Latest / Bible Chat Devotional / May 11 - Eyes That See, Ears That Listen
Transcript
- 0:02Welcome to Bible Chat, where we have devotional conversations
- 0:06rooted in scripture and relevant for.
- 0:07Today, May 11th, eyes that see, ears that listen, think about
- 0:14the last thing that wrecked your mood.
- 0:16Maybe it was a video that left you feeling gross inside, a
- 0:20conversation full of gossip that made you anxious, or a comment
- 0:24online that you just couldn't shake.
- 0:26We don't always realize it in the moment, but what we let in
- 0:30through our eyes and ears has a way of settling deep into our
- 0:33hearts, and it shapes more than we think.
- 0:36Proverbs chapter 15, verses 30 to 31 says the light of the eyes
- 0:41rejoices the heart, and good news refreshes the bones.
- 0:46The ear that listens to life giving reproof will dwell among
- 0:49the wise. There's something so honest
- 0:51about that. What you see and what you choose
- 0:54to hear actually has a physical effect.
- 0:57It either refreshes you or it drains you.
- 1:00Good news, real encouragement, wisdom from someone who
- 1:03genuinely cares. These things strengthen you from
- 1:06the inside out. But the wrong input?
- 1:10It weighs on you in ways you might not even connect back to
- 1:13the source. And then there's Psalm 52, verse
- 1:168, where the writer says, But I am like a green olive tree in
- 1:20the House of God. I trust in the steadfast love of
- 1:24God forever and ever. Picture that image for a second.
- 1:28An olive tree rooted in green, thriving not because the world
- 1:32around it is perfect, but because it's planted in the
- 1:35right place. That's what trust in God does.
- 1:39It keeps you grounded and growing even when you're
- 1:42surrounded by people who lie, manipulate, or make noise that
- 1:46pulls you away from what's true. The psalmist wasn't writing from
- 1:50a comfortable place. He was surrounded by deceit and
- 1:53arrogance, but his anchor wasn't his circumstances, it was God's
- 1:57love. That's the kind of stability
- 2:00that's available to you too, not because your life will be free
- 2:04of hard stuff, but because you're rooted in something that
- 2:07doesn't move. Now, First Corinthians chapter
- 2:1014, verse 26 adds another layer to this.
- 2:13It says simply let all things be done for building up.
- 2:17That short line reframes everything.
- 2:20Not just what you take in, but what you put out.
- 2:24Every conversation, every post, every comment, every choice
- 2:28about what to watch or listen to, All of it can either build
- 2:31something or tear something down.
- 2:34And God calls us to be the kind of people who build.
- 2:37Think about what that actually looks like in a regular day.
- 2:40It might mean choosing not to pile on in a group chat where
- 2:43someone's being mocked. It might mean walking away from
- 2:47content that leaves you feeling worse about yourself or others.
- 2:51It might mean being the friend who actually speaks truth
- 2:54instead of just saying what's easy.
- 2:57None of that is dramatic or flashy, but it's real and it
- 3:00matters. Here's the thing about guarding
- 3:03what you let in. It's not about being sheltered
- 3:05or avoiding real life. It's about being intentional.
- 3:10You live in a world that is constantly competing for your
- 3:12attention, your emotions, your beliefs.
- 3:16Social media algorithms are literally designed to keep you
- 3:19scrolling, often by feeding you things that stir up comparison,
- 3:23fear, or outrage. You have to decide consciously
- 3:28what gets access to your heart. And when you choose truth over
- 3:31noise, encouragement over gossip, and wisdom over cheap
- 3:34entertainment, something shifts. You start to think more clearly,
- 3:39you feel more settled, and you become someone whose presence
- 3:42actually adds something to the people around you that's not
- 3:45small. That's exactly what it looks
- 3:48like to be rooted like that green olive tree thriving in the
- 3:52House of God. Let's pray.
- 3:55Heavenly Father, thank you for Your word that shows me how much
- 3:58what I see and hear actually matters.
