Helene King: Simplicity, Silence, Solitude

wondered about what to share , and I'm one of these people that I think through my fingers . I've done this for years . It's not something that I I don't know . I start to write and then continue to write , so I'd like to read something and share something with you . It's probably part of my life just now If my little iPad .

What I would like to share is something that is very vital for our life and for our well-being in life , and it's something that is very difficult for many of us , especially me with my kind of personality , and I don't find it easy to do , but over the course of the years , this practice has become the most transformative in my life that opens me up to God ,

opens me up to life and who I am as a person .

More than anything else , it was this practice that opened me up to God as a father , god as a father , and we need , we desperately need , in this day and hour we're living in , to lay aside the schemes and plans and anxieties of a target-driven life that is so busy and anxious , trying to get somewhere , that it misses the journey , and we miss valuing the

people we meet on the journey or the people that we meet on the way , and not even realizing that God , the Father , is with us all the time . And so when we do that , we miss the rhythm of life . That's why I love hearing there is a rhythm in Nico's voice . You see , there's a rhythm inside every one of us .

There's a rhythm in nature as well , and one of the things that I believe we're missing in this day and hour is missing this rhythm of life , and one of the ways that we learn to do that is to come into rest and stillness .

And when we come into rest and stillness , we follow God's heartbeat and we find that the rhythm of God is not a march where we walk in step with one another , but James Jordan said it's a dance , and we find that as we dance , others are drawn in by the allure of the Father's music . I can't dance with these legs , but I can dance on the inside .

There's always more to see and experience , for we're always on the border of two worlds . But the world we live in is willing to offer to us wonder upon wonder , if our senses are not dulled . And to increase this sensitivity we need to be able to move out from a complicated modern life to a simplicity of life .

Now I understand that things in the world get very tense , and I know that . But sometimes I think for me , I need to draw away to a place of silence . Think for me , I need to draw away to a place of silence . And when I do that , it begins to leave room for things to happen .

And this simple way of living compels us to find places where we can be alone . And yet we're not alone , because God , the Father , is always with us . He is the ever-present God .

How many say , if I say where does God live , they'll say in me . And that's true . But do you know something even more In the book of Acts ? In him we live and move and have our being . That's where our place of residence is .

And I've learned , even with little children , when I worked with over 350 of them , I've learned to draw , sometimes just to have a little bit of simplicity and silence and solitude , and it helps me empty myself so that there's more room in my life for him . I don't know if you're aware , but I noticed you this morning and I felt him singing over you .

You were singing , but he was singing over you , and I think there's an incredible beauty when we realize that that's what's happening to each one of us . In the book of Hosea , god says through the prophet , I will lead you into solitude and there I will speak to your heart . You see , absence of noise or people is not necessarily peace .

Silence is possible for all of us . Silence is possible for all of us , wherever we are in our minds and in our hearts , to come into inner silence . We need to consciously depart from sound and into silence . How do you think Nico gets his words for his songs ? It's in silence .

There can be a lot of noise around , but you can actually feel silence inside of you , in the stillness and solitude of our own hearts . We can journey to meet him there . This , what I'm about to share , which won't be very long , is something that is very fragile but needs to be carefully guarded . Do you know what prayer is ?

Sitting in the silence until it silences us . I remember years ago I wanted God . I was walking out I think I was in Cyprus at the time , I can't remember and I was speaking in tongues , praying out loud , declaring scriptures out loud , and God went shh . Do you not know ? He knows what we want . It's choosing gratitude until we're grateful .

I've been reading a bit about the desert fathers and I read somewhere if these desert fathers say very little about God , it's because they know that when they've been close to God's dwelling , silence makes more sense than a lot of words . So a question arises how can I listen for God and learn to hear his voice ?

But you know something it's not about what to hear , but how to hear . In the scriptures it talks a lot about be you perfect , as your father is perfect . But the real meaning is be you whole as your father is whole . You see , we're reading words and think we understand them , but there's much more depth to these words than we realize .

It's not about what to see , but how to see , and one of the people that shows us how to live this life is Jesus Christ . But there's a part of Jesus' life that often gets skipped over in the busyness of our lives . Because there's not a lot in the Bible about this . It's tucked away . But I decided some time ago I want to find out what it is .

Listen to this , mark . Very early in the morning , while it was still dark , jesus got up , left the house and went to a solitary place , luke . At daybreak , jesus went out to a solitary place , mark . After leaving the crowd , jesus went up a mountain to pray . Matthew , jesus got in a boat by himself to go to a solitary place , luke .

Jesus often withdrew to lonely places . What Jesus is looking for is silence , but not just external silence , but internal silence . In 1 Kings we read about Elijah . Elijah was a prophet and he went away to try and find God . And the Lord said go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord , for the Lord's about to pass by .

