Journaling has become one of the main parts of my quiet times over the last month. I had so many things I was seeking God about that I wanted to allow the time for Him to speak to me. However, one of the main things He has said to me is to just lie on his chest and listen to his heartbeat.
I am a doer. I am a disciplined doer and I don’t just do things for the sake of it (having children and limited time has ensured that!) but even in my quiet times, I find myself trying to achieve something.
I am trying to find more intimacy with God but I find myself trying to do things to achieve that.
So, perhaps not surprisingly, first on God’s heart to share with me was not about the answers to my many questions, but about
His love and desire to be with His bride
.
How he desired His bride to lie on His chest and listen to Him
.
I had a dream and I saw these words written:
The Lord delights in the nations who listen to Him
.
I looked them up when I woke up and they are not a specific verse, but
they spoke to me about God’s aching desire for the nations to not be groping around in the darkness, but knowing His voice
. God desires for His bride to listen to Him. My personal response was to pray for wise prophetic voices to be raised up and listened to in all the nations of the world.
One of the things that has been discovered about people with ADD or ADHD (difficulties in concentration and hyperactivity) is that their internal rhythms are out of sync. They have no internal beat to guide them. As a result, music and rhythm therapy can be incredibly helpful.
I wonder how many Christians have spiritual ADHD? They are so busy and distracted that they find it impossible to be still before God
.
Or is the reason that
they have spiritual ADHD because
they don't make time to listen to Him?
Three weeks ago I was that ADHD Christian- distracted and hyperactive, finding myself completely out of sync with Him and feeling totally ineffective in prayer.
God spoke to me about rhythm:
Rhythm begins before a baby can even feel it – loud, overwhelming, overtaking rhythm. It is a constant and consumes their world – the beat to their life and it is totally reassuring.
When a baby is born, often only a return to that beat will calm the child’s inner needs
. The baby can only fully relax, breathe and sleep deep when warmed and comforted by close skin-on-skin – melted back into one with the mother. The heartbeat calms, reassures and relaxes, lulling them like no other lullaby into the security to let go and be.
A toddler runs off and explores, discovery on top of frustration, on top of fatigue, running straight into a mother’s arms. Laying against her chest, a calm ensues, a quiet listening. A connection that soothes, recharges and refreshes, until later the busy toddler climbs down ready to run again.
A lover resting on her lover’s chest – time disappears. A sudden mellowing in her body – a relaxation so deep that she realizes the many burdens she has been carrying – just how many stresses had been loaded upon her and stuck to her during the day. Lying silently upon her lover, there is a calming deep within – an embrace of worth that answers that question: am I wanted? Am I loved? Am I?
How much more when you choose to rest your head upon the chest of the Divine Lover? God murmurs “shhhh” as all of your problems and anxieties melt into Him. He holds you until you calm your spirit and you start listening to His heartbeat. The warmth of His smile, the softness of His embrace, the joy of His Presence saturates your soul and enlivens your dulled spirit.
And you listen. To begin with, the heartbeat seems intrusive and loud, until you calm right down and go with it. Your breathing becomes deeper. Your muscles relax and the rhythm begins to calm – a constant only you are aware of.
Be still and Know that I am God, I will be exalted amongst the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.
– Psalm 46:10
How can the desire of the Divine Lover be known amongst the nations, unless His people today will still themselves to spend time with their Lover?
Practical sidenote:
I actually found a relaxation app which plays a constant heartbeat sound very useful in calming my spirit to listen to His Spirit. I used it as I focused on God in my quiet times and it enabled me to still myself before Him and enjoy His presence.
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