Even though many are in social isolation at the moment, we are hardly ever in silence. We are always listening to music, radio, some podcast, we leave the TV on while we do something else. Or we exchange several videos and audios on with our friends and family. Nowadays we even work listening to something. Sometimes it seems that we are only silent when we sleep.
But my point here is to say that it is important to spend time in silence, just willing to hear the voice of God. We often forget to turn our ears to our Father who knows all things. As it is written in Job 12:13, “To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his.”
In this moment of crises, the noise is really loud!
We are currently experiencing something unprecedented in which the coronavirus crisis is not something exclusive to just one city or a single country. Basically the whole world is going through this together. There are isolated people in almost every country. European city dwellers are experiencing the same problems than city dwellers in North and South America. As a result, everyone is talking about the pandemic. The noise is loud!
We received a flood of information, videos, audios, news. There are specialists in health, government, economics, psychologists. Everyone has something to say. Sometimes we don’t even know what to read or hear or what information to believe.
I leave here the following question: have we spent time in silence just willing to listen to what God has to say to us about all that is happening? I am not saying to stop informing ourselves, but to spend time with Him. The Word says in Luke 5:16 that “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.“
The importance of silence
In the silence we can hear the voice of God. One of my pastors always said that we need to lower the volume of the world and increase the volume of God’s voice in our ears.
And lowering the volume of the world is not just about turning off the TV or the radio. It is about feeding our minds with what the Holy Spirit wants. When we feed our spirit, we increase our ability to discern our lives spiritually. That is, we become more sensitive to the voice of God, to be guided by Him and His will.
“Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.”
Romans 8: 5-8
By using your time to feed on what is spiritual, you will stop feeding on the noise of society and human thoughts. You will feed yourself with thoughts from above, thoughts of peace and hope because we know that He has already overcome the world and that the joy of the Lord is our strength, even in times of tribulation.
“The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;
Lamentations 3: 25-26
it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”
“Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him.“
Psalm 62:5
Do we know how to listen?
In the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 3 says that there is a right time for everything. Verse 7 says that there is a time to be silent and a time to speak.
How easy it is to talk. It’s easy to spend a lot of time praying over a giant order list. Personal requests, requests from our dear friends and family. And there’s nothing wrong with asking. But do we know at any given time to stop and just listen to what the Lord wants from us? Do we know how long be silent and pay attention to Him? Do we know how to read a portion of the Bible and then quietly reflect on what God wants to teach us and speak from the text?
And hearing the voice of God is not just listening, it is listening and obeying. A spirit-oriented mind enables us to hear God’s voice and also to submit to His will.
Through Isaiah, God warns the people for not paying attention to Him. The people would have prospered if they had heard and obeyed the voice of the Lord.
“This is what the Lord says—
Isaiah 48: 17-19
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you what is best for you,
who directs you in the way you should go.
If only you had paid attention to my commands,
your peace would have been like a river,
your well-being like the waves of the sea.
Your descendants would have been like the sand,
your children like its numberless grains;
their name would never be blotted out
nor destroyed from before me.”
In the silence we tear our hearts
In addition to the silence we can hear the voice of God, in the silence we can also tear our hearts. Where only I and the Lord are, I can cry, I can be broken, I can present myself before Him with sincerity and truth.
Jesus was sad and distressed when he went to Gethsemane (Mark 14: 32-36). The time was near when He would face the cross. He turned away from the disciples, prostrated himself and with his face to the ground he prayed to the Father. He asked that, if possible, that moment of pain be removed from him. Jesus in that hard time, when the worst moment of his life was approaching, went to a place where he had a moment of prayer alone with God.
Before the Father, Jesus does not hide his desire not to go through that suffering. Before God we can expose our weaknesses and what we feel. Perhaps that is why we are so resistant to being silent with God. In silence we stay with the One who sees the deepest of our hearts and intentions.
The Psalmist talks about this in chapter 139: 1-4
“You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.”
But how wonderful it is that our Father knows us so deeply. Because it is He who can reveal to us behaviors that need to be transformed and guide us on the eternal path. The psalmist ends chapter 139 by saying “See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”.
Conclusion
The silence where we meet Him is very precious. Your day has 24 hours. Start by taking at least a few minutes to be silent in His presence. In the silence we hear the voice of God and He transforms us.
God bless
Thanks alot and be blessed.
Truly we need to take time and talk to the Lord always more especially this time when we are experiencing this COVID-19 pandemic. This is awakening period of being silent with the Lord.
