Deaf and Mute

In Mark 7:33-35 we read about a man with a deaf and mute spirit. Still on the topic of the tongue it is obvious that if one cannot hear they cannot speak. If you cannot hear what God is saying, how can you speak what is right? Psalm 38:13 says:

¹³ I am like a deaf man, who cannot hear,

like a mute, who cannot open his mouth;

Jesus spoke in parables that had hidden meaning. The disciples asked him why he did this and his reply found in Mathew 13:13-14 says

¹³This is the reason that I speak to them in parables: because having the power of seeing, they do not see; and having the power of hearing, they do not hear, nor do they grasp and understand.

¹⁴In them indeed is ^]the process of fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, which says: You shall indeed hear and hear but never grasp and understand; and you shall indeed look and look but never see and perceive.

The secrets of the Kingdom of God are for those who hear with their natural ears and then hear again with their spiritual ears. Hearing with your spiritual ears means that you grasp and you understand the secrets of God behind the natural words you are hearing. You have the power to hear the secrets of the Kingdom and those secrets when spoken by you bring deliverance, prosperity, healing and success in every area of your life.

I am amazed at the goodness of God. Two days, or so ago I was telling him to speak to me like he did with Moses. God testifies in Numbers 12 6-8

⁶And He said, Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make Myself known to him in a vision and speak to him in a dream.

⁷But not so with My servant Moses; he is entrusted and faithful in all My house.

⁸With him I speak mouth to mouth [directly], clearly and not in dark speeches; and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?

And again in Exodus 33:11 "And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend."

My hearts desire is that God will speak to me so that I can understand and grasp with my heart the mysteries of his Kingdom to walk in the ways he has ordained for me.

Mark 7 and Mark 9 record incidences when Jesus met with people who were deaf and mute and needed to be free of this condition. In Mark 9 a demon is causing the issue. It has blocked the boys hearing and stopped him from speaking. Moreover, it has on occasion thrown him the fire and in water so that it could kill him. A deaf and mute spirit has nothing for you but destruction and death. Does not the word of God say that the enemy comes only to steal, kill and destroy? When you are unable to grasp and understand the meaning of the word of the Lord you are unable to receive life to yourself. Why? Because Jesus said to the woman at the well, "these words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life." The words of the Lord are life. If you cannot truly hear what the Lord is saying you are dying.

The Lord looks at the boy and commands that deaf and mute spirit to depart which it promptly does. This of course throws off the disciples who had been doing the same thing in his name and had been unable to get this nasty spirit to leave. Jesus tells them that this kind, this particular breed, rank, caliber of spirit can only bow to prayer and fasting!! Wow!! Does that not just shed a whole new light to prayer and fasting?!! If you want the deaf and mute spirit to depart from you pray and fast then rebuke that spirit and send it packing!! This explains why when you are fasting you hear, grasp and understand what God is saying so clearly!!

The case in Mark 7 is different. We see no spirits here. This man, although deaf and mute, does not seem to be possessed by any devil. There is no deliverance service happening here. The process is quite simple:

³³After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man's ears. Then he spit and touched the man's tongue. ³⁴He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, "Ephphatha!" (which means, "Be opened!" ). ³⁵At this, the man's ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.

Christ commands him to be opened. Immediately he can hear and immediately he can speak plainly.

These two instances tell me that one can have their spiritual hearing (and by default speaking) blocked by a demonic spirit or by God. Exodus 4:11

¹¹ The LORD said to him, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD ?

However, the desire of God is that you hear and that you speak right. However, your hearing and your speaking is dictated by your heart. If your heart is calloused then you will see and will not perceive, you will hear but will not grasp and understand. The heart of God is that you will have your heart fixed so that you can truly see and truly hear. Jesus continues his discourse in Mathew 13:15 -16 and says:

¹⁵For this people's heart has become calloused;

they hardly hear with their ears,

and they have closed their eyes.

Otherwise they might see with their eyes,

hear with their ears,

understand with their hearts

and turn, and I would heal them. ¹⁶But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.

Therefore spiritual hearing and seeing is about understanding the meaning of what you see and hear. Its a matter of the heart. Each one of us therefore needs a new heart according to Jeremiah 17, because the old heart is "deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly perverse and corrupt and severely, mortally sick!" If you can allow God to fix your heart, by taking away the old one and giving you a new one you can then be able to understand with your heart what you see and hear. Once this is done you can begin to speak the word of the Lord and by so doing to make your way prosperous!

Father today I come into your presence as one who longs to see and hear and to communicate with you face to face. Father, I ask that you would give me a new heart. The kind that can perceive, grasp and understand the things that you are saying to me. Father, today in the name of Jesus I come against any deaf and mute spirit that could have been hindering me from clearly hearing what you are saying to me. I come against it in the name of Jesus and decree that in that mighty name I am free to hear what the Lord my God is saying to me and perceive what I see, to grasp and understand with my heart everything that I hear you say. Lord I put my fingers in my ears just like you did with the deaf man and I touch my tongue and command them in the name of Jesus "Be opened!" I thank you for opening my hearing and loosing my tongue. Lord God I touch my eyes too and command them to be opened in the name of Jesus. Yes Lord! Blessed are my eyes for they see and my ears for they hear clearly. Blessed I'm I for my heart perceives, grasps and understands the mysteries and secrets of the Kingdom of God. Lord, I worship you today for reaching out to me. You are the revealer of mysteries and you have chosen to reveal them to me. I bless you and honor you. In Jesus name I do pray. Amen!!