Walk with the Lord - Gwen Banks 8/14/2016 

I want to share with you today something I have been experiencing during my entire walk with the Lord. For the longest time I did not know what it was and about 12 years ago I heard a teaching by Graham Cooke that gave me quite a bit of perspective.
 
Journal – So, pretty much all day Monday and Tuesday I sat and stared out the window in a silence that was almost deafening. It was a silence that made me feel like I was in a gigantic empty room. It was as if my tent pegs had been strengthened and my cords lengthened creating way more space than I was comfortable with. I read a lot and watched a little cheesy Hall Mark channel series on Netflix but mostly sat and looked out the window and listened to silence. I wasn’t depressed (I know that Joker well) I wasn’t sad or disheartened. Wednesday came and I saw it – the tent – and sketched what I was hearing.
 
My sketch looked something like this.
God was speaking to me about living from the secret place of divine union. It is the only place that remains the same. All else is changing.
Family culture                     Church culture
Life Experience                   Knowledge Gleaned
Interpreting the Word          Commission from God
 
God will show up in all those places. You will experience Him there.
In fact life often seems effortless out there. The atmosphere is light. Creativity is readily available. Feeling is a very important part when we can see what God is doing. The Journey is one of those times. Feel the blessing of the Lord.
 
But I want us to look at those times when He seems silent. When we can’t seem to feel His presence. When we jump through all the usual hoops and nothing.
 
Psalm 13
How long will you forget me Oh Lord?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long do I have to confer with myself?

Psalm 44
Why do you hide your face?

Psalm 88
Lord, why do you cast off my soul?

Psalm 89
Where are your former lovingkindnesses?

Deut 31:6
Be strong and courageous…He will never leave you nor forsake you.
 
Deut 31:8
Joshua 1:5
1 Kings 8:27
Psalm 94:14
Is 42:16
Hebrews 13:5
 

• It is important that we know (experience) God.
• It is important to know what His Word says about Him.
• If you walk with Him long enough you will ask – “Where are You?”
• God wants us to live from the inside out.
• He wants us to understand the deep things. He wants us to trust His nature and character.
• Our minds and emotions must follow our inner man.God provides us with opportunities to learn to quiet our soul. To bring ourselves to peace quickly in any situation. It is a discipline.

 
So, practically what does that look like?
  
From where does wisdom come?
It is hidden from the eyes of all living    Job 28
 
Behold, You desire truth in the inward part,
And in the hidden part You will make me to know
wisdom.  Psalm 51:6
 
We speak wisdom among those who are mature
… the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden
wisdom which God ordained before the ages
for our glory. 1 Corinthians 2
 
The wisdom from above is first of all,
pure,
then peaceful,
kind,
open to reason,
full of mercy and good fruits,
without partiality
and without hypocrisy.    James 3

 
What do we learn about wisdom from these verses?
It is hidden

Where does God make us to know wisdom?
Hidden partWho ordained hidden wisdom?

When?

Why?

What are the characteristics of this wisdom?
 
Then Jacob woke up from his sleep and said,
“Surely the Lord is in this place,
And I did not know it.” Genesis 28:16
 
And so it was while they conversed and reasoned
That jesus Himself drew near and went with them
But their eyes were restrained, so they did not know Him   Luke 24
 
Are we always aware of God’s presence?
 
I have thought for the longest time that Hiddenness was about me being hidden. And there are definitely times we are hidden. I am talking today about when God hides.
 
What are some things God is doing in a season of hiddenness?
 
Graham Cooke says the following:
“It is in hiddenness where our capacity to rest in the Lord is established .It promotes a “quietness of soul” – our mind and emotions stilled before God.  We have to learn how to submit our emotions to the discipline of life in the spirit. Although it takes time and practice you can in hiddenness learn to bring yourself to a place of peace within seconds, regardless of the circumstances affecting you.    “ - from Graham Cooke
 
“In hiddenness God is still there, but He is hiding Himself because He wants to teach us a different way of living-one that does not depend on our experience (5 senses kind) of Him. He removes the tangible in order to teach us to walk by trust (in His character and nature) not by sight; to teach us how to live inwardly. (Truth in the inward part)    “ - from Graham Cooke, Hiddenness & Manifestation, (mine)