Amen. Thank you Gabi for this. We indeed need to be alone with God in quietness of heart and mind. After reading this I decided to change my devotion a little. In stead of just praying I decided to pray and sit before the LORD and wait for Him to speak. While I knelt and waited, my mind was like a moving train, so many thoughts were flooding my mind and I was thinking, even when we are in a quite place our minds are everywhere! So we have to ask the LORD to keep our minds on Him even in silence and quite times so that we may hear when He speaks to us.
Thank you and God bless you richly.
Awesome! Our lives are so busy, we don’t take the time to spend with God, to see what He wants us to do. Well said!
Such an awesome message!!
Thank you for the encouragement actually we need to be silent
Thank u for this, everything u said is true n so divine…ur truly a child of God.
Thank you for this message. Truly the noise of the world can be overwhelming however the voice of the Lord has always been there ready for us if we take time to be silent and hear Him. Glory to God!
Praise God!!! I love truth and chastisement.
Wondering if this follows a church annual theme (how they follow scripture in a certain order) or God connecting 😕
The church attended by this vessel posted today: Just Be Still
Or if it is just a thought many have now that the busy-ness of life is no longer a thing for many.
Regardless…life is better with quiet time spent with the Lord…brokenness being revealed and all. He is, after all, greater than our worst mistake.
Thank you so much for sharing this message. It’s so inspiring.
Thank you for this message. Lately he has been telling me to be still and know that he is God. Praise God! Glory hallalujah
This is so inspiring. GOD bless you
Thank you Gabi I really love this encouragement I pray that the good Lord use you to share his words and be with you always, God bless you always. Praise the Lord Amen and Amen.
Proverbs 16:20-24 BLESSED is1 who trusts in our Lord! Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul & healing to the bones!
Ms.Gabi, you’re definately a prayer WARRIOR & purposefully, power filled as I hear,feel & see in your fruit of Spirit filled teachings! Privelaged & blessed in your pure heart seeking of our Fathers directed unity…remain in Him for His word does NOT return void & His face shines upon you, TY sooO much for your devotion to Abbas leading! Keep letting your heart sing to him& He loves you genuinely!
Your words touched ny heart today. It was inspiring, and eye opening reminders as well. I’m glad you are allowing God to use you to help others. Thank you and God bless you!!
Ever notice more u seek God, more fiery darts try disrupting? Be ye not of the world but renewed in yo mind, transformed into His image. Father sent His son not to condemn but to save in His unconditional LOVE &GRACE filled examples! Let’s be still & let God be who he is, in control💓The battle was won @ cross, pray for His will, let His lead be your offering & pray for His will not ours’…Abbas got this & this too shall pass!Be still in His Gracefilled UNITY, u r covered, do your part!!!
Be still & know,” I Am God’..Psa 63:1-8 forms pattern of cause &effect. As a child of God ALMIGHTY i have last 10 yrs been daily challenged by devils & peoples’stress, finally crying out pure hearted to God & relinquishing Christian life completely. To my surprise here came virus & Holy Spirit put me in His bondage, best day of my life🕆for i refined in His nurtured teaching again daily. Stress can beat u down but submission of one’s self, takes eyes off carnal life & submits to HIS grace filled, loving,directed purposes, fulfills soulfully & surrounds u in His UNITY. I have total peace thru this virus & spend every day alone with HIM. Being used for His PURPOSE, Glory & loving directional culmination. Adored by God HimSELF & privelaged to praise in this storm. Lift your eyes unto the Lord, that’s where your help comes from. He will NOT FORSAKE YOU OR leave u🕊He loves His creation& doesn’t choose to lose1,Romans 8:36-39
Thank you so very much Gabi! God has blessed you to communicate words that has awesome timing! I thank my Lord for touching your heart to help others who need words of encouragement!
Thank you!
Thank you for theses beautiful passages. Yes I have to learn how to sit and be still,as the lord wants me to l see. Its nice when the lord speaks and reveals what he wants from us.I am studying Dangerous Prayers and the same psalms 139 keeps coming up repeatedly. All l could say its Thank You Jesus because you love me. OBEDIENCE
When you have a family someone is here to ask you everything they want and never ask you what you want for yourself. Some only thinking about themselves just like some people just ask God for what they want not what God wants to do for them or the world. If God says ask they can ask everytime there’s no big deal in this.
