. They respond. They believe what he tells them, respond and cause destruction to themselves and those they love. Generation after generation destroyed because you believe his lies about yourselves and about those close to you. And that’s just the family stuff. He is lying to you all day long about everything else too. All day long.

He knows that you are designed to hear from me all day long about everything. So he is hell-bent on making sure you hear all day long from him about everything.

So now you have a dilemma which rather than solve for you by eliminating him, I have decided I want you to solve yourself.

How?

The first step is to realise what’s happening around you. You were designed to hear from me all day long about everything. And you do. You’re hearing far more than you realise from me. So many of your thoughts are not your thoughts at all. They’re mine. They’re me speaking.

And now my enemy has entered the fray, you’re also hearing all day long from him too. You’ll have a thought about something, it might be something you feel you should probably do. If that thought was actually me speaking, then the next thought, the thought that argues against the first, is likely to be him.

Whoa!  Hang on God, that make it sound like our minds are a contant noise - you speaking, him speaking.

They are. Welcome to what’s really going on Mark. This isn’t nice Christianity. This is the world. Whether you’re a Christian, Buddhist, Atheist, it doesn’t matter. That’s what’s going on.

How come most of us don’t know that?

Because you don’t want to. It demands a vigorous response. It brings the realisation that you’ll need to be on guard all day long. It sounds like way too much effort. It’s where this silly notion that if you’re a Christian the enemy can’t really get you comes from. That’s a lie. It sees so many walking about unaware of the danger. ‘Beware your enemy the devil’. Remember that? Why beware if you’re not in danger. YOU ARE IN DANGER. Wake up.

Hang on God this conversation is getting a bit out of hand. This sounds like a ‘big bad devil’ sermon.

Not at all. We’re just talking the facts of life Mark. You hear my voice and you hear his. All the time. And it’s time you woke up to that fact and did what you’re designed to do.

What’s that? I mean what shall we do about all this?

Listen.

Oh man God!!! That’s what you always say. Isn’t there anything else?

No, not really. If you listen, then everything else falls into place. You’re designed for a relationship, a talking back and forward relationship with me. If you listen, then everything else in your life will start falling into place. The more you allow me to speak about, the more your life, the things that really matter, will fall into place.

Ok, so we listen. But what about the whole thing about him talking too?

You hear me speaking, you hear him speaking, but you think it’s actually your thoughts. So many big life decisions that you are now considering, you think you are hearing your own thoughts but many of them are actually me speaking, and him too.

Ok so what do we do?

Listen. Knowing that your thoughts might be me, or might be him, you listen to them. You ask me. When you are thinking something, ask me if you’re hearing me, or him, or whether the thought was your own.

God that sounds like a lot of work?

How badly do you want to hear me Mark? Do you want a comfortable Christianity, or do you want a relationship with God. It’s your choice entirely. I’ll work with whatever you decide.

So we’re hearing stuff that you say, thinking it’s our own thoughts. So what if it’s something we don’t really want to know about, something we’re a bit afraid to know what you really think?

Then you can easily just continue thinking it’s your own thoughts. I’m ok with that.

How come?

Because if you don’t want to know what I’ve got to say about that particular thing, then it’s better you don’t.

Is this about the fact that you never force on us what we don’t want to know?

Yes.

You just said that you and I need to talk about the fact that us humans only hear what we want to hear didn’t you?

Yes. When you don’t want to hear from me about something, about a subject that’s uncomfortable for you, when you have a question about a matter, a question that’s begging to be asked, but you’re avoiding it and leaving it unasked, then I will leave it unanswered too. I won’t force the answer on you. In fact, when you ask the question I may at first be a little evasive.

First I want to be sure you really want to hear the answer. And here’s a little tip. If you really want to know what I have to say, about a topic you’re uncomfortable with, you’re going to have to ask the question a number of times, in a number of different ways. You can stop wherever you want. But if you want to know the answer, to the point you satisfied in your heart that you’ve heard what I really want. Not that I’m ok with what you want, but that you’ve heard what I want, heard the thing I’ll never force on you – then here’s the tip: If you’re prepared to settle for the first answer you probably don’t really want to know the answer.

That’s why it says ‘It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, it is the glory of kings to uncover a matter’. It is my nature to conceal a matter unless you want to  know. That way I give you sovereignty over your own life. But a real king (or queen) is someone who wants to know what I think so badly they will strip away what I’ve hidden. ‘knock and keep on knocking. Ask and keep on asking.’ They will keep on asking, keep on demanding to know what I really want even when they’re terrified it’s not what they want.

Why?

Because I will never force on you what I want you to do. I’ve got a lot more to say about that Mark. Let’s leave it for another conversation.

Ok.