Be Very, Very Quiet!

I had a great picture from God the other day, sitting in my sanctuary. A brown wren hopped across the concrete in front of me, as I sat in my corner outside our kitchen window. She jumped up into the Christmas cactus within arms’ reach of my right hand. Looking all around to make sure no predators were about, the wren seemed fine with me sitting there—because I was perfectly still.

I breathed slowly, silently, motionless. I watched her. She put a mouth full of twigs and brush in the nest, then flitted away. A few minutes later she was back carrying a long twig, three times her size, and some furry brush. She disappeared into the base of the Christmas cactus. I saw the leaves rustle a bit, then she flitted out and was gone.

Do I sit that quietly and attentively for You, Holy Spirit?

No. Not anymore.

I was in that habit a while back. When was the last time? Two years ago? I would just sit quietly for five minutes and listen. I breathed in deeply, then out deliberately through pursed lips, five times, saying, “Jesus, I belong to you.” Then I sat there and listened. No books on my lap. No pen in my hand. Just me. Listening.

I saw some pretty amazing mind movies sometimes—some messages that impacted me deeply.

During a season when I was doing a Joyce Meyer study on The Battlefield of the Mind, one of my meditative times resulted in a multi-part mind movie of a mental house cleaning. The picture in my mind revealed an octagonal attic room of a large castle. On the first day, an ugly black beetle was coming down out of the mind-attic while Jesus’ hand reached up to grab him. The beetle had a sharp horn that tried to pierce Jesus’ nail-punctured wrist. But Jesus was stronger and yanked him out, black ooze spilling out along with him.

Needless to say I was a little hesitant to engage in the meditation time the next day. How scary was this horror flick going to get?

Each following day resulted in a much more encouraging display. One area at a time, the octagonal attic was cleaned. First the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves were dusted. The floors were washed, revealing lovely hardwood.

One day, I sensed the Lord asking me, What about that dark corner to the right? The shadows were so thick I could hardly tell what was over there. Eventually I could see my art table and supplies. The shelves in that corner contained drawing books, quilting books, scrapbooking books. Months had passed since I had embraced my creative side. The Lord helped me to clean out this area and the light gradually increased to reveal a cozy well-lit creative nook.

Finally, it was time for the window. An arched French-paned window opened and the curtains blew gently. The windows opened up to look down on a beautiful lawn encircled by tall green pine trees. Behind them, a cliff’s edge led to a deep drop-off high above a beautiful roaring river. Mountains stood stately in the background to the left while another cliff rose across the river and more pine trees stood guard across the expanse.

What an amazing experience that was. Why have I gotten away from it? I guess I was looking for each day to be that dramatic, like the non-stop action movies in the theater. Each day was not that dramatic. So the habit dwindled away.

Now the attic of my mind has gotten cluttered and dark again. There seem to be bats flitting around in that attic and foxes stealing the raspberries down in the green lawn. I need a mental house cleaning. I need to turn the soul of my castle property back over to the landlord, God.

I get it, God. You are trying to tell me to come back to listening to your Spirit in the quiet, attentive way I watched that cute little mama wren.

Be still and know that I am God.

PRAYER POWER FOR THE WEEK OF 10-01-2012

Take time this week to unclutter your mind and ask the Lord to show you areas that need to be swept clean and reordered. Use the scriptures to renew your mind. Surrender your will to His and concentrate on having open and intimate communion with Him so that you can pray His will in all areas. Continue to pray that Israel would be protected and fulfill God’s purpose in these last days. Remember the persecuted church around the world and especially in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Join other believers in praying for our nation and the upcoming elections. Ask Him to reveal what is true and what is not and direct us all in the voting process. Rom 12:1-2; 2 Chron. 7:14

To enrich your prayer life and learn how to strategically pray with power by using appropriate Scriptures, we recommend the following sources by Apostle John Eckhardt: Prayers that Rout Demons, Prayers that Bring Healing, Prayers that Release Heaven on Earth and Prayers that Break Curses. To order any or all of these click here.