Enjoy the Silence: A 30-Day Experiment in Listening to God (invert) - Softcover

Robbins, Maggie; Robbins, Duffy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0310259916 ISBN 13: 9780310259916

Publisher: Zondervan/Youth Specialties, 2005

Synopsis

• Deepen your experience with Scripture
• Discover the power of God’s Word
• Is the Bible speaking to you?
• Learning to listen to Scripture
• Listen to what God’s Word is saying to you

People talk about the power of the Bible, but sometimes Scripture just looks like normal words. However, inside these thin, innocent-looking pages is the divine revelation of a God who wants you to hear him. Enjoy the Silence is about the spiritual discipline of Lectio Divina. This ancient practice can help you develop an awareness of God’s presence and power found in the Bible. The book’s simple exercises take you through the process of reading Scripture, meditating on Scripture, listening to God through Scripture, and responding to Scripture. If you feel like you’ve been reading the Bible in the shallow end, it’s time to start scaling the cliffs and get ready to plunge headlong into the deep experience of God’s Word.

About this title

About the Author:

Maggie Robinson likes adventure. Exploring new terrain. Especially when it involves spiritual stuff! She’s a spiritual director, a discipler of young women, an avid reader and traveler, and loves to have a hot cup of tea at any time. She lives with her husband, Duffy, outside of Philadelphia, Pennsyvania.

Dr. Duffy Robbins is Professor of youth ministry at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania, is a respected youth ministry veteran with over forty years of experience in the field. He speaks around the world to teenagers and people who care about teenagers. Duffy also serves as a Teaching Pastor at Faithbridge Church, Spring Texas.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Enjoy the Silence: A 30-Day Experiment in Listening to God CHAPTER ONE WHOLLY LISTENING We'd been to this church several times, so the offer didn't catch either of us totally off guard. On the other occasions I had spoken at Mount Oak Church in suburban Washington, D.C., Maggie and I had opportunities to meet some of the folks in the congregation. We knew many of them held important and interesting government jobs. It was not unusual on a Sunday morning to be ushered to your seat by a Pentagon consultant, listen to a testimony by an FBI agent, or hear an offertory solo by a congressional aide. But Steve Evans had a particularly intriguing job. He was in charge of all Secret Service agents working in the White House. He approached us after the Sunday evening service and offered an invitation. He said he would like the two of us to come to the White House the next morning to meet the president of the United States. Of course we were blown away. We couldn't believe it. We just kept thinking, 'Gosh, what a treat this will be for the president!' So we said, 'Great, let's do it!' Standing in the back of the church, we worked through the logistics of the next morning. Steve made it very clear we needed to meet him at the west gate of the White House promptly at 7:30 a.m.---and we had to be out by 8:15 a.m. It seems there was a cabinet meeting scheduled for 8:15, and Steve had a sneaky suspicion the cabinet members wouldn't appreciate our presence in the room during the meeting. He told us we'd have to leave the home where we were staying by 6:30 a.m. if we were going to make it to the White House by 7:30. That meant rise-and-shine no later than 5:30! That Sunday night we went to bed at our friends' house with our heads spinning. We couldn't believe we were going to be standing in the Oval Offi ce in eight short hours. It took us awhile to settle down to sleep, but fi nally we drifted off. In what seemed like the middle of the night, we were awakened by a ringing phone. We couldn't fi gure out who would be calling at such an hour, but since it wasn't our phone, we ignored it. We heard footsteps crossing the kitchen floor to answer the phone. A moment later Carol, our hostess, knocked on our bedroom door and said, 'Duffy, are you awake? Telephone for you. It's the White House!' I opened the door, still half asleep, took the phone from her, and said, 'Mr. President, I hope you're not going to ask us to stick around for the cabinet meeting tomorrow morning. We've got things to do.' I was greeted by an urgent voice. 'Duffy, is that you? Where are you? Do you know what time it is?' My brain was still lingering in the Twilight Zone, so I asked, 'Who is this?' 'It's Steve Evans,' was the reply. 'Duffy, it's 7:45. I was calling just to make sure you guys were on your way. If you haven't left yet, there's no way you're going to get down here in time. We're going to have to cancel the whole thing this morning. I'm sorry. Maybe the next time you come to Mount Oak, we can set something up.' By the time I hung up the phone, my wife knew something was up. She heard only my end of the conversation, but she could tell something wasn't right. When I got back to bed, she asked what the problem was. 'Maggie,' I said, 'I don't know how to say this, but you're married to one of the only guys in the country who slept through a chance to meet the president of the United States.' I couldn't see the expression on Maggie's face, but I knew exactly what she was thinking. She was thinking--- well, she was thinking exactly the same thing you're thinking as you read this story: What a complete idiot! But before you close this book in disgust, let me make two comments about this episode. Number one: It never happened. We made it up. Number two: Actually, it did happen. In fact, it happened this morning. And it happens every day to millions of people. It's probably happened to you. Not that you would sleep through a chance to go to the Oval Office and meet the president of the United States. Nobody's that stupid. But people just like you---just like us---on days just like this one, pass up the opportunity to enter the throne room of almighty God and talk to the Creator of the universe. Every new day offers each of us a chance to get out of bed and spend some quality time with our heavenly Father. But most of us blow it off for a few extra minutes of sleep. That's a pretty sobering thought. But it shouldn't make you feel like a disgusting, spiritually impaired, sleep monger. That's not the purpose of this book. After all, meeting with God every morning isn't some religious hoop you have to jump through in order to earn his love. We spend time with God because he loves us already---unconditionally--- and because we want to develop and deepen our relationship with him. Heck, it doesn't even have to happen in the morning! (Can we get an 'Amen'?)

About this edition

• Publisher: Zondervan/Youth Specialties
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0310259916
• ISBN 13: 9780310259916
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128