We need to know more about the kind of dedication and service that goes beyond what is demanded of it, that goes beyond a reluctant submission to the Lord and makes itself a love slave to the Lord, and what the Lord does for such a dedication. We are anxious to get the secrets that will bring us into greater perception. We want to be able to hear the word of the Lord; we want to be able to know His will. If there is some secret path in the Scriptures that will help make our ears a little more sensitive, a little more in tune with what the Lord is saying, we want to hear it.
Of course, I am not speaking of the fact that some people hear more than they are willing to admit. An old fellow who was very hard of hearing went to the store to buy a piece of harness. He pointed to a certain piece and he asked, “How much for that piece of harness there?”
The clerk said, “That will be twenty dollars.”
“What did you say?”
“That will be forty dollars.”
“I heard you the first time.”
There is such a thing as being very perceptive in listening to what God says the first time. But how can we actually open up our ears to hear more from the Lord? Have you ever wondered if there is some way to become more sensitive to hear the voice of the Lord, some spiritual exercise that will open our ears to the Lord? The answer can be found in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 15. If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, than he shall serve you six years, but in the seventh year you shall set him free. And when you set him free, you shall not send him away empty-handed. You shall furnish him liberally from your flock and from your threshing floor and from your wine vat; you shall give to him as the Lord your God has blessed you. And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today. And it shall come about if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he fares well with you; then you shall take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your servant forever. And also you shall do likewise to your maidservant. It shall not seem hard to you when you set him free, for he has given you six years with double service of a hired man; so the Lord your God will bless you in whatever you do.” Deuteronomy 15:12–18.
The Hebrews did not have slavery as such among themselves, but it was possible for a kinsman, a Hebrew who was in debt to become an indentured servant. However, he could only serve six years, and then the seventh year he was to go free. This was God’s way of saying that after six thousand years of human bondage would come the glorious liberty of the sons of God and the time when all the universe would be set free from the futility to which it had been made subject. Aside from that viewpoint, there is a beautiful truth in this: here is a man who has served six years. When the time comes to set him free, he is given plenty of grain and plenty of wine; he won’t be sent away empty-handed. And he says, “But I don’t want to go.”
“But you’re a free man, you don’t need to serve another day of your life.”
“I know, but you’re my only family. I love you very much, I love your household. I want to stay and be a servant.”
So the master brings him over to the doorpost and takes an awl (which is something like an ice pick), and in the place where the ears are normally pierced, he rams it through his ear right into the doorpost. There he is, pinned to the door. When that man is released, he has become a love slave, and from that time on he serves in his master’s house.
Now what does all of this mean? It is one of the greatest truths that you’ll ever learn: the ear is made for hearing, and the way to hearing is through becoming a love slave. It is the love slaves who will hear the Master’s voice, and no one else. A little boy who lived in the temple was running back and forth to Eli, the high priest, in the night. He kept hearing the words, “Samuel, Samuel.” He asked, “Eli, did you call me?” Eli told him, “Go back and say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth’ ” (I Samuel 3:9).
Be a servant; take the awl right through the ear. “Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.” For perception is irrevocably linked with dedication. When a man becomes a dedicated love slave, when he finds that his ear is pierced, then God begins to speak to him. He hears not many strange voices and strange things. He is not moved by many masters, but his very love has made his heart single to one master, and therefore his ear is now sensitive to hear what God has to say to him. This is exactly what the Lord is trying to tell us all of the time.
There are those who would boast of a relationship with the Lord, as they did back in the days of the Lord’s walk among us, when someone said to Him, “Behold, here are Your mother and Your brothers” (Mark 3:32–35). But the Lord replied, “Who are My mother and My brothers but they that hear the Word of God and do it?” Who is the one who is linked to the Lord but the one who listens to His Word and hears it? The relationship and the perception and revelation are linked together so closely that it is almost impossible for us to separate them. Those who are not willing to do the will of the Lord are at best curiosity seekers. They want to hear a new thing. In John 12, when the Lord spoke, “This is my beloved Son; hear Him,” the multitude who stood by said, “Didn’t it thunder just now? We thought it thundered.” But a few—those who were ready to follow Him in discipleship—heard. They were of the order of the pierced ears. The members of that order are the ones who have said, “I am going to be a love slave to the Lord the rest of my life.” To them the ear is pierced, and they come to hear the voice of the Lord as no one else ever hears it.