- 4:01Help me to be intentional, to guard my heart against the noise
- 4:05and negativity that pulls me away from You, and to fill my
- 4:08mind with truth, encouragement, and wisdom where I've LED in
- 4:12things that have weighed me down.
- 4:14Bring healing and help me to be someone whose words and actions
- 4:18build others up, reflecting your goodness in everything I do.
- 4:22I want to be rooted in your love, steady and green no matter
- 4:25what's going on around me. In Jesus name, Amen.
- 4:29What if the battles hitting your family are not random and your
- 4:32home can become a place where darkness loses every right to
- 4:35stay? The Secured Home is a powerful
- 4:38six book prayer series for believers who want to guard
- 4:41their households with biblical authority, peace, and confidence
- 4:44in Jesus Christ. Book 1.
- 4:47Guarded Thresholds fortifies every doorway, room, and entry
- 4:51point with prayerful protection. Book 2.
- 4:54Cleansed Rooms helps reclaim spaces marked by fear, unrest,
- 4:59and spiritual defilement. Book 3, Closed Breaches, exposes
- 5:03hidden access points and severs every agreement with darkness.
- 5:08Book 4, Broken Assignments, confronts oppression, torment,
- 5:12and attacks against your family. Book 5, Consecrated Walls,
- 5:17dedicates every space and rhythm of the home to God.
- 5:21Book 6, Abiding Peace, shows how to maintain spiritual order,
- 5:25rest, and holy presence every day.
- 5:28Order now on Amazon or visit prayerscripts.org.
- 5:32Now I invite you to spend time with God in today's three-year
- 5:35Bible reading plan. Proverbs chapter 15 verses 30 to
- 5:4131 World English Bible The light of the eyes rejoices the heart,
- 5:46good news gives health to the bones.
- 5:49The ear that listens to reproof lives and will be at home among
- 5:52the wise. Psalm Chapter 52.
- 5:55World English Bible Why do you boast of mischief?
- 5:58Mighty man? God's loving kindness endures
- 6:01continually. Your tongue plots destruction
- 6:04like a sharp razor. Working deceitfully.
- 6:07You love evil more than good, lying rather than speaking the
- 6:10truth. You love all devouring words,
- 6:13you deceitful tongue. God will likewise destroy you
- 6:17forever. He will take you up and pluck
- 6:19you out of your tent and root you out of the land of the
- 6:22living. The righteous also will see it
- 6:25and fear and laugh at him, saying, Behold, this is the man
- 6:29who didn't make God his strength, but trusted in the
- 6:32abundance of his riches and strengthened himself in his
- 6:35wickedness. But As for me, I am like a green
- 6:38olive tree in God's house. I trust in God's loving kindness
- 6:43forever and ever. I will give you thanks forever
- 6:46because you have done it. I will hope in your name, for it
- 6:49is good in the presence of your Saints.
- 6:52First Corinthians Chapter 14 World English Bible follow after
- 6:57love and earnestly desire spiritual gifts, but especially
- 7:00that you may prophecy. For he who speaks in another
- 7:04language speaks not to men, but to God.
- 7:07For no one understands but in the Spirit.
- 7:09He speaks mysteries, but he who prophecies speaks to men for
- 7:13their edification, exhortation, and consolation.
- 7:17He who speaks in another language edifies himself, but he
- 7:21who prophecies edifies the assembly.
- 7:24Now I desire to have you all speak with other languages, but
- 7:27rather that you would prophecy. For He is greater who prophecies
- 7:32than he who speaks with other languages, unless he interprets
- 7:36that the assembly may be built up.
- 7:39But now, brothers, if I come to you speaking with other
- 7:41languages, what would I profit you unless I speak to you either
- 7:45by way of revelation, or of knowledge, or of prophesying, or
- 7:49of teaching, even things without life giving a voice, whether
- 7:54pipe or harp, if they didn't give a distinction in the
- 7:56sounds, how would it be known what is piped or harped?