But don’t spend time with God won’t stop God’s goodness, protection, compassion, love; It will only stop us from knowing what to expect, what will happen to us, what we really need, and it won’t stop the relationship with God.
If God wants you to listen to Him it will make His own way so He can talk to you the way He desires.
Remember this, when God speak nothing can stand. So you see we won’t have to do anything just to say because we want to hear Him.
I know everyone is suffering right now about this Coronavirus but remember in Egypt when God took all Egyptians and left only the Israel because they were his people means God is not going to forget us in this pandemic, remember the 3 young Hebrews, remember about the lost blood woman, remember Daniel with the lions, remember this: My hand is not too short to save, and my hear is not so hard to listen but ours sins take us away from God and if you’re away from God means there’s no life because God is life.
Don’t listen to anyone saying God told them this and that about this pandemic God won’t speak that easy. I’ve been praying for coronavirus but never had answered. All we need is to keep praying keep praying and keep praying. Know God is the way of salvation, redemption, He is the healer.
Psalm 51
Psalm 46
Psalm 91
Psalm 121
Read them 51 is for forgiveness before reading the Bible you should read Psalm 51 first to ask for forgiveness.
Thanks and have great time under this circumstance.
God is working our battle.
Hi dear, thank you so much for your comment. I think you may have misunderstood a little bit of the message. The author isn’t saying we must do something for us to hear God or for Him to speak. She is saying that, sometimes our surroundings is too noisy so we tend not to hear when God speaks. For example, imagine that you went to church and the music playing is really loud, and you are close to the instruments and someone else far away from the instruments is shouting your name to get your attention, you may probably not hear because the music is louder than the person. That’s what this message is about. Move closer to the person to hear him and away from the music. Thank you very much.
So inspiring….especially now when most have more time than usual! Thanks for this blessing!
Excellent!!!
Very true for the season that we have transitioned into.
Thank you for lfiting me up today and letting me know i just need to lisen
Thanks am blessed, indeed moment of silence with God is moment of his Revelations, is just that we often concentrate more request than hearing his will and direction , which most time makes our prayers long awaited and praying amiss, because we talk, talk without listening , forgetting that God that God can speak directly to us if we listen. That is why he say “come let’s reason together” that means there something he need tell us and all he need is our ear, l pray for his grace upon us that we should always consider this very important to àlways seek to hear him speak to us, expecialy in meditation of a word study as we listen back to hear what he is saying to is. I receive grace in Jesus Christ mighty name Amen 🙏 thanks brother 😀
Amen
Thanks for teaching & encouraging me in everlasting way of God. Jesus bless you
Thank you for teaching & encouraging me. Jbu
Glory
Thank You So much , i have learnt how important it is to be silent in times .May God Keep on using u to guide our souls
That’s inspiring
Thank you, God spoke to me through this
Wow, it’s amazing. This morning my yearning has been Lord help me to be still in the midst of all. Timely Word for me.
Nice one, good word and advice to every human who is ready to learn, that word really made my day, remain bless, MORE POWER TO YOUR ELBOW, GOD IS GREAT.
Thank you and God bless you. This message is so timely. This morning, I told myself to do less talking and in all sincerity I need more time with God and pray He teaches me the art of silence before Him
Fantastic message. May the Lord continue to reveal himself to the writer and help her to also be the doer of his word. Thanks for speaking the heart of God at this moment. God bless you .
God bless you for this words especially at a time like this. Thank you for the gentle reminder.😊
Thank you my dear for these wonderful encouraging words. It is very true, with the noise all around we tend to forget that we have Big God who knows everything before it happens. Our duty is to be silent in presence & find out views on what is happening around us. Thank you once again. Terry
Thank you for sharing this. God bless
Bless you. This was timely.
Amen 🙏🏼
Amem 🙏❤️
Amen! ❤️
Thank you!
Thank you very much for this timely message.
Thank you so much , this has blessed me so much. God bless your good works
Thank you for the reflection in this time of Pandemic this is what we need in this time of crisis. “SILENT” 🙏🙏
Very empowering vlog. Thank you for this piece. Silence is Golden time!
This is all i needed today….
A real confirmation from the Lord after waking up wth the book of psalms 46:10
Told me to b still….
God bless u for this word.
Yeah we must be silent in order to put important of God present with his amazing creatures start from you yourself imagine observe. Silent also mark us qualified people in our jobs places. If you takes silent in God mark you knows his present.
Thanks for your encouragement word at this moment of global crisis against covid19 pandemic.