C. S. Lewis, in The Problem Of Pain said, “We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” Right now in our world, chaos is loud, boisterous, and like a clanging cymbal. 

Our world is noisy. Jesus went apart from the crowd to be alone with the Father. He bids us to come apart to be with Him. It is One on one. We need to be still before Him so that we can clearly hear what He is speaking to our heart. Do you have a set quiet time? Susanna Wesley had 19 children. Her children quieted when they saw her kneel on the floor and put her apron over her head. They all knew that she was meeting with God.

When I was high school age I learned a definition for an excuse: a skin or reason wrapped around a lie. Song of Solomon 5:3 is a great example for us. Let’s look at this through the eyes of the Lord calling His child to Himself. Her Beloved had come. He called out for her to open the door for Him. Verse 3 were her excuses. It says, “I have taken off my robe; how can I put it on again? I have washed my feet; how can I defile them?”

Revelational insight is like an essence. Like a sweet oil dripped into our hearts, its fragrance fills our senses. It enlivens our whole being, as it illuminates our heart through its light. Every insight is given as an invitation to change. It is His strategic wisdom that gives us clear direction. When we receive it, apply it to our lives by putting it into practice, it brings inner transformation. 

Intimate communion is sans our own agenda. Picture your own agenda as noise. Being still is silence. We cannot hear the Lord’s whispered words with that background noise. The Lord always hears us, but do we always hear Him? Selective hearing is listening for what you want to hear, but disregarding things that call us to obedience.

God gives us instruction through His commandments. Our obedience is a demonstration of our love. John 14:21 says, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me…” 1 John 2:3 takes it deeper. It says, “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.” We increase in our knowledge of the Lord as we read His word and put it into practice. 1 John 1:6 says, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” 

1 John 2:6 is our standard. It says, “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” John was not talking about perfection, but transformation. John 14:21 continues, “…And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” Manifest in the Strong’s means: to appear, come to view, reveal, exhibit, make visible, present oneself in the sight of another, and be conspicuous.

He makes Himself known through a revelation of Himself that He wants us to understand in our present situation of life. He is Always Present. He is not constrained by time. He works with our heart in our present. This is something about neuroplasticity. Every thought leads to a change in muscles. Intimate communion is filled with love, peace, joy, and rest. We are relaxed and still inside. Psalm 16:11 says, “You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”