I was challenged in my quiet time this morning to shut myself off from the voices of people, whether spoken or written.  But how difficult it is for me to get quiet before the Lord, with the Lord and in the Lord!   I want to listen better to him,  and to cultivate using God’s grace, an ear that is always open to the Lord even when all the other sounds surround me.Please pray with me to this end for you and me as people who want to do all “of God.”  This is extremely important because one primary object of the devil is to capture our ear, and turn it away from what the Lord has to say.To accomplish this goal means to discipline our use of time.  We need to spend time consuming the Scripture.Further, we need to discipline our mind. This prevents Satan from capturing our ear.  My goal is to take every thought captive for Jesus. How?  Examine each one; hold it up to the light of the Word; and discard all that is chaff.  Finally, this discipline of listening means trusting the God In Us. We must stop being swayed by the whispers of our Accuser that we have got it “all wrong,” that God isn’t speaking to us, that what we are hearing is only our sinful nature, and not of the Holy Spirit.  This third step takes considerable prayer and sensitivity to God. It becomes easier to trust the God in Us when we have accountability partners who nudge us when we may truly “have it all wrong.”The parents and teachers of preschoolers often have to say to their three-year-olds: “Put on your listening ears!”    Let us have that as our intention today:  To put on ears that listen, really listen, for God and in God.