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Greetings FFC readers,
I hope that everyone is doing well. In the first episode of You Have What You Need from the series of Open up your Mouth, I spoke on the importance of believing in God’s word and by it, trusting in the direction you are being led as your steps are guided by the light of God.
The Silent Commune
If you have been following this series, you have read and re-read that you should be bold in opening up your mouth to speak the word, pray the word, and to give praise in all works. When speaking, you are performing an action and its through our action that causes a transformation.
There are many ways to speak, and not all communication is the same. Although Open up Your Mouth is the focal point of this series, the purpose behind it is for you to carry out an action and by that action reap a return. That return is the result of you believing in what you are praying. Therefore I say unto you, what things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them. Knowing that in every situation, the opportunity may not be present for you to speak out loud but that doesn’t change how you can commune with God. An act of communication can be done verbally or non-verbally and with The Silent Commune it is done from your heart.
In this episode, it will unveil how you can commune with God and how in every way, he still hears you. As before mentioned, every situation does not allow you to speak aloud or even pray out loud, but its still important to know that irregardless, your silent prayers and communication with God is still heard.
A humbled heart of prayer
What does commune mean? Commune according to a biblical commentary means to have quiet time with God. It means to focus on God and have an intimate communication by sharing your heart and mind with God in prayer. It is significant to silently pray and talk to God. There are so many places around the world that are restricted from praying let alone speaking openly about their faith and with such a freedom that so many of us have, we choose not to use, to help others or even to help ourselves. When praying out loud you can feel more confident and it is also necessary for others to agree with you in prayer. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. However, praying silently can yield the same confidence but in way of your faith. You don’t have anyone to observe you praying or agreeing with you, instead you get to have an intimate time with God and it is then, when you truly show yourself and how humble you really are.
Of course there will be silent prayers to God. How can there not be? There is such an emphasis on corporate prayer, and much needed, but it is not as nearly told enough that God hears you when it’s only you and him. It’s how come you can feel like if you don’t have anyone holding your hand or praying with you that God won’t hear or honor your prayer or that your prayer doesn’t have power. Your prayers are honored by God as you come to him in all prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, letting your prayers be known to him. Your prayers are not refused if you don’t have someone each time standing by and holding your hand. This isn’t to say that you can’t have a prayer partner or other people praying for you. It is to say when they are not around what then do you do? If having someone always with you to pray is necessary, does your faith then rely in man or does your faith rely in the power of God. The power is in your faith.
We can see this very power in the old testament, where Hannah is seen praying silently in 1 Samuel 1:12-13. Now Hannah, she spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken. Fast forward>>>>> You will find in verse 20 that her request was granted and that request was a son, named Samuel. The name Samuel is a Hebrew phrase that means God has heard. Praying and communicating with God silently will not deny your request. He wants you to come to him humbly with all meekness and affection. The power lies within your humility. As you can see, Hannah made her requests known to God by speaking from her heart as she spoke to him in all surrender. She made a vow to God and he answered. There is not a wrong way with how you choose to commune and pray to God but it does need to come from your heart and with humility. A principle I believe is critical for prayer: whenever you approach the throne of God, be yourself. -T.D. Jakes When Women Pray.
Your time with God
Hannah, this devoted woman of the Bible is one of my favorite and there is so much to be learned from her story. I discussed Hannah in a previous blog that you can read more about which was titled, Your Own You. Hannah’s story is such an incredible one because during her time of affliction of not being able to bear a child, she was still persistent in her prayers. It is not exactly mentioned verbatim about silent prayer in the bible but it is referred to as praying alone in which this can be deducted from a number of scripture texts and even seen by way of Jesus doing so himself. We find that in Matthew 6:6 ………. when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. We also find in Mark 1:35 Jesus rose well before the day had started and went to a solitary place and prayed and in Luke 5:16 we see that Jesus withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.
Look at all of these instances that Jesus sought the significance of communing with God intimately. One that I consider to be such a faithful example was when Jesus left his disciples and went to commune alone with God in The Garden of Gethsemane on the night of his betrayal. There is such great significance in communing alone with God. So don’t think it meaningless to have a moment with just you and your savior. This is when you talk about what’s important to you, this is when you seek solitude, its when you release troubling emotions, and lay down the burden of continual demands. There is just such great significance with knowing that your alone time with God births such a spiritual growth.
During the silent commune
Our silent prayers are heard by God and that which is in our hearts and our hearts are heard even louder. When we pray silently, the same power that is spoken is also just as capable because it is not the words that we speak, it is the belief in our heart. Psalm 139:23 states to search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: Asking God to search your heart takes much surrender. I believe that it is when you fully surrender yourself to Christ is when you are fully able to walk in the anointing that God has placed on your life.
During a silent commune, this is your time to talk with God. He wants to hear from your whole heart. He already know what’s in your heart but he wants you to confess it to him. There is no hidden thing that God cannot see but what he wants from you is to give all of yourself in complete and utter surrender. The Silent Commune just happens to be a place, a secret place, with a dedicated time that you happen to meet with the spirit of God.
Credits scriptured text from KJV
Hopefully what happens during your Silent Commune is that you surrender, giving it all to Christ and laying down every burden that you have simply by confessing and communicating to a loving Father who wants to hear from you. As you commune often with the Father, you begin to not only grow spiritually but your faith begins to increase. You begin to realize that the quiet, silent prayer is just as powerful as opening your mouth to speak because as Hannah spoke from her heart and gave a vow to the Lord with the dedication of her son, we too are expected to submit our whole selves to the Lord when we come to the throne in need. There is power in your belief that God will answer and there is power in your commune that he is there, waiting, and ready for you.