- 8:00For if the trumpet gave an uncertain sound, who would
- 8:03prepare himself for war? So also you, unless you uttered
- 8:07by the tongue words easy to understand, how would it be
- 8:10known what is spoken? For you would be speaking into
- 8:13the air. There are, it may be, so many
- 8:16kinds of sounds in the world, and none of them is without
- 8:19meaning. If then I don't know the meaning
- 8:22of the sound, I would be to him who speaks a foreigner, and he
- 8:25who speaks would be a foreigner to me.
- 8:28So also you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts,
- 8:32seek that you may abound to the building up of the assembly.
- 8:35Therefore, let him who speaks in another language pray that he
- 8:38may interpret. For if I pray in another
- 8:41language, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.
- 8:46What is it then? I will pray with the Spirit, and
- 8:48I will pray with the understanding also.
- 8:51I will sing with the Spirit, and I will sing with the
- 8:54understanding also. Otherwise, if you bless with the
- 8:57Spirit, how will he who fills the place of the unlearned say
- 9:01the Amen at your giving of thanks, seeing he doesn't know
- 9:04what you say? For you most certainly give
- 9:07thanks well, but the other person is not built up.
- 9:10I thank my God I speak with other languages more than you
- 9:14all. However, in the assembly I would
- 9:17rather speak 5 words with my understanding that I might
- 9:20instruct others also than 10,000 words in another language.
- 9:25Brothers, don't be children in thoughts, yet in malice be
- 9:28babies, but in thoughts be mature in the law.
- 9:32It is written by men of strange languages and by the lips of
- 9:36strangers. I will speak to this people,
- 9:39they won't even hear me that way, says the Lord.
- 9:41Therefore other languages are for a sign, not to those who
- 9:45believe, but to the unbelieving. But prophesying is for a sign
- 9:49not to the unbelieving, but to those who believe.
- 9:53If, therefore, the whole assembly is assembled together
- 9:56and all speak with other languages and unlearned or
- 9:59unbelieving people come in, won't they say that you are
- 10:02crazy? But if all prophecy and someone
- 10:06unbelieving or unlearned comes in, he is reproved by all, and
- 10:10he is judged by all, and thus the secrets of his heart are
- 10:13revealed, so he will fall down on his face and worship God,
- 10:18declaring that God is among you indeed.
- 10:20What is it then, brothers? When you come together, each one
- 10:24of you has a Psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has
- 10:28another language, or has an interpretation.
- 10:31Let all things be done to build each other up.
- 10:34If any man speaks in another language, let it be two, or at
- 10:37the most 3 and in turn and let one interpret.
- 10:42But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in the
- 10:45assembly, and let him speak to himself and to God.
- 10:48Let the prophet speak two or three, and let the others
- 10:51discern. But if a revelation is made to
- 10:54another sitting by, let the first keep silent, for you all
- 10:58can prophecy one by one, that all may learn and all may be
- 11:02exhorted. The spirits of the prophets are
- 11:05subject to the prophets, for God is not a God of confusion, but
- 11:09of peace, as in all the assemblies of the Saints.
- 11:13Let the wives be quiet in the assemblies, for it has not been
- 11:16permitted for them to be talking except in submission, as the Law
- 11:20also says. If they desire to learn
- 11:22anything, let them ask their own husbands at home, for it is
- 11:27shameful for a wife to be talking in the assembly.
- 11:29What was it from you that the word of God went out, or did it
- 11:33come to you alone? If any man thinks himself to be
- 11:37a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize the things which I
- 11:41write to you, that they are the commandment of the Lord.
- 11:44But if anyone is ignorant, let him be ignorant.
- 11:48Therefore, brothers, desire earnestly to prophecy, and don't
- 11:52forbid speaking with other languages.
- 11:54Let all things be done decently and in order.
- 11:59Thanks for joining us on Bible Chat, where Scripture meets
- 12:02everyday life. If today's devotional encouraged
- 12:05you, share it with a friend and be sure to follow the podcast so
- 12:09you won't miss the next conversation.
- 12:11Until next time, stay rooted in truth, anchored in hope and
- 12:14walking. Daily with Jesus.