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Enochh
Member



Joined: 2007/8/22
Posts: 116
Indianapolis

 why are we affraid of the silence?

This is an off shoot of the thread on secular music and I credit ginnyrose for sparking it. Why are we so fearful of the silence? We have silence busters (background music)every where...doctors office, elevators,grocery stores, airports, the car. I even have christian friends who have "praise" music playing "softly" all the time in their home. I know some times when I am in the truck going from job to job I get a bit uncomfortable with the silence and turn on the christian talk station, AFR. Why? I don't do TV. what I watch (when I watch) is downloaded. I don't really ever turn on my home stereo. Why that uncomfortable feeling with silence? I mean when was the last time any one went to a service where there was a 10, 15, 20, 30 minutes of silence as we waited on God. That would make most so uncomfortable they'd leave.....


_________________
Jeff

 2011/7/6 9:32Profile









 Re: why are we affraid of the silence?

Here is a story that speaks to that very point Enochh. This was 14 minutes of silence in the service......

https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=38813&forum=44&4

brother Frank

 2011/7/6 10:10
sarahsdream
Member



Joined: 2011/6/16
Posts: 183


 Re:

Maybe because we would be forced to hear our conscience or God's voice. And we would be confronted with the reality that we are really shutting out those two voices.

Sarah

 2011/7/6 11:26Profile
White_Stone
Member



Joined: 2008/10/25
Posts: 1196
North Central Florida

 Re: why are we affraid of the silence?

Sarah said

Quote:
Maybe because we would be forced to hear our conscience or God's voice. And we would be confronted with the reality that we are really shutting out those two voices.



AMEN!

I am uncomfortable around music, 'especially' if there are lyrics I can not understand.


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Janice

 2011/7/6 11:59Profile









 Re:

Thank you Brother Frank for the re-telling of this GOD-sent event.

It stirs up a lot of emotion because that was what "Church" was. The norm.
The Pastor would feel to be quiet and the congregation 'knew' that it meant that The Holy Spirit Himself had something to say and would begin to very quietly pray in their seats and pray that The LORD would have free sway among us.
Occasionally someone would feel the need to break the silence 'in the flesh' and "give a word" but it would fall to the ground like a lead-balloon, so everyone would just continue to pray quietly and some to softly weep, then finally, when that reverence for the true Holy Spirit would return - then out from the congregation, a true word would come. A definite 'word' to our congregation and the knowledge that The LORD was definitely LORD and Quite Alive among His people and we had been visited by Himself.
That was the norm for "Church" - that when the silence came, we were ready immediately to begin to pray for HIM to speak and the Pastor had discernment enough to know when to silence himself and discern whether what came out to break that silence was from HIM or not and so did most of the congregation.
Amen, that is an emotional topic to pray over -- The working of all of the genuine gifts to His Church. When HE wants to take over and when His people can tell that that's what HE's trying to do and know without a doubt that that which breaks the silence is definitely [from] HIM.


Thank you for sharing a blessing of the normal Christian Life.

 2011/7/6 13:17
mama27
Member



Joined: 2010/11/20
Posts: 1482


 Re:

How many times have we read accounts of how the saints of old would go off into the woods to pray and be alone with God? And that before electricity!! It is increasingly more difficult to "get away" where you can tune out all the distractions of the 21st century and just hear from the Lord. I think the enemy has "stolen" silence from us with all the technology and the addiction of our culture to multi-tasking and noise. We don't call it noise as we have become desensitized to it. I dare say most people are very uncomfortable with silence. I know that I like to make the best use of my time by listening to a sermon while I am doing mundane tasks. Nothing wrong with that in and of itself. But maybe the BEST use of time would be to quiet ourselves in with GOD ALONE....are we afraid of that still small voice? Or do we not even recognize it anymore?

 2011/7/6 14:38Profile
ManofGod0000
Member



Joined: 2010/6/8
Posts: 191


 Re: why are we affraid of the silence?

Brother Enochh,

U have just said two or three mouth fulls. Here in america, silence is unusual, it is a sort of strange thing to meditate and talk to God while taking a walk or whatever.

Now we have to have a phone, MP3 player, or something similar to prevent us from hearing God

 2011/7/8 21:31Profile
SimpleLiving
Member



Joined: 2008/1/11
Posts: 375
Minnesota, USA

 Re: why are we affraid of the silence?

People are afraid of what they'll hear, from their consciences and from God. Silence gives us the room to think and process information. Most people are afraid of what they'll be forced to face about themselves.

Why? Because God speaks in the silences. If we're to have an intimate relationship with the Father, or indeed anyone, it requires silence so the other person can speak... and so we can listen.

"He who has ears to hear, let him hear." - Matthew 11:15

People get uncomfortable with silence because their minds can't keep still. It causes panic. We live in a fast-paced, instant-gratification, entertainment-driven world and that has caused people to lose their ability to be still and listen. All that noise provides excuses not to hear.

It's in the silence that we learn to hear God's voice. And, when we've spent time with Him, learning to know His voice, we can be sure we'll hear Him whisper - even in the middle of a raging storm. But it all starts in the silences before the God of the universe, the Savior of our souls.

