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.

Gates of Hell - II

My spirit continues to be exercised by the statement of Jesus concerning the church's assault on the "Gates of Hell". 


In our last post on this, we spoke some of the Gates of Hell within. Just by way of review, it is important to consider a statement in James.

Jas 3:6 KJV  And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

When coupled with a quote from Jesus it becomes a strong statement that must be considered seriously. 

Mat 15:19-20 KJV  For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:  (20)  These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.(Mark 7:21)

 Mat 12:34 KJV  O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.(Luke 6:45)

When brought together with our opening scripture there is grounds for saying the one interpretation of the passage is that hell can be in the heart. 


This brings us to a point of recognition that the Gates of Hell can be internal as well. This makes it essential to consider an assault on this stronghold within. It brings new understanding to Paul's comments in 2 Cor 10:4-5

2Co 10:4-5 KJV  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)  (5)  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

While pondering this, I also want to consider a balance in the battle.


In the external world there is also an application of this that comes out of an awakening in my experience. I believe the Word of God is the final authority. When it says the "gates of hell" will not prevail against the Church, it is clear that gates do not move. That means the Church must be moving. 


This begs a question: What do these gates look like?


Some have looked for some physical place or expression that is clearly an expression of satan's work. Gates are entrances or doorways into cities, forts, or strongholds. There are those who would argue that it is all the things that religious men and women call "sin".  There is a sense in which that can be true in a life or situation. But in looking at that I think we may miss the deeper meaning.


In both our understanding of heaven and of hell, we think of physical places, limiting ourselves and allowing places for the enemy of our souls to hide. I am not saying that there is not a literal heaven or a literal hell, I believe in both, but often believing in the literal blinds us to the spiritual, when both are true.  It is not either or, as much of the church has taught. Truth lays in a balance between the two.


If the first thing the Lord did, after he made man, was relate to them through walking with them in the garden, then that relating sets the context for understanding all things spiritual. Because of the fall, we were turned inside out. That which originally was predominate, the spiritual, became the least priority. That which was the least priority before the fall, became predominate, that is the visible. 


Jesus came to restore us to the original position and then take us on into the fullness of God. The vision of this journey must be seen first, before we can give ourselves to taking the journey. 

When Lucifer fell from heaven, and deceived man, he became the prince of the power of the air. The route to the heavenlies goes through what is currently the devil's territory. This means that is some sense, we go through hell on our way to heaven, just as Jesus did when He descended into hell and got the keys of hell and death. The gates of hell are blockages in our lives to a life of true holiness and abundant life. (There will be more on life and holiness later, but holiness is an internal condition, not external.)


The church has spoken of the saving of sinners. From inside the church they try to fulfill the great commission and wonder why they only see limited results. Others go out into the streets and do witnessing and that also brings a measure of results.

Yet God is looking for a group of men and women who will allow Him to train them with such precision that nothing can stop them as they assault either the external manifestations of the gates of hell or the internal manifestations. 


Selah