HEARING FROM GOD

HEY! Be quiet. I can't
hear.

You have either said it,
or had it yelled at you.
When you want to hear
something you quit talking.
You do, don't you.
 Or you may turn off an appliance
or lower the volume on the T.V. You minimize any
distracting noise or influence you can so you can hear.

In an upholstery shop in Pomona, California I saw
a sign that said, "You can't learn anything while
you are talking." That is still true today.

The Scriptures say,
There is "a time to keep silence, and a time to
speak;" -Ecclesiastes 3:7 RSV

We all know about the speaking out part. At
least about the things we are interested in.
And that we should for the Lord. But do we
know how to be silent - so we can hear?

The most powerful church service I was ever in
was in one of the local churches. The
visiting evangelist was there with a musical team.
The presence of God was so real and close you could
feel it. You did not want to move or do any
thing that would disturb the way God was working
in our midst.

When the evangelist finished he turned it over
to the local pastor. Even the pastor was moved. The
pastor appreciated the service so much that he spent
the next 20 minutes telling how much he
appreciated the service.

He killed it. Literally killed the service dead. You
could not have killed it any "deader" with a shot
gun. The time to be silent was lost. The moving
of God's Spirit was gone.

I do not know how many services I have been in
where the preacher preaches a great sermon. Then
kills it himself.
He preaches till the sermon is finished. He knows it.
The congregation knows it. God knows it.
But he is enjoying preaching. Especially if the Holy
Spirit has been moving. He does not want to stop.
So he goes on and on killing his own sermon and the
moving of God.

Currently I attend one of those churches where
for some unfathomable reason they think some body's
mouth has to be going all the time. Numbers of times
the Holy Spirit has been ministering to me. But
some one thinks they have to say something. Maybe
in between the verses of a song or just at a pause. And
it quenches the working of the Spirit.

Jim Cymbala said it so well when he said,
"We must quickly be delivered from the delusion
that someone always has to be talking, teaching,
'sharing' or singing; that to keep the crowd interested
we have got to keep things 'moving' lest there be a
lull where God might actually draw us out of
ourselves into real spiritual communion."
-From, Whatever Happened To The Prayer Meeting?
in July 2009 Herald of His Coming, page 3.

God said, "Be still, and know that I am God."
-Psalms 46:10. RSV
Even for Elijah the Spirit of God did not minister
to him in the earthquake or the fire. But in "a
still small voice."

With God's help I want to quiet down and listen
for his "still small voice". How about you?