Personally, I don't own a television, radio, stereo, DVDs, CDs, etc., When I'm home, it's quiet. And I'm silent, unless I'm singing or worshiping. (Or talking to my cat!) I love silence.

“But the LORD is in His holy temple.
Let all the earth keep silence before Him.” - Habakkuk 2:20

"Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!" - Psalm 46:10




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Keith

 2011/7/8 23:33Profile









 Re:

FAITH IS IN THE SILENCE


Isaiah 6:3-4 (ASV)
And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts.
Sometime in the mid third century , about 250 ad, Novation wrote this on the Trinity. Of course this was about 60 years before the darkness of Constantine would descend upon the world of Christianity……………

"In all our meditations upon the qualities of the attributes and content of God, we pass beyond our powers of fit conception, nor can human eloquence put forth a power commensurate with His greatness. At the contemplation and utterance of His majesty, all eloquence is rightly dumb, all mental effort is feeble. For God is greater than mind itself. His greatness cannot be conceived. Nay, if we could conceive of His greatness, He would be less than the human mind which could form the conception. He is greater than all language, and no statement can express Him. Indeed, if any statement could express Him, He would be less than human speech, which could by such statement comprehend and gather up all that He is. Up to a certain point, of course, we can have experience of Him, without language, but no man can express in words all that He is in Himself. Suppose, for instance, one speaks of Him as light; this is an account of part of His creation, not of Himself. It does not express what He is. Or suppose one speaks of Him as power. This too sets forth in words His attribute of might, rather than His being. Or suppose one speaks of Him as majesty. Once again, we have a declaration of the honor which is His own, rather than of Him in Himself…. To sum up the matter in a single sentence, every possible statement that can be made about God expresses some possession or virtue of God, rather than God Himself. What words or thoughts are worthy Him, who is above all language and all thought? The conception of God as He is can only be grasped in one way, and even that is impossible for us, beyond our grasp and understanding; by thinking of Him as a Being whose attributes and greatness are beyond our powers of understanding, or even of thought."


At the glow and the glory of God, as the heavenly host cried “Holy, Holy, Holy, Isaiah, that mighty prophet of God, most quoted by Jesus, cried out in despair. His eyes had seen the King and he was undone. He was only aware of his own unworthiness and the unworthiness of those he dwelt amongst.

We are alive because of the light and heat from the sun. It is the essence of our existence as humans. The earth stands in the blackness of space, the exact distance from the sun which allows life. A few feet closer and we would burn up, a few feet away and we would be a frozen planet. We can glance at the sun for a few seconds, but to stand and gaze into it would destroy our eyes. As Christians we have been called to close our eyes and stare into the Son. We are called to come closer, to draw near , to come right into the very throne room of God Himself. To come in the flesh means destruction, to close our eyes and to come in the spirit means life. Yet, in the brilliance of His presence, every part of us will be illuminated.

In the agony of illumination , we cry out to God and from the very alter of the living God, with tongs mind you, the angel touches you with fire, refining fire. THIS IS REVIVAL. One man or woman will agonize at his or her state, he or she will cry out to God, and God will send fire from the alter itself . As that one stands in the midst of us, the impenitent will harden and will flee, and those who linger in the light from the coal from the alter will be revived and refined and the fire will spread and it will consume. And a people will cry out and worship God and they too will cry “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God almighty.”

The presence of God amongst this refined people will be intense. They will linger in it, be drawn to it and will call others to it and the seekers will come. They too will be set on fire by the fire from the alter. They will take it with them and it will linger for at least a generation. Men and woman will go out and be bold witnesses for God and they will go to the nations.

The question then is this. Do we allow space and time for the man or the woman who will begin this fire? Will we allow space and time in our religious services for God to move amongst men? Do we have the faith to stand in silence and wait on God, expectantly? Silence, for some reason, scares us. We feel that we “have to be doing.” Talking or singing or praying. If we pray and teach and believe that God is going to send His fire, then why not stand and wait for it? Perhaps there is less faith involved in noise?

Psa 65:1 To You silence is praise, O God, in Zion; and to You is a vow paid. To You who hears prayer, all flesh comes. Things of iniquity are mightier than I; as for our transgressions, You shall purge them away. Blessed is the one whom You choose, and cause to come near You. He shall dwell in Your courts; we shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, of Your holy temple.

Job 37:20 Shall it be told Him that I would speak? If a man speaks, surely he shall be swallowed up.
And now men cannot look upon the light; it is in the clouds; but the wind passes and clears them.
Golden splendor comes out of the north; God is awesome in His majesty.The Almighty, whom we cannot find out, is exalted in power; and to judgment and overflowing righteousness He does no violence. Therefore, men fear Him; He does not respect any who are wise in heart.

 2011/7/9 0:41
gazzer
Member



Joined: 2011/4/30
Posts: 99


 Re:

yea i verry rarly speak with my mouth ,in my quite time in the morning ,,

i think why christans dont nomly get enough silence, is there flesh wants to be fead,and they feed it what it wants stimuli ,, i neeed to fast with my ears much more then i do ,,,,and it is always a blessing the more quite time i recieve ,,,,,,,but idont feel that im afraid of the silence ,, i need my quite time in the morning more then i need breakfast food

 2011/7/9 1:17Profile





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