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December 17, 2001 "Listen to Him"
Remember the disciples on the road to Emmaus? Jesus, in His risen form, walked along with them, and Scripture said, "He opened their minds to understand every Scripture that pertained to Him" (Lk 24:27). They journeyed along the road literally on fire in that beautiful prayer conversation, receiving all this revelation from the Word of God Himself! What did they say when they went back to tell the other Apostles about this encounter? "Were not our hearts burning within us?" (Lk 24:32). That's prayer. We know we have connected with God when our hearts are burning! That's when we know that we have heard from the Word Himself and His Spirit. Jesus wants this. He said, "Happy are they who hear my Word and live it out."
So what is needed for this kind of an experience? Several things but the main one is silence. We need to have some kind of silence in our lives each day, even if just for an hour. We're not to be running out into deserts, but we can run into the silence of the desert within. We are only going to pick up that soft, gentle voice of God, that very gentle wind of the Spirit, in the silence. Silence is a discipline. Maybe there are so few contemplatives and prophets in the Church today because silence is a discipline. We would much rather be busy about many other things. We are busy people. Silence isn't as exciting. The temptation is to keep busy all the time, but then we become totally out of balance. It can be hard to carve out that time in our day. It takes discipline of the mind to focus on what we're supposed to be focusing on. Silence is like doing nothing and letting God do everything. Silence is a discipline by which the inner fire of God's love is tended and kept alive. So if you haven't heard from the Lord for awhile, check the level of silence. Check the time you're spending to re-ignite that fire again in the desert. Prayer which comes forth out of silence is always prayer that comes forth from the power of God. It will always produce the fruit of the Spirit because in that silence you're connecting with the heart of God Himself. This kind of silence leads to contemplative union with the Lamb upon the throne. We ascend and learn many things about heaven, the Father, the Lamb, and God's vision. Revelation 4 says, "Come up here. Come up higher, and I will show you things to come" (Rv 4:1). This is where we see things to come from God's point of view, which means we will see it in love. We will not only see it, but God will let us know what He wants to do about it and how He wants to use us. This level of contemplative prayer, this quality of silence and union is very important, especially for intercessors. On Mount Tabor, the Father said, "Listen to Him." We need to listen to the Father's Word, Jesus. This level of silence is a safeguard for love. It calls us away from the wordiness of the world today. There's so much wordiness everywhere, and it really says nothing. In silence we get in touch with the Word and revelation and truth. We can take this Word, revelation, and truth back into a world that so desperately needs it. Out of this silence where we connect with this deep Love within, charity will come forth out of us, like the living fountain that Jesus talked about. It will burst forth into love of God and neighbor. This is the kind of silence that an intercessor's heart needs to have. If we don't come into this deep love of God, which overflows into love of neighbor, we will not really have an interest in intercession because intercession is for the greater honor and glory of God and for the salvation of souls. So we need this level of silence to produce this dimension of love within us. Excerpt from "Gathered Together in One Place," Church Alive Album, Omaha, NE, 2000.
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