(4 min read – 805 words)

Does God seem silent in your life?

Like the nation of Israel after Malachi and the virgin Mary after getting pregnant, everyone experiences times and seasons in their life when God seems utterly silent and distant. As a result, this can lead us down a path with many questions and doubts yet few answers.

What do we do when we cannot hear God’s voice? We learn to hear His heart.

Today you will learn how to do just that.

Living on the inside

When my wife was pregnant, it constantly amazed me that another person was living on the inside of her. When he would kick, it would be exciting because we could see him being active and moving. It was suspenseful because we did not know when or where He would kick next. His kicking would also give us comfort and assurance that he was very much alive and well.

If we are saved through faith in Jesus Christ, then the person of the Holy Spirit lives and dwells on the inside of us. This is an astounding truth to reflect upon – an invisible person whom we have never seen who helped create everything around us abides inside us.

Just like when my son kicked in my wife’s womb, when the Holy Spirit speaks, moves, or prompts us, it is exciting and comforting because it confirms God is moving in and through us. This also confirms our sonship. 

However, there were other times when our son Elijah did not kick or move at all, at least as far as my wife could tell. In fact, this was the case most of the time. He was just there – quietly living inside of her – full of life and fully present. 

How to detect God’s heartbeat for you

During these times of silence in pregnancy, we would get alone together and turn on our heartbeat monitor – a special device sensitive enough to pick up the heartbeats of babies in the womb. We would place it on her belly and move it around. Suddenly without notice, it would detect Elijah’s heartbeat. Sometimes it sounded distant, but at other times it would be very loud and clear. The moment we heard it and caught its rhythm, we would smile at each other with awe because each beat reinforced the reality of his living presence inside her, and that all was well.

Although his heart was beating in her the entire time, our natural ears were not sufficient to detect it. We needed something with greater sensitivity to help us hear it beat.

We cannot experience the wonder of hearing the heart of the Spirit of the Lord using our minds or our intellect. We can read the Bible and acquire truth, but if we want to experience God’s heart, we must inwardly tune our spirit into His. Our spirit is the only instrument God has given us which is sensitive enough to detect it. It may overflow into our mind, but it begins in our spirit.

King David was called a man after God’s heart not because he was perfect in his actions. Although He delighted in God’s word and ways (Psalm 1), what made Him different was that he had developed the ability to tune his spirit into God’s Spirit through worship and stillness. He called this process ‘deep calling unto deep’ (Psalm 42:7). 

A spiritual protocol

During times when God seems silent or inactive in your life, you may get concerned that something is wrong. You may even doubt your own salvation. Below is a simple protocol to immediately apply:

Step 1: Get alone with God

Step 2: Focus on the reality of His presence inside you

Step 3: Remember that God is for you – He has your best interests in mind (Romans 8:31)

Step 4: Silence your mind

Step 5: Turn inwardly to your spirit. Then, turn your spirit towards the Christ’s Spirit within you

Step 6: Write down what you detect

As you do these things, you will pick-up on the heartbeat of Heaven. And you will find it beating with nothing less than pure Calvary love, life, peace, and sonship toward you. How do I know? Because His word is true:

“The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirits that we are children of God,” – Romans 8:16