*Clarity in hearing is not a technique. It is time before His face.*
We know in part. We prophesy in part. That is not an insult. That is Paul telling the truth about how hearing works this side of glory. The question is not whether we start incomplete. The question is whether we stay childish in that incompleteness, or whether we grow by seeking the face of God.
First Corinthians 12, 13, and 14 are not three disconnected essays. Paul did not write chapters. He wrote one letter. Chapter 12 lays out the gifts. Chapter 13 is not a wedding reading ripped out of the church and used to shut the gifts down. Chapter 14 gives practical order for how those gifts function among people. The whole run is about the things of the Spirit.
*Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. (1 Corinthians 13:1, NKJV)*
**Gifts Without Love Are Noise**
If I prophesy and have all knowledge, and have not love, I am nothing. Paul is not saying, do not prophesy. He is not saying, do not speak to mountains. He is not saying there will never be a real mountain that moves. He is saying, if you do it empty of love, it profits nothing.
If you move in gifts of revelation and knowledge without love, you are not worth what you think you are. He is not saying, do not move in revelation. If I speak in tongues and have not love, it is like a clanging cymbal. People hear that and go, ah, you should never speak in tongues. That is not what the chapter is doing. He wants everybody to desire the gifts. He is saying, do it with a heart overflowing with love. Do not do it to prove how amazing you are.
Start there. Hearing God is not a display. It is not a performance. It is not a way to look spiritual. If the heart is not overflowing with love, the most accurate word still becomes noise.
**We Know in Part**
Paul writes, love never fails. Whether there are prophecies, they will fail. Whether there are tongues, they will cease. Whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. When that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.
*Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. (1 Corinthians 13:8–9, NKJV)*
When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things. Three areas of childishness: thinking, understanding, speech. Notice the language. Put away. Separate yourself from childish thinking, childish speaking, and childish understanding.
Now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. Now abide faith, hope, love, these three. The greatest of these is love.
For years I read that and thought, whenever we move in the prophetic, whenever we hear from God, we see men like trees walking. One day we will see Jesus face to face. One day, at His appearing, we will hear His voice without the fog. One day the doubts and the fears will be gone. Everybody agrees with that. It is true.
**Face to Face Is Not Only Then**
Here is the revelation I want you to grasp. I believe the measure of the degree to which we see Him and hear from Him face to face determines how much of the dim glass we still live in. All the way through the Bible we are encouraged to seek His face.
Imagine hearing from God at thirty percent. Imagine you get it wrong seventy percent of the time and right thirty percent. I think the more time you spend not seeking His gifts, not even first seeking His voice, but seeking His face, the clearer the hearing becomes. If you want to raise your accuracy, it is not about technique. It is not about a complex method. It is about seeking the One who speaks.
Do not seek the voice first. Seek the face. Seek the heart of God. The voice follows the face.
*When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.” (Psalm 27:8, NKJV)*
**Moses Heard Differently**
There are several places this stands in Scripture. One of them still blows me away in how it connects. In Numbers 12, Aaron and Miriam, the brother and sister of Moses, get angry. They are jealous. They go around the camp complaining. What is so special about Moses? We hear from God. God speaks to us.
The Lord pulls them into His presence. Moses. Aaron. Miriam. The Lord speaks to Aaron and Miriam and says, in effect, you are right. I do speak to you. When I speak to you, I speak in dreams. I speak in a dark saying. I speak through a glass, dimly. I speak in enigma. I speak through symbolism.
Then the Lord says, when I speak to Moses, I speak face to face. Moses is still a man. He is not in glory yet. Moses has a face-to-face relationship with God. Aaron and Miriam have dreams and dark sayings. They have a methodology. They have a part. They do not have the same relationship.
*Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; he is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings. (Numbers 12:6–8, NKJV)*
If that was true under the old covenant, how much more is it true for people who can come by the blood of Jesus and develop face-to-face time with Him each day? The more you seek His face, the more you hear His voice.
Will you ever get to the place where you see Him one hundred percent and hear Him with no remainder? My theology says you will not, not this side of His appearing. Nobody except Jesus has walked that perfectly. I do not have a problem baking into my theology my brokenness and my ability to get it wrong. I also want to be honest. I can grow. I can improve in hearing from God. Why not?
**Gaze at His Face**
Get into the practice. You may not like how unimpressive it sounds. Think about His face. Gaze at His face. There is an old song: turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. The more you see the face of Jesus, the less the other voices fill the room.
Simply put, accuracy is the fruit of nearness. I am convinced we have spent too many years hunting keys, methods, and formulas while neglecting the one thing Paul and Moses both point to. Come near. Stay near. Let love be the atmosphere of every gift. Put away the childish need to be impressive. Seek His face until the dim glass begins to clear.
Let me challenge you. Do not make hearing God a circus. Do not make it a technique. Sit before Him. Ask for His face, not first for a word you can repeat. The word will come. The gifts will find their place. Love will keep them from becoming a clanging cymbal. Draw near. Press into His presence. He still speaks to those who will look at Him.
***Selah***
**Scriptures for Study**
1 Corinthians 12:1-11, 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, 1 Corinthians 14:1-3, 1 Corinthians 14:12, Numbers 12:1-8, Exodus 33:11, Exodus 33:18-23, Psalm 27:4, Psalm 27:8, Psalm 105:4, 2 Chronicles 7:14, Isaiah 55:6, Jeremiah 29:13, Matthew 6:6, Matthew 17:1-5, John 10:27, John 14:21, John 15:4-5, 2 Corinthians 3:16-18, 2 Corinthians 4:6, Hebrews 12:2, James 4:8, 1 John 3:2, Revelation 22:4.
**10 Questions for Reflection**
1. Have you treated 1 Corinthians 13 as a reason to avoid the gifts, or as a call to use them in love?
2. In what ways is your hearing still childish in thinking, understanding, or speech?
3. Where have you sought a word from God without first seeking His face?
4. If your accuracy is low, have you assumed you need a better method when you may need more time before Him?
5. What would it mean, in practice, to put away the need to sound impressive when you share what you hear?
6. How does the difference between Aaron’s dreams and Moses’ face-to-face relationship challenge the way you wait on God?
7. When you look into the dim glass, do you stop there, or do you keep coming until more of His face is seen?
8. Can you admit you still get it wrong without using that as an excuse never to grow?
9. What daily habit would actually put you before His face, not merely before Christian activity?
10. If love is the atmosphere of every true gift, where has love been missing from the way you hear and speak?
