"He started the whole world singing a song . . ." (1) The beautiful words, written by Gloria Gaither, were singing within me when I woke up this morning. When the Word of God is grounded in your heart and the songs of praise to Him share the same space, they sing in your soul even while you are sleeping.
We are tethered, by an unbreakable golden thread, to the source of all Love, Peace, and song. When we ignore or refuse to accept that connection, it is not God who cuts the cord, we simply let the rescue ship sail on past because will not get in the life boat. We condemn ourselves.
When you were in school, how did you learn a passage of Shakespear? And, how did you memorize your Math Facts in Elementary School? You rehearsed, you practiced, you spoke and wrote them over and over until they were buried deep within you.
That is how we grasp the tether line. First, we ask the Holy Spirit to enter our heart and take up residence there. Then, we flood our mind with His Word and songs of praise. The Holy Spirit will help us understand the meaning of the words and seal their presence in our lives when we have put forth the effort to read, study, pray and sing.
Christiana Applewait, in my futuristic novel Length of Days - The Age of Silence, lives in 2112. In the one-hundred years between then and now, society has managed to forbid the name of God to be spoken or written in any form. All Bibles have been confiscated and all music has been banned. Babies are tagged at birth to determine their Length of Days and the water supply has been laced with drugs that block everyone’s ability to feel emotions. A reverence for life has faded away on the dark wind of fairness, civility and control.
Where can Christiana turn for hope and comfort with no God or Scripture to guide her? Then, a spark is lit that fans the Spirit of God within her. She races through the city in the Central Zone of what had been a United country, in search of a way to over turn the Length of Days policy and save her grandparents, members of the Counsel of Twelve. She is reminded of a spiritual indwelling she had as a child and prays to God, whom she has just come to know, for help in her quest.
Will our God Blessed Land be stripped of everything that makes us American due to our own silence? Perhaps 2112 is not the Age of Silence. Maybe it has already begun and Christiana only lives in a future time when it is fully implemented. Could it be that we are living in the early stages of The Age of Silence?
What can we do to stop the coming Change, the approaching Silence? We must remain silent no more. God does not speak up for Himself. We are His witnesses and when good people remain silent, all manner of evil can overtake the good and drive us into darkness. We must pray for the Holy Spirit to enter our lives so that we can understand the approaching silence and speak out before it engulfs us all in a deafening void
Many people have never prayed with hope and faith that their prayer will be answered. Like Christiana, this may be their first time. Such a prayer might sound like this:
"Father God, you have kept me by your side since I lived near my mother’s heart. Holy are you and I praise your name. I ask in this very moment, that your Holy Spirit will live within me that I may learn the truth of you and feel your comforting presence at all times. Forgive me when I have chosen to remain silent and pretend you are not here. Today, I turn my life toward you and home. I accept your Grace and ask that you teach me how to speak out for you and pass your love and strength on to others. In the name of Jesus, your son and my Savior, I pray. Amen."
Doris Gaines Rapp
Copyright 2012 Doris Gaines Rapp
Length of Days - The Age of Silence - Doris Gaines Rapp - hardback is available at: www.directbuybooks.com
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1. (Copyright 1982 Gaither Music Company)
