And Heaven Was Silent

Do you go through times when it seems God is not answering your cry? Are there days, weeks and possibly months when you do not hear from God for your personal life? Can you relate to the following men of God?

Abraham - Did not hear from God until he was 65, then there was a time when it was close to 15 years before he heard again. As far as we know, "heaven was silent" for those years. Most of the other times it was less time between God's speakings. 

Job - Before the trial, Job did not hear from God. Most of the trial was experienced before God spoke. The three friends spoke, as well as Elihu, but God was silent.

David

Psa 28:1  A Psalm of David. Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit. 

Psa 30:12  To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever. 

Psa 22:1  To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?

Jesus 

Mat 27:46  And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 

Each of these went through a time of not hearing from God. Each of them went through crisis without being able to hear from God for themselves. As a number in scripture, I have gone through times when I could hear from God for others time after time, being accurate and life giving for them, and unable to hear from God for myself. For me, "heaven was silent".

This reminds me of a principle illustrated in Revelation. 

Rev 8:1  And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.

Times of silence are to be guided by a principle. It is the principle of faith. God speaks, Faith is imparted, and the time of testing comes immediately afterword before the time of application comes.

As you go through those times when heaven is silent, reach back to before the quiet came and review what God has said, encourage yourself in the Lord by rehearsing in your own ears what He has promised. If you allow it, it will sustain you through the silence.

Also, a revelation of the character of God is also that which can sustain in the silent days, months or years.

It may be a test upon your faith or God putting His thumb in your back to go beyond faith.
  
1Co 13:13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. In our small diagram we find that the outer court is the realm of faith, the Holy Place is the realm of Hope"My God, My God, Why has thou forsaken me". He went through this and was not answered as He had been at other times.

My prayer is that as you go through those times of silence you will trust and hope in His character and see, after a while, the greatness of your God.

The Ebb and Flow of War

There are ebbs and flows to war. Often we do not think of that as we are in our daily battle with the world, the flesh, and the devil. As the battle rages and then seems to subside for a few moments, hours, days or a week, we thing the victory has been won. 

That must have been how Israel felt when Pharoah first let them go. They felt they had won the battle  with Egypt and hurriedly obeyed God's command to leave Egypt. God's heart was not just to release His people from bondage to Egypt, but to so defeat Egypt, it could never again become a world power. That necessitated God luring them out of the land to a place where He could destroy them. A divine ambush if you like. He did not tell Israel, or Moses that Israel was the bait He would use to destroy Egypt Therefore, when God moved to destroy Egypt, God's people thought they would be destroyed and cried out in fear. 

Today, as we watch the ebb and flow of spiritual warfare; as God prepares the stage for the final confrontation between the kingdoms of this world and the Kingdoms of Our God and of His Christ,

Rev 11:15 KJV  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

From this point on, although things seem to intensify, what is described is the last ditch fight of the enemy and his destruction. Jesus did not come to subdue the devil, nor just to chain him up for 1000 years. Jesus came to destroy the devil.

Heb 2:14 KJV  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

This has always been His purpose. In our war against the world, the flesh and the devil, let us make no mistake. God has called us to learn to fight in such a way as to take the devil out. We are not just to cripple him, maim him, and make him say uncle. We are to destroy him.

Lord give the the courage, faith, grace and anointing to act from this base.

I have ranted, Can I Rave Now?

In the midst of great trial and testing, we are discovering(after we have whined a bit) that God really cares. He has also given us a few people who really do care for us.

It is in the midst of deep trial when you discover what Solomon meant when he said: A friend loveth at all times.

These type of people are rare, but they are there. They show the love of God in that they never give up on you no matter what leaks out of your mouth under pressure. 

These situations cause stuff to leak out of our hearts that we did not know was there. Those precious friends, understand the pressure and help by sometimes carrying you through it, but at least by walking with you through it. We thank God for them. 

Not only does the trial of your faith show the golden value of the faith, but also the golden value of the friends who stand with you through the trial.

Just a thanks to all those who have stood by us during the current trial. You are more precious than gold.

Dr. Bill.

Eclipsed

It is entirely possible that what is happening to those who are crying out for God in this hour is described by Jesus statement to Peter concerning what was about to happen in his walk of faith.

Luk 22:31-32 KJV  And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:  (32)  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Luke 22:31-34 Simon, Simon, behold, Satan by asking obtained you and your fellow disciples for himself and from my power to his, in order that he may shake you in a sieve as grain is sifted, by an inward agitation, trying your faith to the verge of overthrow. But as for myself, I made petition concerning you that your faith should not be totally eclipsed. (from The New Testament: An Expanded Translation by Kenneth S. Wuest Copyright © 1961 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. All rights reserved.)

When we look at this in our experience, the above quotation from the Wuest more accurately describes the mental and emotional expression.

An eclipse is when something comes between the source of light and you. Here is some food for thought.

1. Faith has a light of its own in our lives.
2. Something can come between us and the light of Faith/Son .
1. It can be the things, people, religious experiences and gifts, or something demonic.
3. Satan has to ask permission to try to eclipse our faith.
4. Experimentally it seems like we have been delivered into satan's hand in order to destroy us. None of the things that have worked before, work now. 
5. God has put limitations on satan even though it does not feel like it. 
6. Jesus, intercedes for us before the Father.
7. His intercession will be effective, because Jesus said to Peter.
1. ... I made petition concerning you that your faith should not be totally eclipsed Luke 22:31  And as for you, when you have returned to your original position with respect to your faith, stabilize your brethren.(from The New Testament: An Expanded Translation by Kenneth S. Wuest Copyright © 1961 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. All rights reserved.)
8. The Eclipse will pass
    

Although the above principles are true, while going through this, it feels like you are not going to make it and there is extensive teaching on it in "Jesus Revealed To The Seven Churches".

Have you been through, or are you going through an "eclipse of your faith"?   Further outlined at www.drwmjhurst.com

Lesson Quotes: The Eclipse of Your Faith

Can I rant? :)

My heart is hurting today as I have watched how the enemy of our soul endeavors to bring division and tear apart relationships. I wish there was some way we could learn outside of experience. We know the theology, and theory of the enemies tactics but it is a very different matter when you watch him do it in your emotions and the emotions and minds of those you love.

There is a cry arising from my heart as we watch this at microcosm level in one relationship and know that it is going on throughout the church of God. Lord show us how to take that which the enemy clearly meant for evil and turn it for good. 

Lord Jesus, somewhere your church has to get out of the rut of fear of dealing with the devil and make it through to seeing victory in individual relationships and in local assemblies to the whole Body of Christ. Lord we need to learn how to build up ourselves in the most holy "faith", so that we go from faith to faith. 

Going from faith to faith is not an easy task, in fact it gets more difficult as we go along. Because we past the last test, the current test is more difficult. Attitudes are tested. 

If we take that those that came to Jesus saying "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy Name and in Thy Name cast out devils" were right, that they had done those things, then He was after more than the works of God. He said that in the doing of those things, there is a knowing of Him that is essential. There is a coming and learning of Him that is imperative to doing the "Works of God", that gets acceptance from God.

Lord, I present myself to you to Learn of You while doing your works. That is, I ask for a revelation of Your Person as those works are done through me.

While working in the Kingdom, let me get to know The King. No matter what I go through, I want to "know Him" and "Learn of Him" while making that journey through.

The question could be asked, "Where is God in all of this?" That is the question we must ask Him until He reveals Himself to us in all that we go through.

Jesus where are you and where is the revelation of your person in what I am experiencing?