The personal life of a worker of the Lord is intimately related to his work. Therefore, we have to consider matters of character, habit, and conduct when considering the qualifications necessary to be in God's employment. This relates to the constitution of character and the formation of habits. A man must have not only a certain amount of spiritual experience, but a certain constitution in his disposition; the Lord must constitute a certain kind of disposition within him. Many things need to be built up, cultivated, and developed into habits within a worker. These things relate more to our outward man than to our inner man. As these things mold the outward man into a proper shape, we will become suitable for the Lord's use. It takes grace and mercy from God for this to occur; character is not built up in a day. But if the Lord gives a person enough light and if He speaks to him often enough, his natural and undesirable elements will be burned away; they will not be allowed to remain or grow. In His mercy, God will reconstruct a new character in him through resurrection. Let us now speak of a few things that all seasoned servants of the Lord have realized and apprehended. The lack of any of these will result in a breakdown in service.
The first thing we want to speak of is an ability to listen to others. A worker of the Lord must build up the habit in his daily life of listening to others. I do not mean that he should listen to others in the sense of obeying them. I mean that he should listen to others in the sense of being able to hear what they are saying and to understand what he has heard. There is a great need for this trait to be built up in a worker's personal life. No worker of the Lord can do a good job if he can only speak to others but cannot listen to them. A worker is of little use to God if he can only speak to others, if he can only blast incessantly at others like a firecracker. No worker of the Lord can be an incessant talker. If he can only speak to others, but cannot listen to them and realize their problems through conversation, his usefulness is very limited. If a Christian turns to a servant of the Lord for help, the worker should be able to discern three aspects of his brother's words while he is listening: the words that are being uttered, the words that are being held back, and the words that are lying in the depth of the brother's spirit.
First, you must fully understand what the person is actually saying. This means that you need to be a quiet person before the Lord. Your mind must be clear and your spirit must be calm. Your inner being should be like a blank piece of paper before the Lord. You should not have any prejudice, preconception, or inclination. You should not make any determination in your mind or pass any judgment on anything. You should remain perfectly calm before the Lord. When the other person opens his mouth and relates a story, you should learn to listen. As you listen quietly, you will know what he or she is talking about.