And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us on the road?”
Luke 24:32
A Pentecostal pastor boarded a plane after a tiring ministry trip. He sat down next to a well-dressed man, greeted him casually, and began to try to rest. Soon the man leaned over and said, “My name is Jason, and I’m a Baptist pastor. What do you do?”
The preacher responded, “Well, I’m Mark, and I am an Assemblies of God pastor.”
“Really?!” said Jason. “I’ve always wanted to meet one of you. I have a question.”
Knowing the conversation was probably about to get a little weird, Mark asked, “What’s your question?”
“Do you believe God still speaks to people personally? Because I don’t believe we need His voice if we have His Word.”
Mark thought for a moment and said, “You are a Baptist pastor. Who called you to the ministry?”
Jason replied, “God did.”
Mark, without hesitation said, “How?”
Jason immediately realized that the passionate call to ministry he felt deep down in his heart was the personal voice of God. Jason quietly turned and peered out the window of the plane. Mark turned and faced forward, and quietly laid his head back to rest.
Jesus said, “Therefore, be careful how you hear.”
Luke 8:18
Jesus has this way of saying something that seems in the beginning to be simple, and yet it can be applied at multiple levels. How do you hear? If the discussion is really about hearing, there is only one way for a human to receive audio waves. That, of course, is the inner ear. However, He is not simply talking about audio sounds but heavenly sounds, spiritual vibrations that are not for the ear but the heart.
But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear . . .
Deut. 20:17
The Lord is speaking in this passage, and in it, He establishes a connection between the heart and hearing His voice. To reinforce this principle, the hindsight of the two guys on the road to Emmaus was that their hearts burned within them. They did not know it was Jesus, but it was as if they were saying, “We should have seen that it was Him because our hearts burned.”
There are two equal and opposite errors that tend to occur concerning hearing God. One is to think that He does not speak outside of the Bible. That is not true. He still speaks to us outside the Scriptures, but never contradicting the Scriptures. However, He may contradict our interpretation. The second is to become so passionate about hearing Him that we become frozen in analyzing whether or not we heard from Him. Keeping it simple and biblical can help us.
First, ask yourself, what and who am I delighting in? Psalm 37:4 states, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” A life focused and delighting in God positions your heart to burn with His good desires.
Second, as you choose to delight yourself in the Lord, watch over your heart. Pay attention to your desires. The desires that arise may be—and probably will be—of the Lord. The Emmaus Road fellows were delighting in the revelation of scriptures and their hearts burned. When you read the scriptures and pray, pay attention to your heart, because it can go places your head won’t fit.