Everyday Step with Jesus

Silence comes in many different forms. There is silence when we don’t know what to say, when we are listening attentively, when there is grief, when there is anger, or when we simply want to have a minute to ourselves and enjoy our surroundings. I can think of many other instances, but I think you get the point that silence comes in a lot of different ways. There are times when silence is needed but there are also times when we need to break the silence and speak. One of those times is in our time of need. We need to speak and call out to God in our time of need, but also in our time of rejoicing. Sometimes when we are on either extreme, in time of need or joy, we tend to keep quiet but it is in those moments that we need to break our silence and call out to God. But how do we do that? Keep on reading…

PRAY

The best way to break our silence is to pray or call out to God. In our prayer time, we can bring all of our thoughts, concerns, burdens, or whatever may be weighing heavy on us to the Lord. If your circumstance has kept you from praying, begin by talking to the Lord and calling out to Him. Prayer will be one, if not, your biggest breakthrough. When we are in time of need it can be easy to get upset with all those around us and even begin to question God. This is because we are keeping all of our thoughts in our head and contemplating how things could have been different, basically overthinking. When we do this, even though our mouth may be silent, our mind sure isn’t. Rather the thoughts keep on accumulating and growing even louder. We see this happen to David, David said:

I said to myself, “I will watch what I do and not sin in what I say. I will hold my tongue when the ungodly are around me.” But as I stood there in silence not even speaking of good things the turmoil within me grew worse. The more I thought about it, the hotter I got, igniting a fire of words” Psalms 39:1-3 NLT

This is why it’s so important to break off the silence within and call out to the Lord. David was trying to be wise by keeping quiet and not saying the wrong thing around the wrong people, but this was actually causing him trouble within and it kept getting worse. It is true that at times the wisest thing we can do is to keep quiet, but not when it comes to speaking to the Lord. Yes, in order to receive God’s guidance we need to be still and quiet in His presence, but if we don’t first speak to the Lord and cast our burdens upon Him, all the thoughts within will become an interference to receiving His peace and guidance. God already knows our thoughts and what we are thinking, He will not be surprised when we let Him know what is heavy on our hearts. 

GET IT OFF YOUR CHEST

God is the one that we should run to and call out, but after we have spoken to Him we can also confide in those close to us. In the verse above, we see that David was keeping quiet because he didn’t want to sin by saying the wrong thing around the wrong people. We too should be wise as to who we confide in. We are not going to go around telling everyone our troubles, but I do believe that God places people in our lives whom we can confide in. We don’t have to do it all alone. First of all,we are never alone because we have the Holy Spirit. It is beautiful when we can confide in someone and we know that they are willing to listen. More importantly, it’s great to have someone we trust join us in prayer. His Word tells us:

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. James 5:16 NLT

This verse is referring to confessing our sins to one another, and I believe the same concept applies when it comes to us confiding in someone and them joining us in prayer. The verse above tells us that we are healed when we confess our sin, something similar happens when we get our problems off our chest.  When we speak out those things that we have been holding onto, there is a release that happens and change begins to take place…breakthrough occurs. 

PRAISE

Praise is a beautiful way to break our silence. When something is heavy on our hearts, praise allows us to shift our focus from the situation and unto our God. This doesn’t mean that we ignore our situation or disregard the emotions that we are feeling, but it means that despite what we are feeling we choose to open our mouth and praise God. His Word says:

I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies. 2 Samuel 22:4

In time of need and trouble, David knew who His savior was. He acknowledged that even though he was in the midst of trouble, the Lord was still powerful and great and able to save Him. David knew the Lord’s character and therefore knew what his Lord was able to do. Like David, we need to know our God. That way, in the midst of our trouble, we will remember His great power and call upon Him, acknowledging that He is worthy of praise, just as David did. David said:

In my distress I called upon the Lord, And cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, And my cry entered His ears. 2 Samuel 22:7

We don’t need to wait until we feel ready or we feel like we are “right” with God in order to call out to Him. Rather, in the midst of the mess, cry out to your God because He hears you when you draw near to Him with a sincere heart. Because we know who he is, being able to praise God in the midst of our trouble shows the trust we have in Him and shows we understand where our help comes from. The Father is a powerful, loving, caring God that sent His only son to save us. He is worthy of praise at all times. 

The Lord wants to hear from you and I. He already knows what we are thinking. He knows us better than we know ourselves. At times it may feel like we don’t have the right words to express ourselves and at times that may be true. When we open our mouths and cry to our God, He hears us and there’s a breakthrough that happens when we do this. Don’t allow the thoughts to get louder in your head, but instead draw near to Him who hears you and can comfort you unlike any other. Pray, get it off your chest and praise Him because He is near. 

“The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭145‬:‭18‬ ‭NKJV‬‬