Listen Better - Part 2 of 7 - Pray Before the Sermon

Part 1 - Introduction

Unless God opens your heart to receive his Word, then nothing you do will help.

Blunt, but true: It is imperative that we realize that hearing God’s Word is a grace all in itself. Many people are precluded from hearing God’s Word and the ways are myriad; some have no access to or knowledge that the Word even exists, some are under direct legislation outlawing the reading of the Bible, others have ministers who refuse to preach God’s Word in lieu of their own opinions, and yet others sit under the preaching of God’s Word, but their ears are closed and their hearts are hard.

Adrian Rogers lamented,

The Devil would just as soon send you to Hell from the pew—as from the gutter!

Therefore, one of the primary things we must do to be hearers of God’s Word is to humble ourselves to realize our need for salvation, and that if Jesus is the only way, and if we are saved by faith, and if faith comes by hearing, then we must drastically entreat God to open our ears to his Word.

The Psalmist prayed,

“Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” ~Psalm 119:18

If God doesn’t answer then the most prestigious Bible training in the world will leave you in darkness and despair, so seek him for this grace!

Besides the obvious necessity of praying that God would make us better listeners, it also invests us in the preaching of the Word and prepares the soil of our hearts to hear. Charles Spurgeon wisely identified that the parable of the soils identifies many soils, but only one seed,

Which, do you think needs the most preparation, the sower or the ground? I would have the sower come with clean hands, but I would have the ground well-plowed and harrowed, well-turned over, and the clods broken before the seed comes in. It seems to me that there is more preparation needed by the ground than by the sower, more by the hearer than by the preacher.

And we ought not pray only for ourselves, but for our preacher that he may bring the Word in power from the Holy Spirit, and for our fellow listeners that the Word will accomplish in them exactly what God intends for it to accomplish. This investment in preparing to hear God’s Word adds the blessing that then we will work and hope and expect God to work not just in our own hearts, but in the hearts of those we’ve prayed for.

Won’t you pray for your heart, your pastor, and your church before you next hear God’s Word preached, and ever after until you are in the very presence of your Saviour?

Part 3 - Read the Word