In 1996, I was attending a conference.
The Lord said a strange thing to me in the hotel room.
"Take your cup of coffee and throw it on the shower wall."

So I did. I stood there looking at the sight of that brown liquid
on white tile. What was delicious in my cup, looked wretched on the walls.
It appeared to be vile and filthy. Dripping down the white walls,
it was turning everything brown and vulgar.
Actually, it looked like sewage.

I watched it roll down and defile the white tile
and waited for the Lord to tell me what it meant.
What was the picture He was drawing for me?

This is what the Lord said,
"My people hurl words at Me and about Me,
endless meaningless words and they are like
a vile brown slime. I am sick of words.
Lying words, empty words. I want silence."

This is what I believe the Lord was saying to me at the time:

Words are conceived but not in silence so they are not pure.
The Lord is sick of words. Today He is revealing mysteries
that cannot be explained with words.

Silence. Silence.
He is calling for silence.
Even the emphasis on prophesy will pass away
in the presence of this silence.

The Body of Christ knows nothing of communion in silence,
contemplation without words.

We press the mystery into a container of words and explanations.
God is a Mystery.

I see a day when we will go beyond music, clapping, singing.
When silence will fall and we will see Him as we have never seen Him.

We will not be able to say anything.
We will be struck dumb by His presence and by the revelation of Him.
We cannot know Him as He is until we are hushed before Him.
"Be still and know that I am God."

Teach mystery.
Teach silence.
Birth silence.
Travail in silence.
In silence is ecstasy.
In silence is revelation beyond the limits of the mind.

The Lord told me He was going to give an great intercession for silence.

Then the Lord was Himself silent about it for a couple of years.
And I waited for Him to address it again.

A few weeks ago, I met with a man with whom I do business. I had for several years been concerned for his soul. I wanted to share Christ with him but I simply could not. My tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth and I could not speak anything to him, even personal concern. I prayed for him and loved him before the Lord but I could not say a word. He knew I was a Christian and had read a book I had written but still, even with that natural opening, I could say nothing. I agonized before the Lord and begged for an anointing for him, but there was only silence from the Lord.

This time the man had a peculiar glow on his face. He said, "I have something to tell you. I have given my life to Jesus and been baptized."
Then he said the most startling thing: "I've never seen anyone who could say so much in silence. You spoke volumes to me. You would come in here and read your books and say nothing and you spoke loudly. You were a big part of this in my life."

I wept and said, "Oh, you knew I loved you and was praying, didn't you?"
"Oh, yes," he said this with emphasis, "I knew!!"

I had assumed that the gospel was conveyed only by the vehicle of words. That I could only be His faithful witness through my words. And it was really unbelief in God's power. How highly we think of our own voice!

I realized the Lord had given me a vivid experience of the power of silence, His own silence.
Just the next day after that encounter, I was at a conference when a weeping and birthing travail hit me.
I asked the Lord what His Spirit was birthing and He replied, "silence."

In the final worship of that same conference one of the worship leaders was struck silent. She couldn't sing, she couldn't speak. I believe it was a little frightening to her until a friend explained that this is the future direction of the Spirit of God.

I believe the Lord gave these two experiences at conferences instead of my private prayer closet for a reason. (And I don't attend that many conferences.) The two conferences, one in '96 and this one in '99 were two totally different streams of Christianity. I feel that it means this calling of silence is for the whole Body of Christ.

The Lord has been silent (in many ways, to many of His children) toward His Body for the last three years. I believe this has been a severe test for many. His love is a constant but has been expressed in its highest form through this silence. We need to respond in silence, the sweet silence of faith that He is there and gazing on us.

There is coming a silence the Church has not experienced before.
A stillness will fall on the Church before His coming.
His Bride will be possessed by the meek and QUIET spirit
of Jesus Himself!

 

Copyright © 1999 Martha Blaney Kilpatrick