Looking to the Scriptures I cannot see that there is any way we can separate dedication and perception. John 7:17 tells us, “If any man will do His will, he shall know the teaching, whether it be of God.” Oh, blessed is he that hath ears to hear what the spirit saith to the churches (Revelation 2:7). He hears because of a humbling of his heart and because he has set his will to do the will of God. He has entered into the relationship as a bondservant to the Lord Jesus Christ—call him a love slave if you want to. And he will know the teaching, whether it be of God.
There will be some who will figure that this walk is of the Lord and will follow along from a distance. But the ones who will really hear His voice are the ones who press in to know Him. God said to Joshua after the death of Moses, “Now Moses My servant is dead. Arise therefore and go forth and lead the people” (Joshua 1:2). It was a bold command, but behind it was the fact that when God spoke to Moses, Joshua came, and Exodus 33:11 says that he departed not out of the tabernacle but abode there. He just couldn’t leave it. He had to linger there. And also behind it was the fact that he dedicated himself to be the servant unto the man of God, Moses. Wherever Moses went, Joshua served him. Because he became a servant, he was the one to hear the voice of God and to lead the people on after the days of Moses. Elisha had this word spoken of him: “I am Elisha who poured water on the hands of Elijah” (II Kings 3:11). He was Elijah’s body servant for some years. Where did it lead him? To a double portion of all the revelation and all the anointing that came. We have yet to learn how to take our young men and make prophets of God out of them by putting them through discipline, breaking their wills, breaking their spirits, breaking their arrogance, and making them to be body servants who serve day and night the man of God. God will open their ears to hear the Word of God. When we learn how to serve, and not before, will we hear His voice clearly. To the extent that you become one of those with the pierced ears, with the awl rammed in the doorpost, and say, “I will not depart out of the House of God. I am hereby linked to it. I am a love slave of the Lord,” you will come to hear the voice of the Lord wherever perception or dedication is wanting. If any man will do His will, he shall know the teaching, whether it be of God. The prophet has said, “Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord” (Hosea 6:3). It is in that following with a whole heart that we come to know Him. Do you understand that? We come to know Him because we’re following on to know Him. It is in our submission.
The message is a simple one, but there is a principle behind it. There are not several points to it, just several illustrations of one point: the ear that hears is the ear of the servant, the love slave, the man who humbles himself before the Lord. Does He not say, “Be still, be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10)?
We see this tie in with everything that is related to revelation. Authority is related to revelation. But the Lord washed the disciples’ feet. He said, “You call Me Lord and Master. Now you do the same for each other” (John 13:13). He who would be greatest must become the servant of all (Mark 10:44). There has to be this dedication to be a love slave, to give yourself, before you can ever walk in the authority, revelation, or purity that God wants.
If you would save your life, you will lose it (Matthew 16:25); but he that becomes a slave of the Lord and loses his life and the rights to himself is the one who really saves his life. Do you believe that? The meek will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5). The man who has lost his aggressiveness and his sense of striving, who is no longer in that rat race to accomplish something, but in his meekness walks before the Lord, is the man who will inherit the earth. The poor of this world are made rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which the Lord hath promised them (James 2:5). It is to the babes that He will reveal His great treasures. Whom shall He teach wisdom and understanding? Them that are drawn from the breast (Isaiah 28:9). It all comes down to this voluntary abandonment of everything of yourself. To the one who says, “Yes, Lord. It may not be necessary but I make my choice: that I’m going to be Your slave, that I’m going to serve You with love”—to that one God will whisper His secrets in the night. He will give him His guidance. He will do nothing but what He reveals Himself first to His servants the prophets (Amos 3:7). He comes to the servants, His servants the prophets, and He reveals Himself and what He is going to do in the earth.
