WE NEVER SHUT UP

"Be silent before the sovereign Lord, for the day of the Lord is near."-(Zephaniah 1:7)

When my bride and I launched into full-time ministry, laying down our success, focus and accomplishments in the entertainment industry, we moved at the prompting of the Holy Spirit from New York City to Tulsa, Oklahoma. I believe that God gives us information on a "need to know" basis, and upon our arrival from our exodus out of Manhattan, I had not yet received my mission briefing for our occupation of the "buckle" of the Bible Belt. Although I personally had not yet heard from the Lord regarding the next steps, I did hear from many other humans. There were quite a few, trusted and loved, family and friends alike, who urged me that it was in God's plan for me to attend a well known Bible Training Institute. These beloved, wise and well-meaning souls all agreed on the same program, citing individually, that it is what they believed I had arrived in green country for.

In light of my infancy in the faith, the dichotomy of our geographical and cultural transplantation and my then, inability to separate good ideas from God-ideas, I agreed. I actually decided that it was God speaking through others into my life to reveal His plans. I believed this so strongly that I filed my application, met the initial criteria and was en route to the facility for my final entrance interview. As I drove to what I believed to be my destiny, I felt an nagging sense of uneasiness. Then, while making the final turn into the entry road of the school's campus, I AUDIBLY heard "Where are you going?" I answered with the name of the school. "I NEVER TOLD YOU TO GO THERE." the Lord replied in a voice that sounded with pure power and thunder in my Spirit. It stopped my heart. I was so utterly shaken that I literally came to a screeching halt and turned around. I went back home to my wife who was expecting me to return much later in the day. "What did you forget?" she asked. "I forgot to listen to God" I answered. I then shared my experience with her and found great support from her in the decision to wait upon the Lord. About a week later I began working as a personal assistant and jack-of-all trades for the man who would become one of my greatest mentors and my personal "Bible Training Academy", Bob Harrison. Over the next two years (and to this date) I have had incredible, irreplaceable, personal training from this great man of God. If I had listened to others' advice and followed through on what man said, I would most definitively have been out of step with the plan of God for my life.

"Where are you going?" is a question that lends validity to all of us at some point in our walk. I do not believe that God randomly chose for us to leave the noise and distraction of the "City that never sleeps" to enter the quiet peace of Tulsa. It was to get quiet before Him. We oftentimes put so much weight on what we want to do, or what others tell us to do, that we do not HEAR from the Lord. We talk about what we want, our desires, dreams and plans more than we listen. Most of us have been miseducated by Christian "inculturation" and we tell God what we want before listening to Him for direction. We create grand blueprints that suit our intellect and flesh and ask God to bless what we are doing, rather than do what HE wants us to do. With that much being said, we wonder why our plans fall apart, or why the Lord does not bless them, when in truth, he cannot bless that which He does not will. "Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain."-(Psalm 127:1) I do believe that God grants us the desires of our heart, but I know that we, in our fallible carnal forms miss the precursor for that promise. "Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart."-(Psalm 37:4) We must first seek HIM. Taking delight in Him means focusing on His ways, His paths and most importantly, His PLANS. When we are looking to God to see His face, we do not first seek His hands. When we look up to Him, He does not need to ask "Where are you going?". “Many are the plans of a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails.” -(Proverbs 19:21) To know His purpose, we must seek His face.

In Exodus, chapter 33, Moses asks God to show him His Glory. A mistake that I have made, many times in my life, is asking to see God's glory manifested in a situation before I knew His plans. We cannot expect Him to move through or reveal anything for us until we first seek His ways. Before Moses issues the tremendous request to see God's Glory, he first asks that God shows him HIS WAYS. Likewise, when teaching us about the material needs and desires of this life, Jesus the Messiah tells us "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."-(Matthew 6:33) We must seek the order and will of God and His Kingdom in all we do or desire, before He will bless or provide. No man can expect God to move on their behalf without they first seek His FACE. Anyone who thinks that they can have their way without seeking His authority is double-minded. "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."-(James 1:8) His hands will not move for those who do not seek His face.

This brings us to a very important point; We first seek God's wisdom, then ask in faith without doubt for His blessing. He has given us free-will to operate and develop here on this Earth. But that does not mean to merely work out our own salvation by our own wisdom. The Word says in Philippians 2:12 to work out our own salvation with FEAR & TREMBLING. That fear is not the spirit of fear that comes from the wiles of the adversary, but the reverential fear and awe of the Lord God Almighty. We need to consult the manufacturer for the directions of the creation, then we can ask anything in faith. When we know the heart of the Father, we can ask anything in faith without doubt because we know that He is invested in it.

Hearing God for direction and looking to wise counsel for confirmation is the scriptural order of the Kingdom. When those beloved friends and family advised me regarding that school, it was well-intended, and perhaps wishful thinking that I would hear them as confirmation of God's direction. But with regard to hearing the will of the Father, how often do we talk AT God and not WITH Him? I believe that this is a valuable observation that we must all keep in check. When we pray, do we pray AT Him? Think about it. How many times have you or someone you know prayed a WALL of sound AT the Lord instead of communicating with Him? Communication means that we listen more than, or at least as much as we speak. A healthy conversation with another human being depends on a balance. Now that is just another mortal likened unto our own stature. How much more should we be silent before the Lord God, Creator of all existence? I know that it is in my personal nature to speak (sometimes incessantly) out of design, but being quiet lends the most effective results when genuinely seeking God's agenda for my life. "For our conversation is in heaven; from where also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ:"-(Philippians 3:20) Our conversation with Him demands our attentive ear. God does not speak over us, like people do in a Woody Allen movie. He is a gentleman. He waits for us to stop talking. "And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice."-(1 Kings 19:12)

In this tremulous and dangerous hour, as we approach the precipice of the end-times, we need God's genuine direction more than any other time in history. We need His divine plans to be revealed. We must be in the will of the Lord. If we truly desire to be in the will of the Lord and follow His direction, walking out His plans, we must listen for His voice. We must approach Him with open ears. "But the Lord is in His holy temple; let all be silent before Him."-(Habakkuk 2:20) I encourage you to implement this today. Seek the Lord with thanksgiving and praise, enter into His presence. Then ask Him to speak to you. Wait upon Him. And listen rather than talk. Pray TO the Lord of Creation, not AT Him and you will hear His voice, know His will and draw nearer to Him in your walk. We must be still and hear HIM.