Then came a great and powerful wind , but the Lord wasn't in the wind . After the wind , there was an earthquake , but the Lord wasn't in the earthquake . After the earthquake came a great fire , but the Lord was not in the fire . After the earthquake came a great fire , but the Lord was not in the fire . After the fire , there came a gentle whisper .

Some versions of the Bible say a still small voice . Right after this , elijah covers his face and he hears God for the first time . You see , the Hebrew translation of a still small voice is really a gentle stillness , and there's something greater , even than a voice , that we're longing to hear , and that's stillness .

I don't know about you , but I'm longing for this more and more , and it's a love beyond words . I think we sometimes say too many words , but there's a love that goes beyond words . I think we sometimes say too many words , but there's a love that goes beyond words .

And I've only experienced this occasionally , but it was so alive , because a gentle stillness has a vibrancy and a life to that which is deeper than words , and this is really the deepest need for every one of our lives . This isn't about Bible reading , journaling , praying it's just being still .

But the practices of Bible reading and journaling and praying are important . But over the course of my life I looked a bit at the ministry of the Jesuits founded by Ignatius of Lola . I went to the Catholic House of Prayer and many times I went to the island of Lindisfarne . You should go there . It's off the coast of England .

It's not far , and it's a place called Holy Island , very busy island . It's where a lot of Celtic spirituality began . But when all the people go off the island and you stay for at least two nights , it's like the stillness falls on the place . It's quite incredible .

I went to Cyprus when I retired , where some of the disciples of Jesus went to preach the gospel . I went for a six-month sabbatical , ended up staying four years , but what all these people left behind has helped me on the journey of life . All have told me you won't find out what you're looking for out there , but only from within . Where does he live ?

In you ? But also you live in him , and that is what I believe the spiritual practice does . You begin to discover who you are and the question what should I do with my life changes ? Because you find out who you are , you find that there is a dream that you have inside you .

I believe that there's a dream inside the heart of every single person in this room and my dream has been very simple . It's still the same today as it's been for years . I want to leave something behind . I want people younger than me to go deeper into this revelation of love than I have ever gone .

I don't know what tomorrow's going to bring , and that's why I've learnt about living in the moment , but I really believe that there's going to be a move of God . There's so much trouble just now , but I believe that what he wants to do is impart his life more and more into us , to realise who we are .

You know , we think we're just a normal little person living in a little block of flats somewhere or that , but he is your father and you are created in his image . Jesus went to a solitary place One day . I was driving the car with the radio on and I turned it off . Why ? What has the acoustic stimulus got to do with the visual stimulus ?

You see , we've got five senses . We see , we smell , we sound , we taste , like the lovely food we've had . We touch , and if you accentuate one , the others are not as strong . You turn the radio down so that you can have a more acute sense of presence . This is what the practice of silence does .

When I lived in Cyprus , I lived in a little flat and I used to sit in the garden , and in the garden there was a lot of flowers . But I noticed some of the flowers were dying and I didn't realise that underneath there was a little pipe that watered the flowers every so often , but one of the pipes wasn't connected , and so the flowers began to die .

We need desperately to be connected to the one that's the source of all life I am . I don't want to say much more , except one thing We've had beautiful food here , and I could have a big discussion about chocolate .

I've said this before , but we could have a discussion of chocolate , speak on the history of chocolate , how it's made , scientific talks on your taste buds , pictures of chocolates that you've seen , but until you taste it you do not know what it's like .

You see , when Nico was singing , it wasn't just we were hearing the words , we were actually tasting what he was singing . When things are being spoken about in the church , you're tasting it , and I think that's the most important thing of anything .

The only way to find out who you really are and what you're looking for is not to be found out there , but from within , because out of the heart the mouth speaks .

I don't really want to say much more , but what I would like to say is I wonder if you can begin to realize who you are In the busyness and turmoil of life , the only way to find out who you really are is to experience the stillness you know after Nico sings .

There's like something falls down and it's like I don't know how to describe it , except it's like a comfortable silence , and I would like , for a moment , just for a couple of minutes , to experience that silence . So I wonder if you would like to close your eyes . Don't look at the person next to you or even the beauty outside .

Just close your eyes and I'll read a little meditation Be still and know that I am God . Be still and know that I am . Be still and know , be still , be , be Just , be Beautiful , beautiful , beautiful , beautiful .

Do you know that when you breathe deeply in through your nose and out through your mouth I practice this when you live in a beautiful place and listen to the sound of your breath , breathe in deeply and out , and the sound of your breath is Yahweh , the Hebrew name for God that Jews couldn't say because it was too holy . It's the sound of your breath .

We're so busy trying to get hold of him , but it's coming more and more to the realisation that in him you live and move and have your being and , as you know , in Father Heart Ministries there's a lot of talk about the orphan spirit . It was so much more of my life I didn't feel anybody saw me or anybody knew me .

It's not part of me anymore Because he's singing over you , beautiful boy . So I bless you on your journey , but remember , take one step at a time , live in what's been revealed .