Love Has a Name

Approximately 1.5 weeks ago I took a little me time and hopped over to Chiang Mai, Thailand. Living in Southeast Asia makes it so easy to jump on a plane and 1 hour later I’m on a weekend or week away in a totally different country!

I love it.

While I was away I decided to spend 3 days, 72 hours, 4320 minutes, in complete silence. I visited a silent retreat centre where I remained in quiet, yet profound, contemplation. If you have never spent an extended period of time in silence, meaning no phone, no internet, no technology, no music… nothing, then I strongly encourage you to try it.

Even if you fail miserably at it then at least you know you have something to work on.

Let me walk you through my first few hours, as well as 1 of many intense revelations.

I arrived at the centre, gardens everywhere, birds, squirrels, roosters, turkeys, pigeons and insects aplenty.

Surprisingly serene for being in the centre of a busy town and situated along one of the main streets.

Remaining noiseless I hurried over to my dorm. A quiet little space with a private bathroom, small balcony and a private bathroom. Immediately upon walking in I couldn’t help but notice, there was no T.V. While my current home has a T.V. on the wall, remain unplugged and has never been used.

I looked out over the patio and observed a sea of green. Trees, bushes, lawn, leaves, all totally green. All the animals and insects abuzz around just doing their business and continuing along as if I didn’t exist.

My first 10 minutes I could not stop pacing. I was tired, but not sleepy, lazy but energetic and interestingly I was silent but it was so loud. When was the last time you heard footsteps. I mean heard them, then started to count them?!

Finally, about 3 or so hours in I was able to sit and focus. I began to read Scripture. I was brought to Song of Songs in the Bible and crushed through it with ease. I decided to have a little lay down and rest my eyes. I was finally resting and it felt good to lay.

Then it happened. My brain decided it was time to think, on overdrive. It was in this moment, and several others which followed, that I had a stunning revelation. Contained within this revelation was a bunch of things I knew but never really placed lots of value on.

God spoke very clearly to me and asked me, in part, when I would start to stop and listen to the answers that He has for me. I said, well I pray all the time and I pray for others and myself and I worship and… then I realized it.

I am busy, but yet I still make lots of time for God. I have my quiet times, my times with brothers and sisters, my family time and my reading time. Prayer time and worship time. Even 1:1 time. But when was my listening time?

How often we are quick to pray, give thanks, praise and worship Jesus only to then put our hands together, “… in Jesus’ name” and walk away.

Now I’m saying, unequivocally, that all of the praise and worship and prayer is in no way bad. I am simply saying that it is in fact extremely good, and hopefully you, as I have done, can make an addition to this time with Christ through a specific period of listening, be it once a day or once a week.

I was stunned to realized how much my brain is thinking of, holding onto and holding back from me. I sat for these 3 days listening to tapes about all the things I have to do, the good I’ve done, the bad that’s happening in the world and everything else you can imagine. I also had this vision of me kneeling beside my bed, praying and praising God for the incredible abundance He has gifted to me, then asking Him for his provision and wisdom in a certain area of my life. After I prayed, in this vision, God reached out for me to answer, but I had already stood up and walked away.

Ask yourself this question. When I pray and have prayers of supplication, how often do I sit… and sit… and sit… quietly without interruption waiting to hear God’s reply? I often have moments of quietness and stillness but not intentionally established or given so as to just hear Him and not ask for anything. Yes I hear from Him all the time, He answers prayers all the time.

My starting of this time of listening is simple, as the title says from 1 Samuel 3:10, “Speak Father, I am here, I am listening.” This is repeated many times as my mind goes on tangents and I use it to refocus on my purpose of listening.

If God is who He says He is in the Bible, then He knows more about me, and about you, than we do of ourselves and further He knows better than we do what we will need. In fact He knows what we will come up against in the future and where we are heading.

Perhaps He is trying to equip us for a battle that is coming up, looming precariously perhaps, and is attempting to mitigate the harm it will cause us. He can do this, if we listen.

Want to test this out?

My immediate challenge for you is this. Right now. It only takes 5 minutes. Open your phone and turn on the Do Not Disturb. Rest in a comfortable position. Set a timer on your smartphone for 5 minutes. Press start. Take 3 deep breaths. See what happens.

At the end of the 5 minutes ask yourself these questions.

1) How long did that feel like?

2) How long was it before my mind began to think of something?

3) Did I start a conversation? Did I start to pray? Did I start to think of things?

Done? How do you feel?

While it is always good to pray and always good to communicate with Jesus, truly intimate and deeply valuable communication comes when we are able to listen to our Best Friend. I imagine that if I sat with my closest friend day after day, week after week, explaining my problems, saying thanks for their small acts of kindness and asking for help, they would eventually also want to be heard. Thankfully Jesus never leaves us, but you get my point.

Learn to take time to listen to the Lord. Hear from the Spirit and hangout with our best friend Jesus, the only Saviour of the world.

He knows you better than you know yourself… let Him talk… let yourself listen.