In Romans 10:17 it is written ‘So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.’ If faith comes by hearing and without faith is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6) it falls on us to make sure that our hearing or what we hear is sound and correct, otherwise our faith will suffer. It is therefore of vital importance to make sure that we are hearing the right message, that we are in the right church and listening to the right teaching otherwise having the right faith will be impossible.
The question then is how can one know if they are hearing the right message, in the right church setting with the right teaching? Well, look at your faith; is it in harmony with the life of Jesus? Is it in line with the teaching of the New Testament? Do you truly believe what the bible says you should believe and expect? The quality of life comes by the quality of faith we have. If our lives are missing love, joy, peace and self-control, that means our faith is not producing what it should. If our lives are not filled with physical health, mental health and a supernatural lifestyle that means our faith has not yet developed to a place where we can receive these promised things. Many Christians believe that when they have accepted Jesus Christ as their saviour and Lord their sins have been forgiven and their names are written in the book of life and nothing else. The reason why so many Christians believe this is the entire gospel is because they have heard it all the time when they went to church. This was the message I heard all the years growing up in church. But those same Christians don’t believe that their bodies can be healed, they don’t believe that they can be baptized with the Holy Spirit to become powerful witnesses of Jesus, they don’t believe that signs and wonders can be performed in their midst. Why they don’t believe? Because they did not hear this message preached. I myself did not hear this message until God put me and my wife in a place where we became ready to hear.
Jesus warned us to take heed of how we hear (Luke 8:18). Hearing is a dangerous exercise. Make sure you are hearing right, as your life here on earth and your life beyond death depends on it. Many people think if they just go to church, any church, they have done their Christian duties. In Matthew 15:10 Jesus said to the crowd following him “hear and understand”. It is important that we listen correctly and understand what we hear. If we don’t hear the right message, our understanding will be incorrect. Now if we have the wrong understanding, when we hear the right message, we judge it as a fallacy. It is much harder to correct wrong understanding than it is to receive new truth. The longer we stay away from hearing the truth, the harder it gets to accept it.
We do not have much time; do not sacrifice hearing the truth for social connections and family gatherings. Find a good community that believes and, most importantly, demonstrates the love and power of God.