The Kingdom is coming, but it is not coming with the arrogance by which the worldly kingdoms have been built; they will come down. But the kings and priests of God will be those who have followed the Lamb in His sufferings. They that suffer with Him, they that serve Him day and night, are the ones who will come into the revelation. Oh, who is it who will have a place and a name that is so excellent? It was prophesied of the eunuchs of Isaiah 56 that they would have a great place. To the ones who have had no fulfillment, no perpetuation of themselves in the flesh, who have humbled themselves and become literally servants of the Lord—eunuchs for the Kingdom’s sake—He gives a name and a place that is so great. That’s what He prophesies that He is going to do.
When you look at the Lord, you see the perfect example. Do you want to see the authority and the glory of the spiritual realm? Read the book of Revelation, chapter 5, where they looked for one who would open up the great book of destinies that would unlock all of the beautiful things that God had for the world. The book was sealed, and an angel proclaimed, “Who is worthy to take the seals off the book?” Then the cry came, “The Lion of the tribe of Judah is worthy.” And they looked about and saw a Lamb standing as if it had been slain. His giving and becoming our love slave is inseparable from total revelation and total authority.
Do you want to move in revelation? Do you want to move in authority? You will have to join the society of the pierced ears. You must become a love slave of the Lord, with the awl driven through your ear, so that He can say, “This one is going to be My servant.” Open the New Testament and read the beginning salutations of the books: “James, a bond servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ;” “Paul, a bond servant and called to be an apostle.” Over and over again you find that. You can’t separate the two. Do you want to see a man who walks as an apostle? Do you want to see the authority? Look for the bond servant; look for the man with the pierced ear, the man who has become the love slave of the Lord. He has said, “I will not depart out of your house, I will not go about my own affairs. I do not want to live my own life. There is nothing that I seek for. I love You, Lord, I just want to serve You. I want to serve You with all my heart.” And his devotion, his absolute love for the Lord brings an anointing to his ear to hear what God has for him. You will find that it is the pilgrim who has humbled himself, who wanders through the land with no claims at all, that God whispers in the night about the numbers of the stars and about the sands of the sea. He says to him, “All this is yours,” and He communes with him by day and by night.
To be the servant of the Lord; that’s the message. It is very simple, but if you will hear it, it may benefit you more and bring more progress to your spirit than anything you’ve ever heard in your life. Come and say, “Lord, I want to be that bond servant I want the awl put through my ear. I want it to be an identifying mark, but above all to open my ears to hear what You have to say.”
That dedication is a key of revelation that is to come. There will be a company that will hear His voice; they will be many. And there will also be a great group that will not know His voice at all, and they will try to move in signs and wonders, cast out devils, and do many mighty works, but they will be playing into something wrong; Jesus will say to them, “I never knew you” (Luke 13:27). It is more important that we have the dedication at this point, or we will never have the revelation that we need. The greatest need in the walk at the present time is for prophets of God who have a sure word from the Lord, and this is the way it comes.
We know we have to hear His voice and be led by the Spirit of the Lord, and we know that this is the only way. This is not an ambitious reaching into perception; it is just a relinquishing of the rights to yourself. Do you know why people can’t hear the voice of God? Because they are talking all the time themselves. They never stop to listen; the ego talks on and on. And as long as you are arrogantly proclaiming, “I will do this, I will do that,” even silently, you will never hear Him. But when you say, “I’m going to be Your slave. I’m going to serve You,” the other voice begins to quiet down. “Be still and know that I am God.”
Lord, we pray that You bless this word to us. We want to be among those who can hear Your word, hear Your voice, and do what You want us to do. Master, we want to be those love slaves who will absolutely follow You whithersoever You go.
This word is simple but it is a word from God. It is a simple key on how to walk with Him.